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“That’s despicable.”
She made a face. “I know. They give construction companies a bad name.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not too sure I would like to work for Mr. Davis.”
“Oh, I’ll never work for him,” she said. “He refused to hire me when I was looking for a job before this one opened up.”
“Refused? Why?”
“I got the impression he didn’t want to work with a woman. He passed over me because it would have been too much of a strain for a young girl.”
“A young girl? He didn’t really call you that, did he?”
“Oh, yes, he did.”
Roy couldn’t be more furious. He jumped to his feet. “That’s ridiculous and insulting.”
“It’s all right,” Beverly murmured.
“No, it isn’t.”
“It’s possible the construction company ran into some snags outside of their control that is making the project take longer, or maybe he is right, but either way, the man isn’t someone I will ever work for. End of story. I’m thrilled to have the jobs here, and since Nails R Us is my company, I can pick and choose which jobs I accept, and I won’t ever accept one from Mr. Davis or anyone else like him.”
“Good, but…”
“It is what it is. Others won’t want to hire me for this reason or that. I won’t get every job, especially since I’m, for now at least, a one-woman crew.”
“The high schoolers—”
“Some won’t like that, but I… I’m oddly confident. Everything is going to work out.”
“It will,” he said firmly.
And he prayed right then and there that that would be the case for her.
ChapterEighteen
Beverly couldn't be happier with how the grotto was coming along. She had made a massive construction that appeared to be almost like a hollowed-out boulder with stone and plaster. She finished painting it earlier, and now, she was nailing the massive cross Roy had bought inside. Next to it was a stone arch that went above the Mary statue. A potted plant was between the makeshift boulder and the statue, and she had also made a stone oval that Roy would fill with water once he finished up his other chores. She was working on placing stones in an arch that would go from one end of the stone pond to the boulder. It helped that the place Roy had picked for the grotto was in the valley between two hills because otherwise, she didn't think she would be able to accomplish this stone arch. It isn't easy, getting the stones to fit just right together so that it would hold together, and she had to whittle some of the rocks to better secure their positioning. It was like a jigsaw puzzle.
Once she finished, she stepped back to admire her handiwork. It looked good, but it still needed the greenery and flowers from Susan's shop. Other than that...
Beverly decided to surprise Roy. As quickly as she could, she hurried to the grocery store and then to the dollar store before heading home to hard boil the eggs. Once they were cooled, she quickly returned to the grotto with her supplies.
It was time to paint eggs.
Even if she and her father stopped attending church in more recent years, they still did, even with her in her twenties, paint eggs every year.
As she worked, she stuck out her tongue. She couldn't say why she did that when she painted, but she always had, and her father would always try to reach over and tug on it.
Beverly pained some with dots and swirls, as her father tended to prefer.Beverly's father had always been a traditionalist. He was also quite creative, so when he painted eggs, he made sure to put in some intricate details and colors. He used natural dyes such as onion skin, beets and turmeric. Beverly was not as creative but she still managed to make the colored eggs somewhat striking with the help of dyes and glitter paint.She also painted a few of them solid colors like blue, green and yellow because she wanted to have a rainbow of colored eggs inside the grotto as decorations.
Once she was done painting the eggs, Beverly stepped back and admired her work. They looked beautiful, almost like tiny works of art instead of just plain hard-boiled eggs.
Finally happy with how everything looked, she placed the eggs into the grotto carefully so as not to break anything. She smiled softly at her craftwork before standing up again to look around some more. She stepped back, admiring her masterpiece with a deep sense of satisfaction. It really was a lovely Easter project for Roy, and she hoped she might come around to see it from time to time. It served as a reminder to her how important family was even if they weren't always present in person when holidays rolled around. Once the flowers and more plants were added, she was sure it would encourage everyone who looked at it to recall that happiness and faith are possible even in tough times.
More than anything, she wished her father could see this. He would have loved it.
She closed her eyes, and the breeze stirred, and somehow, Beverly sensed him, and she knew that no matter what, she would be okay.
