11
GILLY
Monday sucked ass. Mondays were normally shitty, but this one was worse than ever. First, I had to leave Daddy Nate and wouldn’t probably see him again for a few days. I was beginning to really enjoy our weekends together and never wanted them to end. It didn’t even matter what we were doing. Playing at the park, watching cartoons, nursing while he read my Ellie book to me, or even just having adult time. I loved it all because I got to be with him.
But it was Monday, and Mondays were the worst.
No Daddy, and I had to solve a bunch of problems that weren’t even mine. One job site didn’t have the right paint, and the team nearly painted a client’s house the wrong color. Then one of my workers, Jacob, fell off the scaffolding. I took him to the ER and got him checked in, ensuring they had all our insurance information before I left. Thankfully, I hadn’t let the workers compensation insurance lapse.
Then I took off early, but only so I could look at the books. After barely making payroll last week, I had to see what I could do and make sure it wasn’t as bad as I thought.
Hours later, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get the bank records to balance with mine. Income and expenses were off, and I wasn’t sure how much cash we even had on hand. After reviewing it a few more times, I was in tears and ready to give up.
Uncle Clay was on some kind of trip, so I couldn’t call him since it was his scheduled vacation. He was in semi-retirement mode and loved to travel, and I didn’t blame him since he’d worked so hard his entire life, he’d earned it. I couldn’t bug him about this, and if I couldn’t figure it out, I shouldn’t be running the company. Period.
I wanted my binky and my Daddy, but since I couldn’t have either, I focused on what I could have. He always said he’d help me with anything I needed, maybe he could help with this. I grabbed my phone and called him.
“Marshall Contract and Build.”
“Nate?”
“Yes. Uh, Gilly?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you alright?”
“No. Not really. I’m having trouble balancing the books for Bateman.”
“That’s your uncle’s company?”
“Yes. And I’m having problems paying the bills and making payroll, so I need to figure this out, but my brain feels likemush.” What was I missing? Suddenly the numbers that once made sense were totally out of whack.
“Are you home or at work?”
“At my uncle’s. He has an office set up in the garage that we work out of.”
“Text me the address, and I’ll be right over.”
He was going to drop everything and come to help me? “Are you sure?”
“Of course, anything, and I’m nearly done for the day anyway.”
“If it’s okay, that would be great, I could use the help.” I texted him the address, and twenty minutes later, he pulled up in the driveway. I waved to him, and when he got out, he came up and hugged me. That made me feel better already. “Thanks for coming.”
“It’s no problem at all. Let’s go see what the issues are.”
Nate pored over the books for the last month and looked at the bank statement. Then we worked together to reconcile everything, and we were still off, but at least it was closer. “It must be something from a few months back.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.” I sighed. “But we’re pretty sure this is the balance and nothing else is outstanding.” I tapped the screen on the laptop. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
“I agree.”
“I should also be getting more payments this week as we wrap up a few of the jobs we’ve been working on. So as long as they aren’t late, it should be okay.” I hoped, but something wasn’t sitting right with me.
“I agree, but this isn’t sustainable long-term. Even if you figure out what’s throwing off the balance, there may still be an underlying issue.”
“I know, but I can’t do much about it.”
