Malcolm smiled. "I remember the smell of the seats when it rained." "And the heater that only worked properly when it felt appreciated," Gloria added. "Your father would have fixed that heater twice before accepting that it had its own opinions." The mention of Raymond brought a quiet moment between them, not painful enough to require silence but important enough that neither rushed past it.
"He would have liked seeing the depot like this," Malcolm said. Gloria nodded. "He would have liked seeing you run your business, too. Though he might have told you to spend less time looking at reports and more time talking to people." Malcolm laughed softly. "He wouldn't be the only one."
Gloria studied her son's face. The past few weeks had tired him in a way she recognized, not from physical work but from admitting that something he had built had failed people without his noticing. He had not made everything right; a company could not erase the experiences of former customers or undo the choices employees had already made. But he had stopped asking for an answer that protected his pride, and that mattered more to her than any public declaration of reform.
"I keep thinking about what Derek said when he found out who you were," Malcolm admitted. "He kept repeating that nobody had told him. As though knowing would have made what he did acceptable." Gloria turned the coffee cup between her hands. "He was telling you that he knew how to behave when it mattered to him. The problem was that he decided some people didn't matter."
"And Anna didn't know a thing," Malcolm said. "She didn't know about the fourteen vans, and she didn't know about me." "She asked what I needed," Gloria replied. "Then she listened to the answer.
Everything else came after that. It's an ordinary skill, Malcolm. Don't make a monument out of it. Make sure your people practice it."
He looked toward the new vans. "You have any complaints about the deal?" "Several small ones," she said. "Your service coordinator called the wrong dispatch extension last Tuesday.
Anna fixed it, but Emma had to spend ten minutes transferring the call. And the parts ordering page still isn't as clear as Calvin would like. I've already sent the feedback."
Malcolm grinned. "I walked into that." "Of course you did. You asked a customer for an honest answer." She lifted her coffee cup in a small salute. "That's improvement."
A driver passed carrying a bundle of inspection forms, and Gloria stepped aside to let him through. The depot would continue operating after she went home, as it had for years, and the new vans would begin accumulating the miles that eventually turned every polished machine into an ordinary working vehicle. Gloria found the prospect comforting. She had never believed a vehicle was at its best when nobody was allowed to touch it. It was at its best when it was maintained properly and trusted to carry people safely through the places they needed to go.