by Debby Mayne
Charlene frowned. “I can see how your uncle would be upset, but when someone signs a contract for a new account, especially with a company of any size—and you said this is a big one—they probably have a process that takes many days, weeks, or maybe even months. Tom probably had a deal in the works long before you ever mentioned the account.”
Cissy nodded miserably. “That’s what Tom said. He said he was on a business trip to finalize the deal. But that doesn’t change the fact that I used some business information to try to test Tom and that I now have to choose between working for my uncle or a relationship with Tom. But I can’t even see Tom if I don’t have a job with my uncle!”
“Oh, wow.” Charlene went silent as she pondered Cissy’s dilemma. “You really have gotten yourself in a bind.”
After several more minutes of silence, Charlene finally said, “Seems like your first step is to talk to your uncle, admit your mistakes, and apologize. Tell him when you mentioned the new account and ask how long it takes to finalize the deal. Then really listen to him and hear what he says.”
Cissy nodded slowly. “I dread the thought, but I think you’re right.”
Charlene gave her a sympathetic glance before lifting her tea glass. She barely wet her lips, so Cissy suspected she was using it as a prop to keep from saying something she was thinking.
“What?” Cissy said.
Charlene squinted. “What what?”
“What are you thinking that you don’t want to say?”
“Oh, you’re good.” Charlene put down her tea glass and folded her hands in her lap. “I was just thinking, where are we going to church tomorrow?”
Cissy leaned back. “I hadn’t thought of that. I suppose I should go with Aunt Bootsie. That way I’ll have a chance to talk with Uncle Forest before Monday. If he wants to fire me, he can do it without everyone in the office listening.”
Charlene scoffed. “Maybe he won’t fire you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Maybe not, but you’ve got to admit, he’s probably feeling torn about all of this too. He can’t let your mama down by firing you, but I’m sure he doesn’t want you to keep seeing Tom if it has a chance of hurting his business.”
“See!” Cissy moaned. “This is the kind of thing I can’t seem to stop doing, even when I try!” She sighed. “I make things impossible for everyone.”
Suddenly Charlene grinned. “Not everyone. I know Someone who does an excellent job with anything we think is impossible.” She took Cissy’s hand and squeezed it. “Let’s say a prayer and ask Him for guidance.”
Charlene started the prayer, and Cissy followed with her own plea for forgiveness. When they opened their eyes, warmth flowed over Cissy as Charlene smiled back at her.
“Already feels better, doesn’t it?”
Cissy nodded. “Yes. It’s amazing how knowing that I can rely on the Lord, no matter what, makes everything seem not so impossible.” She cleared her throat. “Will you please go with me to Aunt Bootsie’s church?”
Charlene’s grin remained as she crinkled her nose. “I’m not so sure that’s such a good idea. This might be something you need to work through without a stranger in the house.”
“Uncle Forest knows you, so you’re not a stranger. I really need you for support.”
“Well, since you put it that way, of course I’ll go.”
Chapter 23
SUNDAY MORNING TOM took an extra glance in the mirror on his way out the door and noticed the strain on his face. The realization of how he’d hurt so many people affected him more than any work stress ever had. He needed to focus more on keeping his faith at the forefront of everything in his life. All day Saturday and late into the night he’d prayed that the Lord would somehow guide him in what to do about Cissy, but so far he didn’t have an obvious answer. It was probably wishful thinking, but he hoped he might see her in church this morning.
He stood at the door greeting visitors. Every now and then he glanced in the direction of her apartment. By the time the worship team started playing, he knew it was highly unlikely she’d be there.
It took every ounce of brainpower to focus on the sermon. When the service was over, he closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and slowly let it out.
“Rough week?”
As soon as he heard Lester’s voice, Tom opened his eyes. “Yeah.”
“Work or girl problems?”
Tom laughed. “Maybe a little of both?”
“I would tell you to pray about it, but I’m sure you’ve done that already. Anything you want to talk about?”
Tom’s first inclination was to say no, but maybe he did need to talk. “Sounds good. How about grabbing a burger? My treat.”
“Let me go put my guitar away. I’ll be right back.”
Tom stood at the door and waited. Every now and then he cast a glance in the direction of Cissy’s apartment, but he didn’t expect to see her, until he spotted the bright red flash of what looked like her handbag a block away. His pulse quickened, but when it became obvious that it wasn’t her, a sense of regret flooded his body.
“Oh man, if I didn’t know better I’d think you’d just lost your best friend.” Lester walked up to him and clapped him on the shoulder. “Looks like lunch might be a long, sad one today.”
“I’ll try not to bore you with too many details.”
Lester slapped Tom on the back. “No worries. I’ve dumped enough of my problems on you, it’s the least I can do.”
Once seated, Tom started with prayer. Lester echoed his amen before he began talking.
“Everything seemed to be just fine—maybe too fine, now that I look back on it. My company is doing great, and then Cissy came along. I was so happy to find a girl I clicked with and who loves the Lord. I was thinking she just might be the one. But now . . . ” Tom shook his head. “She pretty much told me to get lost.”
“Is that what she said?” Lester folded the menu and put it down on the table. “Maybe you’re reading into things.”
“Nah, she let me have it. Her uncle’s company considers Sewing Notions Inc. to be his biggest competitor, but in all honesty we don’t even come close. I’ve been wanting to take it in a different direction, get into manufacturing instead, so I’m thinking this might be a good time to do it. It’s been on my mind quite a bit lately. In fact, I’d thought that I might even meet with Mr. Counts and work some sort of business deal so he could take over our wholesale accounts once we make the transition.”
“Have you told Cissy any of this?”
Tom shook his head. “I don’t like talking business when I’m with her. She did say a few things that in the wrong hands could be bad for her uncle, but I didn’t do what she accused me of.”
Lester gave him a dubious look.
“You believe me, don’t you?”
“I have seen the changes, and I don’t think you’re quite so cutthroat as you used to be in the past, but you have to admit it could look bad.” Lester frowned. “She knows where you stand in your faith, right?”
“I thought she did, but obviously she doesn’t take me at my word.” He cleared his throat. “Can’t say I blame her.”
“Want me to talk to her?” Lester offered.
“Yeah, and while you’re at it, would you mind having a chat with her uncle?”
“You know I would if it would help, but it sounds like that’s what you need to do.”
Tom nodded soberly. “Yes, I think you’re right.”
But man, he dreaded having that conversation.
Cissy, Charlene, and Aunt Bootsie walked out of the church, still smiling after the joke the pastor closed with. “Is he always this funny?” Charlene asked.
Aunt Bootsie cackled. “He tries to be, but some of his jokes don’t come out the way he wants.”
“At least he tries. It’s a whole lot better to see people leaving church with smiles on their faces than looking all glum,” Charlene said.
“I know.” Aunt Bootsie led
the way to her car. “Speaking of smiles, I sure hope Forest is in a good mood. He’s been mighty upset lately.”
“Has he told you why?” Cissy asked, although she suspected she knew the answer. Because her aunt hadn’t brought it up, Cissy wondered if she knew anything about the situation with Tom, but she needed to be sure.
Her aunt shook her head. “Something to do with his business. I keep trying to get him to talk about it, but so far he’s refused.”
If Cissy had any doubt before about the depth of Uncle Forest’s anger and pain, the fact that he’d kept it from Aunt Bootsie confirmed it. He typically chatted about his normal workdays, even the moderately stressful ones, but she’d seen him clam up about the real problems.
Aunt Bootsie tipped her head and held her gaze. “Cissy, have you noticed anything unusual happening at work that would upset him?”
Cissy opened her mouth, but Charlene gave her a quick jab in the ribs. Cissy shot her a puzzled look, and Charlene continued to frown. In spite of Charlene’s painful warning, Cissy decided to get it out in the open. “We just lost a big account that he’d been hoping for.”
Aunt Bootsie gave her a knowing smile. “I do know about that, but there’s something else I can’t put my finger on.”
“Maybe it’s that I’ve been going out with his biggest competitor, and I haven’t exactly been straight with him about that.” Cissy paused and cleared her throat. “It’s not that I came right out and lied or anything, but I guess you can say I was dishonest by not saying anything. You do know I’ve been seeing Tom Jenkins, don’t you?”
Aunt Bootsie nodded. “Yes, of course I do.” She patted Cissy on the hand. “It’s not the worst thing you could have done, but it does make things awkward.”
But all the way to her aunt and uncle’s house, Cissy’s stomach churned. She knew she’d have to face Uncle Forest on personal ground sooner or later, but that didn’t make it any easier. At least she had Charlene with her. She didn’t think he’d totally blow his cool with someone else there.
As they entered the kitchen, the aroma of baked chicken filled their nostrils. Charlene looked like she’d melt right into the hardwood floor. “Now that Cissy has moved out, have you thought about adopting a new niece?”
Aunt Bootsie smiled at her and winked at Cissy. “We’re keeping her room open just in case she has a change of heart and decides to move back in, but there is another guest room that I keep thinking we can turn into a sewing room. Problem is, I need Forest’s help with that, and when he gets home he’s so sick of sewing notions he doesn’t want to see another one.”
“Where is he?” Charlene asked.
“He has to be in the house somewhere. Forest would never leave with the oven on.”
Cissy decided this was as good a time as any to talk to him. “Why don’t I go find him? Y’all wait right here.”
Aunt Bootsie started to argue with her, but Charlene interrupted her with a question. “So tell me more about your church and how you found it.”
Cissy used the opportunity to dash out of the kitchen and up the stairs. When she got to the master bedroom, she saw that the door was partly open, and the bedside lamp was on. She glanced in there and saw Uncle Forest perched on the edge of his bed, a Bible in his lap, bent over with his reading glasses about to fall off his nose.
She knocked lightly. “Uncle Forest, mind if I come in?”
He quickly shut the Bible and placed it on the nightstand. “What do you want, Cissy?” His expression went blank, as though he wanted to hide his feelings. She’d seen him in a variety of moods, but she’d never seen him so . . . so . . . closed—much worse than his grouchy grumbling or sudden outbursts.
“Are you reading your Bible?”
He glanced at the book and then turned back to her. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
This was going to be even harder than she thought. “We really need to talk.”
“That’s the problem, Cissy,” he said in a monotone. “You talk entirely too much. I don’t understand how you can blab everything and expect people to tell you anything.” His tone was flat, and his voice was scratchy, indicating exhaustion.
“Would it help if I said I’m working on that?”
He folded his hands and gave her a blank stare. “I don’t know.”
“I love and appreciate you and Aunt Bootsie so much, it just kills me to see you so upset.” Her chin quivered, so she stopped talking and pulled her lips between her teeth.
Cissy’s chest tightened as she saw a look of anguish flash across his face before he quickly extinguished it. She took a few steps closer but stopped a few feet away from him. “I’m really sorry if I really caused you to lose business, Uncle Forest. Will you ever be able to accept my apology?”
He shot her a dubious look. “Maybe, but it’ll take some time and some major changes.”
She wanted to be a little girl again and throw herself into his arms. But as she watched his demeanor, she realized he was tired and unsure of what to do himself, let alone how to react to her.
It would have been so easy to turn around and leave him sitting there, but she was an adult now. She couldn’t always take the easy way out. It was high time she pulled on her big girl pants and accepted responsibility.
She lifted her chin, took a step toward him, and waited for a reaction before proceeding. When he didn’t budge, she closed the distance, plopped down on the bed beside him, and put her arm around his rigid shoulders.
“Uncle Forest, Tom came and talked to me Friday night.”
He stiffened even more as he pulled away. “Why are you telling me this?”
“He said he had been working on the Fabulous Threads account for weeks, and that what I told him had nothing to do with your losing the sale.”
Uncle Forest grunted. “You expect me to believe him?”
“He also said he was sorry about what he did to you when he first started with Sewing Notions Inc. and that he’d never use me to steal your business.”
Uncle Forest snorted. “He would say anything to get the girl, just like he would say anything to advance his business.”
Cissy shook her head. “I thought so for a while, but now I’m not so sure. I think he’s a better person than you give him credit for, and . . . ”
She took a huge breath, then forced herself to continue. “And I think I’m a worse person than you realize.”
“Oh yeah? How’s that?”
It was difficult for Cissy to put her wrongdoing into words, but she knew she had to do it. “Well, I dated Tom after you told me not to, and I hid it from you. And then I told him a company secret just to find out if I could trust him.”
Uncle Forest’s jaw dropped. “You’re saying you deliberately told him? You weren’t doing your normal chatterbox thing?”
Cissy nodded solemnly, waiting for the ax to fall.
But to her surprise, he began to chuckle. And then to laugh. And then howl uproariously. “Ya know, Cissy, you’re smarter than I give you credit for. I may not like Tom Jenkins, but it’s not my place to stop you from seeing him if that’s what you really wanted. I wish you’d been more honest with me.”
She lifted her eyebrows. “What would you have done if I’d come right out and told you?”
“At first, I probably would have gotten mad, but after I got over it, I would have cautioned you about what to say and what not to say. You learn soon enough in the business world that you’ll be rubbing shoulders with the competition all the time—at trade shows, out on the street, in restaurants. Most people understand the importance of discretion but—”
She interrupted. “You might not believe this, but deep down I understood. And I started to watch what I said around Tom. That’s why I feel even worse for using my reputation as a motor mouth so I could test him with a company secret.”
Uncle Forest softly chuckled. “If that’s what it took to ferret out his character and see if you could really trust him, I see why you did it, especially a
fter what you went through with Spencer.”
Cissy mentally scrambled to keep up with the unexpected change in her uncle’s response and demeanor. “I will do anything it takes to make things right again, Uncle Forest. You can take whatever money you lost out of my paycheck until it’s all paid back.”
“There you go again, speaking before you think.” He looked at her with a deep wisdom in his eyes. “You know that’s not the answer. It’s not just about money or about your mouth or who you see on your own time. It’s much more complicated than that.”
“I’m really working hard at holding back, but it’s not easy for me.”
Uncle Forest broke into a smile, and he patted her shoulder. “I know. I remember when you were little and people used to laugh at everything you said, including the most inappropriate things. I told your mama she needed to nip that in the bud, but you were so darn cute.”
“Well, I know it’s not cute anymore. I’m a grown woman now, and I need to take responsibility for the problems I cause.”
He looked her in the eye, and in the course of less than a minute his gaze softened. “Seems to me the biggest problem you have is how to straighten things out with a certain Tom Jenkins.”
The conversation had taken so many unexpected turns that she was still struggling to catch up to her uncle’s reaction to what she’d done. “So are you going to let me keep working at Zippers Plus?”
“Yes, and I’m not going to forbid you from seeing Tom.” He laughed when she gasped. “You’ve already apologized, and I see some of your points. In fact, you’ve even given me the desire to talk to the man so I can see—and hear—a few things for myself.” He stood and extended a hand to help her up. “Lunch should be ready right about now. What do you say we go on down and enjoy it?”
“I’m starving.” The knot in her stomach had loosened, and she was eager to dig in to her aunt’s cooking. Cissy led the way to the stairs. “Charlene and I enjoyed church with Aunt Bootsie this morning. I wish you’d gone with us.”
“I was thinking the same thing this morning after you left.”
Cissy blinked and stopped at the head of the stairs. “Maybe we can come back next week and all go together.”