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Jake couldn’t do this right now. He was thinking of Laura and how the time was coming for Walt to step in. “Speaking of Laura, I heard she went for the supplier and marketing job. She’s great and really talented. You want to work with someone, it’s her.”
Cal shook his head. “She’s great. But I’m going with someone else from Lincoln City.”
“What?” Jake said in shock.
“Cheaper and more experienced. It’s nothing personal.”
But it would be to Laura. She’d worked so hard, and this rejection from Cal wasn’t good for business. Jake knew the hole she was in. She was pretty much banking on this contract. Otherwise, with small orders here and there, it would take her a while to dig out of the red ink she was currently swimming in.
“What would it take to get her the contract?” Jake asked.
Cal frowned then raised his brows. “You.”
Jake was silent. He had a feeling. Then he did the only thing that felt right—and wrong at the same time.
“You want me, I come as a package deal. Laura, too.”
“Seriously?” Cal said with shock. His friend looked at him. “What the hell has gotten into you?”
“What?” Jake said.
“You’ve been fighting me on this and now you’re ready? Because of a woman?”
“Not a woman, the right woman. For your job, I mean. She can do it; she just needs a chance.”
“So you’re not worried about the business? Especially when word spreads that you’ve been slacking at Baughman.”
“We’re not slacking,” Jake said immediately. But he knew what his buddy was referring to. Russ’s mouth was bigger than his beard, and he clearly didn’t like Laura. He was likely still pissed about the delay in delivering his order last week. Even with a 20 percent discount and free delivery for his next two orders, apparently the old man was still running his mouth.
“Everything is fine. Solid,” Jake said. “Now do you want the deal or not?”
Cal looked him over. “You’re my foreman for six months and lumber supplier for the project?”
Jake nodded. “So long as Laura is also your supplier and landscape designer.”
Cal held out his hand to shake Jake’s. “Deal.”
Laura was just putting the finishing touches on the arrangement that would be the start of a monthly order for the senior center.
Tilly had called her a few days ago, and after a meeting and some paperwork, Laura officially had a regular customer. She was still set to go to California at the end of the week, but if things kept looking up and she got the deal from Cal, she could stay in Yachats. She just really needed that deal.
She was ending the workday when the phone rang.
“Baughman Home Goods, can I help you?” she said happily.
“This is Wade over at Bucky Burger, and we’re looking for some bark for the front of the restaurant. What’s your price on the thick-cut red timber or the dark ash?”
“Ah . . .” Laura scrambled to look through the papers she’d organized last week, but she’d never seen a price sheet.
She ran out to the warehouse and looked for the clipboard Jake had shown her, but all she saw were dates and times of deliveries. Still no price sheet.
She put her hand over the speaker of the phone and called out.
“Mannie? Hello? Anyone here? I have a question from a customer.”
No one responded. Wade on the line did, though. “Hello? Miss? Are you there?”
“Yes,” Laura said, hustling around the warehouse, looking for any sign of a price sheet.
