One of the men in front of her said to a woman in the group, “You know it’s never good when corporate comes around.”
“It’s Thanksgiving week. Maybe she’s going to give out turkeys. Or Christmas bonuses. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“It would, but that isn’t going to happen.”
“Don’t be so negative,” the woman said. “You get what you expect, and you always expect the worst. They promised everything would be the same. Even Buck said it.”
“I don’t give a damn what Buck says. He doesn’t know how ruthless those people can be, else—”
“Just stop.” The woman held her hands to her ears. “I don’t want to even talk about that again.”
Someone at the far end of the group, closest to the street, said, “She’s not like those other old farts they sent. She’s nice. Not underhanded like they were.”
It was Lilene proudly supporting her position.If only she knew.
As much as Vanessa wanted to continue to eavesdrop, she ducked into the alley to avoid being noticed, and dialed Edward’s number. It went straight to voice mail.
Really?She typed him a text:
Vanessa:Local concern that a promise made to Porter’s is about to be broken. We need to talk.
She stood there waiting for her phone to ring back. Edward was always good about immediately returning calls, especially ones of this nature.
Time wasn’t on her side. She raised the hood of her coat and tucked her chin as she headed to the elementary school, where she was supposed to be updating the employees shortly. Lilene was probably already there waiting on her.
Vanessa wasn’t sure what that speech was going to be now. She knew what she’d been assigned to do, but if there’d been something in the contract that contradicted the plan, she sure didn’t want to be the one to turn this town upside down for no reason. There’d be long-term dissatisfaction following a faux pas like that.
She stepped around the corner of the building and sent out a couple of emails—one to Micky, as much as she hated to do it—and another text to Edward.
A rousing cheer came from the direction of the football field. People would be pouring down the street soon. She still didn’t have an answer, but she was running out of time fast.
Her mouth felt as thick as if she’d had sand for dinner.
If she’d stayed home tonight, she would have walked into an unsuspecting crowd and one hot mess.
What if Buck was right, and Edward had confused this contract with another? That had happened once. It was years ago, but still.
She took the alley street that ran parallel to Main, then turned left down two blocks to the elementary school. The side door was propped open. She went inside and climbed the stairs to the stage. A few people were already sitting in seats near the front.
Standing behind the curtain, she could hear the sizzle of energy as the room began to fill.
Why hadn’t Edward responded? All she could do now was make no promises, and appeal to their sense of community to buy some time, and prevent a disaster.
Her project timeline might be slipping into the red already.
CHAPTERTWELVE
The last time Mike had followed a crowd into the elementary school lunchroom it had been for Misty’s sixth-grade graduation. This time he was an uninvited guest. He followed the flow of Porter’s employees from the football game into the building. He wasn’t usually the nosy sort, but with Misty being so worried over the state of Porter’s he couldn’t help himself. He squeezed by a few guys still hyped up from the win tonight to ease into a spot out of the way in the corner.
Glancing around the room, he saw that he wasn’t the only nonemployee who had crashed this party. Lisa from the Blue Bicycle Bistro, Diane from the flower shop, even Rusty from down at the mill.
In his mind, he envisioned them as dominoes lined up behind Porter’s. If it fell, they all fell.
Someone placed a hand on his arm, startling him back to the business at hand.
“Hey, Dad. I didn’t know you were coming. Come sit with us. We’re up front.”
He followed her gaze to the front row. There was no mistaking the back of his grandfather’s head. That shock of silvery-gray hair was unmistakable.Not today. Not in front of all these people.
