different ways she looked at them, they all added up to an ugly truth she could no longer deny. The time was coming when she was going to have to start laying off employees if she couldn’t create a better balance between the red ink and the black on the bottom line. Once that happened, it might be only a matter of time before Wolfe Millworks would have to close its doors for good.
“Dad, how could you have let it all get this out of hand?”
Her one-sided conversations with her father were the other reason she liked to be alone when she worked on the company’s books. She knew the downturn in the building industry wasn’t Edmond Wolfe’s fault. However, as far as she could tell, he’d ignored the harsh reality of the changing economy until it was far too late. That part was all on him.
She’d never bad-mouth her father in front of the employees, but in private she had plenty to say to him. Not only had he let the business nearly go broke, but he’d exhausted most of his personal savings and then borrowed against the family home in an effort to make ends meet.
The only reason she could continue to pay the bills at all was that he hadn’t been able to touch the trust fund that her grandmother had left her. If he’d asked, she would’ve given him the money, but all things considered, it was better that hadn’t happened. As much as she hated to say it, he would’ve run through it and still not gotten the business back on track.
All she could do was keep moving forward. There was no changing the past. With that bit of wisdom, she opened up the file Bertie had left for her. She didn’t bother double-checking the bookkeeper’s figures. Bertie might do everything the old-fashioned way, but she did it right. The only trouble was that her system was decades out of date, just another of the problems that Melanie needed to deal with.
Somehow the company had to be dragged into the twenty-first century, but it was slow going and not just because of the financial issues. The sudden death of Melanie’s father had come as a shock to everyone, especially the long-term employees. Most weren’t ready to accept Melanie as the new face of the company leadership. It didn’t help that a lot of them had watched her grow up.
Their attitude would have pissed her off, but she couldn’t really blame them. She was out of her comfort zone, and they all knew it. If there had been enough money, maybe she could’ve hired someone to step in to take over. Well, that wasn’t happening. No one worth having would work for the pittance she could afford to pay right now.
She scanned the report, initialed the paperwork, and then signed the stack of checks. The whole process took her less than an hour but left her right hand cramping from holding the pen too tightly. Tension did that to a person.
When she was finished with the last one, she gathered up all the papers and locked them in the safe. With that job out of the way, she reviewed the work orders they had lined up for the week and sighed with relief. There was enough to keep everyone busy, a welcome improvement over the winter months. The number of new jobs still wasn’t great, but it was definitely better.
Done for the day, she locked up and headed downstairs and out to the parking lot. At least it was sunny outside. At this time of the year, the rain the Pacific Northwest was famous for could blow in with no warning. She’d been planning on working out in the yard that afternoon.
And now there was something else to look forward to: Spence was bringing dinner. Even before her father’s death, her social life had been pretty much nonexistent. She’d been dating a nice guy, but a year ago he had been transferred to another state. They’d kept in touch for a while, but their relationship hadn’t been strong enough to survive the separation.
Since coming back to Snowberry Creek, she’d been happy to renew her friendships with Callie and Bridey, getting to know one another
“Dad, how could you have let it all get this out of hand?”
Her one-sided conversations with her father were the other reason she liked to be alone when she worked on the company’s books. She knew the downturn in the building industry wasn’t Edmond Wolfe’s fault. However, as far as she could tell, he’d ignored the harsh reality of the changing economy until it was far too late. That part was all on him.
She’d never bad-mouth her father in front of the employees, but in private she had plenty to say to him. Not only had he let the business nearly go broke, but he’d exhausted most of his personal savings and then borrowed against the family home in an effort to make ends meet.
The only reason she could continue to pay the bills at all was that he hadn’t been able to touch the trust fund that her grandmother had left her. If he’d asked, she would’ve given him the money, but all things considered, it was better that hadn’t happened. As much as she hated to say it, he would’ve run through it and still not gotten the business back on track.
All she could do was keep moving forward. There was no changing the past. With that bit of wisdom, she opened up the file Bertie had left for her. She didn’t bother double-checking the bookkeeper’s figures. Bertie might do everything the old-fashioned way, but she did it right. The only trouble was that her system was decades out of date, just another of the problems that Melanie needed to deal with.
Somehow the company had to be dragged into the twenty-first century, but it was slow going and not just because of the financial issues. The sudden death of Melanie’s father had come as a shock to everyone, especially the long-term employees. Most weren’t ready to accept Melanie as the new face of the company leadership. It didn’t help that a lot of them had watched her grow up.
Their attitude would have pissed her off, but she couldn’t really blame them. She was out of her comfort zone, and they all knew it. If there had been enough money, maybe she could’ve hired someone to step in to take over. Well, that wasn’t happening. No one worth having would work for the pittance she could afford to pay right now.
She scanned the report, initialed the paperwork, and then signed the stack of checks. The whole process took her less than an hour but left her right hand cramping from holding the pen too tightly. Tension did that to a person.
When she was finished with the last one, she gathered up all the papers and locked them in the safe. With that job out of the way, she reviewed the work orders they had lined up for the week and sighed with relief. There was enough to keep everyone busy, a welcome improvement over the winter months. The number of new jobs still wasn’t great, but it was definitely better.
Done for the day, she locked up and headed downstairs and out to the parking lot. At least it was sunny outside. At this time of the year, the rain the Pacific Northwest was famous for could blow in with no warning. She’d been planning on working out in the yard that afternoon.
And now there was something else to look forward to: Spence was bringing dinner. Even before her father’s death, her social life had been pretty much nonexistent. She’d been dating a nice guy, but a year ago he had been transferred to another state. They’d kept in touch for a while, but their relationship hadn’t been strong enough to survive the separation.
Since coming back to Snowberry Creek, she’d been happy to renew her friendships with Callie and Bridey, getting to know one another
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