For All Time

by Angela Benson

  Portia looked skeptical. “If you’re sure?”

  Gloria did look at her then and she had to laugh. “I’m sure, Portia. I’ll be the first one to tell you when your clothes start getting too tight.”

  Eleven

  Josh packed his briefcase and prepared to go home. He thought about calling Gloria, but decided to wait. She’d said she would call him. If he didn’t hear from her by ten, he’d call her.

  He picked up the briefcase and headed for the door. The ringing phone stopped him.

  “I’m glad I caught you,” Gloria began. “I wasn’t able to reschedule my meetings. Is there any chance the date for the party can be changed? They didn’t give us much notice.”

  Josh placed his briefcase on the desk and sat down. He pinched his nose in frustration as he thought of a response. “There was nothing you could do?”

  Josh could tell from the silence that she didn’t appreciate the question.

  “You didn’t give me much notice,” she said. “There wasn’t a lot I could do. What do you want from me?”

  I want you to be my wife. “Forget I said anything. At least you got back to me today. I’ll talk to Carla about rescheduling.”

  “Ask her if she can give a couple of dates. Or at least, if she can give more notice than before.”

  Yes, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you. Josh caught the words before he said them. Instead he said, “I’ll see what I can do. Well, I’d better get out of here. Maybe I can catch Carla before she leaves for the day.”

  “Does everybody there work late hours? It’s after six, I called you at home, and when you didn’t answer, I decided to try you at work.”

  Josh knew his working late hours was nothing new. He had always done so. Why was she making a point of it now? “Well, I don’t know about everybody else, but since I’m the new kid on the block, I’m out to do a good job. Now, I do need to hang up. I’ll talk to you later tonight.”

  He stared at the phone after he hung up. He hadn’t really expected her to make the party so he didn’t know why her call had upset him so. He had a good job now and he was determined to do well at it. Things were looking up. Why then did this tension still exist between him and Gloria?

  Josh picked up the briefcase and left for Carla’s office. He wasn’t surprised to see her seated at her desk with the door open. “Do you have a few minutes?” he asked from the doorway.

  Carla looked up from the papers she was reading to smile at him. “Sure, come on in. What can I do for you?”

  Josh took the seat in front of her desk. “It’s about the party Thursday. We have a problem with the date.”

  “That’s not a problem. It was a bit much to expect you to be available on such short notice. We’ll plan something else. This time with your schedule in mind.”

  Josh relaxed. Until she had spoken, he hadn’t realized how tense he was. Thinking about it, he knew he had overreacted. He’d have to apologize to Gloria. “What will you do about Thursday?”

  “Don’t worry about it. You can meet everyone during the day. The party can wait.”

  That settled, Josh didn’t have anything more to say. “I’d better go so you can finish up. I know you don’t want to be here much later.”

  Carla smiled again, as if she knew something that Josh didn’t. “I like the hard work and the long hours,” she said. “Don’t look so surprised. I bet you do, too.”

  Josh thought about it. She was right. When the work was good, the hours flew by for him. He was a goal-oriented guy and new projects with new problems always invigorated him. “I figure if you’re going to work at a job forty hours a week, for forty or fifty years, you should enjoy it.”

  “That’s my motto, too. You’ll find that hard work is rewarded here at Carolina Microelectronics. We take the eager beavers and we work them hard. And we reward them well. Very well.”

  That was the sales pitch that had sold Josh on the company. He was the eager beaver. He was hungry. That period of unemployment had been a blow to his ego. This was his chance to get back what he had lost.

  “You have what we look for, Josh. You’re smart. That’s a given. But you also have an edge. You want it. You want it all. I could tell during the interview. You strike me as a man who knows what he wants and who’s willing to do what it takes to get it.”

  There was something ominous about the way she spoke. Was she really complimenting him or was she issuing a challenge? She had read him well and that was all right, but he sensed there was something more in her words and that something made him uncomfortable.

  “You’re a pretty good judge of people,” he said, trying to be neutral. “But I’d better get out of here or you won’t finish your work.”

  Josh stood up to leave the room. The look in Carla’s eyes told him she knew he was uncomfortable with what she had said, but that it didn’t matter to her. Josh walked out of the office without another word.

  Once he was in the hallway, he wondered again at her words. Was there a hidden message in there for him? He had known Carla was a single-minded woman, but that hadn’t bothered him. In fact, it had drawn him to her. He liked her determination. He was impressed by what she had accomplished at Carolina Electronics. Hell, he even envied her a little, though he’d never admit it to anyone.

  Get a hold of yourself, he thought. You’re getting paranoid. Stop looking for problems where there are none.

  ***

  Gloria couldn’t sleep. Though it was late and she wanted to get out of bed, she didn’t want to risk waking Josh. He had been tired when he had gotten in last night and she knew he needed his sleep. Besides, she was still somewhat miffed about his reaction when she couldn’t make the party and she assumed he was still upset with her. She hadn’t mentioned it last night and neither had he. Part of the reason was the lateness of his arrival and the other was simple avoidance. At least, that’s what it was for her. She didn’t know about Josh. Although he had held her close all night, he hadn’t made a move to get any more intimate. She wondered if that was a sign he was still upset.

  Gloria thought about the plans they had today with Marilyn and Elliot. She was glad to be seeing the couple again. Though she had first formed a relationship with Marilyn, she was finding that Elliot was a good guy himself. Since she had referred him to one of her co-workers about a loan, she had talked with him regularly about the financing of his business.

  Elliot was such a simple guy, unlike Josh in so many ways. Elliot just wanted his dream. The money didn’t seem to matter that much to him. And Gloria knew there would be money and lots of it. Elliot’s idea for fuel efficiency was a winner. He had gotten the financing at her bank with little trouble.

  She smiled when she thought about Elliot’s response when she’d told him he had gotten the loan. He had picked her up, swirled her around, and given her a big kiss. He had been embarrassed about the kiss and had apologized profusely. She had only laughed at him. Too happy for him to think much about it then. It was then that he had suggested that the two couples celebrate when Josh came home for the weekend. So she and Josh were spending the day with Marilyn and Elliot.

  She heard Josh stir next to her. Unsure of what his mood would be, she held herself still so that he wouldn’t know she was awake. When she felt him leave the bed, she let out a deep sigh. When she heard the shower go on, she got out of bed, grabbed some clothes from her closet, and went to the bathroom down the hall to shower.

  She wasn’t in the shower long. She was surprised to see Josh leaning against the vanity with his arms crossed when she stepped out. She quickly pulled the towel around herself. “Good morning,” she said, feeling stupid for trying to hide her nakedness from Josh.

  “Is it?”

  Did Josh want to argue this morning? she wondered. She hoped not, because she didn’t. “Yes, it is a good morning. Seems like a great day to take the boat out.”

  “I wasn’t referring to the weather.”

  She ga
ve a sheepish smile. He did want to argue. “Okay, Josh, what were you referring to, if not the weather?”

  Josh turned around so that she could see his face in the mirror. Her first thought was that they were an attractive couple. His dark brown complexion complemented the light-brownness of hers. Her soft features, his strong ones. Yes, they were an attractive couple. “I’m sorry I was so tired when I got in last night, but I’ve been busting my tail at work. Are you still angry with me about the party?”

  Her anger left when she saw the sincerity and concern in his eyes. “Not anymore.”

  “I’ll say it again. I’m sorry I overreacted. Now, how’s your work going?”

  She relaxed at his apology. “Pretty exciting right now. I’m working on the financing for two developments—the Turner Hill Mall and the strip shopping center on Cascade.”

  “How did you pull that deal together? I thought the Turner Hill Mall project was dead.”

  Gloria shook her head as she applied her foundation. “Almost. The South DeKalb Chamber never gave up on it and the financing finally came through. The mall will be a boon for that whole area.”

  Gloria saw pride and interest in Josh’s eyes. “A boon for you, too. That’s great, Gloria. What’s this about Cascade?”

  She was happy to talk with Josh about her work again. It had been a long while since she felt comfortable doing so. “That’s my special project. A few of the businessmen in the Cascade area came to me with an idea. They want to open a strip shopping center that houses only small business—no chains. They see the population exploding in the area and they want to make sure that some of the money stays in the community. What better way than to have local businesses serve the local community?”

  “Sounds like a good idea, but can they pull it off?”

  “It’s going to take some time and we’ve still got a lot of planning to do, but I think I can line up the financing.”

  “Your bank is being very generous these days.”

  Gloria took that as a compliment. In her new position, she had found a new sense of purpose and satisfaction. She’d never considered herself a community activist, but she found herself assuming that role in her projects. And she liked it. And she wanted to do more of it. She wanted to direct the bank along the lines of more community development, more support of local businesses. There was money to be made financing chains relocating to the Atlanta area, but she knew there was an untapped market in financing local businesses. “Hey, we’re just in it to make money.”

  “The bank might be, but it’s more than that with you. I’m proud of you. You’re doing a great job.”

  Gloria could tell from his expression, if not his words, that his thoughts were elsewhere. She wondered if he was beginning to see why she didn’t want to pull up stakes and leave Atlanta so quickly. She was doing things here. Things that mattered to her and the community. She hoped Josh could see that, too.

  “I’m glad you were able to help Elliot,” he said.

  Gloria placed the cap back on the eyeliner, done with her eyes. “I can’t take credit for that. All I did was point him in the right direction. That business plan you helped him pull together was the real winner. The loan office had nothing to question.”

  “Are you getting modest on me? I know you put in a good word for him and that word removed any doubts the loan officer may have had. I think Elliot knows that too. That’s why they’ve invited us out to the lake today. I didn’t even know they had a boat.”

  Gloria was pleased with Josh’s praise, but she was also embarrassed. “They don’t. They’ve borrowed a friend’s boat. Elliot knows how much time we used to spend on the water and he wanted to do something special for us.”

  “So, you and Elliot have been spending a lot of time together?”

  The question was innocent enough, but Gloria paused in the application of her lipstick to check Josh’s expression. There didn’t seem to be anything in the look he was giving her. “He’s called me a few times. He looks at me as sort of an advisor.”

  “Has he asked you to be his partner yet?”

  Gloria laughed at that. “In fact, he has. He was joking, of course. It was right after he got the loan. How did you know?”

  Josh shrugged his shoulders. “It was just a guess. He asked me about it before I left for Raleigh.”

  “Elliot asked you to be his partner? You never told me that.”

  Josh turned around and leaned back against the vanity. She could no longer see his face in the mirror. “There was nothing to tell. The position in Raleigh is a lot more stable than a partnership with Elliot.”

  She turned to look at Josh’s profile, her makeup all done. “I guess you’re right, but I think Elliot is going to make a lot of money. He and Marilyn deserve it too.”

  Josh fingered the towel that Gloria had wrapped about her. “You’re right about that. And so do we.”

  Gloria’s attention focused on Josh’s fingers. She wondered if he was going to unknot the towel. “So do we what?”

  “Deserve good things,” he said.

  Before Gloria could comment, the phone rang. Josh’s finger stopped moving on the towel and his eyes met hers. She stepped back and the towel fell to the floor.

  “They’ll call back,” she said.

  ***

  Josh and Marilyn sat around the table on the upper deck. Marilyn talked while Josh listened, or rather, tried to listen. His attention was constantly being drawn away to the sound of Gloria’s laughter. She and Elliot were “manning the ship,” as they called it.

  “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?” Marilyn asked. Her question brought his gaze to her face.

  “I’m sorry, Marilyn. What were you saying?”

  “Don’t be sorry. It’s endearing to watch you watch her with so much love in your eyes. You two probably wanted to spend some time alone today. Elliot and I should be sorry for interrupting your time together.”

  Josh hadn’t realized his thoughts were so obvious. He did want to be alone with Gloria and he was jealous that she was spending her time laughing with Elliot instead of laughing with him. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them or even that he suspected them, but he wanted all of Gloria’s attention. Their time together was precious to him since they had so little of it. “You’re our friends. We appreciated the offer.”

  “But it would have been more romantic if we’d just offered you the boat?”

  Josh laughed. “I think we’d better end this whole line of conversation.”

  She laughed too. “How’s the new job?” she asked.

  Josh told her about the job and his new boss.

  “I’m glad you like it there,” she said when he’d finished. “How are you handling the commute?”

  Josh glanced over at Elliot and Gloria again. “It’s hard. I want her with me.”

  “That’s only natural. Just keep telling yourself it’s only for a few months.”

  He wished. From what Gloria had said about her job this morning, Josh knew she really didn’t want to move. And he admitted to himself, he didn’t blame her. “Yeah. Just a few months.”

  “You don’t sound too sure about that. Do you want to talk about it?”

  Josh realized Marilyn was concerned and that she wanted to be helpful but he didn’t feel comfortable discussing his marriage with her. “Thanks for the offer. I may take you up on it one day.”

  Marilyn reached out and placed her hand across his. “We’re here for you and Gloria if you need us. Anytime.”

  Josh nodded, then stood up abruptly. “I’ll see if I can give Gloria and Elliot a hand.” When he reached Elliot and Gloria, he asked, “What’s so funny?”

  Elliot looked at Josh and then back at Gloria. He and Gloria fell into laughter once more. “You had to be there,” Elliot offered. When Elliot finally stopped laughing, he asked Josh, “Enjoying the trip so far?”

  “Sure, but I don’t think I was much company fo
r Marilyn, though. You’d better go see about her.”

  Elliot again looked from Josh to Gloria and back again. “I can take a hint. I’m outta here.”

  Gloria was still smiling as she watched Elliott walk over to his wife.

  “You and Elliot seemed to be having a lot of fun,” Josh said.

  Gloria nodded and began tying back the sails. “He can be a funny guy at times.”

  “I bet.”

  Gloria stopped what she was doing to look at Josh. She smiled before she said, “I don’t believe it, you’re jealous.”

  “I’m not jealous.”

  “Yes, you are. Don’t deny it. You’re jealous of Elliot. Why?”

  Josh looked away. “I want you all to myself. You should be laughing with me, not with him.”

  She looped an arm around his waist and kissed him. “And, I’d rather spend my time with you, but they invited us out and we have to be sociable.”

  “You’re right, but all I can think about is this morning and the way we made love. I want to make love to you again.”

  Gloria felt her body grow warm. “I want that too. Just think how much better it’s going to be tonight when we finally get home. Anticipation is a great aphrodisiac.”

  Josh grunted and pulled her closer to him. “If I live that long.”

  Gloria felt his arousal and she laughed. “You’ll live.”

  He grunted again. “You’re going to have to stand here awhile. If we walk back over to Elliot and Marilyn now, they’re to know what’s on my mind.”

  Twelve

  Damn, Gloria thought, we’ve got to do something about this gearshift. She wanted to get closer to Josh, but the gearshift prevented her from moving as close as she liked. Determined to get some action started in the car, she leaned across the gearshift and placed her arms around his shoulders.