Chapter 22
— chapter twenty-two
After enjoying the rather eye-opening breakfast with Jenna and Katie on Saturday and then spending a relaxing Sunday doing little besides attending church and working on her tan, Fanny walked into work on Monday feeling refreshed and ready for anything.
It only took a few minutes, however, to want to turn back around.
“I didn’t think you were ever going to get here,” Nelson snapped as he paced back and forth from his office into hers with a cell phone to his ear.
She waited a moment to respond in case his call was about to end.
When it didn’t and Nelson continued to look like he wanted her to say something, Fanny pointed to the small digital clock behind her desk. “It’s five minutes to eight, boss. I’m early.”
“Not early enough,” he groused.
Needing a minute to settle down, Fanny pulled out her chair, booted up her computer, and put away both her purse and her lunch.
When Nelson only continued to stare at her without saying a word—not to her or the mystery person on the phone—she folded her arms across her chest and watched him pace.
“What?” he asked when he walked toward her yet again.
“I’m trying to figure out what’s going on with you, boss. Are you on the phone or just pretending to be?”
He grunted. “Fanny, this isn’t funny.”
She wasn’t trying to be. “How about you take a second and tell me what’s going on?”
“I’m on hold with Premier Lumber,” he bit out. “Things with them are going bananas.”
“Bananas, huh?” Those were fighting words for her cousin. “Oh no.”
“Oh yeah.” When Nelson paced her way again, he tossed a file onto her desk. He’d obviously picked it up from her desk before she arrived. “Look at this, Fan,” he added as he opened the front and picked up an invoice from inside it.
She took it. Scanned the sheet. And became even more confused. The order was for a shipment of mahogany, placed two months ago by her. And the deposit had also been marked as paid.
She remembered writing that check because it was a doozy.
Mahogany was never a cheap product, but she’d found a vendor she liked in south Florida.
Working with a vendor in the States seemed best. Premier charged more per unit, but shipping was far cheaper than if it came from Central or South America.
This order was fairly sizable because it was one of the materials Big John was painstakingly carving and nailing into Hank Arias’s study.
“What’s going on with the order?”
“We are missing most of it,” he said, each word sounding like a staccato beat.
“Huh?”
“It hasn’t arrived, Fan.” He frowned. Held up a finger, signifying for her to wait a second. “What? No. Don’t! No, really. Hey, I’ve been holding!”
Nelson’s face was flushed. Honestly, it looked like he was about to blow a gasket. There was only one thing to do. She stood back up and reached for the phone. “Let me talk to them before they hang up on you,” she hissed.
“Gladly. Here.”
After she held the receiver up to her ear and listened to some awful, tinny-sounding Muzak, she turned to him. “Tell me what exactly is going on and what I need to tell them to do.”
“Yet again they are giving me the runaround. We just got the order, but it was only half the amount we ordered, and half of that was unusable. There are bores in the middle of it, some of the other boards are uneven, and some look almost rotten. I wouldn’t put it in a barn, let alone in Hank Arias’s study.
” Nelson shook his head. “Fanny, this order was a small fortune! They don’t agree that the wood is subpar.
Worse, they’re saying they can’t send out any on a flatbed anytime soon. ”
This was getting worse and worse. No wonder Nelson looked like he wanted to hit something. “I understand now.” As the awful Muzak continued to play in her ear, she started to think of all the consequences. “Who have you told about this?”
“I haven’t told anyone beyond John.”
“Hank doesn’t know?”
“Nope. I didn’t want to tell him the news until I had a way to fix it.” Looking pained, Nelson said, “Fanny, you know how much all those bonuses were.”
“We had plenty of money to cover those,” she said quickly. “The employees earned them.”
“I agree. But more money is going to be flying out the door as we get the Wooster branch started.”
“We’re not talking about acres and acres of mahogany, boss. Relax.”
“I would if we didn’t have two other orders for it coming down the pike. Plus, if John can’t work on his schedule . . .”
“Uh-oh.” Big John was easygoing and relaxed . . . until he wasn’t. Then he was known to get as out of sorts as a diva on tour.
“Uh-oh is right. I talked to him at six this morning, and then he showed me his calendar and told me that everything was going to be messed up.” Nelson closed his eyes. “Among other things.”
Fanny could well imagine what had been said. Most Amish never cursed, but they were also not saints. If they were pushed enough, any one of the men could stand up for themselves or allow their temper to snap.
And Big John was kind of known for his colorful outbursts.
“Hank wanted this woodwork done yesterday.”
“I know.”
Nelson blinked as if he’d suddenly remembered that she’d been the one going to his house regularly to check progress.
“Listen. When you finally get someone over at Premier to talk to you, don’t hang up until you either get a promise for the right wood to be delivered this week or our money back.
We can’t let them buy time and ask to ‘look into it.’”
“You got it.”
“You sure?”
Oh, she was very sure. “Go sit down, boss.” Looking at her empty mug, she picked it up. “Better yet, go take a walk and get me a cup of coffee.”
“Are you serious right now?”
“Uh, yeah. I just got to work. I’m dying for some caffeine.” She batted her eyelashes. “Pretty please?”
“Fine.” He picked up her coffee cup and strode down the hall.
Fanny hoped and prayed that someone in the plant had brought in donuts.
They were Nelson’s weakness. Pretty much everyone at the mill knew this, and many of the men’s wives usually made six or seven extra donuts for them to take to the break room.
Sure, they were supposed to be for everyone to share.
But there was an unspoken rule that Nelson should get one of them if he was around.
His mood seemed to improve with increased sugar intake.
Just as he was out of sight, a cheery voice came on the line. “Sorry about the wait, Nelson. We just wanted to try to get an answer for you.”
Fanny frowned. The man’s voice sounded far too lighthearted for the minor meltdown their bad shipment was about to create in multiple areas of their company. “You are now speaking to Frances Harper. I’m Nelson’s personal assistant. To whom am I speaking?”
“This is Steve, miss.” His voice turned slightly oily. “How are you doing today, dear?”
She gritted her teeth. “I’m really glad you asked, Steve. You see, as a matter of fact, I’m not doing well at all. Your company’s mess-up with this order of mahogany has ruined my morning.”
“Don’t worry about it, honey. These things happen all the time.” He took a deep breath. “As a matter of fact, once—”
“Oh no. We are not sharing stories. All I want to know is that the mahogany will be on its way today.” She had no problem if someone she really liked called her “honey” or “dear.” Honestly, she had a sneaking suspicion that if Hank called her either of those pet names, her knees might get weak.
But this guy on the line saying it? Well, it made her teeth go on edge.
“Today?” He chuckled. “That’s not possible.”
“All right. Then I’m going to need you to FedEx a cashier’s check for our entire deposit today. Or, better yet, you can wire it.”
“That’s not how we do things, hon.”
When he dared to chuckle, she saw red. “First, my name is Frances, or Miss Harper. It is absolutely not ‘hon’ or ‘honey.’ Second, I’m afraid that those two options are exactly how we do things, Steve.
I need that wood, and I don’t care if you have to send people all over the state of Florida and put it on a train car.
All that matters is that I will be able to tell the client, whose study your missing shipment is ruining, when it will be finished. ”
“Where is your boss? I appreciate you trying to help, but you really have no idea what you are asking.”
Fanny was trying for patience. She really was. But what she was aching to do was pull a “Big John” and start cussing at Steve like she was a woman possessed.
“I do know,” she said in a firm voice. “I know exactly what I am asking. Just like I know exactly what I will do if I don’t receive either your promise the wood will be delivered this week or that money by five o’clock tonight.
” She lowered her voice. “I’m going to make it my personal goal to ruin your reputation.
After that, I’m going to call a lawyer and sue you for breach of contract. ”
She took a breath. “Then, last but not least, I’m going to let my very important client know who, exactly, has tried to swindle his money.”
Getting creative, Fanny lowered her voice even more.
“And he’s not a sweet Amish guy, Steve. He’s far from that.
In fact, I’m pretty sure that this man is used to getting things done in ways that have nothing to do with Google reviews and lawyers.
He—or one of the scary guys who works for him—could show up at your doorstep tonight and make sure you understand how unhappy he is with you. ”
She felt slightly embarrassed. She didn’t think Hank Arias had a team of bad guys at his beck and call at all. But she’d done her best to sound believable. At the moment, that was all that mattered.
There was silence on the other end of the line. For a split second, she was afraid they’d been disconnected, but then she heard a small sigh.
“All right,” Steve said.
“All right, you’ll find me the wood? Or all right, you’ll be sending over a cashier’s check?”
“All right. I’ll find the wood.”
“When should I tell the guys in receiving to expect to receive your shipment number? Because I can guarantee that they’ll be tracking it every step of the way.”
“I don’t know. Give me a minute.”
“Every day that this wood is late means that we’re going to have to pay them overtime, Steve. Plus, half of the crew is Amish. I need to make sure they can let their families know that you’ve decided to ruin their evenings. That means I’m going to have to hire drivers to take them home too.”
“You know, you’re a piece of work.” All traces of the earlier slickness had disappeared from his voice.
Fanny rolled her eyes. She worked with truckers, dock workers, and a whole bunch of carpenters and master craftsmen. Ninety percent of them were men. She’d been called far worse when she had to press someone to do their job. “I still need a timeline, Steve.”
“You’ll have your ship number and tracking information by five tonight.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I just remembered that we have several yards of mahogany in a back warehouse. It’s going to take a bit of juggling to get it loaded and on a truck to your facility, but I’ll make sure it gets done.”
She smiled. “Thank you so much, Steve. I appreciate your help sooo much.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
When she hung up, Fanny was grinning ear to ear.
“Did you really just make that guy believe that I had a group of minions ready to go beat them up if I don’t get that wood?”
Fanny inhaled. Closed her eyes. And felt pretty much every patch of skin on her body turn bright red.
When she turned around, Hank’s blue eyes met hers.
What could she say? “Kind of.”
His eyes were now lit with amusement. “At least you’re not lying to me.”
“I wouldn’t lie to you.” Not about work, anyway.
He pulled up a chair, crossed his legs, and grinned. “I can’t wait to hear what’s been going on, Miss Harper.”
Fanny sincerely hoped that Nelson was about to appear with her coffee because, for the first time in her life, she couldn’t think of a single thing to say.