She’d have to check into that. “Never mind. Show me the way to my office.”
“From the back entrance we’re at the other end. Your office is right next to mine,” Lilene said, while Vanessa mouthed the words in her mind.
She followed Lilene upstairs and down a long corridor.
Just beyond the stairs, Lilene stopped. “Those stairs come up from the retail area. This is my office. You’re in the next one down. It overlooks Main Street.”
“Thank you.” Vanessa walked by Lilene, who was putting her coat on a rack next to her desk.
Vanessa was pleased with her office, even if it was temporary. Leather chairs were positioned across from a masculine desk of walnut or mahogany with a timeless look to it. The ornate carved legs and edge of the desktop looked hand-done. A matching credenza held a nice bronze of a horse and carriage, similar to the one on the logo. Floor-to-ceiling built-ins held rows of awards and certificates. In the far corner of the room, a Christmas tree held years and years of collectible annual Porter’s ornaments.
She swept her fingers over the dusty branches of the Christmas tree, then rubbed her hands together to get rid of the residue.
It only took a few minutes to set up her computer and sync her calendar with the latest meeting updates from Chicago. Edward had scheduled a meeting for the top of the hour. That was only five minutes away. She unpacked her things and then called him.
“Vanessa. Good morning. You’re all settled in by now I’m sure?” his voice boomed.
A pang of guilt shot through her about breakfast with Lilene. Normally she kept her distance from the workers and got right down to work. She’d have already been knee deep into the project plan by now. “Yes, sir. I’ve got a meeting with the employees tonight.” She jotted a note on the pad next to her to ask Lilene about the time discrepancy. “I need to check with Micky. I don’t have the latest plans and inventory. Where we have the factory located on our plat is now a vacant building. I’m not sure exactly what we’re looking at here. I’m going to need a few days to get the inspections we need to ensure it can be updated in time.”
“Make it happen, Vanessa. That’s why I sent you. Budget doesn’t matter at this point. We’ve got the right footprint there. The location was approved this morning. Get it done. No matter what it takes.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get workers reassigned immediately.”
“And shut down Porter’s. No sense in having to deal with all of that as we renovate and reposition for January first.”
“That may not be necessary,” she said. “I’ll le—”
“Don’t make it more complicated than it has to be. We can take the loss with the increased revenue from this project. Gotta run. I’ll look for an update by the beginning of next week.”
She hung up the phone and pulled up the reassignment plan she’d put together over the weekend. She pressed the button labeledLILENEon the old phone system. “Lilene, can you come in here, please?”
“Yes, ma’am. On my way.”
A moment later Lilene was perched in the chair in front of Vanessa’s desk with a steno pad and pen in hand like a sceneout of an old black-and-white film. “You know you don’t have to call me ‘ma’am.’ ‘Vanessa’ is fine.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you. Sorry. I’m just being polite.”
“Right. I need to go over the details for the meeting this evening. The time was wrong.”
“Yes, m— Well, I had to change a couple of teensy details. I didn’t realize it was pep rally night when you sent the information over.” She shrugged. “But I’ve got that all squared away.”
“Pep rally?”
“The rally is being held this afternoon right after the kids get out of classes. The Falcons are scrimmaging the Colts. Since Thanksgiving is this Thursday, they’re playing the game tonight at six. I had to move your meeting toafterthe game?”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. If you’d tried to meet with everyone at five thirty you would’ve been in an empty room.” Her eyes went wide. “Well, I’d have been there, of course, but you know what I mean. But don’t worry. I handled it all.” Lilene was clearly proud of herself. Had it not occurred to her that the employees of Porter’s should be accommodating her… not the other way around?
“So, that wasn’t a typo in the report you gave me?”
“No. I set the meeting for eight thirty, but it’ll depend on the game. They’re archrivals. Sometimes they go into overtime. If it does, it’ll be right after that.”
Her jaw tightened. Where were these people’s priorities? “Fine,” she managed politely. She should’ve handled this herself. She walked over to the printer and pulled off a list of employees. “I’ll need to meet with all of these people tomorrow morning at seven o’clock. We’re going to walk to the building across the street.”
“The one we aren’t using that you asked about this morning?”
“Yes. Where the factory used to be.”
