Page 13 of Sleighing You
“So,” I repeated her.
“How’s Avery?”
Her question caught me momentarily off guard. “You know Avery?”
My sister scoffed at me, and in that moment as her face twisted into a frown, there was no denying we were brother and sister. She looked just like me, but with better shaped lips and eyebrows. “Of course I know Avery. She’s been at every holiday party Dad has ever thrown. She was literally there the night you discovered Helena with Tristan.”
I rolled my eyes at that. “Okay, well, you can’t blame me for not remembering her that night. I was a tad preoccupied.”
“Fine… but I’ve visited her store at least once a year for the past five years. Wait… have younevermet Avery?”
I sighed and shook my head. “Before today? I don’t think so.”
Mallery gave a low whistle. “Wow. What have you been doing the last few years?”
“Not you, too.”
“Relax,” Mallery said. “I’m just busting your balls. I know you work hard behind the scenes and at board meetings. But when Dad hands over the keys to us, we’re going to need to take on the social roles he was handling too.”
I groaned and walked closer toward the lake, brushing some snow off of a wooden swing and dropping myself into it. “Why can’t you handle the social stuff and I’ll take on the business stuff?”
Mallery snorted. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“What? What’s so bad about that? Youlikebeing social. And you’re better at it than I am.”
“I’m only better at it because I’ve been doing it longer. If I took over Dad’s social engagements on top of handling all the marketing, I’d be doing twice the work while you were just doing your normal thing. Hell no, big brother. We’re splitting these tasks, even the social ones, so get used to it.”
She was right. It was unfair to overload Mallery with all of Dad’s duties on top of her own. But the idea of throwing the company anniversary parties and holiday parties… dressing as Santa every year—just to name a few of the public engagements—made my stomach queasy.
“Are we sure about this expansion? What if we made the new flagship store in Boston or even in Baltimore? It could become a travel destination, like FAO Schwarz in New York.”
“We’ve been over this,” Mallery sighed. “Overhead is so much higher in a city. The space would be significantly smaller. An expansion in Maple Grove makes the most sense. And we already have a manager there who is more than capable of running it without you and I being there constantly.”
Yeah, right. I guess Dad hadn’t told her about the other piece of this expansion. That he wanted me to move here for the first year. “There’s plenty of other managers who could run a store anywhere and be just as good at their job as Avery is.”
Mallery snorted a laugh. “If you really believe that, then you haven’t looked closely enough at Avery’s numbers. You could learn from her—who do you think convinced Dad to sell those old-fashioned train sets?”
No. “Avery got him on board with those?” Those train sets were always among our top five sellers every year. Kids loved them and parents loved the nostalgia of them.
“She sure did. Among a lot of other successful strategies Dad implemented through the years.”
“Why didn’t he ever give her credit?”
“He did. She was at most of the pitch meetings in Boston. He gave her raises, shares of the company. She owns a decent amount of our company, actually, all things considered. You were just never there to see it because you were handling foreign accounts, budgets, and of course, traveling. Avery isn’t just a manager. She’s a huge part of this company… and if she has ideas, you should listen to them… and her.”
My sister waved at the camera. “I love you, Chris. Even when you’re being a pompous jerk. Try to enjoy the quieter life while you’re there in Maple Grove.” She winked and blew me a kiss before signing off.
Well, damn. That was not the phone call I expected to have with my sister tonight. And I certainly didn’t expect to get schooled about Avery Pinkerton.
