Page 58 of A Heartfelt Christmas Promise
“Hello?”
“Edward. I’m so sorry to bother you, but I need to discuss a couple things with you about the Porter’s project.”
“Is there a problem?”
“Not entirely bad ones, just things here onsite don’t match up with the reports Micky prepared. Am I missing part of the story about Porter’s, and the warehouse project? There’s a ton of old equipment that needs to be scrapped. It’s not on the inventory, it’s taking up most of the space in one of the buildings. They’ve been waiting for approval from corporate to scrap that junk since we bought the place.”
“So, scrap it. The mission is straightforward. Porter’s isn’t making money. We’ll repurpose the buildings for the warehouse space. It’s better than the town losing the business altogether. At least there’ll be other jobs, and we’ll increase our bottom line. What’s the problem?”
“Porter’sismaking money, Edward. It’s not huge, but the numbers that have been reported are against the square footage of the entire footprint. Porter’s is only using a very small portion of all the properties owned in this portfolio. There is already vacant space once we get the rest of the scrap moved out. They’ve increased efficiencies since we bought them, the sales are steady, and—”
“But Micky was very clear that—”
“Sir, I’m not sure exactly what happened the last time Micky was in town, but more than a few people are saying they were flat-out promised things wouldn’t change, and there’s nothing in the contracts indicating changes coming. That clause was completely stricken.”
“Not anything about changes not coming either, though, right?”
Did you really just say that? Was it an intentional gray area just to get them to sign?
“It’s business, Vanessa. Take care of it as we discussed. Micky doesn’t have any reason to misrepresent that account, and quite honestly even if they arenotlosing money, they aren’t making enough for us to not move forward with this warehouse project.”
“But we can do both. Easily.”
“There are only so many people in that town.”
“I took a look at the surrounding counties. With the rightcompensation package, I believe we can pull plenty of good resources into the area. I can make it work.”
“Vanessa. We have a schedule to meet. I promise we are going to treat everybody—I mean everybody—with dignity, fairness, and respect.”
“But…”
“We can’t take a chance on not being able to meet the workforce needs of the warehouse.”
“You’ll have both. You’ll have the warehouse space you need in the timeline, but still maintain Porter’s. I don’t think it’s fair to them to close. It’s simply not necessary. That company is part of the fabric of this town.”
“And if it changes, that town will survive. End of story.”
Calling him on the holiday may have been a bad idea.
At this moment she wasn’t getting the respect from Edward that she was used to. How could she convince complete strangers that he was in their corner… when clearly he didn’t care? She took a steadying breath, but kept her mouth shut. There was no use arguing with him now.
“You know what,” he said. “You do whatever you have to do to hand me over the thirty-thousand-square-foot facility for Outdoor Sports Pro as outlined in that contract. I really don’t care what you do with anything else.”
“Yes, sir.” She disconnected the call, then closed her eyes and lifted her chin to the sky. Enough gray area in that statement that she could stealthily do the right thing and ask for forgiveness later.
I have a feeling this is going to be the worst Christmas ever. I’m just not sure if it’s going to be bad for the town, or my career. Please help me come up with the right way to handle this.
A quiet tap at her office door broke her concentration. Expecting to see Lilene—not for anything business-related, but rather with some home-baked goodie or reminding her to “take a break!” with that big grin that was always on her face—she blinked twice before she put it all together. “Anna? What are you doing here?”
Vanessa clambered out from behind the desk to hug her cousin.
“I hope it’s okay,” Anna said. “I know you said you’d call, but I couldn’t wait to see you. I was so excited.”
“I can’t believe you’re here. This is a great surprise. How did you know where to find me?”
“I knew you’d be working. There are some things that anyone who knows you could guess. But we’ll work on that while we’re together.” Anna wiggled her brows playfully. “Isn’t this the cutest little town you’ve ever seen? How have I never heard a peep about it before?”
Lilene walked up behind Anna. “Best-kept secret. We don’t want a bunch of city folk moving here. We saw what happened the next town over. New people built big ol’ fancy houses, and then complained about the farm animals and the farm equipment—which were there long before those city biddies moved in. It was a huge fuss.”
