скачать книгу бесплатно
“I don’t know. Maybe. That doesn’t seem like the Jack I remember, but maybe the military and war changed him.” Patrice didn’t have to finish the rest.
Changed him. And not for the better.
Just as Olivia thought. Change was, at this point in her life, her absolute worst enemy, and right now Jack Sullenberger was captaining that particular moving ship.
Chapter Four (#ulink_27129e0d-0899-5e8f-bcc5-fa299b5a07c5)
Jack knew his firing of Perry had rattled the tight-knit day-shift crew yesterday. They were still subdued and somber today. Everyone, even Olivia, had shown up for work extraordinarily early and no one was goofing off or joking around.
He hated to be the bad guy, but Dad had been too passive in dealing with insubordination and misconduct. Behavior like Perry’s could end up being bad for business.
He’d done the right thing by setting a precedent.
Yet he felt the gap widening between himself and his employees over it.
“Hey, Jack, the appliance delivery company is on the line.” Patrice held up the cordless phone as lunch customers walked through the jingling door.
“Patch them through.” When his office phone beeped, he punched a button. “Jack Sullenberger speaking.”
“Yes, sir. Eagle Point Appliances. How are you today?” a chipper female voice asked.
Dismal. “Fine. What’s up?”
“Well, aren’t we Mr. No Nonsense again today,” the clerk teased in cooing tones.
Jack rubbed his temple, willing away the oncoming headache as she chattered on. She sounded like the same gal who’d flirted relentlessly with him when he’d gone in to order the new washer and dryer for the diner yesterday, after his evening visit with Dad.
Yes, loneliness resided that felt like a canyon was widening inside his chest more every year. But he’d seen enough emotional and psychological pain between his parents in his growing-up years to last a lifetime—and to sufficiently keep him away from any marriage-minded woman.
As far as Jack was concerned, he was married to the military.
“Listen,” he interrupted her. “We’re kinda busy here. Could you get to the point?”
Silence. He heard a brief huff, then, “With the impending threat of bad winter weather, we’d like to deliver the washer and dryer early,” she said in a more professional tone, yet laced with enough saccharine and sarcasm to let him know she felt rebuffed and wasn’t happy about it. “Today, if possible, since the storm’s supposed to get worse tomorrow and terrible the day after.”
“That’s fine.”
“One issue is that all of our delivery drivers are out and we may need manpower for lifting.”
“Not a problem. I’ll be here and we’ve got strong guys to help.”
After writing the delivery time on the calendar, Jack hung up when the clerk attempted to turn the conversation personal again. He didn’t have time for this nonsense.
His dad’s rickety office chair squealed as Jack swiveled to peer at the diner’s ancient computer monitor. Yesterday, the loan officer had mentioned sending digital reminders. Up until then, Jack hadn’t realized Dad had a diner email account. “What’s the password to the diner’s email address?” Jack called to Olivia, who was stacking server ware across the hall on the stainless steel shelving. “And why are you putting that stuff there?”
Olivia started to furrow her brows then recovered quickly. “‘I don’t remember,’ and this is where Sully wants the plates stacked.” She turned to get a tray of cups.
Вы ознакомились с фрагментом книги.
Для бесплатного чтения открыта только часть текста.
Приобретайте полный текст книги у нашего партнера:
