Page 25 of Jasmine's Story
“Hi,” I sigh, sliding into his hold before looking to Renee. “This is Adam Thompson, Cleo’s uncle.”
“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Renee Marsten. My son Eric is in the same grade.”
“Nice to meet you too,” he says, shaking her hand.
“I think you should give her a business card to take home to her husband,” I tell him, seeing the questions in his eyes as he glances back down at me. “He was working for Bowman’s until last year when they moved here to help his mother.”
“Really? How long was he with Bowman’s?” Adam asks, his hand squeezing my hip gently.
“Fifteen years, he started there just after high school, was a machinist for them,” Renee says, looking at me curiously.
“What’s he doing now?” Adam adds taking out his wallet and a business card.
“He’s working as a mechanic at a garage part-time, and as a janitor at nights. Why?”
“Because I’m getting ready to hire about a hundred new people to help handle the new workload that’ll be coming our way. The more that I can find that are skilled, won’t need much or any training, the better my days will be,” Adam tells her as he hands her the card. “Tell him to give me a call Monday, we’ll be running three shifts and will have openings on all of them so there will be options with what works best for your all’s schedule.”
“Are you serious?” Renee says, her eyes bouncing between us in shock.
“Completely. I just signed contracts to manufacture the new Cartwright ready-to-assemble furniture line, so there will be a lot of possibilities for him. If he worked for Bowman’s for that long then I know he has the skills we need,” Adam answers her. “I pay livable wages as well as offering a profit-sharing program with my vested employees. That profit will be going up with the introduction of these new products, so it’s definitely the right time to get on board.”
“Thank you, so much. If I don’t get to see you later, please know how much I really appreciate all of this. We can only stay an hour,” she adds glancing around the space, “but I know Eric will be glad he came. I have to get to the diner for my shift and my husband won’t be finished with his job until an hour after the party ends.”
“We can keep an eye on him if you’re okay with it,” I suggest. “We’ll be here at least an hour afterwards, getting the food and other items put away so that’s not a problem. My niece’s moms are here with us as well,” I add pointing towards Julie and Serena who give her a wave in return. “My younger sisters are helping out in the maze too, so there’s plenty of us to do so.”
“Are you sure?” she asks, and I nod, getting a hug in reply that makes me incredibly happy. “Thank you again. I’ll let Eric know when I find him and make sure he’s okay with it.”
“Of course,” I muse, moving over to Julie and Serena with Adam to fill them in.
“If I’d known they were struggling I’d have found him something to do that worked around his schedule,” Julie says with a sigh. “I knew they came here to help out his mom but didn’t know it was that bad. I met him at the end of last year when I went to pick up Serenity one day. We could have easily hired him on to do maintenance on the equipment.”
“Sounds like this is more his speed and won’t make him feel like he’s getting a handout though,” Serena says and Julie nods, giving her a kiss before we move on, making sure the party goes smoothly and everyone enjoys themselves.
Based on the smiles on faces, the kids had a blast, and I’ve handed out even more business cards to the moms as Eric comes over to us with Amelia holding his hand. Alex is giving him a little glare from behind him which is hilarious, and Julie must see it too because she lets out a little laugh before catching Serenity up as she enthuses over everything they did.
Cleo comes straight to me, and it makes my heart really happy to indulge in that hug, and my belly flutter with longing when she rests her head on Adam’s shoulder when he picks her up. I can’t wait until they’re all mine, and we have a baby on the way.
Chapter 14
Adam
I move into the restaurant, my palms a bit sweaty but beyond ready for this. Cleo loved her birthday. Jasmine made it incredibly spectacular and I’m so glad that I went to her company to make it happen.
Cleo was just as happy last night when I got home. Jasmine took her to school with the donations and that alone made it even better, let alone the recognition she got for the donations from the librarian. Cleo was telling Jasmine all about the announcement they made at the end of the day telling the students that there would be over a hundred new books in the school library thanks to the generosity of the fourth graders, and to celebrate, they were going to have a pizza party.
I’m pretty sure Jasmine donated a bit to make that happen since it seems it’s going to be a school-wide pizza and reading celebration. All the kids will be able to bring a blanket and/or pillow, a book of their choice and read for the entire afternoon if they want next Friday instead of having lessons.
Between that plus the news that the DA is going forward with the charges against Tina, it’s been a really good start to the week. Add on bringing Eric’s dad Jim on-board and my Monday was awesome.
I’m thankful that the DA didn’t accept the offer from her father’s lawyer for one-year unsupervised probation and agreement to stay away from Cleo. She agreed it wasn’t nearly enough with her putting a camera in our house. Her psych evaluation came back that she was mentally competent to stand trial but that she wasn’t mentally stable, which we already knew. It does, however, give us the ability to monitor her whereabouts as the psychiatrist did deem that she appeared to be a danger to Cleo.
Jim was an incredible find. Today he worked with Jamison and I, helping us get the settings right on a few pieces we were having issues with. I moved him over to helping with the setup of the new lines with a raise over what I offered yesterday already but it’ll be worth it for certain.
Today is Jamison and Jasmine’s birthday, so they had plans to go out to dinner tonight. I asked Jamison for permission to crash it, then similarly to my discussion with Jake two weeks ago, I let him know I was proposing and would take care of her forever.
He agreed, which I’m thankful for, but either way, I was getting my ring on Jasmine’s finger tonight. Reggie had it ready last Friday, but I wanted to wait until I had Jasmine’s undivided attention, since she was so busy with Cleo’s party prep Friday night.
I don’t know why I’m nervous to ask her. I know she’ll say yes. She’s mentioned little things about what we might do at the wedding, so I know she’s thinking about it.