Giving It All (6 page)

“You’re terrible,” Ellie said. Her heart sank a little as Mary Ellen’s words rang true. Grant had only been home one day, so most people would wait to come for a visit, but by next week, Mrs. Anderson would be overwhelmed.

“The more I think about it, the more I think you’re going to need to help run interference for Sue. She’s got enough to do with doctor appointments and physical therapy and who knows what else. She doesn’t need a gaggle of idiot women clucking around trying to be the next Mrs. Grant Anderson.”

“I was thinking along those same lines. I’ll try to talk to Grant about it. He was a Navy SEAL, I’m sure he can figure out a way to keep a bunch of overly friendly women from outstaying their welcome.”

“Honey, he may have been some super-duper soldier, but he’s still a
man
, and they just don’t see some women for the blood-thirsty creatures they are. He’s going to need help. In fact, hmmm…”

“I don’t like the look on your face,” Ellie said. Mary Ellen was a known meddler, and Ellie could practically see the wheels turning in her head.

“It’s nothing, really. I was just thinking if Grant said he had a girlfriend, all those busybodies would leave him alone. And who better than you?”

“No. Absolutely not. Stop that thought right now. I am not getting into a fake relationship just to save Grant from having to play nice with the local ladies. He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.”

“It was just an idea.”

“A bad idea. This isn’t a movie. Things like that never work out in real life.”

“Fine, fine, forget I said anything. I should go now and make sure my house is still standing.”

“I’ll walk you out.” Reluctantly, Ellie put the now sleeping baby back in the carrier and strapped her in. “Oh, did you leave Mrs. Anderson’s dish in the car? I can bring it in for you.”

“What? And ruin a perfectly good excuse to come back when Grant is here and get a look at him? No way. Sue’s done without her casserole dish for this long, she can wait another week.”

Ellie was still laughing as Mary Ellen pulled out of the driveway.

Chapter Six

“That’s funny, the lights are off and there’s a sign on the door,” Grant’s mom said as they pulled into a parking place in front of Anderson’s Automotive. “Your eyes are better than mine, what does it say?” she asked Grant.

“It says out to lunch.”

“Well, that’s unusual. If Greg or Anita had to go to lunch, the other one could cover, they shouldn’t have to close the store. And it’s past two in the afternoon anyway.”

“Why don’t I go in and check it out? You have a key, right?”

“Yes, yes, right here on your father’s key chain.” She handed a heavy key ring to Grant.

“You stay here while I look. Is there a security code?”

“Yes, it’s Dad’s birthday, one zero one seven. But I really don’t think there’s anything wrong. One of them probably had to run out for something.”

“True, but I’ll go first, just in case.” Grant climbed out of the car, wincing a little. He’d overdone it at the gym this morning. That’s what he got for doing the extra set of reps, but it was worth the pain seeing Ellie’s eyes eat him up when he was done.

He was cautious as he approached the door. His gut warned him something was off. There were a few lights on in the back of the store, and as he drew closer, he could hear at least one voice through the door. As quietly as possible, he tested the handle to see if it was locked. It was. Grant picked the key that looked most promising and tried it in the lock.

Bingo.

Clutching the other keys in his hand to still their jangling, he eased the door open and listened for the beep of the alarm. Nothing. Cautiously, he eased the door closed behind him and crept toward the back of the store where the voice was coming from.

“I told you, as soon as I get the shipment, you’ll get your parts. I can’t give you what I don’t have,” the voice shouted.

Grant tried to slip closer so he could get a look at the speaker, but his bionics chose that moment to creak.

“Hey! Who’s out there? Can’t you read? We’re closed.”

A guy Grant could only assume was his cousin Greg came out of the back room holding a cell phone and looking pissed off. He was probably only a few inches shorter than Grant, but he was at least fifty pounds skinnier. His hair was dishwater blond and long enough to be pulled back into a scraggly ponytail. Grant hadn’t seen his cousin for more than an hour or two since he’d left for basic ten years ago. The years hadn’t been kind to Greg.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Your cousin.”

“Grant? Shit, when’d you get so jacked? I didn’t even recognize you. I thought you lost your leg?”

“I did, but only below the knee. How ya doin’?” Grant held out his hand and noted Greg had to wipe his palm on his jeans before he shook hands. Before Grant could ask why the door was locked, his mom came in.

“Aunt Sue? What are you doing here?”

“Hi, dear. Grant just moved back to town, and I wanted to bring him down so he could help you out at the store. I know I haven’t been much help since Ed got sick and I feel just terrible about that.”

“Help out? I don’t know—”

“How’s your momma? She sent a beautiful fruit basket when Ed was in the rehab hospital.”

“She’s fine, likes living in Florida with her sister.”

“That’s great. I know how lonely she was after Tom passed. It’s good to have her family around. Where’s Anita, by the way? Why are you all by yourself?”

“Uh, Aunt Sue, there’s a lot that’s happened since Uncle Ed got sick. I haven’t wanted to bother you with all the details.”

“I’m here now, so you can bother me with those details,” Grant said. Ellie’s bad feeling seemed quite accurate. There was something shady going on with Greg. He wouldn’t make eye contact with either Grant or his mom, he kept shifting his weight from foot to foot and his free hand rubbed his nose constantly. It didn’t take a genius to recognize the nervous tells.

“Well, you know that new big chain auto parts store opened up in Strasburg, and we can’t compete with their prices, so business has trailed off. I had to let Anita go and I’ve been running the store myself.”

“Oh, honey, why didn’t you say something? I could have helped out,” Sue said.

“You had enough on your mind with Uncle Ed. I didn’t want to worry you. How’s he doing, by the way? Is he still paralyzed?”

“Only on one side, and that’s coming along. Just yesterday he lifted his arm. And this morning, I swear his mouth moved more when he smiled. If he keeps working, who knows how much movement he can regain?”

“That’s great,” Greg said.

“So what can I do to help out around here?” Grant asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve got things pretty much covered. As you can see, we’re not overrun with customers.”

“That could have something to do with the out-to-lunch sign out front. Why don’t I take a look at the books? I bet it’s hard to keep up with the paperwork and run the store by yourself too.”

“Ah, I gave the paperwork to a friend who’s working on the books.”

“But you must have backups on your computer.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Sue interrupted. “Ellie’s our accountant. Why would you give the paperwork to your friend?”

“I was just trying to cut costs. He’ll do it for a lot less than Ellie.”

“But Ellie’s been doing our books since she graduated college. She got our inventory computerized and set up our online catalogue too. She does more than just keep our books organized.”

“With all due respect, Aunt Sue, I know this is hard on you, but if I’m going to take over the store, I need to be able to do it without you looking over my shoulder and second-guessing every change I make.”

“Take over the store? What are you talking about?”

“Let’s be realistic, Uncle Ed won’t be coming back to the store. Even if he recovers from the stroke, at his age he’s not going to want to drive to Canton every day.”

“He’s not even sixty yet. He’s not ready to retire, and even if he was, that’s his decision to make. Your momma inherited Tom’s half of the store, Gregory Thomas, not you.”

“And she trusts me to take care of things. Why can’t you?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you.”

“That’s sure what it sounds like. I can handle this. I know I’m not a Navy SEAL like Grant, but I can run this store and make it a success. I’ve already got new suppliers and I have several new clients on the line.”

“New suppliers? We’ve always done business with Georgia Wholesale Distributors. They’ve been in business over fifty years.”

“Times are changing, and you have to keep up with the times. This new supplier is out of Mexico and costs half of what Georgia Wholesale does. If we’re going to compete with the national chains, we have to have competitive prices.”

“Anderson’s Automotive was never about cheap prices. It was about quality products and service. Why, your daddy once hand delivered a spark plug to a man who lived in a cabin in the woods behind Dale.”

“No one cares about that anymore. They want cheap and fast.”

Grant could see his mother was getting more and more upset. “I think we need to discuss the changes at length later. Greg, why don’t you get the paperwork together and show my dad, mom and I what you have in mind? Maybe if you lay it out for us, we can talk about it rationally and find a business plan we can all agree on.”

“You can’t just come in here and take over. I’ve been working in the store since my dad died, and now you’re gonna bust on in and play hero?”

“I said present your business plan to me and my folks, you know, the other half of Anderson’s Automotive, and we can discuss it. I’m not trying to take over, but I will protect my parents’ best interests.”

“And I’m not? I’m trying to make this podunk store into something, man.”

Sue was wringing her hands, looking back and forth at her son and nephew, and Grant knew he had to cut this short. “I appreciate how much effort you’ve put into keeping the store going since my dad had his stroke. It can’t be easy having someone who doesn’t know the business coming in and questioning your decisions. Why don’t we step back a minute and take a breather. Here’s my number, call me when it’s convenient for you to set up a meeting. We both want what’s best for the store and our family. I’m sure if we cooperate, we can come up with something that works for everyone.”

Grant rattled off his number and watched as Greg entered it into his phone. “If you email Ellie the updated account information, she can go over it with me, no charge.”

“Yeah, uh, not all of it is in the system. I haven’t gotten the new supplier logged in yet.”

“That’s okay. You can bring that information when we have our meeting. Sometime next week?” Grant didn’t give him a chance to argue. “C’mon, Mom, let’s head out. I’m sure you want to get back to Dad.”

“I do, I do. I don’t like leaving him for long, even with Ellie. Greg, you say hey to your momma for me. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“G’bye, Aunt Sue. Grant.”

Greg watched them walk out of the store but made no move to take the out-to-lunch sign off the door.

As soon as they were back on the road, Sue pulled out her cell phone. “I’m going to call Anita right now and hire her back. I don’t care what Greg says. She has a family to feed and she’s worked at Anderson’s for ten years.”

“Just hold your horses.” Grant laid his hand over hers before she could dial the phone. “Let’s wait until we can sit down with Ellie and look over the books. I don’t know much about business, but maybe Greg has some good ideas? We can at least hear him out.”

“But cancelling our contract with Georgia Wholesale? They let Dad operate on credit for the first six months we were in business. No one does that nowadays. They took a chance on us, and now Greg is just going to toss them aside like yesterday’s newspaper?”

“Give me a little time to figure out what’s going on with the business. Does Dad keep any information at home? I need to do some research.” And a little after-dark clandestine investigation at the store, but she didn’t need to know about that.

“I’m sure he must have some things in his office, but I don’t know what. I never had all that much to do with the store other than helping out behind the counter when they needed me. Once we hired Anita, I was only there maybe one or two times a week, if that.”

“You said something about Ellie getting the inventory computerized. I thought she was an accountant?”

“She is, but when she started doing our taxes for us, she was appalled at Dad’s old-fashioned bookkeeping and kept at him until he let her install a whole new system. Lord, how your father hated that computer for the first month. I thought he was going to take a sledge hammer to it at least ten different times.”

“What changed his mind?” Grant had a hard time picturing his father behind a keyboard.

“The next time Ellie had to do the quarterly taxes, she was able to pull up all the information and turn in the paperwork online in next to no time. Suddenly, Dad thought it was a wonderful thing to have all the inventory, sales and expenses online. A year or so later, she built our website, although someone else maintains it for us. She doesn’t have the time to keep up with the day-to-day stuff.”

“What program did she install?” He didn’t know a lot about software, but his buddy Dingo was a computer whiz. Grant made a mental note to send Dingo a text to gather some intel.

“She created one for the store herself. Said there was nothing available that would do what she wanted, and since she was doing the taxes, she knew exactly what she needed.”

“Hold on, she
created
her own software program? That’s not something most accountants do.”

“I know. Which is why I’m madder than a wet hen that Greg fired her. And she didn’t say a word to me about it either. I’m going to have words with that girl.”

“Mom, how did Ellie know how to develop this program?”

“Oh, she double majored in computer engineering and accounting. Said she wanted to keep her options open. She was always a whiz at math and took to computers like a duck to water. If her grandma’s health hadn’t been so poor, she could have gone to M.I.T., she was offered a full scholarship there.”

“I think I remember her taking the senior math classes when the old high school closed down and we all went to Canton Regional, but she was two years younger than me and I didn’t really notice her.”

“For heaven’s sake, she lived
next door.
How could you miss her?”

“I was more interested in girls who looked like Chastity than in brainiacs in high school.”

“Just because she didn’t have breasts the size of watermelons was no reason for you to overlook her.”

“Mom, I was a teenage boy,
all
I noticed were breasts.”

“Well,” she said with a huff, “I’m glad to see you’ve matured in the last ten years.”

“Absolutely. Now I notice legs too, and Ellie’s go all the way up to her neck.”

“Grant Edward!”

“Relax, I’m teasing you.” Sort of. Ellie’s legs really did go on for miles, and he’d noticed them, all right.

“You could do worse than a girl like Ellie, you know. I never said anything about Chastity because she was your choice and I knew you were head over heels in love with her, but she was never the right girl for you.”

“Mom, what happened between me and Chastity was as much my fault as hers. It isn’t easy being married to someone who’s gone for months at a time.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about, although it isn’t like she didn’t know what you were gonna be doing before she married you. She was happy enough to brag to anyone who would listen about how her boyfriend was in the SEALs.”

“We were so young. And thank you for not saying I told you so.”

“Oh, honey, I can’t cast any stones. Your father and I got married the day after I turned eighteen. We didn’t have two nickels to rub together, but I loved him so much I couldn’t wait. I’m not talking about that. Chastity isn’t a bad person. Well, not completely bad, but it’s always been all about her. She had to be the center of attention and the center of your world. She loved the idea that you were going to be a SEAL because it was a feather in
her
cap, not because it was something you wanted and worked darn hard for.”