Chapter 25
CHAPTER 25
What a difference 24 hours can make.When Lizzie woke up at about 8:30, much later than normal, she felt happy. Such a novel feeling! She quickly straightened up, gathered the little bit of trash she had to throw in the building’s trash on her way out–she didn’t want anything sitting around smelling bad, folded up the afghan on the couch, fluffed the pillows, and packed up her computer. She quickly brushed her teeth, but skipped a shower, choosing instead to get on the road asap. She grabbed another suitcase and threw more of her clothes in it. No matter what, she’d need to come back after the holidays, but she wanted to have a few more clothes to choose from. Sarah had an extra key to the place, and once she knew how things are going to go with her father she’d tell her that they can show his co-worker the apartment to possibly sublet. Who knows, maybe in nine-months she’d be back, but for now it would be nice to know the rent would be covered.
By 9:30 she was organized enough to get herself out the door, and sent her mom a quick text telling her she was heading out.
But before she leaves, she walks around the cozy, pretty apartment. She’d fallen in love with it the first time she’d seen it. It was the three windows that bumped out in the living room that had sold her, and the claw foot tub and shower. It was a lovely old building, and Joe kept it up beautifully. It was her first roommate-free apartment. She’d never lived alone before and this had been a perfect place for her. For the second time in less than 24 hours she was saying goodbye to something important to her, but it was feeling okay. Somehow, she had a feeling that everything was going to all be alright.
She closed the door and locked it, and after a stop to pick up some coffee for the road she was on her way.
Before she knew it she was back in Cranberry Harbor having hit next to no traffic. It felt different this time. Now as she drove through town she knew she had a mission, a purpose, in being there. She debated about what to do, whether to go right to her dad’s office, or wait to talk to both of her parents together. She decided the best thing to do is to get them together, and she had a plan. She calls her mom.
“Mom? Hey, I’m back, did you have lunch yet? I was thinking of picking up some sandwiches or salads at Bradford’s and thought you and Dad and I could all have lunch at the office? Or the house… whichever is best!”
“Hi honey! No, and I just talked to your dad, he’s stuck at the office and asked if I’d mind while I was doing errands dropping off something, so that would be perfect.” There’s a pause. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah! I was hungry, and thought it would be nice to all have lunch, everything is great.”
“Great, huh? That’s nice!”
“Yes, it is. So I’ll get an assortment of sandwiches. Healthy, vegetarian things, and meet you at the office in say, a half hour?”
“Sounds good! Thank you, honey!”
Lizzie pulls into Bradford’s, goes in and happily takes a cart. Happily that is until she rounds the corner and the first person she sees is Penelope. She does a quick 180 and heads out of that aisle, but it’s too late. “Lizzie?” she hears. She turns and smiles.
“Oh! Hi!,” she says with a forced smile. “I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you.” Liar, liar, liar, she thinks. You’ve been looking at her Instagram so much you definitely know who she is, heck you even know that coat she’s wearing, she wears it in a lot of photos.
“Fancy running into you,” Lizzie says, wishing a hole would miraculously appear and swallow her up.
“Well, it’s the only grocery store in town, so I imagine the chances are probably pretty good of running into people.”
“Very true...Well, I’m supposed to meet my parents for lunch soon, and since I’m bringing the food, I’d better get going. I hope you enjoy your Christmas here.”
“It’s quite lovely here, I can see why Jack is so fond of it,” Penelope says, clearly not taking the hint.
“Yes, it’s very pretty, well…”
Penelope cuts her off. “You know, once Jack gets this out of his system, after he gets his little project off the ground, I’m sure he’ll come back to California. He belongs there, not here. This place is way too small for him,” Penelope says emphatically.
“Well, that’s great. I’m sure you two will be very happy. In California,” she says, not wanting to prolong this conversation. “Well, it was very nice seeing you, but I do have to get going.”
“Of course, it was nice seeing you again, Lizzie,” she says, in that way that really means she was anything but happy to see her.
Lizzie hurries to get all the things she needs, hoping not to see Penelope in another aisle, pays and gets back in her car as quickly as she can.
As she starts her car and begins driving, she wonders why Penelope made it a point to talk to her, that whole encounter was just weird.
For the moment though, she has more important things to think about than Jack Cahoon and Penelope J. She has to try to sell her dad on maybe not all, but at least some of her ideas. She doubts it will be a hard sell, but she wants to be professional, not just rely on nepotism, she wants him to do this because her ideas are good, not just because she’s his daughter. She pulls in, parks, gets her computer and the bag with their lunch, takes a deep breath and heads up to the Gazette office.
“Hey, Dad,” she calls out as she enters the room. He says hello back, but is deep into something on his computer. She looks around at the empty office. At one point during her childhood the office was busy and full of people. Three fulltime reporters, two ad sales people, a photographer…things had certainly changed. She lays everything down, and puts out the food on the seldom-used conference table. She takes off her coat, “I can’t believe I beat Mom,” she says, her dad still not paying much attention. “Everything okay over there?” she asks as she walks to his desk and peaks over his shoulder.
“It’s this darn formatting software, it’s not letting me upload a story I just wrote, and I want to get it off to the printer.”
“Do you mind if I take a look?” she asks.
“Not in the least! I’d welcome the help,” he gets up and gestures for her to take his seat.
Lizzie sits down, and in a few clicks she’s solved the problem. “There you go, it’s all sent.”
He kisses her on the head, “Oh my dear, you are a godsend, I had been messing with that for an hour. Thank you!”
“Sometimes it just takes a fresh pair of eyes,” she says getting up. “I got an assortment of things, hopefully you’ll find something you like. Is Mom due here soon?”
“Yes she is,” Gabby says as she arrives, dog in her arms, who she quickly sets down, and takes off her coat. “Sorry it took a while, this one,” she says giving Daisy a stern look, “decided to chase a squirrel and got away from me, took me 15 minutes and the enticement of treats to get her to stop running all over the yard.”
“Daisy, that was not a good thing to do,” Peter says, scolding her, sounding more proud than angry. “Lizzie, this looks wonderful, thank you.” He chooses a veggie wrap and green juice that Bradford’s makes fresh on the premises in reusable glass bottles. “So how was Boston? The press conference? I heard on the radio this morning that they hope to avert a strike. The mayor sounded hopeful.” He takes a bite and sighs happily. “This is delicious, honey, thank you!”
“You’re very welcome,” she says, choosing a whole wheat hummus wrap and freshly squeezed orange juice. “It was very frustrating, one of those things where a phone call would have sufficed, heck a press release would have sufficed, but I did it, got it filed.”
“They don’t seem to be very organized,” Gabby says, putting down her sandwich. “That seems incredibly inefficient, why have you drive all the way back there for no reason? Maybe you can sit down and talk with your boss when you get back about how they can use your time better.”
Lizzie is quiet. It’s harder than she thought it would be to tell her parents she’s lost her job. She feels like she’s letting them down, as much as she knows that’s not true, it still feels like she did something wrong.
“Well, the thing is, she’s not my boss anymore. When I got back to the newsroom it was empty. Sarah’s desk had been cleaned out, no one was there. Not even Margaret, my boss.”
“That sounds really strange, are you sure everyone wasn’t just gone for the holidays?” her dad asks.
“No, I called Sarah and she said she’d been laid off, and so had Margaret and everyone else.”
“Oh my God, they did that just days before Christmas? What kind of people are they?” Gabby innocently asks.
“Not nice ones, Mom.” she sighs and pokes at her sandwich. “While I was talking to her my office phone rang and it was some guy telling me I had been let go, too.”
“Oh honey, I’m so sorry, but I have to say, good riddance to those corporate idiots who don’t know the first thing about journalism,” says Peter.
In spite of her trying to have a good, plucky attitude Lizzie starts to cry. “I am so sorry, Mom and Dad, you worked so hard to put me through school, helped me with my Master’s, and then this happens. I’m so sorry to disappoint you.”
“Lizzie, the last thing we are is disappointed,” says her mom, jumping up and coming over to hug her. “We have never been anything but proud of you, so stop that nonsense right now, okay?”
Lizzie blows her nose into a napkin and nods. “I just naively thought it wouldn’t happen at a paper like the Sentinel. It’s been there forever.” She wipes her eyes. “They’re closing the newsroom. They are going to run the paper, once one of the best in the country, from New York, and use some freelancers, I guess. It breaks my heart. There have been so many Pulitzer prize winning writers to come out of that paper. It’s just awful.”
“It sure is honey, and I’m so sorry you’re now one of the casualties,” he takes her hand. “But you are going to be just fine.”
“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” she looks at both her parents nervously. “Sarah knows someone who could sublet my apartment, and I was thinking–”
Before she can even finish the sentence her parents jump up and hug each other, and then both hug her. “Yes!” they both yell.
“I am so sorry for the reason, but to have you back here, that would be the Christmas miracle I’ve been wishing for!” says Gabby.
“Dad?” Lizzies asks. “I have some ideas, if you’d like me to come on board and help.”
Now it’s Peter’s turn to get choked up. “Are you kidding me? I have never wanted to pressure you into coming back and taking over this antique of an operation, but I would be so happy, and well, grateful for the help. I know I’m stuck in the last century on so many things and would welcome any and all ideas.”
“I don’t want to step on your toes, Dad,” Lizzie says, wanting to make sure he knows she’s not planning a takeover. “You started this paper, it’s yours–”
“No, honey, it’s ours. From now on it’s going to be ours.”
“Really?” she starts to cry again, and soon all three of them are crying.
Peter is quiet for a minute. “I have to be honest, we’re not in the best shape”. Now it’s his turn to be nervous. “I’m a month behind on the mortgage, and they’ve been nice, but I don’t know what I’m getting you into.”
Lizzie knew things were worse than he’d been letting on. “I don’t want to make you hang on if what you really want to do for your own well-being is sell the paper. Dad, please be honest.”
“No, selling is the last thing I want, if for no other reason than to have one last independent voice on this spit of land, I want to do anything I can to keep it just that, independent. And I’m betting between your youth, talent and energy, that is a lot more likely to happen than it would if it’s just me and Stan.”
“So you’re really sure? This isn’t a pity hire?”
“Well, you may feel it’s pitiful when you get your first paycheck,” Peter says, “No, you’re saving me too.”
All three of them begin to cry. “Jeez, we really are the schmaltz family, aren’t we?” Lizzie jokes. Just then, as they’re all bawling, Matt walks in.
“Is everything okay?” he says, concerned.
Peter sniffs, “Yeah, Matty, it’s better than okay, say hello to my new business partner. Your sister’s coming home.”