by Laura Domino
He hadn’t thought of her missing the care group. Until now, he had no idea that she was raised by a single mom.
“I still haven’t met your mom, Adam. I haven’t met her, and yet I’m impressed with her because I know you. I’d like to meet her, but I probably never will now that I’m leaving.”
Adam wanted to tell her that it wouldn’t take much to convince him to pack a bag and go to Spain with her. But it would go against all he had just said. It would complicate things.
She remained still, nothing like the woman who impressed him with her energy and zest for life. How could he look at her and not tell her that his heart wouldn’t feel right without her?
“Thanks for coming over.” She stood and faced him. “I’ll be praying for you and your mom to get through the funeral with God’s comfort. When is the funeral?”
“Right. I was supposed to invite you. I haven’t done that.”
“Are you planning to?”
Adam rose and walked closer to the door. “You don’t have to come. It’s in the afternoon on Friday. You’ll be at work.”
“If I’m invited, I can get away.” Her serious expression made him wish he could make her smile.
“Benita.” He let the sound of her name sink in for a moment. He wished there was a way to make sure he’d never have to leave her. “I’m aware that your promotion will be announced on Friday. That’s a big day for you. You can’t just—”
“If you invite me, I will be there for you. Adam, I love you.”
Adam’s breathing stopped for a second. He swallowed and forced a breath. “You didn’t let me finish.” He looked at the floor. “What am I saying? I love you too.”
Benita walked to him and raised her face for a kiss. Her arms on his shoulders, her fingers on the back of his neck, she kissed him again.
“I want to see you tomorrow.”
Benita’s face stayed close, her breath warmed his jaw. “No. You and your mom have things to talk about. I would be interrupting.”
Adam pulled away. “You would be distracting.” He nodded. “Definitely.”
Chapter 30
Benita heard her phone buzzing in her drawer, rattling the stash of pens next to it. She didn’t have time to text people, she was on a deadline. It buzzed again. She picked it up and saw that it was from the boss man. Two texts. She had to read them.
The first told her to stop what she was doing. The second read, “Meeting. My office. Now.”
Did he fire people like that? Did he just call people into his office with a text and fire them?
She’d been a little out of sorts with him. He couldn’t be wondering about how valuable she was to the company, could he? Her mistakes had increased slightly over the last few weeks, but she had plenty of good reviews in her file.
Not knowing what to expect, she took her phone with her, bravely marching toward the meeting. Possibly her final meeting. She entered the room.
The light switch was off, making the room seem smaller and colder. The outside light gave the room a more pleasant, casual feel.
He sat behind the cleared-off desk with a chair not in front, but beside it, facing him. “Close the door.” He pointed to the chair closest to him. “Sit.”
After she closed the door, she sat beside his desk, quiet, too nervous for small talk.
Casey swiveled his chair and looked out his window. “Today’s parade is covering a lot of prime real estate. What was it? Sixteen blocks? Downtown Houston isn’t painting the town red. They’re painting the town orange. Right?”
“Yes. It’s crazy. It’ll be fun for the fans.” She crossed her legs at the ankles and sat up a little taller, trying to appear composed but bracing for the real topic he brought her in to discuss.
“No one would have ever guessed the Astros would win the whole thing. Right?”
“Right.”
“The World Series winners. If I left right now, I could be there to see the victory parade in just under an hour. That parade is for winners.”
She lifted a fist in the air. “Yay.” Her voice was too quiet and weak. Not the voice of a winner.
“Benita.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve worked for us… for a good while now.”
Here it was. Her final day. Sounded like she was getting fired.
“You’re a good worker.” He shook his head. “Do you know how hard this is for me?” He leaned forward, his eyes squinting. “I’ve tried to give you the best advice, the best opportunities, every tool at my disposal. And for what? I gave you all that only to see you leave. How do you think that makes me feel?”
She hated to say anything, but he was waiting for her to answer. “Frustrated?”
“Exactly. See? Right again.” He leaned back and tapped his desk. “See? You’re smart. You’re really smart. You have done everything I’ve told you.” He raised his eyebrows. “And some things I haven’t.”
She figured he meant wearing a red dress to the presentation and not making the meeting he called after work.
“You made it hard for me. And I don’t appreciate it.”
“How have I made it hard for you?” For years, she had tried to make all of her bosses look good. Casey had pushed her in his special demanding way, but she just used that as her energy to do a better job each day.
“That stupid presentation foible you pulled. What kind of a maneuver was that? What were you trying to prove? Red dress.” He mocked her voice. “How have I made it hard for you?”
Benita looked down at her hands. They were gripped in a white-knuckle clench. It had started without her realizing. Adam was right after all. She stopped intertwining her fingers and set one gently on top of the other to keep them still.
Pointing at her for a second and then lowering his finger to tap on the desk, he continued in a hushed voice. “You do know that my boss, Mr. Bingham, was in that room. I asked you to be there so I could show everyone how great you are. I’ve been talking to Spain about you. I’ve been telling Bingham that you can handle the job. You know? You made me look bad in there. After all I’ve done for you.”
“I’m sorry.” She grabbed the arms of the chair, ready to push out of there. Listening to him fuss at her for an hour was going to be painful. She’d rather just leave.
“No. I’m not finished. You’re not getting off that easy. I have more to say. Don’t worry. I’ll let you know when you can leave.” He picked up a pen and stood facing the window behind the desk. Speaking over his shoulder briefly, he said, “First of all, let me say that I have good news.”
She smiled, unable to even make a guess about what that could mean. It could be anything.
Casey turned to face her. “Mr. Bingham is retiring.” He tossed the pen onto the desk. “No, that’s not the good news.”
She kept her confident smile, but now she was sure it had a glint of confusion in it.
“He’s asked me to fill the vacancy left by his retirement.”
Benita’s thoughts raced, but she remained silent.
“I know. It’s a funny way to phrase that.”
Now she was sure he could see the confusion that had to be fully evident in her subdued frown.
“I had already been told he didn’t want me taking the office in Spain, even though I was one of the people who helped set it up. Now to hear he also wants me to find someone for his job too? It was almost a slap in the face. Until he explained that he wasn’t asking me to find someone. He was asking me to be that someone and take over his office.”
She nodded. “That’s great news. I’m very happy for you.” Should she leave his office after a congratulatory handshake?
His stare and mischievous grin wouldn’t let her move yet. “But that’s not all he said. That man just would not stop talking.” He faced the window again, casually like they were discussing the weather.
Casey was doing it again. She hated it when he slowed down to make his point. The man could make the point without making the
process unbearable.
“He kept going on and on and on. I almost yelled at him, ‘Yes! I know she deserves the promotion!’”
What was that?
He turned back to her. “You got the promotion.”
She jumped up from the chair and let out a hard-to-hold-back “Yay!”
“There’s the ‘Yay’ I was looking for. You should be at that parade downtown.” He gave a genuine smile that said he was proud of her. Then it vanished. “Sit down. I’m not through. That’s not the best part.”
In a controlled, soberly happy movement, she sat and watched him taking his time getting back down into his chair.
“The thing is… Mr. Bingham was not impressed with you during the presentation. Big surprise, right? I don’t know if you know this, but he has a lot of power. A lot of power. He can make a Blueberry Bakery waitress tell him what you and she were talking about.”
Benita sat taller, interested. What happened with Charlie after their quick meeting?
“Yes, he did. He made her sing like a canary. When he heard what was in last night’s to-go bag, he called me.”
OH. The to-go bag? It was just coins. It was a good thing Casey wasn’t asking her to give an account for what happened. She had no response. She could think of nothing she and Charlie had said to each other that would make a difference in her job opportunities.
“He said that everybody makes mistakes. The best part is how impressed he was with you—and that he blamed it on me. Now, obviously, I remember that I turned down your suggestion to offer a company-wide volunteering program for the office, so all the employees have a suggested pathway for their charity work. But he didn’t know that. He heard from a waitress in a local diner about how you helped her without being asked and without reward. He wasn’t willing to let that go. He harped on that for the longest time, saying how each of our locations should build a nonprofit support strategy so that we can use our numbers to get a lot of charity work done by our employees, which helps each of those communities.” He looked at her with a genuine smile this time. “Thank you.”
She smiled back and nodded.
“What are you still doing here? Go celebrate. You’ve won. Go pack. You’re moving to Spain!”
She tilted her head, trying to find the right words. “As a part of my new job, I’ll need a couple of interns.”
“Yes, you can take your assistant with you. Gail stays. I think you called her the smart one. She’s going to work with me on the Meeting Planner Bots idea you came up with. Remember? It was a good idea.”
“Wow. You’ve got me juggling my gratitude for giving me Dee with my disappointment at losing Gail.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes. Dee didn’t learn Spanish. She was doing a lot of work for me here in the office without any hope of moving. She’ll need help learning the language, but she’ll also need help adjusting to a new home overseas.”
“And? You’re proposing what?” His arms folded over his chest.
“I need to hire the guy who tutored me in Spanish to help Dee acclimate to a new culture. I could also use his language skills to keep me informed of local events I should be aware of. If you’re taking your boss’s position, which one of you do I get permission from to tweak the budget a little?”
“Me. Tweak away. But keep me informed.”
Unable to breathe, she gripped the arms of her chair. “I can’t believe I’m going.”
He snarled. “Yes. You’re going. Congratulations.”
“Thank you so much. But I…”
Casey frowned. “What?”
“The bots. I get credit for it, don’t I? Because I came up with that. Right?” She watched his face to see if she should regret asking.
“Here’s the deal. You can stay here and work on the bots with Bob in IT. Take the credit for it. Implement it. Have a party. Put a plaque on your door that says ‘Benita Finn: Creator of the Magical Meeting Planner Bots’. Or you could go to Spain and lead that office. Up to you. Your choice.”
Benita let her gaze fall to her lap. Her fingers had clenched again. She put them back on the arms of the chair.
What was she thinking? She could go to Spain, lead the office, and take Adam with her. They would let her take Dee, too. The bots could be credited to anyone else, and it wouldn’t bother her. Robert could have the bots for all she cared.
The only thing bothering her was if Adam refused to go to Spain with her. Then she would be leaving Texas for the job exclusively. And be alone and miserable.
Take the bots and Adam? Or take Spain and Adam? It all depended on Adam.
“Sadly, I feel like flipping a coin.”
“No. No, you don’t.”
“What?”
“You’ve worked hard for a month with the sole purpose of winning this competition with Robert. You’re not giving up a rung on the corporate ladder for bots. The bots are not that big of a deal. They’re not going to make you a million dollars.”
“It’s not the bots.”
“I knew it!” Casey tore off a sticky note and started writing on it. “Secretary Lisa owes me twenty dollars.”
“What? You bet someone I would give you credit for the bots?”
“No. I bet Lisa twenty dollars that you had a boyfriend. Gail confirmed my suspicions.
“She’s the smart one. I never said anything to her about having a boyfriend.”
“Gail is going to be moving up. And that’s why she’s staying here. I’m giving her your office so she can coordinate the bot program and make use of our current staff, so we don’t have to go through those unfortunate layoffs.”
“Hmm. My office?” Benita squinted at him. “She’s the new me.”
“Yes. And you’re the new me. Don’t let me down. You have to step it up a notch to keep a whole office working like a well-oiled machine.”
“I’ll do my best. It would be easier if I got to keep Gail, but I won’t argue with you.”
“She’s staying. This branch will be seeing a lot of me. According to Gail, there will be plenty of work to go around. The bots should make things easier for the company, so the company should make things easier for our people.”
“Definitely an asset. You need her. I can hire some locals for my new office.”
“Not very many locals. Your budget isn’t that big. And, by the way, company policy says you’re not hiring that boyfriend you never talk about. Good in Spanish, is he?”
“Yes, good in Spanish. But I can hire a local tutor for Dee.” Benita knew about the policy, but she was willing to find out if it was being enforced. Apparently, it was.
“Gail’s not the only smart one. Give Dee a little credit. She’ll pick it up pretty fast.”
“I haven’t asked him to go, so there’s no problem. He might not want to go, so… Moot point.”
“Shut up. You’re going. You’re both going.”
“You just said he couldn’t go. Company policy and all that.”
“Just don’t hire him. Doesn’t mean he can’t go.”
Chapter 31
On the slight hill, two trees provided the only shade, and the wind provided the only music. Birds were quiet. The mournful gray sky provided the perfect amount of dimmed light for the funeral. And the grass was still damp from the morning rain.
The few people who knew about Dan’s funeral had not yet arrived when Adam and his mom stood together by the folding chairs. Her stare this time was different than when his brother had died. This was expected. She’d been ready. It was still hard for her, but she’d had time to prepare.
Adam stood with his mom, looking at the casket. There were so many questions to ask her, but he didn’t know if she had all the answers.
“I want you to remember that he loved you, Adam.” She rested her hand on his upper arm. “He loved both of you boys.”
“I know. He had a hard time expressing that.” Adam remembered the talks they had in the hospital. So much new information. “Mom?”
�
��Yes, Adam?”
“Was Dan there when Dad died?”
“Yes. We all were.” She squinted and looked up at him. “I’m surprised you don’t remember.”
“No, I don’t. Dan mentioned it once in the hospital. He tried to tell me what happened, but he may have been on too much pain medicine to keep it all straight.”
“We were at the beach. I was making sandwiches for you boys while you played in the sand. Your dad told all of us to stay out of the water because it was too rough. The men were throwing a football, you know, the lightweight kind that floats. Dan didn’t catch it, and it went into the water. Your dad said it would float and wash up on shore. Dan wasn’t patient enough to wait, so he waded out to get it. They got into a fight over it. I couldn’t hear what was going on. I fed you boys and went to see if I could help. By that time, I couldn’t see your dad anymore. Dan was knee-high in water, running back to me. It took a while for him to catch his breath. He made us pack up and leave. We called the police as soon as we could get to a phone. He didn’t want you boys on the beach when your dad’s body washed up.”
“Then you got all that life insurance, and Dan left for a job.”
“Yes. I don’t know why he didn’t want to stay in town. I just know that he loved you boys.”
“Did the men fight over you?”
She frowned, thinking. “No. Never. Not that I’m aware of.”
“What was Dan’s blood type? Do you know?”
She looked up at him. “Weird question, but okay. Your dad and Dan and I went to give blood together once, before I was pregnant with your brother.” She smiled. “Dan and I were both Type O. Your dad was Type AB. He thought he was Type O for some reason, so when we were able to give blood again, he made us go again. Together. To a different place as if he didn’t trust the other people to do it again.” She laughed. “He was so funny about it.”