‘Whatcha doin’?’ the little voice asked as I was sharpening the chain on my chainsaw.
‘Hey sweetie, just getting ready to get a Christmas Tree.’ I replied. ‘Do you have one up already?’
She shook her head, ‘Momma said that it’s ‘pensive so maybe next year.’ She replied with a sigh.
Sammi with an ‘I’ was my four-year old neighbor. And it was Sammi, not Samantha, although that’s what her mom yelled out when Sammi was in trouble. Young enough to find happiness and fun with the everyday trappings of life, but old enough to know that difficult times meant doing without. Something that her mom and she had to deal with ever since her mom got laid off because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
They had moved next door about two years ago. Sammi must have been around two years old and still a toddler. Never saw a father figure and I later learned that her mom and dad were divorced.
I tried to help Renee, her mom, but she was a proud woman and wasn’t inclined to accept anyone’s help. I had offered to help with the lawn care but even that was turned down. And now that there was two or three inches of the white stuff on the ground, the yard didn’t need much looking after. So I just shoveled the snow off her driveway whenever I did mine.
‘Sammi!’ her mom yelled out from their house, ‘where are you?’
‘Mommy, I’m next door talking with Petey.’ She yelled back in reply.
Renee looked out their front window and waved. Sammi and I waved back.
‘Hey, I got an idea. Why don’t you ask your mom if both of you can come with me to get a Christmas Tree for your house?’ I asked.
Her face lit up with a huge smile moments before she was running back to her house yelling at the top of her lungs, ‘Mommy! Mommy! Petey asked if we could go with him to get a Christmas Tree!’
I laughed as I returned to the task of sharpening the chain.
A few minutes later I heard the crunch of their footsteps on the icy surface of the snow on her lawn as Renee walked over holding Sammi’s hand. Sammi was going a mile a minute asking for her mom’s permission to go with me to get a tree.
‘Hey Petey,’ Renee greeted me as she walked up. ‘Sammi said that you invited us to go with you to get a Christmas Tree?’
‘Yep, there are several hundred acres of Douglas, Spruce and Scotch pines around town. If you’re interested, I would be happy to take you and Sammi to get a tree for Christmas. I was planning to get one for myself as well.’
She nodded her head, ‘If it’s not too much trouble. Thanks Petey. Let me get miss fireball bundled up and we’ll be right back.’
I smiled back, ‘see you in a few, then.’
I finished up the sharpening and made sure that the oil reservoir on the chain saw was full. Then gas can, chain saw, ropes, and a hatchet went into the tool box on the back of my truck.
I went back into my house to put the hot water kettle on and fixed up two thermoses of hot chocolate. That and a bag of chocolate chip cookies that my niece had made, went into my backpack. Then I grabbed two heavy blankets from the hallway closet along with my squall jacket, beanie cap and gloves and started to load up the truck.
Renee and Sammi came over as I finished loading up and Renee had a backpack as well.
‘Thanks Petey,’ Renee said as I helped them into my King Cab.
‘No problem, I love having the company. Hey, do we need a car seat for Sammi?’ I asked.
‘Yeah we should. If you can pull up in my driveway we can take the one in my car.’
We transferred the car seat over to my truck and buckled Sammi in.
‘All set?’ I asked.
‘Yay!’ Sammi yelled out as Renee smiled.
We had driven to the outskirts of town when Renee asked, ‘Do you know where we can find a tree?’
‘Yep, been doing this for years. Most of us who grew up around here have been getting our trees from the hillsides around town for as long as we can remember.’
‘You grew up around here?’ Renee asked.
‘Yep. Born and raised, then went off to school on the east coast. Worked in Boston for a number of years before I came back.’
‘What do you do?’ she asked.
‘I write apps. Started off with HP while I was in school. Did a summer with HP as an intern and that got me hooked. It’s something that I have fun doing.’
‘Do you still do that?’
‘Yeah. Although I don’t work for HP anymore. I have contracts with several software companies to enhance existing apps as well as work on new apps for them.’
‘That must be interesting.’
‘Most of the time it is. I work with a bunch of guys and we collaborate on things as well as work independently. What do you do?’ I asked.
‘Well, I used to be the controller for Alpine Industries, but they had to downsize because of the pandemic and I hear that they might be closing the shop.’
‘Controller, so you must be an accountant?’
‘Well, not a licensed CPA, but I do have my accounting degree and have six years of experience working as one.’
‘I guess no one’s in the hiring mode right now?’ I asked.
She grimaced, ‘Yeah, unfortunately. I’ve tried and I’ve got my resume out with different people, but so far it’s been pretty dismal.’
‘Mommy, what’s dismal mean?’ Sammi asked.
Renee turned to Sammi and replied, ‘it means not very good.’
‘Oh.’ I could hear the gears engaging behind that little one’s ears. She knew that things hadn’t been good.
‘Mr. Petey?’ Sammi asked, ‘Do you have family?’
‘I sure do,’ I replied. ‘I have a mom and dad, and a sister and her husband and a niece a little older than you.’
‘Mommy and I have a grandpa and grandma but they live far away.’
‘Do you talk with them sometimes?’ I asked.
‘Yeah. Mommy and I talk to them on the phone sometimes.’
‘That’s good. It must be nice to hear their voice.’
‘Yeah, but I wish they could come and visit us.’
‘I’m sure they would if they could. Hey, how tall a tree do you want to get?’ I asked.
‘Let’s get the tallest tree we can find!’ Sammi yelled out.
Renee smiled, ‘It has to fit in our house, honey. So it can’t be too tall.’
By that time I had left the main highway and had taken a side road that led up into the mountains to an area that I have harvested trees from ever since I was a teenager. I slipped the truck into four-wheel drive as we got to the end of the street and crept up the road that had rapidly become little more than a gravel and rock trail.
We drove in for another half mile or so before the forest opened up and I parked in a clearing.
The area had been logged many years ago and the regrowth was now anywhere between six to twenty feet tall.
‘Wow!’ Sammi yelled out. ‘Mommy look at all the Christmas Trees!’ as we climbed down from the truck.
She got out and ran around looking and touching as many trees as she could. Renee wasn’t too far behind as she tried to keep up with Sammi.
I slowly scanned the trees around us and it looked like there were several really nice trees close by. I walked over to a tree that must have been ten feet or taller and gave it a walk around. I didn’t find any gaping holes and the shape of the tree looked pretty nice.
‘Sammi, what do you think about this one?’ I called out.
Sammi came running over followed by Renee. She walked around it nodding her head and smiling.
‘Mommy let’s get this one.’
Renee looked at it and said, ‘It looks kind of tall.’
‘Not to worry. I need to take a foot or more off the bottom so it will end up being a six to seven footer by the time that we get it home.’
Renee nodded her head, ‘in that case, this looks pretty nice.’
‘Ok then.’ I tied a streamer to it so we could find it easily when I came back with the chain saw.
‘Mr. Petey! Mr. Petey!’ Sammi called out. ‘Look at this one!’
And Sammi had found a beauty, but it was around fifteen to twenty feet tall.
‘Oh it’s so tall,’ Renee said.
‘I have just the place for this one,’ I smiled as I tied a streamer to it.
‘Will it fit in your house, Mr. Petey?’ Sammi asked.
‘Yep. You haven’t been in my house, have you?’
‘Nope,’ Sammi replied.
‘It’s no I haven’t’ Renee corrected her.
Sammi grinned, ‘No I haven’t Mr. Petey, but you can show me your house when we get back.’
Renee groaned, ‘Did you just invite yourself over to Mr. Petey’s house?’
I laughed. ‘You’re welcome to come over any time. Both of you. Actually you can help me put the tree up when we get back.’
‘Yay!’ Sammi cheered.
I got my chainsaw out from the truck and gassed it up. Primed the carburetor, set the choke and gave the rope a pull. Started right up; lucky me.
The two trees were on the ground in no time and I even trimmed the bottom branches on both trees.
‘I’ll wait to give the bottoms their final trims just before we put them in the stands.’ I explained as I tied a rope to the bottom of the taller tree.
I made a loop and put it over my shoulder then used it to drag the tree over to my pickup, and into the truck bed. Luckily the tree was new growth so the tree trunk wasn’t thick and heavy. The smaller of the trees was a simple matter so I just carried it over my shoulder and put it on top of the larger tree, then tied the whole bundle down so it wouldn’t fall out of the truck for any reason.
Sammi was bouncing around the truck when Renee asked, ‘What do you say to Mr. Petey?’
‘Thank you!’ she yelled out as she hugged me. ‘Thank you Mr. Petey. Now it will be a for real Christmas!’
Renee just had a sad smile on her face. And I could guess why. Without a job she was probably trying to conserve as much of her cash as she could. Unemployment only goes so far.
We jumped back in the truck and I hauled out the thermos with the hot chocolate and the cookies.
‘We better warm up before we get going. Anyone want some hot chocolate?’ I asked.
The hot chocolate and cookies were a hit with both Sammi and Renee. As the warmth of the hot chocolate warmed her up, Sammi got quiet and leaned back in her car seat. She fell asleep before we began the drive back home.
‘Thanks Petey. We weren’t planning on buying a tree this year. I’ve been out of work and I have to be careful with our budget.’
‘No problems Renee. It must be really tough to stay ahead of the bills when you’re not working.’
She nodded her head, “All I have now is unemployment and a little savings. We seem to manage somehow.” And I could hear a quiet sniffle or two as I drove us back home.
I looked over at Renee and she had leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. I leaned over and took one of her hands and gave it a squeeze.
‘Things will get better. It won’t be like this forever.’ I told her.
She squeezed my hand in return. ‘Thanks Petey. It may not seem like it but I really appreciate everything you’ve done for us. It’s just hard for me to accept charity. Maybe I’m just being too hard on myself.’
‘Let me help where I can. And it’s not charity. It’s not a handout. It’s neighbors helping neighbors.’
She smiled back at me and squeezed my hand again and held on to it all the way back.
I parked in their driveway when we got back. Reversing in, I unloaded their tree, took my chainsaw out and trimmed the bottom inch from their tree while Renee and Sammi went looking for their tree stand.
Taking off my boots, I walked their tree into their house while Renee made room for their tree in their living room. Renee and Sammi tightened the bolts holding their tree to the stand. Then I stood it upright. After a few adjustments, it looked just perfect.
‘Can you help us decorate the tree?’ Sammi asked.
‘After I get my tree up. You gonna help me do that?’ I asked.
‘Yay!’ Sammi cheered.
I jumped back into my truck and drove over to my house, driving down the side of the house to the back, lower level. What most people don’t know is that my house is a split level house. From the front of the house, the roof line doesn’t give much away but the back half of the house is six feet lower than the front half. So the ceiling in my great room is more than twenty feet tall. You couldn’t even see the bottom level from the side unless you went back far enough.
‘Wow,’ Renee said as they walked up to the back of the house. ‘I knew there was something different with your house, but I didn’t expect this.’
I retrieved my tree stand and put it on the bottom of the tree after I trimmed it. Then I dragged and carried it in while Renee and Sammi watched. I leaned it against an interior wall then slowly walked it upright. Renee had me adjust the lean, then tightened the screws while I held the tree upright.
With a couple of light strings and ornaments, the tree would look fantastic.
‘Thanks for your help.’ I told them. Sammi beamed her happiness while Renee just hugged me.
‘Come on, let’s put the truck away then get to tree decorating. You guys need any help?’ I asked.
‘You can help me put the ornaments on the top of the tree,’ Sammi told me.
Renee smiled, ‘yeah, why not. Come on over. We can always use the company.’
I laughed, ‘Ok, I’ll put the truck away and shuck the coat and boots then I’ll be over.’
Renee had their decorations out of storage by the time I got there. Sammi was helping her put the light strings up but needed my height to reach the top of their tree. They could have done so with a chair or step stool but my height made it easy to do so.
I hoisted Sammi onto my shoulders and handed her the light string. She shrieked at first then began to giggle and laugh as she leaned over to the tree and laid the light string in the upper branches.
Renee was smiling the entire time watching both of us. The rest of the decorations took another hour before we called it quits. And their tree looked magnificent.
‘How about your tree Mr. Petey?’ Sammi asked.
‘I think we’re running out of daylight and it’s almost time for dinner so I think I’ll get to it tomorrow. Want to come over to help tomorrow?’ I asked.
‘Can we mom?’
Renee nodded her head, ‘I think it’s only right that we help since Mr. Petey helped us with our tree.’
‘Yay!’
‘Do you two have any plans for dinner?’ I asked.
‘Oh, no, but we couldn’t impose….’ Renee started out.
‘Nothing special. I just have a beef stew in the fridge that needs to be warmed up.’
‘Can we mom?’ Sammi asked, bouncing up and down as only a four-year old could.
‘Pete, remember what I said about charity?’
I smiled, ‘Just being neighborly.’
Renee smirked, ‘Ok, but you have to let us bring something.’
‘Your appetites?’
‘Seriously.’
‘Yes, seriously. I have everything else.’
Renee sighed, ‘I don’t think you’ll take no either.’
‘Nope. You two are my most favorite neighbors in the whole world.’
Sammi laughed and hugged me. ‘Mr. Petey, you’re my favorite neighbor also!’
I went home to clean up a bit and took the stew out of the fridge and put it on the stove to heat up. Rolls from the pantry went into the oven to heat up. Then the doorbell rang.
I let them in and it was the first time they had been in my home besides the great room in the back.
‘Wow,’ Renee said as she took in the open floor plan that led to the great room downstairs. You could see the top part of the Christmas Tree from where they stood. Off to the right were a guest bedroom and bathroom. To the left was the kitchen, dining room, master bedroom, another bedroom and another bathroom.
‘Come on in. We’re eating in the kitchen.’ I told them as I showed them into the kitchen.
‘Nice home Petey,’ Renee mentioned as we walked to the kitchen.
‘Thanks. I had it built when I moved back.’
We sat around the kitchen counter with bowls of steaming beef stew and rolls.
‘This is good,’ Renee remarked after several minutes.
‘Thanks. Glad you like it.’
‘Thank you Mr. Petey for today.’ Sammi said. ‘I really like the Christmas Tree that you got for us.’
‘Yes, thanks Petey. We really appreciate everything you’ve done for us.’
‘You’re welcome. Anyone want more stew? There’s still a lot left in the pot.’
After we cleaned up the kitchen we went to the front living room and rested our full stomachs in front of the TV.
‘So where do your parents live?’ I asked Renee.
‘They moved to Gainesville several years back. I think they wanted to live where it wouldn’t snow.’
I laughed. ‘Yeah, shoveling sidewalks and driveways can be an issue when we get older.’
‘Thanks for today Pete. I can’t remember the last time Sammi and I had such a good time.’
‘Anytime Renee. I enjoyed myself also. Sammi’s a treasure and I enjoy your company a lot also.’
She took my hand, ‘I wish I could be stronger and be more self sufficient but not having a job is a problem.’
‘It would be for anyone. But you have me. Anytime for any reason, let me know if you need help.’ I said as I squeezed her hand. ‘I mean it. For any reason.’
‘Can I give you a hug?’ she asked.
‘Anytime. And no need to ask.’ I said as we hugged.
We remained in each others arms for another half hour before Renee decided that they needed to get back home and get ready to sleep. As you can expect, Sammi had fallen asleep.
Renee was about to wake her up when I suggested, ‘Let me carry her back home.’
I leaned over and gently cradled her as I picked her up and moved her over to my shoulder. Sammi’s arms went around my neck sort of reflexively. Renee could only smile as we walked over to their home.
‘Where should I put her?’ I asked.
‘You might as well put her in her bed. I don’t think she’ll wake up until tomorrow.’
So that’s what I did. Renee pulled back the blankets on her bed while I placed her in it. I took off her shoes and socks while Renee got her pajamas out. I left the room while Renee changed Sammi into her PJ’s.
‘Thanks for today,’ Renee said as she came out of Sammi’s bedroom.
I hugged her. ‘You’re welcome. And I enjoyed being out with both of you also. Made my day.’
‘Good night Pete.’ Renee said just before she gave me a quick kiss. Surprised me but that definitely made me happy.
The next morning I woke up with a mission. Christmas was three days away, enough time for what I wanted to do. Renee’s and Sammi’s Christmas Tree looked lonesome but I intended to correct that today and tomorrow.
First things first, a call to Renee.
‘Hey, good morning.’ I said as Renee picked up the phone.
‘Morning Pete. I was going to ask how you were but it’s pretty obvious that you’re doing ok.’
I laughed, ‘Yes, very well, thank you. I had a couple of excellent helpers yesterday and they made my day so much better.’
I could feel Renee blush over the phone.
‘The reason I called was to let you know that I would be out this morning but back after lunch. If you and Sammi are still up to help me decorate the tree, you can come over anytime in the afternoon.’
‘Ok. Thanks for letting me know. I think Sammi would kill me if we didn’t go over to help decorate your tree. So we’ll see you sometime in the afternoon.’
‘Great! See you then.’
I spent the morning running around town picking up things for Sammi and Renee.
Sammi was the easy one to buy for. Four-year old daughters were focused on toys and young girly stuff. I had her gifts well in hand inside of an hour. But what to get for Renee that wouldn’t upset her? Knowing how she felt about charity, something material would probably not sit well with her. But I wanted her gift to be special.
I got back home in the early afternoon. Sammi saw me drive in and was waving from their living room window. Of course, I waved back. I had her presents in the trunk of my car so that’s where they would stay for now; at least until I had a chance to gift wrap them for Christmas Day without them knowing.
Sammi and Renee came over a few minutes later.
‘Sammi couldn’t wait till you got home,’ Renee let me know as they walked through my doorway.
I laughed, ‘Well it’s good to see you too. Did you have lunch?’ I asked.
‘Thanks Mr. Petey, we had pizza.’ Sammi reported, ‘my favorite.’
‘That’s for being such a good girl yesterday.’ Renee said.
They helped me take out the lights and decorations from a hallway closet while I retrieved a ladder from my storeroom. Two hours later we had my tree decorated and lit.
‘Mr. Petey! Your tree looks so beautiful!’ Sammi yelled at the top of her lungs while Renee cringed. I laughed.
‘It’s beautiful because you and your mom helped. Don’t you see the love that went into decorating the tree? This is special.’ I told Sammi.
‘Come on, you can help me with one last task this afternoon.’ I told them.
‘What do you need help with?’ Sammi asked as I led them into the kitchen.
‘Well I have these Christmas brownies and cookies that are going to be stale unless we eat them. So you can help with that.’ I replied as I put the hot water kettle on.
They laughed while Sammi was bouncing up and down, ‘oooh, brownies.’
An hour later we were in a chocolate daze from the hot chocolate and brownies.
‘Thanks Petey, that was wonderful,’ Renee said. ‘This week has probably been one of the best weeks that we’ve had in quite a while.’
‘You’re welcome. And it’s been one of the better weeks that I’ve had in quite a while also. Thanks to you and Sammi.’
Sammi was smiling as she finished off her hot chocolate.
‘Well kiddo, I think we’d better start thinking of getting home.’ Renee told Sammi.
Sammi nodded her head as she got down off her chair and put her jacket on.
‘Thanks for coming over to help with the tree,’ I told them. Sammi hugged me followed by a hug from Renee.
‘Anytime, Petey. Anytime.’
‘I have an idea. Would you like to come over and join me for Christmas dinner on the eve?’ I asked them.
‘Can we?’ Sammi asked.
Renee replied, ‘only if we can bring something.’
‘Well, I have a bird in the refer so how about you make the stuffing?’
‘What else can we bring?’
‘I have everything else. But you and Sammi can help mash the potatoes when you get here.’
With that decided, they left for their home while I went out to my car and brought in their gifts and wrapped them and placed them around my Christmas Tree.
I still had not figured out what to get for Renee. I racked my brain trying to think of something that would be meaningful for her but would not be considered by Renee as a charity offering. Then it dawned on me; a job. That’s what Renee needed most of all. A job to enable her to earn a living and restore some self esteem. A job.
But who did I know that might have need an accountant? What could I do to help?
As I was pondering the question, my phone’s video messaging app started buzzing indicated that I had a video call. I picked it up and it was one of my app writing collaborators, Mark.
‘Happy Holidays Peter!’
‘Hey, Happy Holidays to you Mark. What’s up?’
‘Been thinking about our arrangement and I think there’s more business to be had if we were able to present a larger presence to potential customers.’
I thought about it for a moment and agreed, ‘yeah, makes sense. A larger organization would hint that the group had talents that could be applied to most situations.’
Mark nodded his head, ‘yeah, that’s my thinking.’
‘Have you talked with the others?’ I asked.
‘Not yet. I wanted to bounce the idea off you first.’
‘How many writers were you thinking of?’ I asked.
‘Well, there are nine of us already, but I think we need to pickup some skills sets in the financial and accounting area.’
‘As in people who know how accounting skills are applied in different settings?’
‘Precisely. Someone who has practical accounting and bookkeeping experience.’
‘Would we be competing against off-the-shelf software?’ I asked.
‘No, there’s no market in doing that. But I think that perhaps we can suggest to some of the more popular accounting software companies that we would be interested in customizing their accounting software for their upper end clients; those who purchase enterprise suites. I think that end user market would also be willing to pay for custom tweaking of the basic software package to meet their specific needs.’
‘Let me give it a think and get back to you on that. Just off the top of my head, I think that this might be a good idea.’
‘By the way, you interested in being our defacto leader?
‘Me? Why me?’
‘Because everyone looks up to you.’
‘Bullshit. Who told you that?’
‘I’m not kidding Peter.’
‘Mark, look, the person who we should be thinking of should be someone who can think globally and not just about the code that they write.’
‘Yeah, I agree. So what’s your point?’
‘Well, my point is that I’m not sure that I’m that person.’
Mark laughed. ‘Yes you are.’
‘No I’m not.’
‘Yes you are. Aren’t you the one whose always suggesting ways to market our services better? Aren’t you the guy who talks about billing for work performed and collecting on past due invoices? And didn’t you come up with the idea to collaborate and cross-referral to others to broaden our presence in the market?”
‘Yeah, well, those things kind of were no-brainers. I mean, anyone could have come up with those ideas.’
‘But we didn’t and you did, and you made us believers.’
I laughed, ‘ok, I guess I did. But I don’t want to force anyone into a deal that wasn’t there to begin with.’
‘No sweat. We should ask everyone what they think.’
‘Ok, how do you want to do this?’ I asked.
And Mark began inviting the others into the video meeting. And surprisingly everyone else was available and jumped in. I guess everyone was in the midst of shutting down and getting ready for the holidays.
Long story short, three hours or so later I was the president of our newly formed company. Mark would be vice president and Sylvie would be our secretary. No one wanted to be the treasurer so we asked Sylvie to pull double duty and she agreed to it until we hired a controller/CFO type to do the books.
Once we had an accountant on board we would route all sales through the company with compensation based on 92% of collected monies to the app writer. The balance would be used to pay for the controller/CFO, taxes, marketing and out of pocket expenses. Until then, we would continue to send out our billings ourselves and handle our own collections. It would be up to us to properly declare our billings and collections and to remit the 8%. The idea was that potential clients wouldn’t need to search too far to find the resources that they needed.
We ended the meeting with everyone excited about the prospects of our collective brain-trust. One of our website designers was a marketing oriented guy so he volunteered to put an informational e-flyer together and send it around for comments. We would individually add our respective strengths and types of assignments that we would consider. Pricing would be up to the party that got the assignment. And in our neck of the woods, this was all by way of responding to RFP and inquiries. Our reputations and credibility also helped a lot to give us a lot of negotiating strength with pricing.
The more I thought about this new arrangement the more excited I got about the potential that we now had. There had to be a lot of trust and respect amongst us or this wouldn’t work. So one of the things I insisted upon during our meeting was a conflict of interest agreement as well as a new business policy.
The conflict of interest agreement was very simple; if you were involved with the other party of interest, you didn’t participate in any decision making regarding the other party. If it was a new business opportunity, you brought it before the group and recommended who should help the client if you weren’t able to. All new business would be funneled through the company so that billings and collections could be handled for each member, and we could then concentrate on what we did best; write code and develop apps.
What a way to end the year as well as start the new year. It would be an exciting new chapter in everyone’s lives.
And, if I was being truthful with myself, there was also a possibility of a job for Renee. I probably should give a little more thought to this possibility. The challenge would be two fold; getting the others to agree, and also having Renee not think of this as being a handout.
The next morning I called a meeting of all of the partners to discuss the possibility of having Renee be our CFO.
“I’ve given a little thought to the CFO position and have a suggestion. But before I say anything, I want to disclose that I have a personal relationship with this person. She’s my neighbor.”
“Does she have the credentials to be a CFO?”
“Is she a CPA?”
“What experience does she have?”
I let others know what I knew and they seemed to like the idea of having Renee be our CFO.
“You know we talked about conflicts of interest during our last meeting,” I reminded the group.
“Yeah, so you’re declaring a conflict of interest?” of the partners asked.
“Yes.” I replied.
“Ok, how do we handle this?” Sylvie asked.
“If all of you are interested in Renee, I suggest that one of you call her and ask her for her resume then schedule a video interview. I should not be involved in the process. And, guys, if you decide that she’s not the right person, then no problem. I just want to assure all of you of that.”
I could see heads nodding and thumbs up signs popping up.
“Ok, looks like everyone’s in favor of that approach.”
Mark asked, “Who wants to make the approach? Does anyone know someone who has an accounting background?”
Sylvie volunteered to do the ask as her husband ran her books as well for his business also. She would ask him to review her resume also.
“Peter,” Sylvie asked, “Should we disclose that you are one of the partners?”
I thought about it for a nano-second, “Yeah, that needs to be disclosed up front. No secrets.”
Later that afternoon I was out in the backyard using my electric log splitter to break up some firewood for my fireplace. That made it so much easier than swinging an axe.
I picked up the split firewood and filled my wheelbarrow and was making my way back to my back porch when Renee walked out of her house.
“Hey Petey,” she said in greeting.
“Hey Renee,” I said in reply as I walked my wheelbarrow up to the house.
“So, I spoke with Sylvie a few minutes ago,”
“And?”
“And what are you trying to do?”
“Well, we have a need for a CFO and that seemed to be something you might be suited for.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“Just that….. I don’t like to take charity and you know that.”
I laughed, “It’s not charity. Our company does have a need for a CFO and you might be qualified to fill the vacancy. And besides, I’m not involved in the selection process.”
“You’re not? But Sylvie said that you’re the president of the company?”
“Yeah, but I’m not involved. Even though I’m supposedly in charge, that would be a conflict of interest. The only involvement that I’ve had was to suggest that you might be interested and that they should contact you if they wanted to follow up on the lead.”
“Ok. Thanks Peter. I guess I’ll email my resume.”
“Renee, if you have any reservations…… any reservations at all, then just tell Sylvie thanks but no thanks. It’s not going to be a problem.”
She nodded her head and walked back to her house.
Well, we did have a need for a CFO. That was not something made up just for her.
Later that afternoon I saw Sammi playing outside in their backyard, trying to make a snowman using the patches of snow that were left behind from the last snowfall.
“Hey, how’s it going Sammi?” I asked.
“Mr. Petey!” she screamed and ran over.
“Our house smells so much like Christmas with the tree! I am so excited!” she jabbered away.
Made me smile. Sammi’s enthusiasm was contagious.
“Do you remember to give your tree a little water every day?” I asked.
“Yep,” she nodded her head. “Every morning I check the water and mom helps me fill it back up.”
“What do you want for Christmas?” I asked.
She pouted, “Mom said that we can’t afford much this year.”
“It won’t always be like this, Sammi. Things will get better. Your mom’s trying her best.”
“Yeah I know. I just want mommy to be happy.”
What a kid. She wasn’t sad because they couldn’t afford a lot of presents. She wasn’t happy because she just wanted her mom to be happy. I gave Sammi a hug which made her smile.
The day before Christmas dawned bright and early. I was out in the back porch enjoying the quiet morning with a cup of hot coffee when Renee walked over.
“Coffee?” I asked.
She smiled and nodded her head.
“Where’s Sammi?” I asked.
“Sleeping.”
I took her hand and led her inside and poured her a cup.
“I met with Sylvie, Mark and another guy last night.”
“How did it go?” I asked.
“You don’t know?” she asked in surprise.
“Nope. I told them that it was up to them to manage the process and decide whether or not to make an offer.”
She smiled and hugged me, “Thanks for everything that you do for us Peter. If I didn’t know better, I would think that you have more than a passing interest in us.”
I looked at her and kissed her and she hugged me back.
“To be honest with you, I have much more than a passing interest in both of you.”
She sort of melted at that point and started to cry. I continued to hug her as she slowly brought her emotions under control.
“The past four years have been so hard. First my dick of a husband walks out on me when we found out that we were expecting. Then to lose my job earlier this year. I went from a family with two incomes to just me and Sammi and no income. The only good thing was having Sammi.”
“Renee, it doesn’t have to be that hard anymore. If the interview went well, then you might have a nice job very shortly.”
She laughed, “You don’t know?”
“What?” I asked.
“I got the job! I got the job!” she said excitedly before she kissed me and hugged me tightly.
“Congratulations!” and she kissed me again.
“Petey, how am I ever going to be able to thank you for everything that you do for us?”
“Renee, you earned that job with your resume and work experience. You earned the job by yourself.”
“Yeah, but you gave them my referral.”
“True, but that’s all I did. You did the rest.”
She looked at me and smiled and slowly hugged and kissed me again.
“Why don’t you get Sammi and lets have breakfast here.” I suggested. She nodded her head and walked back to her house.
I made pancakes and bacon and warmed up some maple syrup. A cup of hot chocolate for Sammi and a fresh cup of coffee for Renee and breakfast was ready.
“Mr. Petey!” Sammi screamed as she ran into the house with Renee close behind.
“Good morning to you,” I replied as I pulled up a chair for Sammi to sit on.
“Mommy got a job last night! I am so happy!” Sammi shared. Renee could only laugh.
“Hey, what did I tell you?”
“That things will get better?”
I nodded my head. “And they are, aren’t they?”
“Oh yeah!”
I saw Renee dabbing her eyes with a napkin.
Before Sammi could say anything further, I served her a pancake and a slice of bacon. And that four year old virtually inhaled her pancake.
After breakfast I had Sammi putting stuff away in my refrigerator while Renee and I cleared the table and began washing the dishes.
“Mr. Petey, can I help wash?” Sammi asked.
“Sure thing Sammi. Let me get you a chair then you can help mom.”
I slid a chair over next to Renee so that Sammi could stand on it.
“Be careful now. Don’t want you falling off.”
“I’ll be careful.” Sammi replied as she took the washed dishes, rinsed them and put them in the dishrack to drip dry.
“Hey, you’re pretty good at that.” I complimented her.
Sammi smiled back, “Of course! I’m ‘perienced.” Renee laughed and gave Sammi a kiss on her cheek.
After we finished cleaning up the kitchen, I took the turkey out of the refrigerator and began prepping it.
“Any preferences on how you like your turkey?”
“Cooked!” yelled Sammi.
And Renee laughed, “Yes, cooked, definitely cooked.” As she walked over to me and hugged me.
Sammi’s eyes got all big and a smile plastered across her face just before she ran over and hugged me also.
Made me smile and hug them back. I gave Renee a quick peck on her lips. She smiled, grabbed my face and brought our lips together for a long kiss. Made Sammi gasp and smile. Big smile.
We finished prepping the turkey with a mix of fine herbs, rock salt, cracked pepper and butter. Slathering the bird with the mixture before we popped it into the over where it would roast for the next six or seven hours. Low and slow was the instruction that my mom had given me years ago. Low and slow.
While the turkey was in the oven, I suggested to Renee that we take Sammi and check out the Christmas decorations that had been put up in the downtown area. Our town always make a big effort to spruce up the downtown area this time of year. Sammi was bubbling with excitement as we jumped into my car.
A short twenty minute drive later and we were cruising the downtown area. The street lights had all been decorated with garlands. And the trees that lined the streets were all lite up with lights. Since the downtown area also doubled as one of our shopping areas, a lot of the stores had also made a huge effort to decorate their store fronts.
“The last time I drove through here I was so depressed,” Renee commented softly.
“Totally understandable.”
She smiled and reached over for my hand. “Thanks Petey. You have been my rock for so many reasons.”
I smiled and squeezed her hand. “Well, I have to admit to having more than a passing interest in both of you.”
“Oh?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“And?” she asked.
“Well, you and Sammi are my neighbors.”
“And?”
“And you are really beautiful and Sammi’s a real delight.”
Renee blushed.
“And I admire your efforts to try to make it on your own.”
She looked away and whispered, “it’s been so hard.”
I gave her hand another squeeze. She turned to me and smiled.
We stopped off at a diner for lunch. While we were waiting to be seated Renee took my hand. That was not lost on Sammi who had this huge smile.
As we were being seated, Sammi sat next to me. “Mr. Petey, do you like my mommy?”
“Sammi!” Renee whispered.
Sammi smiled and looked at me, “Well, do you?”
I almost laughed out loud before I answered, “I really like your mommy. I really do. And I like you also.”
Made Sammi clap her hands and smile. Renee was blushing all the while.
After lunch we made a quick pit stop before we climbed back in my car and headed home.
Renee and Sammi went back to their house so that she could work on the stuffing. I checked on the bird in the oven and the smell of that turkey roasting in my oven filled the house. It had another hour or so before it was done. I took a couple of potatoes wrapped them in foil and stuck them in the oven next to the turkey. Peeled a couple carrots and zapped them in the microwave for a minute to partially cook them. Sliced a zucchini and mixed them with the carrots and prepared them to be more fully cooked just before dinner.
Then I retrieved Sammi’s presents and placed them around the Christmas tree. The tags on them said that they were from Santa. That would not fool Renee but I hoped that it would at least make Sammi wonder about whether Santa was real for at least another year or more.
I cued up a couple of Christmas music albums on my MP3 player and had them playing while I set the dinner table and put the finishing touches on the rest of our dinner. Renee and Sammi came over just as I was taking the turkey out of the oven.
Dinner was fantastic. The food was great but the company was even better.
We were relaxing in the great room downstairs when Sammi noticed the presents around the Christmas Tree.
“Mr. Petey! Mr. Petey! You have presents under your Christmas Tree.”
“I do?” I asked innocently.
“You do! Look at all the presents!”
“Well take a look and see who they are for.”
Renee was sitting next to me and it looked as if she was going to cry.
I smiled at her, kissed my finger and laid it gently across her lips and whispered, “Santa came early.”
“Mommy! Mommy! This present says it’s for me and that it’s from Santa!”
“Well if it has your name on it, then it might be a good idea to open it.” Renee said as she hugged my arm.
Gift wrap went flying as Sammi tore into her presents. Sammi’s happiness made Renee smile. And Renee’s smile made me happy.
After the hoopla was over we were all sitting on a sofa watching a Christmas movie on the TV when Sammi asked; “Mr. Petey, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure. Ask away.”
“Will you be my daddy?”
I heard Renee gasp as I looked at Sammi, then picked her up and placed her in my lap while I searched for an answer that might make sense to a four year old and wouldn’t upset her mom.
“Well Sammi, it would make me a very happy guy to be your daddy. But it’s not as simple as that.”
“Why?”
“Because to be you daddy, I would need to marry your mom.”
“So? Mom likes you a lot and you already told me that you like her a lot and you like me also.”
I grinned at Renee who looked at me from between her fingers that were covering her eyes.
“When a guy asks a woman to marry him, it needs to be done at the right time.”
“When’s the right time?” Sammi asked.
“Well, I can definitely say that although I’d like to ask your mom the question, now’s not the right time.”
“Why?”
“Because the question needs to be asked in private when there’s just her and me.”
“Oh, so if I went to sleep early, then you and mom would be by yourselves? Then you could ask her?”
I laughed and hugged her. “Sammi, you are special.”
She smiled and hugged me back, “I know. Mom tells me that all the time.”
Renee blushed even more and began laughing.
We went back to watching the TV program, Sammi lying on the couch and Renee leaning against me.
When the program finished I looked over at Sammi and she was sleeping. Renee was sleeping also. I gently shook her shoulder to wake her up, which she finally did.
“What time is it?” she said with a yawn and a stretch.
“It’s getting on towards midnight.”
“Oh, we’d better get home.”
“Ok. Why don’t you round up your things and I’ll carry Sammi. You can leave her presents here and pick them up tomorrow.”
“Thanks Petey.” She said before she hugged me and kissed me.
Renee went around the room gathering her things. I picked Sammi up and placed her on my shoulder. It felt really nice to be carrying her. We walked over to their house and I put Sammi down on her bed. Renee changed her into her sleep clothes and we turned out the lights and left her bedroom, leaving her door slightly open.
As we walked to their backdoor, Renee hugged me and kissed me. “I don’t have any mistletoe but I don’t think we need any, do you?”
I smiled and kissed her back.
“Sorry about Sammi’s line of questioning tonight. I don’t think she realizes the pressure that she put you under.”
“No need to apologize. Sammi is a very observant girl and she sees things plainly. She knows that we really like each other. But what she doesn’t know is that I more than like you, Renee. I think I’ve fallen in love with you.”
Renee hugged me tightly, “Oh, Petey. And as much as I don’t want to add to my confusion, I think I’m in love with you also.”
“Then marry me.”
She pulled back slightly, then smiled and kissed me.
“I’ll marry you on one condition.” Renee stated before she kissed me again.
“What’s the condition?” I asked.
“You’ll need to make love to me every night.”
“You drive a hard bargain.”
“No, you drive it hard, I just reap the benefits of the bargain.” She said with a smile.
I picked Renee up and carried her to her bedroom where we made love.
The next morning I woke up to the bed being bounced gently. I popped open one eye and saw Sammi climbing up on the bed.
“Mr. Petey!” she said in a loud whisper. “You had a sleepover with mommy?”
I smiled as I nodded her head.
“Good morning, sunshine.” I replied.
“My name is Sammi, not sunshine.”
“Well you look like a ray of sunshine to me. And a very Merry Christmas to you.”
She smiled. “Merry Christmas to you too!”
“Why don’t you go and see what’s on the TV while your mom and I get up and get some breakfast going.”
“Ok.” She said as she bounced off the bed and ran out to the living room.
“mmmmmm, good morning daddy.” Renee said softly from under the covers.
I pulled back the covers just a bit and kissed her, “Good morning mommy. Merry Christmas.” Made her laugh.
We took a quick shower together then went out to get breakfast on the table.
While we were eating I told Sammi, “I think it’s ok to call me your daddy from now on.”
Sammi’s eyes got big as she bolted from her chair and ran over to me and hugged me. Then she ran over to Renee and gave her a big hug as well.
“This has to be the best Christmas ever!” she said loudly as tears began to fall from her eyes. Made Renee and me want to cry as well.
Merry Christmas!
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