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Chapter Twenty
Elizabeth wrapped her tense fingers around the cold steering wheel as she pulled out of the parking garage. Her conversation with Mr. James and Patrick replayed in her mind as she drove. The same cycle of emotions she sifted through earlier in the office, when speaking with the men recycled themselves. At first, she was nervous and scared about how Mr. James was going to ultimately react to her standing up to him, and pretty much telling him where he could go. Anxiety coiled in the pit of her stomach. Will he fire me? Anger quickly tamped down her fear. Who do they think they are, treating people like this? Satisfaction squelched her anger. Forget him, forget Patrick, I don’t need to be around people like them. I’m glad I let them have it!
She parked her Lexus in the garage, retrieved the mail from her mailbox, and tossed it onto the entryway table as she passed by.
She ran up the steps, taking two at a time, and in a flash was standing in her walk-in closet, kicking off her pumps and removing her black double breasted suit with gold buttons. After slipping on a pair of jeans and her favorite fisherman’s sweater, she ran back downstairs.
The blinking voicemail light caught her attention so she checked her messages. The first message was from Holly telling her of their bridal shop appointment on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. to get fitted for her bridesmaid dress. The second message was from Jody telling her that Holly was starting to freak out about the wedding.
Elizabeth dialed Holly’s number, but got her voicemail. She left her a message detailing the wedding items that she had either taken care of already, or was currently working on, told her not to worry, and assured her that everything was under control. She blew out a sigh. Okay, maybe she did embellish just a teensy bit regarding how far along she was on her task list, but jeez, today was only the first working day since Holly and Sam made their wedding announcement. Luckily, she was able to find those little gold ‘thank you’ gift boxes, and fancy chocolates Holly wanted to set at every place setting. How did people ever survive before internet shopping?
Elizabeth slipped into her coat and the new boots she got for Christmas, and headed over to Joe’s. Before she could even knock on the front door, Max was there greeting her. “Hi Elizabeth,” he said as he pulled the door open for her.
“Hi, Max.”
He closed the door behind her and padded off in the direction of the kitchen.
She shed her coat and boots and followed Max to find Joe serving up everyone’s pizza. “I didn’t have time to cook anything, so I ordered pizza. I hope you either like pretty much everything, or just cheese,” he said as he pulled out a kitchen chair for her to sit.
She watched him as he carefully cut Molly’s cheese pizza into little pieces, and then blew on it to cool it down. Then he made sure his son was all set before he dug into his own.
“Guess what happened at school today?” Max asked, smiling endlessly.
“I can’t imagine. And you’d better tell us before you burst from the excitement,” Joe teased.
“Isaac brought his pet gerbil named Simon to class for show and tell. And when Mrs. Lenius wasn’t looking he set the gerbil on her shoulder...” his hysterical laughing prevented him from speaking, causing everyone at the table to laugh as well.
“Well, what happened?” Joe asked.
Max swiped his hands over his watery eyes. “Mrs. Lenius screamed and jumped, and Simon fell to the floor. He ran around the room. Some of the girls screamed and stood on their chairs until Isaac captured him. The teacher was so mad she sent Isaac to the Principal’s office.”
Elizabeth chuckled at both, the story, and the extent of the child’s excitement. The simple pleasures. She never experienced anything like that in school.
While Joe helped the kids with their homework, Elizabeth cleaned up the kitchen. Before she knew it, he was tucking them in for the night. She would finally have some time alone with him. Not that she minded spending time with the kids, but she wanted to talk to Joe about her day.
She listened as he tucked his son in first. “Good night, buddy. See ya in the morning. I love you.”
“Love you, too, Dad. Say goodnight to Elizabeth for me.”
She heard the door click shut to Max’s room, and Joe down the hall to his daughter’s room. “Goodnight, sweetie. I love you.”
