Time to Laugh Romance Collection

by Wanda E. Brunstetter

  Bryan was happily married with a baby on the way, but Gary and Rick were both single. Being single, and not Christians, they talked a lot about women, not all of which Todd wanted to hear. So far, he’d heard a few of their opinions of the women who worked in the office, some complimentary, some not. Fortunately, not much had been said about Shannon, probably because it was obvious he knew her prior to working there. He had a bad feeling that was about to change.

  “Yeah, I’ve known her for years. Why?”

  “Just wondering. I saw you talking to her again this morning. I was wondering if you two had anything going—that’s all.”

  The short conversation he’d had with Shannon raced through his head. They’d said nothing of significance, only that they would talk again at lunchtime.

  Todd continued to watch Gary, who was still fiddling with the papers in the folder. After listening to Rick and Gary for the past three weeks, Todd knew Rick made it a policy never to date women at work, just in case things ended badly and they had to see each other every day. But Gary had no such standards or considerations. He had dated Jody, a woman in the credit department, for a while. Every time Jody and Gary were in the lunchroom at the same time, Jody began acting strange. Gary, on the other hand, showed no signs of awkwardness, aversion, or regret. He didn’t know Gary well enough yet to know if that was good or bad.

  As much as he wanted to know why Gary was asking, unless Todd could claim something more positive than Shannon’s finally being able to stay in the same room with him without wanting to run after three minutes, he had no grounds to suggest a relationship that wasn’t there.

  He tried to make it sound as good as he could without lying. “We’re old friends from back when we were kids.” At least Shannon had been a kid and just part of the package of his friendship with Craig. But now, he kicked himself for not appreciating what could have developed between them, if he had treated her with the respect she deserved.

  He fought back a grin at the last time he’d teased her about playing hockey with the big boys. She’d defiantly given him a hip check as potent as any of the guys. He’d had a bruise for a week to remind him she didn’t just deserve the respect; she demanded it.

  Todd became serious as he turned his thoughts back to his supervisor. Gary’s sudden questions were starting to worry him.

  “So you know her pretty well, then?”

  Todd tried to keep his expression casual. He knew Shannon well enough that he would marry her tomorrow, if she’d have him, which at this point she wouldn’t. But if his words on paper could open her heart to accept the new man he had become, then, sometime in the future, living with her forever as man and wife might be a real possibility. He knew what she liked and didn’t like, and he loved her more than life itself.

  He cleared his throat. “I know her very well, actually.”

  “Anything else?”

  Todd opened his mouth, but no words came out. He wanted to tell Gary that he and Shannon were going to be bound together until the end of time, except that Shannon had only recently began speaking to him again. He was stuck—for the time being.

  “By the way,” Gary added before Todd could answer, “if you’re not, you know, doing anything with Shan, I think Faye’s pretty interested in you.”

  Inwardly, Todd cringed. He knew Faye had a crush on him. He also knew she wasn’t a Christian. Shannon’s faith through the years, in good times and bad, was one of the many things he loved about her. Even if she never returned his feelings, he wouldn’t go out with someone who didn’t share his faith. He tried to be kind to Faye without encouraging her. While he was flattered by her attentions, he wasn’t interested. He was interested only in Shannon.

  He didn’t quite know how to handle Gary yet, but he did know that humor had always worked for him. Todd splayed both hands over his heart and sighed melodramatically. “I know about Faye, but my heart belongs to another.”

  Gary rolled his eyes. “You’ve been watching too many cheap chick flicks. I think you have some work to do.”

  Todd gladly picked up his book of notes to follow up on, sat at his station, and lifted the phone to dial. He had never been so glad to get to work.

  By the time the lunch hour arrived, Todd was more than ready. Like every other day, he was alone in the dispatch office for half an hour while Rick and Bryan went for lunch. Gary was in his office catching up on the morning’s happenings, but he was prepared to come into the dispatch area if the phones went wild while Todd was alone.

  Fortunately for Todd, everything remained quiet, and for now, his paperwork was done. He’d finished the routing for the pickup requests received so far. Even most of the drivers were now officially off for their break.

  Line 3 was lit up. He glanced over his shoulder to see that Gary was on the phone. As long as the light was on, Gary would remain in his office.

  As usual at this time, Todd had nothing to do but watch the wall. He began to write the note Shannon would read on Tuesday morning.

  Dearest Shannon,

  The pen froze. He knew she had become more curious about the sender of the notes because she was going to talk to him about it, until he put her off.

  Todd looked down at his own handwriting. He didn’t want the notes to be perceived as threatening in any way so he had decided to handwrite them, to give them a friendly and personal touch, instead of typing them on his computer and printing them. But now, staying anonymous had become more of an issue. As far as he knew, Shannon had never seen his handwriting. Since he was salaried and not hourly, he didn’t fill out a time sheet at the end of the week. When the drivers had overtime, he initialed their time cards, but that was only a scribbled TS, which he usually did standing, without a solid surface behind them. His initials were not even close to use as a comparable handwriting sample.

  The only official documents on file with his handwriting written legibly were the job application he had filled out and the IRS form. Shannon was the payroll administrator, but he didn’t think she had access to those files. Even if she did, she had too much honor to search through personnel files for handwriting samples.

  He looked at the customers’ routing cards sorted neatly in the various drivers’ route slots. The names of their customers were written in, but he wasn’t the only one doing it. Gary and the other dispatchers wrote in the names, and sometimes people in the office wrote an occasional pickup request. As well, the times the calls were given to the drivers were noted by whoever was on the radio to that driver at the time, which was any one of the four of them. At the end of the day, all the cards were gathered into a bundle, labeled by date, and tossed into a box, never to be looked at again unless there was a problem. It wasn’t likely Shannon would ever look there. Even if she did dig through the box and match the handwriting, nothing was identifiable as his.

  Todd smiled and continued writing.

  Every day while we’re at work,

  Todd stopped writing. His brain stalled while he tried to think of a word that rhymed with “work.” Since nothing came, he mentally ran through the alphabet starting with A, taking each letter and ending it with the “erk” sound. The first combination he made that was really a word was “jerk,” so he kept going. The next word started with the letter L, but he didn’t think it was a good idea to mention the word “lurk” in a note. He was already leaving anonymous notes, and he didn’t want to frighten Shannon or hint that he was following her around. He wasn’t a stalker. He only wanted to tell her he recognized the special Christian woman she’d become and how much he loved her.

  He crumpled the paper and shoved it in his pocket to put through the shredder then started again.

  Dearest Shannon,

  Thinking of you makes me smile,

  Like …

  The pen froze again. What happy thing rhymed with smile? He started to run through the alphabet again, mentally choked on the word “bile,” shook his head and kept going with the alphabet.

  Like an alligator in
the lazy Nile.

  Or was it crocodiles in the Nile? He knew alligators lived in Florida and crocodiles lived in Australia, but he didn’t know which ones lived in Egypt.

  Todd scribbled out the words and shoved that piece of paper in his pocket, too. He didn’t want her to think he was a predatory animal. He’d already nixed another predatory word.

  Todd started again.

  Dearest Shannon,

  The phone rang before he could think of another opening sentence. He chatted with the caller for a few minutes while noting some special requests for a pickup of a priority parcel then resumed his quest.

  The light went out for line 3. The scrape of Gary’s chair along the tile floor was followed by the metallic grind of his filing-cabinet drawer opening. “Almost ready?” Gary called out. “Those guys should be back soon.”

  Todd looked up at the clock. He had five minutes left in which to write the note he would leave tomorrow.

  He gritted his teeth. Writing poetry was hard enough, but writing good, meaningful, sincere poetry was even harder, especially when he had to do it while watching the clock.

  Dearest Shannon,

  I love you more every day

  You are more special than words can say

  He stopped writing, fighting for the words as every tick of the clock echoed loudly through his head, reminding him time was running short.

  Nothing came. Bryan’s and Rick’s voices drifted through the doorway, signaling their imminent arrival.

  Todd folded the paper carefully and shoved it in his pocket. His only option to finish the note in private would be to do it in the washroom before he left. He told himself this was what he deserved for not writing the note at home, when he had more time and the privacy he needed. His struggles also served as a reminder that the more notes he wrote, the harder it was becoming to find different wording and more rhymes he hadn’t used before.

  It was a lot of work, and he knew he had to be diligent, but this was the only way he could think of to tell Shannon how he felt. When the time was right to reveal himself, he hoped she would see that for once in his life his actions toward her were sincere and she would take him seriously.

  Shannon set her mug on the corner of her desk, walked around to her chair, and slid in.

  When she reached for the drawer handle, she realized she would be disappointed if she didn’t find a new note.

  She held her breath, wrapped her fingers around the cold metal, and pulled. Sure enough, another note lay in the pencil tray.

  As she picked up the small piece of notepaper, again bound by a red ribbon with a chocolate kiss tied to the end, she paused. This note wasn’t as pristine as the other notes. For the first time, the paper was crinkled.

  She shrugged her shoulders, tugged the bow on the ribbon to open it, set the chocolate kiss aside, and began to read.

  Dearest Shannon,

  I love you more every day

  You are more special than words can say.

  These words I write are to say to you

  That I think of you in all I do.

  Your Secret Admirer

  Shannon smiled. The Secret Admirer’s poetry was still bad, but his sentiments continued to be just as sweet.

  She put the paper down in front of her and picked up the chocolate kiss. As she picked off the colored foil wrapping, she reread the note, trying to figure out if the word patterns were familiar or if any expressions might be unique to one person. She had almost finished the last line when she heard footsteps behind her chair. She quickly whipped the note into her drawer, grabbed her pencil, and popped the chocolate kiss into her mouth.

  “I saw that,” Faye said as she appeared beside Shannon.

  Shannon’s heart pounded. She had thought she’d tucked the note away soon enough, but she’d become careless. She turned to the side and looked up at Faye, who was standing beside her chair and holding a mug of steaming coffee in one hand. Shannon’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Please don’t tell anyone.”

  Faye’s eyebrows raised. “Why? Are you on a diet? You of all people, too.” She rested her free hand on her stomach. “I’m the one who could probably lose ten pounds, but not you.”

  Shannon tried not to sag with relief that it was only the chocolate Faye had seen. She said the first thing that came to her mind. “I guess it’s just a girl thing. Next weekend I’m going to an anniversary celebration at my old church, and I want to be able to fit into my dress.”

  Faye picked up the foil wrapping. “It was just a chocolate kiss, not a whole bar. How many calories can it have?” She glanced around Shannon’s desktop, then to the drawer, which was tightly closed. “Got any more? Do you share?”

  “Sorry. I only got one.”

  Faye turned and looked at her own desk, beside Shannon’s, which was bare except for her in and out baskets and computer. “Got? You mean someone around here has good chocolate kisses and skipped me? I’m going to have to wring someone’s neck. Who’s giving them out?”

  Shannon nearly choked, even though the last of the kiss had already dissolved in her mouth. Her mind raced to think of what she could say that wouldn’t be lying but yet wouldn’t be spilling the beans about what had been happening for over a week now. “I don’t know. Someone left it for me.” She deliberately didn’t mention the notes that came with the kisses and hoped and prayed Faye wouldn’t ask for more details.

  “Wow. Someone has a crush on you, I’ll bet.”

  Shannon had a bad feeling it was more than a crush, since someone was going to a lot of trouble and for so long. “Naw. It’s probably just someone who knows I like this kind of chocolate. I’ll bet they’re even wondering why I haven’t thanked them. I should probably know who it is, but I can’t figure it out.”

  Faye sighed, her eyes drifted shut, and she pressed her free hand over her heart. “I wish some handsome knight would woo me with chocolate kisses. He’d have my heart for sure.” Her eyes opened, and she grinned at Shannon. “I’d really like it if Todd would leave me romantic stuff like that.”

  “Todd?” Shannon blinked. The only thing he’d ever left her was a cold, slimy live frog. “That man doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body. Don’t tell me you have a crush on him.” His remark from the previous day—that he thought Faye liked him—repeated in her head. It appeared he was right.

  “He’s so–o–o handsome. And so funny!”

  “He’s also …” Shannon’s voice trailed off. Todd was funny, when a person wasn’t the target of his jokes. And she couldn’t argue that he wasn’t handsome, because he was. The biggest problem was he knew it.

  She tried to think of something else to say about Todd to discourage Faye, to tell her what he was really like, but again, she had to be fair. They’d worked together for nearly a month, and he’d done nothing untoward. He hadn’t played a single practical joke on anyone. He was polite, helpful, and appeared to be doing a good job. If she had to draw a dotted line in time, from the day he started working there, she couldn’t think of anything bad to say about him.

  As well, Todd continued to be her brother’s best friend after fifteen years. Craig always chose his friends carefully. He had many acquaintances but only a select group of people he would call close friends. Craig said repeatedly that Todd had turned his life around and changed into a decent human being.

  Faye waited expectantly beside her. “Todd’s also …?”

  “Nothing,” Shannon mumbled as she typed in her password and opened her e-mail. “I forgot what I was going to say. Just remember that even though Todd isn’t bad looking, beauty is only skin deep.”

  Faye nodded. She began to walk the three steps to her desk but stopped after only two steps. She turned her head to look over her shoulder at Shannon. “That may be so, but beauty is also in the eye of the beholder.”

  Chapter 5

  Todd walked into the bookstore, trying to make it look as if he were comfortable in such a place. He stared up and down one aisle, then another,
unable to believe there could be so many books under one roof. They even had a coffee shop in the back. The public library hadn’t been as large as this store.

  The book he’d wanted had been marked “library use only,” and he couldn’t go into the library every few days. Therefore, he had come to buy the book.

  If he could find it.

  A young lady wearing a green polo shirt with a pin-on badge showing the logo of the store and the name “Staci” approached him, proving he looked as lost as he felt.

  “May I help you?” she asked.

  He didn’t know if he should admit he’d just been to the library, where he didn’t have to pay for anything. “I’m looking for one of those books that has rhyming words in it. For writing stuff.”

  She smiled politely. “You mean a rhyming dictionary? We have a number of different kinds. There are rhyming dictionaries for both children and adults. Some are geared for poets. We have a nice one for musicians—and a few in more of a dictionary format. We have them in paperback or hardcover.”

  Todd’s head swam. If it wasn’t hard enough to pick meaningful words that rhymed and still get his point across, now he had to decide which reference book was the best kind to suit his needs. The one he’d found at the library seemed good, but he hadn’t realized it was any specific kind. He only knew he couldn’t leave the building with it. “Yeah,” he mumbled. “That’s what I want.”

  She pointed across the room. “In the nonfiction section, in 18B.”

  “Thanks,” he mumbled again and began walking.

  When he finally found the right shelf, he gritted his teeth and went through all of the books, one by one, until he found one that looked as if it had the biggest selection of words per page. He cringed at the price, now realizing why the library wouldn’t let their copy out of the building, then picked a smaller paperback version instead. For what he was doing, he didn’t need every word in the English language. He only needed lists of words that rhymed.