Janelle was the first person she saw when she got back to the office, so naturally she was the first person who heard the news that they had Frank’s apartments to lease.
“That’s fantastic. I thought you said he never leases any of his projects.”
“Times change. There were too many developments on the market in the fall and Frank always charges top dollar for his apartments. So …”
Janelle said, “Well if you want to sell in this market you have to be realistic.”
“And thankfully for us," she said with a grin, "Frank isn’t realistic. And good for us, too, that the rental market is still strong. As soon as his assistant sends all the information … actually, we should have it by now. We’ll get them listed on the website asap.”
Janelle rubbed her hands together. “I can’t wait.”
“Me either.” Heidi hurried away to find out if Amanda had gotten the information from Warren yet. She hadn’t expected to be so busy this close to Christmas. She found Amanda in the boardroom trying to tell the caterers what to do with the decorations.
Heidi sometimes had problems reining Amanda in; she tended to think everything was her job to oversee. She filled Amanda in on what was happening and Amanda scurried off to her office to check her emails.
It was early afternoon and the office party was starting at five. The food always came in at the last minute and the catering staff always handled the decorations and linens, and they supplied all the plates, glasses, and cutlery. A perfect arrangement, Heidi thought.
As she leaned against the doorway of the boardroom, Heidi thought back to the Amish gatherings. The simple life was a million miles away. One thing the Amish did well was feed huge crowds of people. It was almost second nature to them. Heidi left the workers to their decorations and headed to find Amanda. She walked into Amanda’s cubicle and saw her hunched over her computer with her glasses halfway down her nose. “Anything yet?”
Amanda took her glasses off and looked at her. “Yeah, it’s all here. All sixty-two apartments. And he’s giving them to us exclusive.”
“Wow! Great.” Heidi headed to her office feeling pleased with herself for having such good systems in place. If they got all the information and proper documentation that day, they could have them out on the website the next day. “One appointment and it produced so much potential money.” She thought back to her first day on the job when no one in the city knew her. It was so hard back then to get a break. Little by little, she made contacts and started making a few sales. Now, with her rentals, she was soaring high in the sky, like an eagle with outstretched wings. A quick look at her computerized sales program brought another smile to her face. They’d leased three apartments between them today going by the green flags on her screen.
A knock on her door caused Heidi to jump. Looking up, she saw her former employee, Macy, in the hallway with her new baby in her arms. Heidi leaped off her chair and hurried to her. “Macy! Show me your baby.”
Macy giggled. “Here he is.”
When Heidi looked down at the baby, she immediately missed Michael. She stared at the sleeping baby. “Oooh. He’s so lovely. What’s his name?”
“Andrew.”
“That’s a beautiful name. Can I hold him?”
Macy giggled again. “Sure you can.”
Heidi carefully took him in her arms.
Travis, one of the agents, came up behind Heidi. “Having a baby suits you, Boss.” He continued walking with two drinks in his hands.
Heidi laughed. “Hey, the party hasn’t started yet.”
“It has for me.”
She smiled at Macy. “I don’t know if babies suit me, but Andrew sure is beautiful. You had better take him back. I might keep him if I have him for too long, at least until he cries.” She handed the baby back while Macy laughed. “Are you coming back to work for us?”
“I’m not sure.”
“You know, you’ve always got a job here if you want to come back.”
“Thanks. I’ll definitely think about it. It depends what happens with Jaden’s job.”
“Okay. Let me know,” Heidi said.
“Thanks. I’ll say a quick hello to everyone before I leave.”
“Stay for a few drinks. The Christmas party’s about to start.”
“Thanks, but no, I better get home. I’ve been out all day.”
She watched Macy walk away with Andrew snuggled in her arms. Work had once been everything to Macy, but now her world centered around her baby and her husband. That was something that all the commission checks in the world couldn’t buy.
Heidi pushed sentiment aside, and turned her attention to answering emails until she heard loud conversations and music coming from the boardroom. She signed off the last email and headed down the hallway while mentally rehearsing her speech.
Walking into the boardroom, she saw that the catering staff had done a wonderful job, once again. Sparkling gold and white decorations filled the walls and delicate silvery decorations were hung from the ceiling. Plates of delicious finger foods were spread across the table, and in the center of it all was a huge cartoon-like Santa Claus ice sculpture.
Heidi moved around to make sure she spoke to everybody and their significant others. No one was griping about leads today; everyone was finally in the Christmas spirit. When Heidi was between talking to people, she headed over to the food and loaded her plate with several tasty little parcels of pastry filled with meat, and skewered hot vegetable squares.
While she was at the table, she overheard people talking about where they were going to spend Christmas day. She’d been asked quite a few times already where she was spending the day and she’d had her untruthful answer ready. She always used the same made-up story; she was going back to her hometown to see her family and friends.
Everyone knew her story of how she’d come from humble beginnings. No one knew that "humble beginnings" meant she had been a simple Amish girl who once lived on an Amish farm. She didn’t mind people knowing she’d been broke, but she didn’t want anyone knowing she’d been Amish.
And, she definitely didn’t want anyone knowing she was spending Christmas alone. It would be nice to spend Christmas with close friends and family; that wasn’t to be. Christmas Day was the hardest day of the year for her. With not being able to do any work, and with no stores open, she generally sat in the apartment by herself and watched movies. It was too hard to go out as it reminded her that everybody was part of a couple or part of a family. That reminded her of Derek Miller, and her parents who had disowned her.
After an hour had passed, she figured she should give her speech and give out the bonuses.
She usually gave her speech at the beginning of the Christmas party while everyone was present but it had gone clean out of her mind. She headed to Brenda who was in charge of the music and asked her to turn it off. Everyone turned to look at her and soon the conversation died down enough for her to speak.
She cleared her throat and hoped she’d memorised her speech well enough. “I just want to thank everyone for being here and for all your hard work during the year. Before I give out the bonuses, I want to say a few words.” Her gaze swept over all the staff and their spouses, or boyfriends, or girlfriends, while her assistant got the pile of checks ready. She was dreadful at public speaking and hated talking to more than two people, but she forged ahead regardless. “I want to tell you all that anything is possible. I won’t tell you my story again of how I arrived here in this city with nothing, because I’m sure you’ve all heard it before. I will tell you that I had a dream.” She cleared her throat again. Dream was the wrong word to use. It reminded her of Derek and the children. “You see, when you’re under pressure, oftentimes that's when you create your best work. Diamonds are created under pressure.”
All her staff were smiling and nodding. They loved those sayings she came up with from time to time. Like most salespeople, they were fans of motivational books and seminars. Looking across at them, she thought about the lonely Christmas day that lay ahead. If she’d stayed with Derek and the children until after Christmas, she would’ve had a day to remember forever.
“Heidi, shall we give out the bonuses now?” her assistant whispered.
Amanda’s question made Heidi realize she’d been standing there too long without saying anything.
“Yes, good idea.” Heidi decided against giving her prepared speech, and raised her voice. “Who’s ready for their Christmas bonuses?”
Everyone cheered. And Heidi looked up and saw Santa Claus walking into the room. It was Travis. He was goofing around as usual.
“Ah, Merry Christmas to all. Christmas bonuses. Let’s see. May I?” he put his hands out and Heidi laughed. She nodded to Amanda, who handed him all the envelopes containing the checks.
In his Santa suit, Travis called everyone out in turn and said a little something to each one. It was something that he knew Heidi would have said. He was making fun of her and she didn’t mind. It was good to see everyone laughing and having fun.
When most of the people had left, Heidi decided she'd had enough of Christmas cheer.
The caterers would have cleaned up and cleared out by twelve thirty, and Amanda had the job of locking up after them.
“Don’t come in until one o’clock tomorrow, Amanda.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes I am. That’ll be fine. You earned the extra hours.”
“Thanks, Heidi.”
Before Heidi left at around eleven, she talked to the remaining few people. Naturally she was asked again where she was spending Christmas day. It seemed that was the main topic of conversation. She gave them the usual answer.
Looking at her watch, she saw it was already eleven, so she headed outside pulling her coat tighter around her glad that another Christmas party was over. The cold wind swept over her, biting into her cheeks. Home wasn’t far away, and no taxi would take her that short distance unless she paid extra. Considering taking a taxi regardless, she looked up and down the street but there were none in sight. She’d most likely be home on foot before one drove past.
When she got to her apartment building, she saw the stand-in doorman, the talker, and she just wasn’t in the mood, Christmas or not. Once again, she pulled her phone out of her bag and pretended to be talking to someone as she nodded, smiled, and walked past him. When she got into the elevator, she put her phone away.
Pushing open her door, she was engulfed in emptiness and silence. She kicked off her shoes, leaving them at the door, and her coat went the same way—casually dropped on the floor without a care. Then Heidi sat heavily on the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table. Making money was thrilling and exciting, but if she had no one to share it with what was the point of having it?
She pulled Agnes’s diary out and dusted it off. Then she sat down on the couch and placed it on the coffee table in front of her.
With a huge sigh, Heidi laid her head back and closed her eyes, wondering what she’d be doing if she was back in her other life with Derek. Right now, she’d give up anything to have his warm arms around her again. Her mind drifted to the children. They would all be in bed by now and so would Derek since he had to get up early in the morning.
When a tear fell down her cheek, she reminded herself of how hard it had been being at home with the children. It wasn’t the life for her. She’d already made her choice, twice. Once when she’d left Derek at the bus station, and again when she’d deliberately gone to find Agnes’s book at her mother’s.
You’re being ridiculous, she told herself as she pushed up off the couch and headed to bed. This was her life and she should be pleased with it. Nothing was perfect. Again, she pulled off her clothes and dropped them on the floor not even caring about the mess she was creating.
Normally, she had everything in its place and she hated waking up to an untidy apartment, but tonight she didn’t care. She let out a huge sigh as she pulled on her silk nightie that she’d carefully folded and kept neat under the pillow. There was no one to appreciate how tidy and clean she kept the apartment anyway, so it was all a waste of time and effort.
Not wanting to think about Derek and the three children, she deliberately focused her thoughts on several ideas for the new system of distributing leads, drifting into sleep considering how she was going to develop and implement them in the New Year.