The Sweetest Hours

“Without Laura, I just...can’t do it anymore.” Jay’s voice faltered and then stopped.

Kristin’s heart went out to him. This was horrible. Laura had been the heart and soul of Aura Botanicals, and it seemed she’d been her husband’s heart and soul, as well. As awful as things were for him now, Kristin couldn’t help thinking how wonderful it must’ve been to have a love as great as that.

“An outfit overseas bought the rights to Laura’s products.” Jay gripped the edge of the table, unable to look up. “In your next paycheck, there will be a bonus.” He took an audible breath. “I’m hopeful you’ll all see fit to stay with me through the end of the month. We’ll need help disassembling the machinery and moving the inventory to the new location.”

New location?

“But what about our jobs?” Andrew asked, putting voice to the question on everyone’s minds, judging from the nodding and murmurs. “Will the new company keep us on?”

“Andrew...” Jay began.

“Will they keep this factory open, Jay?” Andrew demanded.

Jay didn’t answer.

“You owe us better than this,” Andrew hissed.

Kristin clutched at her throat. If she had a knife, she could cut the tension between the two men. No one else spoke. Their plant manager had challenged their CEO, and the CEO was on the hot seat. And yet, she desperately wanted his answer, too. What about their jobs?

Tears rolled down Jay’s cheeks, one after another. It was excruciating to watch. Their boss was falling apart in front of everyone. This was not how it happened in the movies, either. In the movies, company owners hid in the back room or at an off-site location and let the consultants deliver the bad news. Here, their CEO faced them himself.

Kristin thought she might be sick to her stomach. Everybody present had something on the line here. This factory was the lifeblood of their community. It was the center of Kristin’s life.

“I thought...I could save the company...for Laura’s sake, I tried.” Jay’s loss of control was outright now. “You have to understand,” he pleaded, “this was Laura’s baby...her only baby...but now it’s losing money, and despite the recommendations, I had no choice but to sell. It’s the only chance her formulations stand of surviving....”

Oh, Laura. Kristin blinked her eyes against the stinging she felt. She knew what it was like not to have kids or a family of your own. She’d watched Laura pour all her considerable love into her work—her balms and her lotions, her healing aromatherapies. To Kristin’s mind, the world was a better place with Laura’s potions in it; and Jay was right, it was good that somebody wanted to rescue them so they would live on.