Switched, Bothered and Bewildered by Suzanne Macpherson Page A

Streate
    cx?
    Jillian had nervously waited a decent amount of time to call her sister back at Pitman to find out about the meeting, and the time had come. So even though she was in the middle of a giant home improvement store, she flipped her cell phone open and dialed her own direct office line.
    "Hello?" She heard her sister's voice on the other end.
    "I believe that's 'Jillian Tompkins here/ sis."
    "Oops. Hi, Jillian."
    Jillian balanced the phone on her chin as she grabbed a box of nails off the shelf. "Hi, Jana, how's the Pit, as we like to call it? Get it? Pitman Toys?" she tried to sound casual.
    "Oh, that's funny. The Pit is fine."
    "I called to find out about the meeting." Jillian wanted to hear what solutions had been brought to the holiday lineup. She couldn't believe they'd been such idiots as to think the Byker Chikz line would fly in the first place, except to a very select and rather weird market.
    "The meeting was very interesting. Jackson pretty much fired the creative department. Is that normal?"
    "He what?" The cement block walls of Mega Home Base weren't conducive to cell phone signals. Jillian thought her sister just said Jackson fired the creative department.
    "Well, really it was more like they quit. They gave a thirty-day notice."
    Jillian heard that just fine. Her stomach twisted into a knot. An old, familiar knot. The work stress knot. "Oh, Yny God," she blurted out. What was he thinking letting them go this time of year? And here their holiday lineup was short-numbered.
    "Honestly, Jillian, I can see why. They're on a different planet. Remember all the cool stuff Pitman used to put out? We loved their toys as kids," Jana Lee said. "And he did suggest they try again, and maybe they'd consider it a challenge and not quit after all."
    "You're defending Jackson Hawks? Yesterday you said he was an arrogant bastard. What's going on?" Jillian parked her big flatbed cart next to the MDF molding stacks.
    "I didn't say bastard, just arrogant. He still is, but I sort of understand where he was coming from."
    Jillian thought her sister sounded more lively than she had in years, and it made her smile to hear that. Maybe this deal was working after all. Maybe Jana Lee would be ready for a cute repair guy-sculptor when she got back.
    As far as the work disaster, there wasn't much Jillian could do from here about the whole mess without tipping off everyone that she wasn't there. Besides, she'd call Oliver later and get the level-two dirt. She decided to change the subject before she let her mind unravel to the scream-out-loud point.
    "There's a new Mega Home Base in Silver-burgh. I'll have you know I'm actually rolling down the aisle right now with a big home improvement cart," Jillian bragged. "Carly and I are having so much fun."
    "What the hell are you doing to my house?"
    "Oh, it's all minor stuff. Just a tweak here and there. The place could use a few repairs, you know," Jillian lied.
    They'd decided to gut the place in the remaining days before Jana Lee flew home. Dean had hired on a crew just today. He said he got lucky and found some old friends of his. They'd go into high gear as soon as the rugrats left for good. Thank God she'd only had three days with them.
    She'd had such a great time with Carly last night, staying up late emptying the contents of two generations of stuff into boxes: her mom's stuff and Jana Lee's stuff. They'd found baby spoons, five corkscrews, and were left wondering why Jana Lee kept fourteen plastic lids for containers that no longer existed.
    Gee, Jillian hoped her sister liked it. She was trying to stick to that country feeling Jana Lee seemed to like, but it had morphed into more like French country at this point.
    Dean had great taste, it turned out. He also seemed to have an abundance of time on his hands. He said something about having avoided booking jobs this summer, so he was happy to give her a hand. He also looked great in a tool belt.
    "Just don't get carried away. I