Mary checked and rechecked her numbers. There was no way this was possible.
“We’re broke,” she said incredulously.
Her stepmother wailed and put her hands over her face. “I knew it. I told you! I’m so useless.”
Mary couldn’t say anything to assuage her fears. Her stepmother had to be useless, judging by this display of incompetence. They had more than enough work for at least six months. But somehow, they’d run out of money already.
“Where do you find your supplies?” Mary asked. “The only place I can see where there’s anything getting out of hand is supplies.”
Her stepmother shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s already done.”
“It very much matters,” Mary said sternly.
They were bringing in more than enough money to cover the business. It had been open for years, and Mary had no idea how this could have happened. Gina had gotten rid of half of her workers two months ago, but now they were going to have to fire the rest of the employees. Mary knew those women, and it broke her heart that she’d have to let them go.
She’d spent the last seven hours checking and rechecking the numbers to see if there was any way to prevent what was about to happen.
“I bought most of the supplies wholesale from some site on the Internet,” Gina said. “I always bought them from the same site.”
“And you always overpaid,” Mary said. She showed Gina the spreadsheet and pointed to one cell. “This is where all our money is going. You overspent on supplies month after month after month. I only went back fourteen months, but I’m sure it goes all the way back to the beginning of the business. How has this ever been sustainable?”
Gina shrugged. “It worked before. I’ve never run out of money like this.”
“That doesn’t matter. You were overpaying. Do you not keep track of your own finances?”
“I do. They just weren’t a problem before now. Now, I don’t know how we’re going to pay any of the girls.”
“You aren’t. We can’t pay any of them. I don’t know how to tell you this, but we’re completely out of money. We can keep you on and pay your salary, and that’s it.”
Gina paled. “But I can’t do this alone.”
“You did in the beginning. You can do it again. We’ll have to work our way up and eventually hire new workers, but this is the only way.”
That also screwed over Mary—not that she’d tell her stepmother that at this point. She didn’t know how she was going to put food on the table anymore. Without her job and with very little money coming in from the business, she didn’t know how they were going to support themselves.
They could afford to keep paying her stepmother a small salary, but that would barely keep the lights on at the house. Mary giving up her apartment and moving in wasn’t going to help if she wasn’t bringing in an income too.
“Could you work for me?” Gina asked. “We can pay me half and pay you the other half. Would that work?”
Mary was glad she didn’t have to explain why she had to move back in. “We might be able to try it. I have a lot of things going on at the factory, but I think I can be of more use at home right now.”
“That’s settled,” Gina said, sighing happily. “You can move back in with us and start working for me again.”
“It’s not settled,” Mary snapped. “How are we going to afford anything? We’re going to have to find a new supplier.”
“I can do that,” Gina said, nodding. “I know how to find a new supplier. It just has to be cheaper than the one I’m paying now, right?”
“Well, yes, I assume that would do it, but I’m not sure how much cheaper it needs to be.”
“Fine. I’ll find a new supplier, and we’ll work on different homes. Between the two of us, I know we can turn this around.”
“If I can get out of my job,” Mary lied. “I guess that’s settled, then.”
“Good. Now, let’s get ready to go. Could you check the email and see what time we need to be there?”
“What email?” Mary had no idea what she was talking about.
“I’m trying to get a new job. I’m going to bid on this fancy-schmancy house that needs to be cleaned. We wouldn’t be doing the whole house, only one suite of rooms. It’s like an apartment inside the mansion,” Gina explained. “It’s the Hansen family. Have you heard of them?”
Mary’s mouth dropped open. Cleaning even a wing of the Hansen home would bring in more money than they needed. They wouldn’t have to fire all the employees, either.
She quickly checked her stepmother’s email to find out what time the meeting was. She didn’t need to look for the address; everyone knew where the Hansen home was. But she’d check to see how big a space they would be cleaning.
“This would bring in more than four thousand dollars a month,” she muttered.
That wouldn’t be enough to save them on its own, but it was more than a good start, especially if Gina was able to get more contracts and a cheaper supplier. With all the money from this job, they’d be able to get out of debt in six months and they wouldn’t have to fire anyone.
“We have to get this job!” she told her stepmother.
Mary put on makeup on the way there. Gina was already talking about other suppliers she could call, and Mary had a sinking suspicion that her stepmother had known about this problem before, that she’d been played by Gina. Gina had probably used this whole thing to talk Mary into working with her again and moving back home. This time it worked out in Mary’s favor, but it didn’t feel good to be tricked into being nice.
After they got this job and were out of debt, Mary would ask to be fairly compensated for her work. She deserved to be making enough money to live on her own, with all the work she was doing for Gina. And once the girls were away at college, she wouldn’t be needed at home anymore either.
“We’re here for Mr. Hansen,” she told the woman who opened the door when they arrived. It was a good thing they’d left right away; getting through security at the house took longer than Mary had expected.
“Yes, you’re the last of the day,” the woman said. “If you’ll follow me, please.”
Mary hadn’t gone on a call in ages, but it was hard to forget how to make a sale. She’d worked on her pitch in her head while they were driving over. It was the same one she and Gina had used back when they were still working together all the time.
“Hi, I’m Connor. Nice to meet you,” a man said as they entered the room.
Mary’s mouth worked itself into a smile while her knees shook. Connor Hansen. She’d been expecting to meet the elder Hansen. After his brother got married, Connor had become the most eligible Hansen bachelor. He was a lion shifter, and while he wasn’t next in line to run the company, there was talk that he and his brother were going to share it.
He was tall and handsome. His blond hair was tousled, and he was wearing a suit that fit him perfectly. He used to be a little overweight, but he’d gotten into great shape over the last few years. You could see his well-shaped body clearly in the expensive suit. This was a man who took care with his appearance and probably took great pride in his work too.
“How nice to meet you,” Mary told him she as shook his hand firmly. “I’m Mary Sanders, and this is my stepmother Gina.”
Gina giggled and put out her hand. She was nervous. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Hansen. I look forward to working with you.”
He frowned. “You won’t be having much contact with me if you get the job. Don’t let that sway you.”
“I’m sure you don’t have much time, so we won’t waste yours,” Mary told him. “Can we see the area we would have to clean?”
“If you’ll follow me.” He led them out of the office and down the hall to a large double door. “This is my wing of the house. You’ll be responsible for keeping this area clean.” He opened the door and stopped in the threshold. “I trust you enough not to ask you to sign an NDA before you see my living space. I hope not to see anything on the Internet about this.”
“We would never,” Mary told him. “Our clients’ privacy is of the utmost importance to the Sanders Cleaning Company.”
Gina nodded. “We’ll sign any paperwork you want, but we don’t need to. I can give you the names of a few of my old clients if you’d like to have some recommendations for us. We have a packet with all the relevant information.”
He led them through a large living room and kitchen and then to his bedroom.
“This is a bachelor pad,” Mary said, surprised. “One of the nicest I’ve seen. You did a great job decorating it.”
“It’s always nice to hear a woman say that,” Connor quipped. “It may not be a big space, but it’ll take time to keep it as clean as I’d like.”
“I understand,” Gina said. “I believe you said you wanted us to email a quote?”
“Yes, if you would.” Connor shook both of their hands. “I’ll see you ladies out now myself.”
“Don’t you want to know what we offer?” Mary asked.
“I don’t have time for that.” Connor looked at his watch. “But if you can include that in your email, along with a plan of how you clean, I’d appreciate it.”
Mary laughed, but she was dejected. She’d had never had a showing go so quickly. So much for getting this job—he was rushing them out because he didn’t like them. She had a good idea of who else he was seeing today. There were only so many high-end cleaners in town.
Her only hope now was to underbid them. It was a tricky business. She was going to have to bid enough to keep Sanders Cleaning in business but not so much that they’d lose the account. She was going to have to do very careful math.
Too bad she hadn’t gotten more time to talk with Connor. He was very good-looking. She certainly wasn’t going to mind cleaning for him every week, and she could fantasize about him all she wanted. It wasn’t like she had a boyfriend who’d be jealous. That was something else to look forward to, at least.