Instead of replying, she lifted her purse. Todd ducked and raised his hands to protect himself, but she wound back and whacked him anyway.
“Not only did I take the frog to work, but it took my entire lunch break to drive around and find a park with a running stream so I could let the poor thing go. No pet store would take it, and I couldn’t wet it with chlorinated tap water! And then I had to face everyone’s jokes for weeks.”
“I’m sorry. I really am.”
“Get out of my way. I’m going home. Alone.”
Dazed, Todd stepped aside and watched as Shannon jabbed the key into the lock. She swung the door open, hopped in, slammed the door, and took off with a squeal of rubber.
The woman used up her entire lunch break to save a frog he’d found in a ditch? Todd was suddenly hit by what he should have realized years ago. He was in love with his best friend’s sister.
Todd frowned as her taillights disappeared around the corner. Over the years, he’d been less than kind to her, but in the end, she always forgave him, which he now saw made him love her even more. This time, however, it looked as if he’d gone too far. He recalled that not long after he convinced Craig to put the frog in her lunch bag she moved away from home. The Bible spoke of forgiving someone seventy times seven, but the frog might have made seventy times seven plus one.
It would be the hardest thing he’d ever had to do, but he had to show Shannon how sorry he was—and somehow convince her to take him seriously as her Mr. Right for the rest of her life.
He knew she didn’t like frogs, but he knew her well enough to know what she did like.
All he had to do was figure out what to do about it.
Chapter 2
Shannon ran from her parking space into the office then stiffened in an effort to appear dignified as she walked to her desk, past everyone else who was already hard at work. In four years, she’d never been late, until today. All night, she’d tossed and turned and hadn’t fallen asleep until almost dawn. Then she slept through her alarm.
It was Todd’s fault.
On Friday night, she thought she made it clear when she told him to leave her alone, but as usual he didn’t listen. On Sunday morning, she’d gone to church with her family to see her brother sing a solo, and Todd had arrived. When she realized he was going to sit beside her, Shannon moved to the end of the row. Todd had never been one to take hints. To her dismay he sat beside her again. To show him she had no intention of being near him and that she wouldn’t let him manipulate her, she moved again. She squeezed herself between her parents, which she hadn’t done since she was five years old. Both of them had been shocked but said nothing at her childish behavior.
Todd had driven her to it.
She busied herself in her work then nearly snapped her pencil in half at the sound of a familiar, deep male voice beside her.
“Good morning, Shannon.”
She refused to look up. She began adding a row of figures, pushing the keys on her calculator much harder than necessary. “Good morning, Todd.”
“Ah. You said good morning rather than grunting at me. I’m making progress.”
Shannon hit TOTAL, clasped her hands on the desk in front of her, and turned her head to look up at him. “May I help you with something, or are you here just to torture me?”
At her words, he sighed, his playful grin dropped, and he rammed his hands into his pockets. If she didn’t know him so well, she might have felt guilty for bruising his feelings. Even when he didn’t try, Todd exuded a unique charm. Fortunately, she was immune. After one agonizing week, though, at least half the female staff was infatuated with him. His sparkling brown eyes were exactly the same color as his hair, except in the peak of summer, when the sun bleached it almost blond. People always counted on him to liven up any situation, which he always did. Except for when she bore the brunt of it, which was most of the time, Shannon hated to admit she also enjoyed his sense of humor.
“All I wanted to do was ask if you would be as busy this week as you were last and if you were going to start taking your lunch break again.”
She couldn’t lie. She expected he would eventually figure out she was avoiding him. This week she refused to play mind games with herself. If Todd was in the lunchroom at the same time, it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to stop her from eating. She refused to give him control of her life or let him intimidate her anymore. “I’ll be taking my lunch break at the regular time.”
His grin returned, and his brown eyes lit up. Eyes a woman could get lost in. Shannon forced herself to remember this was Todd Sanders.
He leaned forward and covered her hands with one of his. “Would you give me the honor of sitting with me?”
Shannon yanked her hands away. “Never.”
He snapped his fingers. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
Why he wanted to sit with her, she would never know. A week had passed, and everything was normal except for the constant reminders of his presence. Shannon wondered if perhaps she might have misjudged him by expecting that he would still play foolish pranks or bring up embarrassing moments in front of their workmates. But just because he was behaving himself at work didn’t mean she could trust him to be the same when they were alone. Even if she could eventually trust him, that didn’t mean she wanted to spend her breaks with him.
Over the weekend, she’d spent much time in prayer, trying to convince herself to forgive and forget. When she’d done the same over the years he had disappointed her again and again. After his little performance Sunday morning, Shannon decided to err on the side of caution.
“If you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.” She picked up her pencil and continued with her calculations.
Todd returned to his station. He tried to be happy but couldn’t. He still felt guilty knowing she had avoided going into the lunchroom the previous week because of him. It gave him some relief to know she had progressed to sitting voluntarily in the same room with him. But Todd wanted more.
He wanted to sit at the same table with her and start fresh. He wanted her to like the new, slightly improved Todd Sanders.
It had been over a year since he’d left the old Todd behind. At the time, he’d had a serious heart-to-heart talk with Craig, and in that one day, his life changed forever. Craig had always been a steadying influence, especially throughout the years leading up to his parents’ divorce. While growing up, he spent more time at Craig’s house than his own. There he’d seen the way a normal family lived, compared to the constant fighting, bickering, and even violence he was used to.
Craig had taken him to his church’s youth group meetings a number of times and talked to him often about the love of Jesus, but Todd had always shrugged it off, not feeling very lovable. Then one day, when he was talking to Craig, years after he’d become an adult and stopped going to youth group, something inside him snapped. He thought he’d been handling things just fine, but suddenly, everything came spilling out. He surrendered control of his life to Jesus, and in finding Jesus he found himself.
It was time to move forward and correct some past mistakes, and Shannon was one of them. Not just one—Shannon was the most important.
He watched from a distance until Shannon was settled in the lunchroom with her lunch spread in front of her so she couldn’t move then to another table without looking odd to her friends. Todd sucked in a deep breath and gathered his courage. He cleared his throat, marched to her table, and sat in the empty chair beside her.
“Hi, Shannon. Mind if I join you?”
She nearly choked on her food, but he pretended not to notice.
He wanted to slide his chair closer to hers, but everyone else at the table, all women, was staring. He gave them his best smile then winked at the youngest, whom he recognized as the file clerk. She giggled, making him wish a certain someone else would be as enthusiastic about his presence.
“Yes, Todd? Did you forget to turn in some of the drivers’ time cards?”
He p
retended to shiver at her cold response, knowing she would pick up his meaning from past experience, but none of the other women would.
She had the grace to blush.
He plunked his lunch tote on the tabletop and proceeded to empty the contents. The women stared as he pulled out the individual containers one at a time, moving aside their own lunches to make room on the table.
“You’re going to eat all that? Well, some things never change.”
Todd patted his flat stomach and grinned. “I’m a growing boy. But I’ll make a sacrifice for you. I’ll share.” He picked up the chocolate bar, which he knew was her favorite kind, waved it in front of her, then held it out to her, inviting her to take it from his hand.
She shook her head. “I’m on a diet. Thanks anyway.”
His eyes narrowed. While Shannon had never been thin, she certainly wasn’t fat. If he had learned one thing over the years, it was never to make comments about a woman’s weight, except to ask if they’d lost some. He’d bought the chocolate bar especially for her as a peace offering, but apparently, she wasn’t going to make it easy for him, not that he deserved easy. “Take it. If you feel you need to work it off we can go jogging, or I’ll challenge you to a game of tennis after work. I promise I’ll let you win.”
She rolled her eyes then took a sip of her tea, some herbal blend he absolutely hated but couldn’t recall the name. He knew the box was green. And a box of it just happened to be in his cupboard, in case he could ever convince her to set foot in his door.
“I don’t think so.”
The young clerk piped up. “I’ll go jogging or play tennis with you after work, Todd.”
Todd cleared his throat. He didn’t really want to do either. After work, he wanted only to go home, sit back on the couch, and put his feet up, especially if he could get Shannon to relax with him. He’d even make her a cup of that horrid tea.
He turned and smiled at the girl, wishing he could remember her name. “Sorry. I was just kidding. I’m going straight home after work.”
Todd thought it best to be quiet as he ate his sandwich, then the carrots, the muffin, and the apple, while the ladies around him nibbled at their salads. They sipped their coffee and tea, and Todd chugged down a pint of chocolate milk.
When lunchtime was over, the others gathered their belongings, and Todd tossed his empty containers into his lunch tote.
The sound of Shannon’s voice beside him almost made him miss his last shot before he snapped the lid shut.
“Honestly, Todd—I don’t know where you put all that food.”
He grinned and patted his stomach again. “I told you I’m a growing boy.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s for sure.”
Without another word, she returned to her desk.
Todd lowered his chin so no one could see him smiling. She spoke to him without his initiating it. He was making progress.
It had taken two weeks, and his only improvement was that when he smiled or said hello she would smile back.
Two long weeks. Todd didn’t want to calculate how long it would take to get a warm response. What he wanted most was for her to see he’d changed. He wanted to ask her out. He wanted to share his joys and his sorrows with her, and for her to do the same. He wanted to be close enough to pray with her. Not the general prayer and praise items he heard at the large Bible study he attended weekly. He wanted to know the things near her heart. And when they had nothing to say, he wanted to be able to enjoy a companionable silence, to be comfortable together without the need for words.
He wanted to touch her without her cringing, thinking he was going to tickle or jab her. He wanted to hold her the way a man holds a woman, to hold her tight and bury his face in her hair and tell her he loved her and hear she loved him, too.
He wanted to win her confidence and earn her trust, something he hadn’t done before.
He needed advice.
Usually, he asked Craig for help, especially lately. This time, however, he deemed it wise not to talk to Craig about how to get close to his sister. Todd valued his life.
He went home and prayed for an answer.
Chapter 3
Good morning, Shannon.”
“Good morning, Todd.”
To Shannon’s surprise, Todd didn’t stop to linger as they crossed paths on the way to their desks. He merely smiled and continued on his way into the dispatch office, coffee mug in hand. Shannon couldn’t decide if she was disappointed or not. It was the start of the third week of being in close proximity for eight hours a day, and so far, to the untrained eye, all had appeared normal. Todd had not brought up past experiences, nor had he been overly familiar with her in front of the rest of the staff. He treated her exactly the same as everyone else. And she didn’t know what to make of it.
Shannon rested her mug of hot tea on the corner of her desk as she sat down then opened the drawer to get her pencil. Instead of the pencil, she found a roll of white paper tied with a bright red ribbon. What looked like a chocolate kiss wrapped in foil was knotted to the ribbon. Shannon glanced from side to side, and when she was certain no one was looking, she untied the ribbon and read the note.
Dearest Shannon,
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Chocolate is sweet,
And so are you.
Your Secret Admirer
Shannon reread the note then dropped it, along with the ribbon and the candy, back into the drawer. She slammed the drawer shut.
Dearest Shannon? Secret Admirer?
She couldn’t imagine who would do such a thing. Whoever the joker was, Shannon didn’t consider it very funny. Her first suspect was Todd, but this wasn’t his style. There was no obvious punch line. Anonymous frogs were his style, not sweet little personal notes presented with candy. Besides she had just walked in with him. Todd received great satisfaction from watching the recipients of his little jokes, but he had stepped right past her, straight into the dispatch area, just as he had every other day in the past two weeks.
As discreetly as she could, without moving her head, Shannon once more studied the office. Still no one was watching, so she slowly opened the drawer and delicately picked off the foil wrapping.
It looked like chocolate.
She picked it up.
It felt like chocolate. It smelled like chocolate. She cautiously bit the tip off. It even tasted like chocolate. In fact she recognized the chocolate. This was not from the bulk bin at the grocery store. This was from her favorite specialty shop. At first, she thought it had to be from someone who knew her fairly well but then decided it was just a coincidence. Lots of people loved this particular brand; that was how the store stayed in business.
All day, not a soul acted any differently toward her, nor did anyone exhibit any suspicious behavior. By the end of the day, Shannon managed to shrug it off, chalking it up to one of life’s little mysteries.
Tuesday morning, after relaxing with an early cup of tea in the lunchroom with a few of the other women, Shannon headed for her desk. She sat down, set her mug on the corner of the desk as she had every other morning; but when she reached to open her drawer, she hesitated.
Shannon bit back a smile. Yesterday was an isolated incident. She just hadn’t figured out the person or the punch line.
Shannon opened the drawer and caught her breath. Another note lay in her pencil tray. White paper tied with a red ribbon, chocolate kiss attached. Before she touched it, not bothering to be discreet, she spun around in her chair and blatantly studied everyone in the office. Fewer people were in the office than yesterday this early, and all of them were women. Faye lifted her head, made eye contact, then returned to her work.
Shannon concentrated on the little white piece of paper. Quickly, she pulled the ribbon off, left the chocolate kiss in the tray, and unrolled the paper.
Dearest Shannon,
A chocolate kiss
Makes me think of you.
I hope that now
This will remind you of me, too.
Your Secret Admirer
Shannon’s heart raced as she scrunched the paper in her hand and glanced around the room. The words Dearest Shannon echoed in her head as sharply as if she’d heard them out loud. She contemplated the possibility of another woman named Shannon being hidden somewhere in the building. Whoever the man was, his sentiments were romantic, even if his pentameter wasn’t quite right.
“Hey, Shan-nooze. Did you see the hockey game on TV last night? The Leafs won.” Todd approached from the lunchroom, holding his coffee mug.
Shannon fumbled with the note, shoved it back in the pencil tray, and slammed the drawer shut. Here was one man who knew better than to call her sweet. Over the years, one of the few activities she had managed to participate in with her brother and his friends, Todd included, was to play hockey with them. She was the best forward among them, and she never let them forget it.
“Yes, it was a good game,” she mumbled.
The same as the day before, Todd didn’t stop to chat. Once again, he simply disappeared through the doorway into the dispatch office. The man was going to drive her crazy.
Last night, she’d had a long talk with Craig. She didn’t know how it happened, but a major portion of their conversation centered around Todd.
Craig had been accompanying Todd to the Bible study she used to attend when she lived at home. Shannon wanted to hear more, but Craig didn’t tell her anything she hadn’t heard before. Craig said Todd took his faith seriously and was now living a good Christian life, which meant both in and out of church.
She tried to prod Craig for information on what Todd thought of the two of them working together, but Craig didn’t know. He said Todd deliberately avoided that topic.
Shannon found it difficult to focus on her work. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched everyone around her, testing their reactions as she purposely mentioned her favorite brand of chocolate kisses in every conversation. No one acted any different than any other day.
Time to Laugh Romance Collection Page 31