Page 23 of A Package Deal

Nelie:If it comes to that, I’ll close the Galley to use as a testing site.

Jackson and several others added hearts to her message.

Chet:Paper will issue a full-page plea.

Nelie gasped, surprised that Chet was in this group.He wasn’t joking when he said they’d made up. Jackson responded with another thumbs-up.

Her eyes flooded, and she used her foot to drag a bench toward her. She sat heavily as other blurry messages appeared. Nelie heard bottles clink and then Eric sat next to her. “This is awful,” she said through her tight throat. “I’ve never heard of it. How did they catch it?” Eric looked about as wrecked as she felt.

“According to Dr. Google, SCID, or Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, is one of the standard tests they run right after birth.” Nelie wanted to ask more, but Eric’s voice sounded scratchy, and she didn’t need both of them bawling in the back room. “Is it bad that right now, all I want to do is go up to my mom’s house and hug Owen?”

“Go.” Nelie pushed him off the bench. “But let’s get this packed up and you can leave it at Jackson’s front door. I’ll text them and tell them to keep an eye out for it.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. Go hug Owen and tell him what a lucky boy he is and that his new friend Nate is here.” Nelie struggled to her feet, choking back tears. “And they’ll have lots of adventures together and get into all sorts of trouble when they’re older. It’s all going to be okay. It will. You’ll see,” Nelie said, faking a smile and closing the box. She didn’t know if she was trying to reassure Eric or her. Tears wouldn’t solve this, but action would.

“NextTuesdayattwoworks great,” Chet said, agreeing to a meeting he didn’t want. There was nothing wrong with his current insurance policy, but he saw Nelie walking toward his office and the quickest way to get the guy off the phone was to agree with him.You could have hung up,he thought. But that wouldn’t have been Minnesota-nice.

“Hi,” he said, opening the door for her, and dropping a kiss on her lips. “What brings you here?” Nelie hadn’t been to the paper since his open house, shortly after he’d bought theHaven Times. His salesperson usually met her at the Galley, like she did for most of the business advertisers.

“Lunch.” Nelie thrust the bag at him before hanging her puffer jacket on the coat stand.

“Mom’s Deli?” he said, seeing the familiar logo.

“I’m tired of eating my own food. Don’t judge.” He held up his hands. She sounded cranky, and he didn’t want an argument.

“Not judging. Just grateful. But full disclosure, we’re on a deadline, so I can’t linger,” he said, leading her to his office. He cleared a chair for her and moved piles off his desk, so they’d have a clean surface to eat from.

“Then that’s perfect. I was afraid you’d tempt me to linger, but I’ve got an appointment.” Nelie opened the bag and held up two sandwiches, ham and roast beef. She held both out to him, cocking her eyebrow in question.How does she do that?

“Can we split them?” he asked, unable to choose.

“Good choice.” They each unwrapped a sandwich, giving half to the other. Nelie handed him a bag of chips and pulled onions off her sandwich.

“Since when don’t you like onions?” he asked.

“Since I’m hoping to get a kiss before I leave.” Her eyes twinkled as she bit into her dill pickle, and she laughed as Chet scraped the onions from his sandwich. “I thought it would be noisy with the printing press,” she said, looking out his office door.

“We don’t have one. The paper is printed in Saint Paul.”

“How does that happen?”

“We send them the digital file by two o’clock. They print it overnight and deliver it here early morning. We drop copies off at a few of the grocery stores and several other places, and my delivery people come in mid-morning to pick up the copies for their routes.” He left out the little details that could bite him in the ass and ruin the schedule. Like if the file was corrupted, or if the printing company had equipment problems, or if he and his staff needed to fill in for sick delivery people.

“Why isn’t it available online?” Nelie asked around her food.

“I’m looking into it.” Online access had been on top of his to-do list since late last summer. But then he’d met Nelie. And lost Nelie. And gained the girls. And gained Nelie back. He couldn’t afford any more distractions. Chet needed to get his head back in the newspaper game. The cost of paper was skyrocketing, and it was getting more and more difficult to find good people interested in part-time outdoor work for the routes. He needed to make the time to research if going digital would save or sink them. Right now, only back issues were available digitally.

“Would it be free?”

“I don’t know. Maybe a paywall feature where subscribers would get two weekly newspapers”—he used air quotes—“and a free weekly print version available to everyone focused on coupons and the community calendar. Subscribers would get up-to-date information and news.” He shrugged.

“That sounds like a reasonable plan, but I don’t think you like it. Why?” She shook the last of her chips into her hand and tossed the bad into his garbage can.

“Everyone should have access to unbiased news.”

“But if everyone had free access, how would the paper survive?” Nelie asked.

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