He didn’t look like he believed me. He kept smirking. “I like it. I think it’s cute.”
Why, oh why, was he doing this? It was embarrassing enough. I kept my eyes averted from his view so he couldn’t magically read my thoughts and see last night’s dream in them.
I heard his stool push across the tile floor as he stood, and I knew he was getting ready to leave. Thank God.
“I’ll see you at work,” he said.
“Yeah, see you then,” I replied but didn’t turn around. I lifted a hand as if to wave which was stupid. It seemed all I could manage to do today was stupid stuff.
FINDING SOMETHING TO WEAR TO the office a second day wasn’t easy. I decided on a pair of white shorts that were nicer than my other shorts and a black top. My flats and a necklace helped dress it up a bit. I didn’t know if it mattered what I wore. I was in a back room alone with paperwork. I put some effort into how I looked anyway.
Brandy Jo wasn’t all smiles for me when I walked in—not the way she was for Jasper—but I greeted her with a friendly smile anyway. Her response was a cold stare. I wasn’t her competition, the world was. She needed to understand how Jasper worked. I almost felt sorry for her.
The card that Jasper had given me to enter the protected area of the building was tucked in my purse. I reached for it and slipped it out while the elevator took me to his floor. My job with Van Allen Industries was only filing papers but it felt important. Like I had fancy responsibilities in a position that you could only get with a degree. I didn’t want to work in an office like this forever. Being a nurse had been my dream since I was a little girl. For now, I would enjoy this experience and I was thankful to Jasper for giving it to me.
When the elevators opened, I walked into the waiting area that was beautiful and just as empty as it had been yesterday. I doubted many people actually waited in this area. Which was a shame. It was such a nice place to wait.
The door clicked as it unlocked easily with a wave of my key card. I knocked lightly before pushing it open in case Jasper was busy. There was no response, so I went in. His office was empty as I made my way to the back room where I filed.
For the next hour, I opened envelopes and made piles according to the subject matter all around me.
The smell of food caught my attention and I looked up from my work just as Jasper walked into the filing room holding two paper bags.
His eyebrows were raised as he looked at me among my piles and said, “I brought lunch. Come in here and help me eat it.”
It smelled incredible and my stomach growled reminding me I hadn’t eaten since early that morning.
Standing, I straightened my shorts and slipped my shoes back on. “Thank you. I was getting hungry. I didn’t think about packing a lunch.”
“Then that works out good for me. I need a lunch date and I bought all this food.”
I wanted to think he’d bought it for me to eat with him, but I knew better. It was very likely he had bought it with other plans that had fallen through.
“How are the pits of hell coming along in there?” he asked me as we stepped into his office and he placed the bags on his desk.
“It’s not that bad,” I told him. “I enjoy it. The organizing. Makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something.”
He gave me a crooked grin that I tried not to stare at. “Not sure what that says about you, Beulah.” He was teasing. I could tell, so I just smiled in response.
The door to his office opened before he finished unloading the bags. It was Stone. Oh joy. Perfect way to ruin lunch.
“You eating in here?” he asked. Again, he was dressed like he was going to a frat party, not to work with Jasper.
“Yes, and there isn’t enough for three. I thought you had a business lunch.”
He shrugged. “It’s over. Not hungry,” he paused and glanced briefly at me. “Just didn’t expect you to be eating in here.” He left out the “with her”, but it was understood in the tone of his voice.
“Better company in here,” Jasper told him, and at that moment, I wanted to kiss Jasper’s face. He had no problem with me. He didn’t think I was below him. Sure, I worked for him but he accepted me as a human. Unlike Stone.
“I’ve got the contract I picked up at lunch today if you want to go over it while you eat.”
I didn’t look at either of them. I kept my eyes focused on the food Jasper was placing in front of me. I felt like I was in the way, like most of the time Stone was around. He managed to make me feel awkward and unwanted.
“I’m going to enjoy my lunch date, and then I’ll look it over. Leave it on the desk.”
Again, the urge to kiss Jasper emerged.
“Date?” Stone asked, his voice sounding displeased as if the word “date” was crude or distasteful.
“Yes, Stone. Date.”
“She’s your employee,” Stone told him as if he’d somehow forgotten.
“Jesus, you can be an ass,” Jasper said with a chuckle. “Can you leave us to our lunch if all you’re going to do is be a dick?”
My phone that never ever rang began to ring. I didn’t have an unlimited calling plan. It was a prepaid phone I kept for emergencies only, or in case Heidi needed me. My heart was already pounding when I quickly jerked it out of my pocket and said, “Hello.”
“Hello, may I speak with Beulah,” the lady on the other end of the line said.
“Yes, this is Beulah.”
“This is Stacy McDavid from Among the Spanish Moss group home and I’m calling because Heidi isn’t well. The doctor just came to see her, and she has the flu. She won’t eat, and she’s crying for you.”
Heidi getting sick was never a good thing. Little things could be harder on her than others. “She had her flu shot. How did she get the flu?” I asked already walking back to the room where I had left my purse. I had to see her.
“It still happens. There are many strains of the flu. The doctor is going to monitor her, and if he feels she needs to be hospitalized he will.”
Hospital? Oh, God. I had to get there. Abruptly, I felt sick.
“I’m on my way. Tell her I’m on my way.”
“I will.”
I ended the call and grabbed my purse, then ran from the room back into the office.
“Heidi is sick. I need to leave.”
Jasper was already standing up, his food forgotten. He grabbed a set of keys off his desk. “I’ll take you.”
He’ll take me? “Why?”
He came around the table, and his hand reached for and was now touching my elbow. “Let’s go. You don’t need to drive upset and you need a friend right now. Think of me as support.”
“What about the meeting in an hour?” Stone asked.
“Cancel it,” was Jasper’s response as he led me out of the office.
“You don’t have to do this. It’s very kind of you but I can get there. I will be fine.”
He shook his head. “No. You’re a mess. I can feel you trembling. I’m going with you. Besides, it’s time I met Heidi.”
Jasper was beautiful. He was kind. He had helped me when I needed someone. All those things had led to the dream I’d had of him. I knew that. But this . . . this act . . . My heart melted and I knew I was in trouble. As hard as I fought it, I knew I was falling in love with him and that was the biggest mistake I could make. But I had no idea how to stop it. Jasper wasn’t the kind of guy you loved.
My heart didn’t seem to get that memo though. It was falling anyway.
WHEN WE WALKED IN THE doors at Heidi’s home, I didn’t stop at the front desk like I normally did. I hurried down the wing of the right hall with Jasper following right behind me.
Heidi still had a private room and all of the private rooms were on the first floor, right wing. One of the reasons I was happy she had that room was it was closer to the activities. She was so social and being stuck on another floor away from everything seemed sad to me.
Her door had a bright yellow sunflower she had made in the activity room from ribbons and burlap hanging on it. When she’d shown it to me last week, she had been so proud of it. They made new door decorations each month here and she always looked forward to what they would make next. I wondered if she had to share her door with her roommate when they moved her to another room. That was a silly thing to worry about right now but I did anyway.