They were back to a business discussion.
“Four.”
“What’s your recommendation?”
“I believe in giving people a second chance, but his pattern isn’t promising. And his attitude about the drug test was more defiant than remorseful. I think we should let him go. Would you like to talk to him, do your own assessment, and see if you concur?”
Martin picked up a pen. Tapped the end on the desk. “No. I trust your judgment. Why don’t you and Peg meet with him to pass on the bad news?”
His boss was giving him the authority to work with their HR/office manager on a personnel issue instead of handling it himself, as usual?
Martin must be seriously rattled if he was ceding some of his control.
“Okay. I’ll take care of it.” He rose and started toward the door.
“Aaron.” At this boss’s summons, he angled back. “In case I’ve been remiss in telling you, your work here has been outstanding. I was worried when Harv retired two years ago, but you’ve more than filled his shoes. To tell you the truth, I don’t know what I’d do without you these days. You’re a natural for this business.”
At the words of praise from a boss who tended to criticize more than compliment, Aaron’s spirits took an uptick. It was always heartening to have hard work acknowledged.
“I appreciate that.”
Martin waved his thanks aside. “It was long overdue. And I’m sorry if I’ve been more short-tempered than usual lately. If you run into any issues with Wade, let me know. But I expect you and Peg are more than capable of dealing with this situation.”
“Tag-teaming it with her will help. I’ll keep you in the loop.”
He exited, closing the door behind him, and strode down the hall to get the termination process rolling.
Bad day for Wade.
But a good day for him. One that reaffirmed his decision to leave the corporate world behind.
This was where he belonged.
It was where Martin belonged too. Sap ran in the man’s veins.
But a job didn’t have to control your life.
And maybe, if his boss could figure out how to better balance the competing demands of mill and marriage, he might be able to convince his wife to give him the second chance Wade wasn’t going to get.
“This is delicious, Lauren.” Devyn forked another bite of lasagna. “You’re a fabulous cook.”
Though she waved off the compliment, a flush spread over her sister’s cheeks. “Lasagna is easy.”
“Not for me.”
“You could learn. I did, after you and Mom left. Dad tried to cook, but he was a disaster in the kitchen.”
“Mom wasn’t much better.” Devyn twirled a string of cheese around the tines of her fork. “Remember the day she tried to bake cookies and forgot about them after she put them in the oven?”
Lauren snickered. “Who could forget? There was smoke everywhere, and the house reeked for weeks. Cooking definitely wasn’t among her skills. But Dad never complained. And he never stopped loving her, even after she divorced him and married the rich guy from France.” She stabbed a green bean. “I guess the till-death-do-us-part vow doesn’t mean much anymore. First Mom, now Dennis.”
From what little Lauren had revealed about her marriage, her ex didn’t seem to be a great loss.
But she left that unsaid.
“I think that vow still matters to a lot of people.” She let a beat pass. “You know, I never understood how Mom and Dad ended up together to begin with. They were nothing alike.”
“I can’t speak to what Dad saw in Mom other than the aura of glamour she cultivated, but I thinkshewas just desperate to get out of a bad situation at home. Her mother died young, and her father drank too much.”
