by Gail Sattler
Although she couldn’t really spare the time, she gave up and chatted with him until Robert buzzed.
On his way out, Glen smiled and winked at her. It was the last thing she felt like doing, but to be polite, she smiled back and resumed her typing.
All day long, Robert continued to give her projects faster than she could complete them. With only an hour left in the day, Robert appeared again to drop yet another project into her in basket.
“I know you’ve been working extra hard, Cindy, but I need this finished tonight. I realize today is Friday, but I need this for an early meeting on Saturday. I already owe you a lot of time off, but would you mind working late tonight?”
Cindy shook her head and set her project aside. “Don’t worry about it.” Since it was Friday, she expected Monty to call about plans for the weekend. This way, she had a legitimate excuse not to talk to him. Her throat constricted and she blinked away a burning at the back of her eyes. One day soon, Monty would give up and she would never see him again. Wasn’t that what she wanted?
❧
Monty sat in his office with the door closed, not removing his hand from the phone after hanging up, and stared at the blank wall.
Earlier in the week he’d had his suspicions but had chosen to believe her when she said she was too busy to talk. Last night she’d claimed to be too tired. He knew she wouldn’t lie about having to work overtime, but she had also said no to seeing him on Saturday. When she said she couldn’t accompany him to church on Sunday, he could no longer fool himself. She was avoiding him.
He had been so sure she felt the same way about him that he felt about her. Every time they were together, every time he talked to her, he knew without a doubt that Cindy was the woman God had set aside for him.
He closed his eyes, thinking about their walk in the woods, before the pain in his leg had killed the day. He’d kissed her, and although the moment was brief, she’d responded. He’d held her hand and she hadn’t pulled away. He couldn’t possibly misinterpret those things as the signs of a blossoming relationship.
Since then, he’d imagined a future married to Cindy. He thought about family life and performing normal household chores. He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to maintain his balance enough to stand on a ladder. Running to play with children would be out of the question. He knew he wouldn’t always be able to walk unassisted.
But those things were minor in God’s big picture. Cindy was right. Feeling sorry for himself was wrong. God had truly given him a second chance and commissioned him to make the most of what he had.
The phone rang, bringing Monty’s attention back to where it should have been in the first place, on his work. He’d been staring off into space so long that the screen saver had come on.
The caller was Robert Blackmore, asking a simple question.
Monty grinned. He purposely made a mountain out of a molehill with Robert’s simple question and left the poor man with more questions than when he first called. Then, he graciously volunteered to assist Robert with the solution in person.
As he hung up, he dropped his half-eaten sandwich into the wastepaper basket, pushed all his uncompleted work into the top drawer, and slammed it shut.
He painfully made his way across the office, not stopping to talk to Agnes on his way out. “I’m gone until Monday,” he called over his shoulder as the door closed behind him.
Using every ounce of self-control, Monty barely managed to contain his impatience as he inched through the growing rush-hour traffic. He arrived as the staff members were starting to leave, making him wish he could run, desperately hoping and praying he could still catch Cindy before she left for the day.
Alone in the elevator on the way up, Monty leaned against the wall with his cane crooked over his arm to make one last check that his tie was straight and his hair was neatly in place.
Except for the cane, which he couldn’t control, he was ready.
The four older secretaries stood together in front of the elevator when the door swooshed open. They stopped their chattering and stared at him, then stepped back to allow him to exit. Their surprise at seeing anyone coming in at the close of the day was more than obvious.
He hobbled stiffly, trying his best to keep his pace with the cane even, until he stood in front of Cindy’s desk. She raised her eyes to see who was standing in front of her desk. When she saw him, she fumbled and dropped her pen.
“Monty! What are you doing here?” She scrambled to catch her pen before it rolled off the desk.
“I’ve got an appointment with Robert, but I’d like to see you first,” he said, grateful for the emptiness of the large room. “I’ve felt like you’ve been avoiding me, Cindy.”
“Well, I. . .” She bit her bottom lip before her eyes lowered, and she stared intently at the pen in her hand.
Monty cringed at the squeak of a door opening. “Montgomery. So glad you could come on short notice. Please, come right in.”
Five minutes. If he could only have five minutes alone with Cindy. He faced her, hoping his eyes could show the pleading of his heart. “Please, Cindy, I have to talk to you. I have to know if I’ve done something wrong.”
Cindy’s face paled. “You’d better go in now. I have a lot of work to do.”
He hoped that she meant she would still be there when he got out of his meeting with Robert, but somehow he doubted it. Following Robert’s request, he took a seat in his office and covered everything as quickly and efficiently as he could, trying his best to hurry yet not be rude. They were nearly done when Robert’s phone rang.
Robert’s brows knotted as he listened to the caller. “What do you mean, everyone’s gone?” He paused for a few seconds to look at his wristwatch. “Surely you can find somebody.” He frowned as he listened, then opened his eyes wide and turned his head to stare at Cindy through his office window.
“What do you mean, Cindy? Is this some kind of joke, Thompson?” His eyes narrowed. Robert crooked the phone on his shoulder and crossed his arms as he continued to listen to the caller.
Monty’s mind raced. Thompson. The name was familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Most of all, he wanted to know what this had to do with Cindy.
Thirteen
Robert hung up the phone. “I just received a phone call from the supervisor of our assembly department. Seems like we’ve run into a problem that I have to deal with immediately. Please excuse me.” With a nod of his head, Robert rose, then stepped outside his office to stand in front of Cindy, who was still working diligently at her desk.
Assembly department. Supervisor. Thompson. . . A lightbulb went on inside Monty’s head. Troy Thompson.
Monty’s gut clenched. He didn’t know what happened, but apparently someone was in serious trouble, and somehow Cindy was involved. If she faced disciplinary action or worse, termination, even if it cost him the contract, he would offer her a job working for him and leave with her. He still hadn’t found a suitable applicant for the position he’d advertised for, and he had no doubt that with a little training, she was more than capable of doing anything she set her mind to.
He struggled to his feet and stood half leaning on the cane and half on the door frame, watching helplessly.
Cindy glanced from side to side, then briefly at Robert as he stood in front of her desk. “Yes, Robert?” she mumbled as she continued to type.
“I just spoke to Troy Thompson.”
Her brows knotted as she stopped working. “Troy? He’s still here? What does he want?”
“He just told me everyone down there has gone home, including Norburn.”
Cindy laid her pen down and shrugged her shoulders. “So?”
Robert cleared his throat. “Thompson saw your car in the parking lot, so he knew you were still here. Our big order for Scheulers didn’t get out. The truck is here now, and we need you to load it.”
Monty blinked. Did he hear that right?
Cindy’s mouth opened, then snapped shut. “But I. . .�
� Her voice trailed off. “It’s been a long time, Robert.”
Robert paused to run his hand over his balding head, then shoved his hands into his pockets. “It appears I owe you an apology. I remember once you told me you’d been a forklift operator, and I didn’t take you seriously. Now I do.”
She sighed and hit the save key on her computer. “All right,” she mumbled as she rose from her chair. “Let’s go.”
Rather than sit alone in Robert’s office, Monty took advantage of the confusion and accompanied Robert and Cindy into the elevator and down to the shipping area on the ground level in the rear of the building. Fortunately, they walked slowly for him.
Next to a large, open, warehouse door, Troy stood alongside a very annoyed truck driver.
Cindy’s high heels clicked on the cement floor as she approached Troy. She placed her hands on her hips and glared up at him. “Don’t tell me you can’t do this, Troy.”
Troy shrugged his shoulders and raised his palms in the air in defeat. “Honest, I’ve never driven one, and I didn’t figure this would be a great day to start.”
Cindy mumbled something under her breath, then removed the paperwork from Troy’s hand.
Troy pointed to an area of the warehouse. “All we need is for you to load it. I already checked it twice, just like Santa.”
“Just like Santa. . .” Her voice trailed off.
Troy shrugged his shoulders again. “Ho, ho, ho,” he said lamely.
Cindy hopped up onto the forklift, which was parked neatly against the wall, tucked her skirt beneath her, then started the motor. Her hair streamed back as she drove, her full skirt flowed around the seat, and even wearing high heels, she worked the pedals with ease.
Monty watched intently as she drove through the warehouse, likewise Robert, Troy, and the truck driver. First she headed toward two pallets stowed in the loading bay. Maneuvering the forks underneath the pallet, she threw the levers into place, lifted the stock, and slowly drove the forklift in reverse to the trailer parked in the loading door. Efficiently, she spun the forklift around and inched forward, poking her head out to the side to see where she was going from behind the merchandise. The hydraulic lifters reverberated, followed by the revving of the forklift motor. The trailer shook with a slight bump as she pushed the load into place.
Driving in reverse on the forklift, she exited the trailer and headed back into the warehouse for more product.
“No one in accounting is going to believe this,” Robert mumbled to no one in particular.
Troy nodded but said nothing.
Monty hung his cane on his arm, leaned against the wall, and watched Cindy handle the forklift expertly, his attention riveted. Upon completion of her task, she returned the forklift to the designated area and passed the copies of the bill of lading to the truck driver to sign. When the paperwork was done, he drove away.
They rode up the elevator in uncomfortable silence. Robert briefly thanked Cindy, but Cindy only mumbled a response and stared intently at the button panel. Monty didn’t dare say anything, because by all rights, he shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Cindy continued her work without saying a word, and Monty followed Robert back into his office, where they completed the final details of his alleged reason for coming. Fortunately, Cindy had not yet completed her task, allowing Monty the opportunity he sought.
Taking a guess that Robert would stay until Cindy was finished, Monty remained in Robert’s office making small talk, although he hated aimless chitchat. By the time Cindy rapped on the door, he’d had more than enough meaningless chatter.
Her movements were stiff and abrupt as she waited for Robert’s final signatures, then left Robert’s office. He excused himself and made his way to her desk to witness her ramming everything haphazardly into the drawers and slamming them shut.
“Hi,” he said, as if she didn’t know he was there.
“Hi,” she mumbled back as she grabbed her purse.
“Got plans?”
“Uh, well, sort of, I don’t know, uh, not really. No.” Her voice dropped to a mumble. “But I’m really tired, and I want to go to bed early.”
“If you’re tired, I’d like to treat you to dinner. It’s late, and you must be starving. This way you won’t have to cook or clean up.”
He forced himself to smile and then spoke before she had the chance to turn him down. “I want to know why you’ve been avoiding me. I promise if you don’t want to see me again, I won’t bother you after today, but I have to know.”
“It’s nothing you’ve done. It’s just that. . .well. . .”
Monty couldn’t stand it anymore. He gently grabbed her hand to stop her from fumbling with everything she could possibly lay her hands on. “Please, Cindy. I don’t want it to end this way.”
She stared down at his hand holding hers, then up to his face and past his shoulder, where he knew Robert was surely watching, but he didn’t care.
“All right. But I’d rather not go out. I’d rather go home and order pizza or something.”
As long as it was an invitation, he didn’t care where they went or what they ate, and the privacy of her home was by far the best setting.
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Sure. I’ll meet you there.”
❧
Cindy’s hands shook so hard she could barely get a proper grip on the steering wheel. She nearly dropped her house key when she let herself in. No sooner had she opened the door, when the low hum of Monty’s car sounded from the street, then went silent.
The entire drive home she hadn’t been able to think. Her mind was still completely blank. She had no idea what she would say to him.
Monty’s flowing baritone voice sounded from behind her. “Hi.”
“You made it.” Cindy smiled inanely. If she came up with any more equally intelligent statements, he wouldn’t want to see her again anyway.
“Yeah.”
Since he was leaning heavily on the cane for support, she moved out of the way to let him pass first. However, instead of continuing into the living room, he deposited the cane behind him and leaned one hip against the wall as he cupped her chin with both hands, forcing eye contact. She couldn’t have looked away had she wanted to. His dark brown eyes radiated what she could only think of as sadness and regret.
Monty’s voice came out low and raspy, doing strange things to her insides. “I was going to ask if you wanted to eat first or talk first, but you’re so jumpy, I think we should just get it over with. What do you think?”
Cindy nodded dumbly. His hands were warm and his touch tender and gentle as he brushed her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. She couldn’t help herself as her eyes drifted shut and she let herself sag. His hands drifted down from her cheeks to her shoulders, and she allowed him to pull her closer until they were pressed close together and his arms locked around her. Briefly it registered that he was no longer leaning on the wall, but his unsteady stance indicated he was only standing unsupported by balancing most of his weight on one leg. With this in mind, Cindy slipped her hands to his waist, then up his back to hold him tighter, trying to tell herself that she was only helping to support him.
As she did so, he brushed his mouth against her cheek, then her ear, then buried his face in her hair. She nearly melted at the intimate contact.
She needed this moment, the first time he’d held her as she needed him to hold her, but this must also be the last time. She tried to burn into her memory everything about him. His touch. His strength. His gentleness. The almost desperate way he clung to her. She wanted to remember this moment forever.
Yet, no matter how much she enjoyed his touch, as if she hadn’t already given him the wrong idea by returning his embrace, Cindy knew she had to tell him quickly what she had to say, while she still had the strength to do so.
He didn’t release her as she started to speak. “I can’t see you again,” she whispered.
He stiffened, then tightened his embrace. “W
hy not?” He nuzzled into her hair.
The man didn’t play fair. “I’m no angel, Monty.”
“I know you’re not.”
She could feel him trailing light kisses along the crook of her neck. She started to tremble. “No, you don’t understand. Not in the endearment way. I mean I’m not a real angel. I’m not even close.”
“I know that. You’re not a man.” He brushed his lips against her throat, then his warm, moist kisses moved upward to her ear as his hands caressed her back.
Cindy thought her knees would give out. She was trying to tell him something, and he was getting her all confused. It was coming out all wrong. “A. . . a. . .man?” she mumbled.
“Angels always appear as men. At least they do in the Bible.”
She couldn’t think with him nibbling on her ear. “That’s not what I meant.”
His soft chuckle banished the last semicoherent thought she had. “Okay,” he mumbled in her ear.
She couldn’t have opened her eyes if her life depended on it. “I mean I’m nowhere close to an angel in any way.”
“Good, because I’m going to kiss you now as a woman, the way I’ve wanted to kiss you for a long time.” His mouth moved slowly from her ear to her cheek, nibbling short kisses. By the time his mouth reached hers, her lips were parted and waiting. He gave her the sweetest kiss she could ever hope for, loving, tender, and passionate at the same time. And she returned his kiss with all the love in her heart.
Slowly, he pulled away just a little, then started to speak with his lips still brushing hers. “Cindy, I—”
Outside a car door slammed, then another. Erin’s screech was followed by Troy’s playful growl, and Cindy could hear footsteps running up the stairs.
Monty mumbled something under his breath she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear. Then, he pulled back. “History repeats itself,” he grumbled as he used both hands to swipe his hair back. He started to straighten his tie just as Erin burst through the door.