Christmas in Bayberry

Inside the candle company, she brushed the snow off her coat and hung it up. She carried the tray of cookies into the kitchen, where she bumped into Wes. “Hi. You’re in early.”

He filled a coffee mug. “I didn’t get any work done this weekend, so I thought I’d get an early start.”

“Sorry. It was my fault.”

“Don’t be. I had a really good time.” He smiled, setting her stomach aflutter.

She placed the tray of cookies on the counter and removed the plastic wrap. “Want one?”

He arched a brow as he took a snowman cookie. “Did you make these?”

She nodded. “I had some time on my hands last night.”

He studied the very full tray. “Looks like you had a lot of time.”

“I had a lot on my mind.” And today she would get some answers. “Speaking of which, I need to get to work. I’ll see you later.”

She hurried out of the kitchen, but got sidetracked by a couple of employees. There was a problem with an order.

It was nearing lunchtime by the time Kate made it to the conference room where she had established a makeshift office. She sat down and opened up her laptop. Immediately, her email window popped up on the screen. She had mail. Lots of mail.

She opened the first email. It was in response to the quotes she’d requested. The tone of the note was friendly. The vendor was happy to have a chance to bid on the candle company’s account. She was impressed at how quickly they’d gotten back to her. Apparently, Wes wasn’t the only one to get a jump on the week.

“Is everything all right?”

Kate glanced up to find Wes propped against the door jamb. “Yes, fine.”

“It’s just that you rushed out of the kitchen so fast I was worried something might be wrong. But then you got pulled away before I could find out.”

She shook her head. “I wanted to see if we’d gotten any responses to our quote requests, and the first one just came in. I was just about to compare it to the existing contract.”

Wes’s brows rose. “That was fast. Would you like some help?”

She didn’t need any help, but she didn’t want to pass up the offer to spend more time with him. “Sure. Come on in.”

He took a seat while she pulled up the corresponding contract. Together they evaluated the terms and numbers, and found that the new vendor would be able to provide substantial cost reductions.

Wes seemed pleased. And Kate was too, initially, but then she started to think about the implications of dropping a vendor. She knew what it felt like to end up in a crunch, especially over the holidays.

“What’s the matter?” Wes’s voice drew her from her thoughts.

“I was just thinking that my suppliers might be financially hurting as much as we are.”

Wes smiled at her. “Did anyone tell you you have the biggest heart?”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

And then he set to work on the laptop. His fingers raced over the keyboard. She wondered what he was up to, but she remained quiet as she waited for him to finish.

“See this?” He pushed the laptop around so she could see the monitor. “Your existing supplier is projected to have record profits this year. You don’t have to worry about going with someone else.”

“How did you find that?”

He showed her. “But you can only get this information for companies that are publicly traded.”

As they continued to discuss the new quote, another quote came in. It was also cheaper than what their current supplier could offer. Kate knew they were headed in the right direction, but she was wondered if the savings would be enough.