Page 1 of Scrooged for the Holidays
PART i:
The Ice Queen
Chapter one
Greer
“TellTimthatifhe doesn’t deliver the eviction notice to Carole’s Bar by two pm tomorrow, his dick will end up in the jar his wife keeps his balls in,” I say to my assistant, Avery, over the speaker of my SUV.
“Geez, Ms. Scrooge. Bah! Humbug!”
The snow thickens, and I flip my windshield wipers to a faster speed. The action makes it harder for me to see the winding road lined with pines, especially since it’s after three and already getting dark. Fucking winter.
“Is that supposed to make me feel bad or something?” I ask.
“I mean, yeah? It’s three days till Christmas, and most people are on vacation. Not to mention, evicting people right now is cruel—”
“Avery.” I cut her off. “It’s Tim’s job, and it’s his fault he waited until today. I’ve been asking him to do it for two weeks.”
“His wife had a baby two weeks ago.”
I sigh. “Yeah, keyword being ‘wife.’ He didn’t push a watermelon out of his penis.”
“Greer.” She sighs. “Seriously?”
“What? It’s a fact. Tell him he needs to get it done, and if he doesn’t, I’ll make him do it on Christmas. And if he doesn’tdo it then, I’ll suggest Mr. Cross fire him and replace him with someone who can get the job done when I ask.”
“Okay. Would you like me to tell him in those exact words?”
“Avery,” I warn. She’s my oldest friend—my only friend—and one I’ve had since childhood, and yes, I allow her to speak to me more openly than anyone else in my life, but she knows better than to push me like this. I’m truly not above firing her if she can’t do her job and continues to question me at every turn. She knows that, too, because I’ve fired her before then rehired her after she begged me for the job back.
It’s a job she doesn’t really need, since her parents are wealthy and she’s got a trust fund, but she wants to work and promised to be on her best behavior. Unfortunately for her, this isn’t “best behavior.”
She exhales. “Anything else I can do for you to make Christmas a little less merry?”
I roll my eyes even though she can’t see me. “You know, it’s just another time of the year. Not everyone celebrates it.”
“That’s true, but haven’t you ever heard of holiday cheer? The Christmas spirit?”
“Bah! Humbug!” I parrot her earlier jab at me. I’ve been called a Scrooge many times before; it’s not an original thought. She’s called me that before, too—every December since I decided Christmas didn’t need to be celebrated.
She sighs again. “Right, well, I’m going to call Tim.”
I stop her before she hangs up. “I actually do need something else from you. I’m almost to Holly’s Restaurant in Garland. I need you to book me a room in a nearby town for the night. The snow is picking up, and I don’t want to drive back in it.”
“Greer, tell me you’re not!”
“Tell you I’m not what?”
“I was in the meeting this morning with you and Mr. Cross. He said the evaluation of that property could wait till after the new year.”
She’s right; he did tell me that. But I have time in my schedule now. And more importantly, I’ve got my eye on an executive position at the commercial real estate investment firm I work for, Northlight Capital, Inc., the biggest and most competitive commercial real estate investment firm in Colorado. For the past few years, I’ve worked as an asset manager, overseeing underperforming hospitality properties and making hard calls on whether they’re worth holding, flipping, or selling off. I report to one of the owners, Mr. Cross, but I want more.
I don’t just want to manage assets and oversee one junior employee like Tim, I want to be part of the investment team that decides what properties we buy, sell, and build.
The decision on who gets promoted could come after the new year, which means I need to end this year with a bang. I need Mr. Cross to see that this job isn’t just a career to me; it’s my life. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove I belong at the table, even if it means hurting some feelings along the way.
“I didn’t have anything pressing for the next few days, and I’d like to have this done now so Mr. Cross and the executive team can decide what we want to do with the properties in January.”
