Authors: Cheryl Richards
“Shantel?”
“Mmm…yes, Miss Sunny?”
“Would you mind switching
lunch hours with me today?”
“This better be good, ‘cause I’m starving half to
death.”
“It is. Lloyd Harper asked me to lunch.”
“Damn girl. Wish I was you.” She fluffed my hair.
“No wonder you got yourself all dolled up today. I was thinking you had a job
interview.”
“So it’s okay?”
“Girl, would I stand in the way of true love?”
“We barely know each other.”
“That’s today.”
“You’re a romantic. Guess what?”
“He has a hot brother interested in me?”
“Sorry to disappoint. No. My sister Spring is
getting married!”
“Not Spring? Well, I’ll be damned. I thought she
was married to her career. It’s going to be a ‘spring’ wedding?” She chuckled
loudly.
“Cute.” I looked at my watch. “Okay, let me know
when he comes.”
“Maybe I’ll steal him from you?”
“You probably could. You’re a real charmer.” She
gave me that smile of hers and I wondered if she could steal him away, not that
he was mine to take.
Chapter
19
Not long after I returned to my desk, Shantel called
saying Lloyd was at the front desk. I grabbed my handbag from my desk drawer,
took out my mirror, and made sure I didn’t have anything in my teeth. Earlier
in the day, I was munching on a lemon poppy-seed muffin and I usually end up
with at least two poppy-seeds stuck between my teeth. I used a piece of paper
from my desk to remove one seed lodged between my front teeth. I reapplied my
lipstick and returned same to my handbag. I stood and took my coat off the hook
on the back of my office door, and went out the front door to greet Lloyd.
“All ready,” I said as the door closed behind me.
I glanced at Shantel and she winked. I felt like a silly schoolgirl going on
her first date, which was totally absurd.
“Okay.” He held the door open for me and once again,
the passenger door of his car.
“Thanks.” I pulled my legs in and he closed the
door and came around to his side. It still smelled nice inside, and I wondered
if the scent was on him or just the car. When he got in, I adjusted the
position of my handbag in an attempt to sniff him. I sniffed unintentionally
loud.
“Getting a cold?” he asked. He reached behind his
seat and offered me a box of tissues.
I politely took a tissue and pretended to wipe my
nose. “I hope not,” I said. “Probably just the cold temperature.” The tissue
had no scent. It must be him that smelled so sexy. I started imagining
unbuttoning his shirt, smelling his muscular chest, letting my hand reach down
into his…
“Is something wrong?” he said, waking me from my
fantasy. “You looked all glassy-eyed for a moment.”
Caught. “Um just my contacts. They’re okay now.”
I smiled and he put the car in gear.
After twelve minutes in the car, I mentioned that
I only had an hour for lunch, and that I hoped the restaurant wasn’t much
further away. He said it wasn’t and pulled into the next driveway we passed. He
drove up and stopped. I looked out the window at a small bungalow styled house,
with a European sloped roof over the front door with a rounded top. The house
was built with lannon stone and was quite charming.
“Do you live here?” I asked stupidly.
“Yes.”
“Did you forget something?”
“Nope.” He took the keys out
of the ignition and came around to open my door.
I got out and followed him to
the house, not knowing what to expect but feeling a bit panicky for two
reasons. First, I didn’t want to be late back to work, but mostly, I wasn’t
sure why he brought me here. I may fantasize about sex; however, I’m not
exactly your pick-me-up-for-a-lunch-quickie type female.
He opened the house door for me
and I entered into a small kitchen. Inside, resting against the wall to my
right was a square walnut table with four matching chairs. Two-tone blue plaid
cushions covered the seats. There were two place settings on the table and an
old glass, jelly jar filled with water and fresh white carnations sitting on a
paper napkin. Walnut cabinets hung on very light blue walls. The wood floor
matched the color of the cabinets.
Lloyd came up behind me and
removed my coat. “Welcome,” he whispered in my ear.
I melted on the spot. To hell
with lunch, where’s the bedroom?
“Have a seat,” he said
graciously. “I wanted a more personal touch.”
I was overwhelmed. “Well, you
succeeded.” I sat down and leaned in to smell the carnations. “This is so
pretty Lloyd. And totally unexpected.”
“I’m thrilled you approve.” He
placed the coats in the next room and returned, heading straight for the
refrigerator.
He pulled out a platter of
sandwiches and placed them on the table. He took a bag of potato chips from a
cabinet, opened it, and poured them into a bowl. This he also placed on the
table. With one more trip to the fridge, he returned with two cans of ginger
ale.
“Dig in,” he said, taking his
seat. “There’s turkey or liver sausage.”
I took a liver, with lettuce
on rye and placed it on my plate, along with a handful of potato chips. I
popped the top on my can of soda. “Did you fix this yourself?”
“Just me. Rufus watched.”
He took a potato chip from the
bowl and popped it into his mouth. “Can I get you a glass?”
“No thanks. Who’s Rufus?” I
glanced around, expecting to see a fierce looking dog, like a Boxer or
Rottweiler. What I saw was a large black cat with a white chest and piercing,
emerald green eyes staring at me from the living room.
Lloyd nodded at the cat.
“That’s Rufus. He was hanging around the trash for a week, before he decided to
come in out of the cold. We’re pals now, aren’t we Rufus.”
Rufus blinked his eyes, which
in cat language meant affirmative. He kept his eyes on me, weary of the
newcomer. He didn’t hiss at me, so I figured that was a good sign.
I took a piece of my liver
sausage and held it out for him. “Rufus, want some?”
Rufus licked his paw and
rubbed it over ear and forehead. Then he turned and walked away.
“Guess he’s doesn’t,” I said
bewildered.
“That’s because he ate a slice
before I picked you up.”
“Is this your home, or your
parents’ house?” Its decoration was simple and masculine, but that was the
trend in decorating nowadays. All white with a few splashes of color. Lloyd’s
home held more charm though, perhaps because it was an older house, dating back
to at least the late forties and the woodwork was warm and beautifully
detailed.
He ate quietly, content in his
surroundings.
“Mine. My parents live a few
blocks over in a neighboring subdivision. I liked the neighborhood, so when
this house came available, I jumped at it.”
Hmm. Tight knit family. He
seemed secure and stable. Virtues I never seemed to possess.
“Does your sister live nearby
too?”
“No. She lives in Muskego on
the lake. Personally, I think only cabins should be on lakes. Fishing and
suburbia don’t mix well in my book.”
“And your brother?”
“Lives in Chicago.”
He looked at my empty plate.
“Another sandwich?”
“No thank you. I’m full.”
“Cookie?”
“You made those too?” My
eyebrows rose in disbelief.
“No, store bought but I like
them,” he stated honestly.
“Sure. Never tasted a cookie I
didn’t like.”
He got up and took a package
of Oreos from the cabinet. A sudden image of black crumbs between my teeth made
me regret my decision. Maybe if I drank a lot of soda the crumbs would go away.
He offered me the freshly
opened package and I took a cookie.
“Take two, they’re small,” he
said, shoving the package in front of me.
I took another and placed it
on the table.
“So, Lloyd,” I asked, in an
attempt to postpone gobbling up my cookies, “where do you work?”
He finished chewing his
cookie. No crumbs in his teeth. Darn it.
“I’m a pharmaceutical sales
rep for Allied Health. Need any free samples?”
I laughed. “I’ll let you
know.”
He looked at the wall clock above
the sink. “Better get you back to work before you get in trouble.”
I wanted to stay there and
learn more about him. I felt so comfortable, I had completely forgotten about
work.
He went into the living room
to get our coats and I placed the used dishes in his sink. I started to rinse
them off when he came back into the room.
“Don’t bother I’ll tend to
them later.”
He helped me on with my coat
and pulled my tucked hair out from beneath the collar. His hands were warm on
my neck. He bent down and kissed me behind my right ear and I leaned into him.
He turned me around and kissed me passionately. My arms encircled his neck, my
body pressed into his and my lips yearned for more of his touch.
“Whoa, Sunny,” he said
hoarsely. “Don’t start something we can’t finish.”
Mortified, I pulled away from
him. Just what the heck was I thinking? I had to watch myself around him. I
certainly never felt this way around Sam the S.O.B.
My emotions must have shown on
my face. He kissed me on my forehead.
I looked around for Rufus. He
was staring at me again with narrowed eyes. He licked his chops as though he
were looking at a bowl of tuna. Apparently, he didn’t like to share his
property.
“Later, Rufus,” I said to him.
Rufus swished his tail and blinked.
Lloyd ushered me out into the
cold. I jumped into his car and before I knew it, we were back at Ageless
Grace. We walked together through the front door exactly an hour after we left.
I said goodbye and Lloyd turned down the hall to visit his dad and I pulled one
of the Oreos out of pocket and ate it.
Chapter
20
Shantel left for lunch quickly after I returned. I
heard her stomach growling and felt a twinge of guilt. It didn’t last long.
Five calls in a row were for information on nurse aide classes, and the next
three calls were from foreign doctors who wanted their names paged over the
intercom. Personally, I could think of one hundred other positions I would
prefer to mine, including that of fry cook at a fast food restaurant.
My hands were busy clicking away on the computer
keyboard when a woman’s cough caught my attention. Amy Foster, Mr. Schroeder’s
daughter, stood at the window. She thrust a bill through the opening, almost
hitting me in the face. I took it from her.
“Look at it!” she shouted.
I read the bill. Her father’s insurance company
billed for coinsurance. “And now what?” I asked sarcastically.
“It’s wrong,” she said.
Here we go again. In my book, the customer is
always wrong. “What’s wrong?”
“He has Medicare. He doesn’t owe anything.” She
smirked.
“Yes, he does. Medicare only pays 100% for the
first twenty days, and then a daily coinsurance rate kicks in. As you see
here,” I pointed to the amount on the notice, “this is the total coinsurance
amount I billed his insurance. This is what they paid, and this is what he
owes.”
She stood her ground. “That’s
not right.”
Whatever lady. “Fine. Call his
insurance company and argue it out.”
“That’s your job,” she fired
back.
“I did my job.” I handed her
the explanation of benefits form back.
“Is the administrator in?” she
said in a threatening tone.
“Yes. Go to your left and down
three doors to her office.”
She stomped away with an
arrogance she couldn’t back up with knowledge. I shrugged my shoulders and got
back to work. The administrator would tell her the same thing, and it was a
solid bet, she would refuse to pay the bill.
The phone rang while I was
sending some envelopes through the postage machine. I rushed to answer it and
quickly walked into the frame of the doorway, snapping my right shoulder back.
Pain radiated down my arm but there was no time to react.
“Ageless Grace,” I managed to
squeak out.
“This here’s Leroy.” He
paused. I heard loud rap music in the background and people laughing. “Ya’ll
tell Shantel I be waitin’ for ‘er when she gets off work.” He hung up, and I
wondered if Shantel needed protection from this guy.