Chapter 2

We closed up at noon, as was the company tradition on Christmas Eve. And as I was waiting for my car to warm up, I realized that the last few days had come so fast and unexpectedly, I had not yet gotten a present for Carol.

So after putting the car in gear, I headed over to the mall. And I was not surprised that I had to park way in the back and walk almost a hundred yards to get inside. Then once I went inside, I found myself at a loss as to where to go. I walked in a big circle through the entire mall, trying to decide that to get her. We had only started dating, so it was too soon for jewelry. I thought about cosmetics, as that was often something I had bought for Mary. But I realized that with her complexion, I had no idea what she would like or use.

I considered a half dozen things, ranging from bath salts and candles to a gift card. I was passing a music store, and was looking through the CDs when I saw one that caught my eye. The Dr. Zhivago soundtrack, perfect! And as I was standing in line for the cash register and I saw the Nat King Cole Christmas CD. And remembering our first slow dance together, I grabbed that also.

I went to an electronics shop, and after about twenty minutes I found something else. A waterproof wireless speaker with a large hook for hanging on the shower head. I figured that was a good choice also, and picked that up as well. And with my purchases in hand I headed home and spent almost an hour finding the wrapping paper that was for some reason on the top shelf of my closet, then wrapping the gifts. I looked at the clock and saw it was almost five. I quickly took a shower, and after looking in my closet for what seemed like ages I went with black slacks, a dark green shirt, and a red tie.

I pulled over about two miles from the house and called Richard, and he told me to park down the street a ways and stand near the end of his driveway. I did that, and noticed that the temperature had really dropped since I had gotten off work. Thankfully I had only been standing for a few minutes when I saw him leave through the front door and wave me over.

I walked up to him, and saw him in a shirt and tie also, with a jacket thrown over it. I shook his hand, and was glad I had made the right choice, professional but casual. “Come on inside, quickly. Joyce has Carol in the kitchen helping her out, don’t say a word and wait in my office.”

I quietly followed him inside, and I was almost to the door when I heard Carol ask Richard if he was ready for dinner. He said almost, and almost pushed me inside and closed the door. I heard them talking, and about ten minutes later Joyce opened the door and smiled at me. And she put one finger in front of her lips, and used her hand to wave me closer.

She took my hand and led me to the living room, where a large tree with dozens of presents was next to the fireplace, and Carol was next to it, with Richard’s hands over her eyes. “Uncle Dick, it’s too early for presents! Let’s go eat before it gets cold, we can do that later.”

I smiled as she said that, and Joyce had me stand a few feet in front of Carol. “Carol honey, trust me when I say this is a present that can’t wait until after dinner. Now close your eyes, and no peaking. When I count to three, open your eyes.”

I saw Richard remove his hands, and quickly pick up a video camera that was on a nearby table and stand next to his wife. And once he nodded to her she counted down from three to one. “OK, Merry Christmas sweetie, go ahead and open your eyes.”

I smiled as I saw her eyes open, and I was looking into her dark brown eyes as they saw me, then her eyes grow open wide as she realized I was really standing there. “Paul!” she almost screamed, and threw herself into my arms. She held me tight, and softly kissed my cheek and lips before pulling back.

“Paul, what are you doing here? Uncle Dick, Aunt Joyce, I did not know he was going to be here! Honest, I had no idea!”

Both of them were laughing, and Joyce stepped up and rested her hand on her niece’s shoulder. “Of course not, Carol. This was Dick’s idea. Consider it a surprise present from both of us, and go set another place at the table. We’ll all be right in.”

Carol gave me another kiss, then hugged her aunt and uncle and scurried off into the dining room. Richard turned off the camera and put it back on the table as Joyce came up and hugged me herself. “Paul, thank you for this. Dick told me about your talk today, and I am glad for both of you. And trust me, we all felt the loss when Mary was taken from us. Now come on in, knowing Carol she probably already has a place set for you.”

I quickly excused myself, and returned to the office and retrieved the gift I had set there. And when I got to the dining room, I had to smile. The table had six chairs, but instead of sitting me across from her Carol had my place next to her. I smiled at her and moved in close. And I was not surprised when Richard moved next to Joyce and pulled the chair out for her. I quickly did the same to Carol, and admired the ankle length green dress she was wearing. Not quite a gown, and obviously costing close to half a month’s pay for me.

She smiled at me as she took her seat, and once the ladies were sitting Richard and I took our seats. And of course, Carol asked me why I was there. I looked at Richard, and he nodded.

“Well, I got called in to talk to the boss shortly after I got to work. And after some beating around the bush by both of us, he asked me if I was using his niece as a way to get a promotion.”

Carol gasped and took my hand in hers and clenched it tightly. And at the same time, gave Richard a look that would have killed him if she had that kind of power. And he actually looked a bit flustered at that, and told her to not jump to any conclusions until I had finished.

I nodded, and told them that I honestly had no idea she was their niece, and offered to resign immediately if it meant having to choose between my job and seeing Carol. She squawked again, and looked with almost hate in her eyes at her uncle, and in a loud and clear voice said “How dare you!”

Richard jumped in then and held up his hand. “I have to admit, I had no idea that he did not know. And his immediate offer to resign shocked me. We had already decided to give him the Department Head position, and I just wanted to make sure before I offered it to him. And as Joyce said, we all felt the loss when his wife died. And his face had anger in it, and I could tell he was completely serious.”

He reached out and rested his hand on the back of Carol’s other hand. “But I then realized I had a perfect solution. And no, he is not getting the promotion to Department head.”

Carol seemed to get even madder, and snatched her hand away from him. “OK, then. Fine, you win, I quit! You never wanted me working there, and if my being there means that Paul does not get the promotion he deserves, I quit. I can’t believe you!”

I squeezed her hand, as Richard flinched at her words, and sighed softly. “No, you don’t understand, baby. You’ve heard us talking about who to put in charge of the remote warehouse across town. Well, I offered Paul that position, and he accepted. He is getting promoted, just to another position. And actually, it’s a better one as he will be in charge of that office. And his threatening to quit over you told me right away he was the right person for the job. And I admit, I should have known better. Paul trying to use you to get ahead would have been completely unlike anything I had ever seen from him in the past.”

Carol seemed to deflate, and quickly dropped my hand and went to give him a tight hug. She kissed his cheek and apologized for all the things she had said, and for misjudging him.

“Carol, don’t be too hard on Richard. I felt a lot of the same things myself, until I realized he was worried about you. But I think he now understands that I had no idea, and I was serious in quitting.”

“And yes, I felt ashamed when I realized how serious he felt about you. So, can we continue before dinner is cold?”

We all gave nervous laughs of relief, and soon we had our plates full and started eating. The dinner was amazing, and I asked why their sons were not there. Seems their oldest was with his girlfriend’s family, and their youngest could not get the time off, but would be out for two weeks in the middle of January.

Joyce smiled and said that Dick Jr. was thinking of proposing soon, so it was only fair he spend it with her family. And Ron being a brand new Lieutenant in the Army was following the tradition of the newest people getting the crappiest jobs. “He is one of a couple of officers in his unit not going on leave, but he will be here a few weeks late.” We talked about various things, and Carol held my hand almost all through dinner. Finally the table was cleared and we all went into the living room. Rick brought out a bottle of eggnog, and when we each had a glass we toasted each other.

Joyce then asked how we had met, and I kinda laughed. “Well, as you must know we met at work. As I was always having to get copies to go with the outbound shipments, I met her right after she started. And we kind of flirted from almost the start, but I thought she was just being a flirt. It was not until the party last week that she made me understand that it was not just in play, for her it was for real.”

Joyce looked at her niece, who nodded. “I kinda got a crush on him right away. He was so nice, and even helped me at first with how to do my job better. And I had no idea he started where I was years earlier. And I saw how kind he was, and also he seemed a bit sad. So at the party I told Jake that if I got him to dance with me, to go as soon as he could to slow songs. And I guess that is kind of how we finally got together.”

Joyce smiled, and said that sounded amazing. And I admitted that I had no idea how serious she was. Especially as I had not been looking for a new relationship.

“Paul, it’s time you go back to living again. As I said, we were all crushed when Mary died. But she would not have wanted you to live like a hermit as you have been for the last few years. And I will admit, Carol and I had talked the last two months about that. She told me she had a crush on somebody at work, but had no idea what to do about it. I was the one that suggested she try dancing with you, but I forgot that she knew Jake. I also had no idea it was you she was talking about until I saw her dancing with you at the party.”

She took a deep breath, and sighed. “When I saw both of you dancing, to be honest I did not know what to feel. But I decided to say nothing, and let you two work things out for yourselves. Carol, did you know about Mary?”

She shook her head, and sighed. “Honestly, I had no idea. I did ask around, and was told by the receptionist he was single. But I had no idea he was a widower. I admit, I lied and told him I did not have a TV, hoping he would invite me to his place. And he did, and we watched Dr. Zhivago together. And that night, he told me about her. And my heart broke for him. I can hardly imagine the pain you must have gone through, Paul. Finding love, then having it torn away so quickly.”

I held her tight, and kissed her cheek softly. “There was no way you could have known. After that, I largely threw myself into work to be honest. We are kind of like a large and slightly broken family, and everybody there helped me a lot.” We all then spent about an hour finishing the bottle and sharing stories of Mary. She had started as a receptionist, and we started working there within weeks of each other. And within three months were dating, and after just over a year got married. And three years later, she was gone.

Carol was amazed that she was so young, and I sadly nodded. “We had been trying to have a baby for almost a year, but never any luck. Finally we went to a doctor, thinking it might have been me. But after several tests, it turns out they had blown her pap smear. You remember that scandal several years ago? Turns out her gynecologist had saved samples, and each time he got back a report everything was normal. When she was diagnosed as being stage four, he sent her last five samples off to be tested again. She already had cancer when we got married, but the lab gave her and hundreds of other women false negative reports. If they had just done their jobs, we could have caught it in time.”

I was crying at this point, and both ladies came over and gave me a hug, and Dick rested his hand on my shoulder. Joyce softly said she hoped I had sued them for everything I could get, and I sighed.

“Well, I did get a lawyer, he is my cousin’s husband, and worked for a big firm. They laid on them a six million dollar suit, and they actually settled shortly after being filed. Of course, now they are still digging through a class action lawsuit that may put them out of business. But part of the settlement is that I not take part in any further legal actions. But that still does not bring Mary back.”

Carol wrapped her arms around me and rested her head on my chest, saying that she would not have wished that pain on anybody. “And to be honest, I loved his eyes and his smile. I flirted with him first. That first month he was always taking time to help me. How to properly lay out the pages for two sided collation, how to measure the roll of paper and how many sheets I could get from a quarter of a roll, things like that. Even a better way to clean the glass.”

I smiled and nodded, squeezing her hand as I did. “Well, I did it for over two years, so I should know. Hell, the old template I had made out of cardboard to tell how many sheets were left in a roll was still there. Now Dick, don’t blame this on Tucker. I know I showed that to Gary when I moved to the warehouse, but I doubt he showed it to Tuck. So he would not have shown it to Carol here. I’m just surprised it was still there, to be honest.”

Joyce asked me what that was, and I laughed. “Oh, early on I would get these large orders, and part way through the large roll would run out. That meant replacing it, then counting the numbers of copies made and starting again with the remainders. The copier is supposed to pick up where it left off, but many times there would be say a half page from the end of the roll, and if not checked that is what would get stapled and sent off.”

Carol nodded, and said she was trying to reload the paper when I came in during her second week. “It’s just a cardboard ruler, but as there is less paper as you get closer to the end, it changes to reflect one hundred sheets at various parts of a roll. A new roll is good for around a thousand copies, but as you get less pages per inch as you use it up, it can be tricky making sure you have enough to finish a job.”

Dick laughed and nodded. “When Gary took over, one of his complaints to me was there were a dozen partly used rolls down there. I think he just did it manually if one ran out in the middle of a job. And I know that since Carol took over the amount of waste has been cut to a third of what it had been. And now I know why, it is because of you, Paul. That is not even your department anymore, has not been for years. But you went out of your way to help Carol.”

I smiled at the girl holding my hand, and nodded. “And I admit, her flirting was flattering also. But I thought it was just how she was. Some girls are just naturally flirty. Or they use it because it can get some dumb guy like me to help them out. But I was happy to help her.”

We talked a bit more, and Dick went to the tree and brought a present for Joyce and Carol. His wife got a gold and diamond necklace that must have cost more than two months pay for me. And Carol got a pair of earrings that would have only taken a single paycheck. And as they were putting them on and admiring them in the mirror in the hallway, he admitted they had a tradition of exchanging a single gift on that night, and the rest the next day.