Page 43 of Yes to The Holidays
It was a huge, open room full of large round tables with white tablecloths and ornate place settings with red and green centerpieces. I hung my coat at the entrance, then walked around, mingling with the crowd.
I spotted Eddie, and he called me over. “Odin, meet my beautiful wife, Lottie,” he said.
I shook her hand and the petite woman with short silver hair beamed. “I am so happy to meet you. Thanks to you, we can live out the rest of our days together!” The woman cupped my face and pulled me down to her short stature, placing a kiss on my cheek.
“It’s a smart business decision. But I am glad it worked out well for you both. If you will both excuse me, I’m going to find a drink and go say hello to Jack.”
Eddie raised his glass, and I nodded before walking away to find a server carrying drinks. I went to Jack and met his significant other and made small talk for several minutes. Then I wandered the room, shaking hands and meeting everyone’s dates, most were spouses, but some were engaged, others still dating. I grabbed another glass of champagne when the familiar chiming of a fork to a glass caught my attention.
I turned, and my breath hitched. Janie stood next to Eddie in a simple black dress with spaghetti straps that hugged her perfectly. Her chestnut waves fell over her shoulders, and she had just a hint of red lip color on.
Once the room quieted, Eddie spoke up. “I have some wonderful news.” He craned his neck, and when he made eye contact with me, he waved me over. “As you all know, I’ve been working with Odin for quite some time on a deal to sell the company to him. Over the last month or so, he’s learned a lot more about the day-to-day business and how the operations are run. While he’s excited for the business opportunity, he didn’t want to be hands-on. Which is probably a good thing, right, honey?” he asked as he looked at his wife. She rolled her eyes, but he nudged her and continued. “Anyway, we agreed the best course of action would be to do a little restructuring.”
Gasps filled the room.
“Now, now. I promised everyone’s job was safe and that is still true. In fact, with this deal there is room for growth and some things we’ve outsourced can be brought back in-house which means more money for you all, and there arenowopportunities for advancement that we did not have before.”
The room was quiet. Eddie looked at Janie and she nodded. He smiled then said, “So, some news from today is the papers were signed, and Odin is now your new owner and President. Even bigger news, to me anyway, no offense Odin.” I waved him off, and he went on. “Janie Turner has agreed to be your new CEO!”
Cheers and claps erupted as my eyes went wide and my mouth dropped open. She finally looked over at me and smiled. Candy ran to her and squeezed her tight, and some other people from her department circled around her, so I kept my distance, although I was only yards away.
Jack walked over and smiled, extending his hand to her, and she shook it then leaned to his ear to say something. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Donald storming over with a grimace.
“What the fuck, Eddie! This is outrageous! Her? You chose her? Or should I say Odin did,” he spat as he turned to glare at me.
Eddie tried to grab his arm and was murmuring to calm down, but Donald pulled away.
“I will not calm down. Everyone here has a right to know she’s been fucking him and that’s why she got the job!” Eyes went wide all around. “Yeah, that’s right. I caught them together several times, and she tried to deny it, but I saw it with my own two eyes.”
Candy, Trisha, and Gage formed a wall between Donald and Janie and Evan stepped to him and said, “You need to back up,Donald.”
I stepped closer, and Donald turned. “Don’t even try it. You have some big balls promoting her.”
Eddie stepped closer. “I promoted her, and she earned it.”
“Oh yeah. Well, you know what? You can have her because I quit!”
“Good riddance,” I deadpanned.
Donald whipped around. “Oh, you’ll be hearing from my attorney. I’ll end up owning this company.”
“Ha, with what? I promoted her you twit. You gonna sue me?” Eddie scoffed.
Donald sneered at us both, then reached his hand behind him. “Come on, Shelly.”
Nobody came forward or grabbed his hand. Donald turned then searched the room. “Shelly, I said let’s go.”
A small voice spoke up from the other side of the room. “No.”
“What? Come on, Shelly. We’re leaving.”
Finally, a younger blonde woman stepped from behind some others. “I’m not going with you, Donald.” She looked around, and a couple of women near her patted her back.
Donald threw his hands up and stormed off, yanking the whole coat rack down when he grabbed his. Everyone just quietly watched him go. Once he was completely out of sight, several people went to pick up the rack and the coats that were scattered on the floor.
Some laughter and whispers filled the room. Eddie tapped a fork on his glass again. “Okay folks, show’s over. Can we get another hand for our new CEO?”
Loud whistles and cheers filled the room again, and people waited patiently to extend congratulations. I grabbed another glass of champagne and sipped it nearby. After about half an hour, the food finally came out, so everyone took their seats.
