by Emma Easter
She shifted her feet and looked down again.
He realized he’d been gazing at her and turned away slightly. He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out some business cards. He found the one he wanted and handed it to her. “This is all the business info of one of my clients who lives here in Tucson. He owes me a favor. I will speak to him about you and see if he has any job openings. I’ll get him to call you for an interview.”
Lily looked astonished as she took the card from him. “But I don’t have any business skills or any type of skills…”
“I know you’re very hardworking, Lily. And I remember how you liked to organize everything when we were kids. I think Steven will have something for you.”
“I don’t know how to thank you, Taylor. I’ve been wondering how I would survive past a week. Thank you so much. But are you sure I’ll be able to do the job your friend gives me? I don’t want to disappoint you or him.”
“You won’t disappoint anyone. I’m sure of that.”
She thanked him again.
“I’m glad we met again today,” he said. “It was fun reminiscing about our childhood. Now, I have to go and enjoy my chips.”
She looked down at his hand and laughed. “You only bought one.”
He looked at the bag and sighed. He had been in such a hurry to leave that he had just grabbed a bag from the shelf. “Great,” he said. He looked at her hand and smiled. She had bought just one, too, though for a different reason. Once again, he blurted without thinking. “Why don’t you meet me here at this time tomorrow and we can buy as many of these chips as we want?” She looked a little uncomfortable, and he added quickly. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay for them.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to.”
Yes, Taylor. You don’t have to. In fact, you shouldn’t. You’ve done what you should do. She‘ll have a job before the week is over. Just walk away. But the thought of leaving now and never seeing her again felt painful. “I want to, Lily. For old times’ sake.” Oh, Taylor! Why did you say that?
Her eyes shone, and she nodded. “Okay.” She suddenly looked worried. “Will your wives mind us spending the evening together? Will it take away from the time you spend with your family? I don’t want to intrude on your family time.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that Faye was gone and that he’d not married Sarah, but he thought better of it. He would be reasonably safe if she believed he was married.
But do you want her to keep believing you have two wives? You know what she thinks about that. At least tell her you’re not married to Sarah. He brushed the thoughts away. It was better she believed the worst. None of it even mattered. He would see her tomorrow and then never again. “I came here for business. I’m not here with my family, Lily.”
She gave him a strange look as she pressed her lips together. “Taylor, I want to thank you for everything. I really appreciate this.” She looked at the business card he’d given her. “But can I pass on the offer to shop for the chips with you here tomorrow? I just… I just don’t think it would be appropriate to do that with you.”
Taylor didn’t say anything for a short moment. He was not terribly surprised that she’d turned him down. Just at how disappointed he was… and relieved.
“Are you angry with me, Taylor?” She touched his shoulder lightly. “Please don’t be.”
He smiled at her. “I’m not angry with you. In fact, I think you’re right.” He nodded. “It’s been great spending time with you. Goodbye, Lily. I promise to call you if or when I ever decide to go to Fallow Creek.” A thought occurred to him. “Or better yet, since you have Rachel’s number, you can call her and give her the message you have for your parents.”
A huge smile broke out on her face. “Yes. I’ll do that. Thanks.” She came closer, and he thought she was going to hug him, but she stepped back again. “You have been a godsend, Taylor Dalton. Send my greetings to your family.”
“I will.”
She stood smiling at him for a minute more, and then she turned around and walked away.
He watched her go until she disappeared from sight and then gasped as a void formed in his heart. Why had he let her get past the barrier he’d set up around his heart when his wife died?
He sighed. He knew why. As children he’d had a crush on her, but he’d never told her or acted on it. It was just not the way things were done back in Fallow Creek and so there was no point. He thought he’d completely let go of that childish crush, but he’d clearly only buried it deep within him. Now it had resurfaced again, but as a burning desire. He was glad she’d walked away, even if it was because he had indirectly lied to her.
He walked back to his hotel, aching for her, but taking it in his stride. He would go back to his kids in a few days and forget all about her and the longing she had stirred up in him.
Chapter 7
Lily inhaled and exhaled to try to get rid of her nervousness. She looked over at the receptionist at the front desk and clutched her purse as she shifted in her seat. She was the only one seated at the glass-and-granite reception area of the advertising company. She crossed and uncrossed her legs, looked down at her cream shirt and brown skirt, and sighed. She had to stop fidgeting and calm down. Taylor had already recommended her to the CEO. But she couldn’t help feeling anxious in spite of that. She needed this job badly.
The man’s secretary had called two days ago to tell her that she was scheduled for an interview today. She didn’t know if it was Taylor’s friend, the CEO of this company, or someone else who would interview her. She might not get a job here if it was someone else.
You don’t even know what job you’re going to be interviewed for.
She bit her lip. She had no real qualifications for any formal job, but Taylor had mentioned her organizational skills. Maybe the job she was going to be interviewed for would have something to do with that.
She took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves again. Taylor’s face appeared in her mind, and she sighed. Since the day she’d met him at the store, she’d not been able to get him out of her mind for more than a few minutes. She woke up thinking about him and went to bed still doing the same. She hated herself for obsessing over a married man. What kind of woman did that?
People like Sofia. But not her. She had loathed a lot of things about Fallow Creek, but the thing she had detested the most was the polygamy practiced there. Many women were comfortable living with someone who was already married and declaring they were second, third, or fourth wives. But she’d come to believe it was completely wrong, an anomaly. Why, then, was she lusting over someone else’s husband, even if it was not willingly?
Lord, please erase him from my mind. But she knew the prayer was not going to be answered. She was here in this office for a job because of Taylor. Besides, he was not the kind of man you forgot easily, and spending time with him had reminded her just how charming he was. He had not changed in that respect since they were children. Apart from his devastating good looks, he was one of the kindest people she knew; and had been so even when they were kids.
Lily, stop thinking about him!
If only she had a picture of his wife, Faye, she would carry it with her wherever she went to remind herself that even thinking about Taylor was something she could not afford to do.
She prayed silently for forgiveness for her wayward thoughts; the hundredth time she’d done so since she’d seen Taylor at the store. Her prayers had not been answered at all since she’d prayed that God would remove the awful desire she felt for him. Instead, it had only grown, horrifying her. At least she was thankful for one thing: she didn’t know where his hotel was. Who knew what she would have done with the way she felt and had been feeling for days. She was glad he would be leaving Tucson soon. Hopefully, she would never see him again, or at least not in the near future.
She rubbed her temples and shut her eyes. Lord, you have to help me. Please cleanse my heart and make it pure again in Your sight
.
She opened her eyes again when the receptionist called her name. “You can go in,” the middle-aged woman said. “Mr. Kilpatrick will see you now.”
Lily’s heart pounded as she stood up and, again, she tried to calm her nerves. At least it was the CEO, Taylor’s friend, who would being doing the interview. But that did not help her. She let out a long breath, straightened her skirt, and walked into the office on her left.
A secretary who was sitting behind the only desk in a small office glanced at her and then went back to whatever she was doing. Lily looked nervously at the door in front of her. It had the name J. Kilpatrick etched on it in gold. She knocked once and then slowly opened the door and entered the CEO’s office.
The office looked like the reception area, but with a larger desk and a clear view of the city from the wide windows. The man behind the desk was perhaps in his early thirties, close to Taylor’s age. He wasn’t as handsome as Taylor, but he looked suave and self-possessed. He smiled at her, and his eyes swept over her body.
She felt slightly uncomfortable at the way he was looking at her. He sat up straight and pointed at the seat in front of him. She sat down, took a deep breath, and then squared her shoulders to appear more confident, even though she felt anything but.
The man’s eyes searched her face. “Taylor didn’t tell me you were such a beauty,” he said.
She blinked. Was he coming on to her or was this normal for interviews? She decided to say nothing. After all, he’d not asked her a question.
“So, tell me all about yourself,” he said, his eyes fixed on hers.
“Umm… my name is Lily Hunter, and I’m twenty-five.” She didn’t know what else to tell him. She didn’t want to talk about Fallow Creek or her past. She hadn’t expected to be asked about herself, just what skills she had.
“I know all that,” he said. “What can you do for me?” He gave her the same piercing look he’d given her when she came in, causing her to shift her eyes from his.
“I can help with whatever you want, like errands and…” She stopped talking when he got up, his eyes still on her.
“I hope you can truly help with whatever I want,” he said in a tone that made her blood run cold. He came and stood next to her, way too close for her liking. When he leaned against the desk and looked down at her with a lustful smile, she shifted slightly away.
Lord, what is happening here?
He chuckled. “Don’t look so frightened. I’m not going to hurt you. Just relax.” He put his hand on her shoulder, and she froze. When his hand went down her arm and came to rest on her thigh, she gasped and sprang up from her seat.
“What are you doing?” she said, glaring at him.
“Why do you look so upset?” He came toward her. “I just want to…”
“Stay away!” she yelled. She threw his business card — the one Taylor had given her — in his face and ran out of the office. She didn’t stop running until she was outside the building. Panting, she bent down. She felt like throwing up. What had she said that made that jerk think he could do what he did? She shook her head, gathered herself together, and hailed a taxi to drive her to her apartment.
She got to her decrepit apartment building, climbed the stairs fuming, and entered her apartment. Once she was in the tiny apartment, she collapsed on the sofa and bawled her eyes out. She had put so much faith in this awful guy Taylor had sent her to, believing that she would get a job. But not only did she not get a job, she felt assaulted.
She dashed at the tears in her eyes, furious again. How dare that man think she would become his plaything? She took a deep breath. What was she going to do now? The rent for this apartment, if she could call it that, was long overdue, and the landlord had threatened to throw her out if she didn’t pay up. She didn’t even have the money to pay the rent for this one-room hole she lived in.
She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling terribly lonely and in dire need of someone to talk to. She missed her mother and her sister. But she knew what her mother would say if she saw her now. She would say she’d told Lily so. She’d wanted her independence; wanted a life totally different from the one she’d had in Fallow Creek. And she had found it, but it was not what she’d had in mind when she’d left the place.
“Lord, please help me,” she said.
A loud knock sounded at her door, and she raised her head. She got up and went to the door. When she opened it, the landlord, a bald man in his sixties, barged in and looked around the room. “I have someone else who is interested in renting the apartment,” he said coldly. “You have to move out today.”
She gasped. “Today? But I have nowhere to go.”
He shrugged. “I am not running a charity here. You’ll have to leave before I come back in an hour.”
She shook her head as her eyes filled with tears. “Please. Give me time to…” The man walked out of the apartment, and she stood looking out the open door, emotionally exhausted. For a long moment, she did not move, and then she went and sat down again. She held her head in her hands and bowed her head. She had no place to go or money to go anywhere. Maybe she would have to call Sofia to come get her. But the thought of calling Sofia made her nauseated.
She picked up her phone, but rather than call Sofia, she called Taylor.
While his phone rang, she scolded herself for calling him. But she told herself she just needed a familiar face to talk to. Someone she could lean on.
But it was not exactly true. She just didn’t want any familiar face to talk to, she wanted him. It was the wrong decision, for sure. But her emotions were in tatters, and she didn’t care much about making the right decision.
His voice came over the phone, and she broke down. “It went wrong, Taylor.”
“Lily, what is it?” He sounded alarmed. “What went wrong?”
“The interview. Everything.” She told him in a broken voice everything that had happened, from his CEO friend’s lascivious designs on her to the landlord’s threats just now. “I don’t know what to do,” she said after she finished. “Can you come over?” She gasped as soon as the words escaped her lips. What was she doing? It was wrong to ask him to come over. But she had said the words and couldn’t take them back.
“I’ll be right over, Lily,” he said. “Just text me the address.”
“Taylor, you don’t have to come,” she said weakly.
“Yes, I do. It’s all my fault. You live near the store where we met, right? I can make it in half an hour.”
The call ended, and she looked at her phone. Guilt filled her heart, but she brushed it aside. She didn’t have time for that right now. She needed a friend; that was all.
She stood up, went to the mirror mounted on the wall, and arranged her hair. She straightened her skirt and went to sit down to wait for him, her emotions at war.
Taylor shut his eyes after the call ended and groaned. He stood up, went to his hotel room phone, and dialed the desk. After requesting that a cab be called for him immediately, he collapsed onto the bed. He thought about going down to wait in the lobby, but with his mood now, he would probably take his anger out on anyone who tried to speak to him. It was better to stay here until his cab arrived.
He stared at the wall as his emotions roiled with rage, anguish, and guilt. He couldn’t hold everything in and stood up. Yelling, he swung his arms, almost throwing his phone across the room, but thankfully changed his mind at the last minute.
“What have I done?”
He had introduced Lily to a predator. If only he’d had an inkling about James. He’d considered the man not just a client, but a friend, and had had no knowledge that he was capable of what he’d done to Lily. The man was married, for goodness’ sake, and Taylor knew his wife.
Guilt flooded his heart. Had he not also been married when he’d decided to marry Sarah, a younger woman? Yes, Sarah had noticed him before he did her, and he could tell himself that it was the way of the community he’d lived in, but that did not mean he was guil
tless.
Thankfully, the Lord had saved him, and he’d left that life completely behind when he’d left Fallow Creek. But as a man who’d resided in that community and unknowingly perpetuated the polygamous lifestyle there that Lily had lived under, and as the one who had introduced her to James, he felt tremendously responsible.
The thought that he’d been part of the pain Lily was feeling now was almost unbearable. He would kill James the next time he laid eyes on him. Now, he had to do everything in his power to help Lily, no matter what it cost.
He glanced at his wristwatch and barked, “Why on earth are these people taking so long to get me a simple cab?”
His room phone rang and he snatched the receiver up. “Yes?”
“Your car is waiting outside for you, sir.”
“Thank you,” Taylor said and replaced the phone on the hook. He strode out of the room and took the elevator down to the lobby. He found the car waiting right outside the hotel and gave the driver the address Lily had sent him.
They got to the apartment building Lily lived in, and Taylor looked up at it before he stepped out of the car. It was a rundown building in an unsavory neighborhood. A group of young men loitered in front of the building with hostile expressions on their faces. They studied him as he walked up and then the car he’d just vacated. He ignored them and entered the building, guilt and worry for Lily tearing at him.
This place was unsafe. He couldn’t let her continue to stay here even if she did have the money to pay rent. He was actually glad she’d told him she didn’t. It would be easier to convince her to leave with him than if she did.
But what are your plans once she leaves with you?
Surely, he could not take her to his hotel with him. That would be too risky.
But did he have a choice? It was too late to get her another apartment today, and he didn’t want to get her just any old apartment. He needed to make sure it was a place he liked and he believed she would like too.