By God's Grace (32 page)

****

Janice grabbed George away from Elizabeth. Eyes narrowed, she studied her husband's secretary. Elizabeth's hair hung down to her waist. It was brown, dull, and dried out. It looked as if it had one too many bad perms, causing it to bush out. Her blouse was unwrinkled and clean, though baggy on her slender frame. Her skirt looked as if it came from a Goodwill store that was having a seventies sale. It had big flowers in wild colors and went to the bottom of her feet. Her tiny feet were encased in sandals made from what appeared to be plastic. She had glasses that were about a quarter of an inch thick and covered most of her face.

While Janice looked her over, she couldn't help but be a little happy with the fact her husband's secretary was a little bit less than attractive. Of course this had been all her doing. She recommended this look to Elizabeth upon her initial employment. The reason was for the girl's safety, although Janice wasn't sure if the young lady ever realized the severity of the situation. Perhaps the issues had passed and the girl could come out of her shell. Maybe it was time to release her from the look. Besides, George pretending to fawn all over the girl while she dressed like this was sickening.

She grabbed him and pulled him as far away from Elizabeth as possible. Whispering as low as she could, “Are you crazy? That kind of stunt is going to get you slapped with a lawsuit for harassment. Not to mention bringing undue attention to her.”

“Oh mother, please. Elizabeth and I have an understanding.”

“And what's that?”

“I give her a peck on the hand every once in awhile and make her feel beautiful, and she lets me do it. Doesn't every woman want the attention of a handsome, virile man once in a while?”

Janice didn't have time to comment further because Charles entered the room.

He addressed his secretary first. “Elizabeth, you may go to lunch while I'm gone. When you return, you may continue with your work. I'll watch my clock and if by some mistake I don't get back in time for the Winterbottom meeting, stall them.”

Janice gulped. The Winterbottom Corporation was coming? She didn't think Charles or her sons were in danger from them. She wasn't even sure if they knew the entire story. But Elizabeth was different. Most of the important documents went through her hands at one time or another. Was it possible she'd read something she could pass along that could be detrimental to the firm?

Janice waited on pins and needles to see what would happen next. Would Elizabeth acknowledge the Winterbottom Corporation? Would she reveal something she knew if she was left alone with them for too long? When the girl spoke, she showed no signs of deception.

“Will do.”

Tired of being ignored and ready to get the discussion with George over with, Janice spoke up, “Come along you two. We have much to discuss. And we mustn't be late for our lunch reservations.”

George plastered a grin on his face, linked arms with his mother, and walked to the elevator with Charles close behind.

****

Elizabeth wrapped up her typing and grabbed her lunch from the break room refrigerator. In the middle of the building in which she worked was an open-air courtyard with tables. Many of the Hampton employees gathered there to enjoy their lunches. Elizabeth headed there now. When she arrived in the promenade, her friends—Wesley, Lisa, and LuLu—were all waiting.

“What took you so long?” Wesley tapped his foot in a fast pace, all while snapping his fingers in her direction. He was by far the most impatient of the bunch.

“Mr. Hampton had a lunch meeting, and I was waiting for him to leave before I came down. I've told you not to wait on me. Just go ahead and eat.”

“We don't like to eat without you,” said Wesley, glancing over at LuLu who had a mouth full of roast beef. “Well, some of us like to wait on you.”

LuLu replied, “I was hungry.”

Lisa said, “You're always hungry.”

The four of them were an odd mix, but for some reason they worked. Probably because they all held the same general ideas when it came to theology. LuLu was short and round with a jolly disposition. She claimed that she was just a tad overweight. Wesley had the build of a football player, and his blond hair was cut in a military buzz. Lisa was tall and skinny and would have fit in on any runway. Elizabeth was completely average. She was five-foot-six inches tall—an average height for a woman. She weighed around one-hundred-forty pounds, although no one could tell with the baggy clothes she wore. She had plain green eyes that remained hidden behind thick glasses.

Things could be different. Internally she was aware taking on this appearance had been recommended and voluntary. The Hamptons, or rather Janice, had given her the choice. Change your appearance and stay safe, or don't change and put yourself in danger.

Thinking more on her friends, she realized that indeed to the outside world, these four were an odd mix, while to their thinking, they were the perfect match. They were all Christians. They attended the same church. They held the same basic morals and beliefs with very few exceptions. So although the world viewed them as a strange clique, they viewed each other as family.

Even with all these things in common, they still had their own demons to wrestle. After everyone placed food in their mouths, Lisa asked, “What's the drama from your floor today?”

The other three in the group shook their heads and Lisa looked a little deflated. “Surely there is something going on. You have to give me something, anything. You know I'm a gossip addict. You guys also know it never goes beyond us. If you don't share, I won't make it through the rest of the day without blurting out information I already know.”

Today the four of them sat under overhanging branches. Sunlight streamed through the leaves and landed all around them, warming exposed skin. A breeze came through, lifting Elizabeth's hair off the back of her neck.

Elizabeth thought about what Lisa had said. She knew it was true. At one lunch break everyone remained silent about gossip or work-related news and Lisa had gone back to her floor and told everyone LuLu had dyed her hair purple. No one in the office really cared that LuLu once had purple hair, however the news reached LuLu's father. He worked as a janitor in the building, and LuLu had received a scolding of gigantic proportions. Since LuLu probably wasn't really in the mood for a repeat of that particular day, she decided to share.

“There's a bit of news from George's floor.”

Elizabeth began to squirm. If they discovered information about George's secret marriage, they would begin to question her to see if she knew more. She didn't make it a habit to share her employer's personal information because of loyalty and for fear of being canned. Not to mention, when a person started to gossip about things they knew, sometimes they became out of hand and said more than they should. In her position, saying more than she should could be harmful to her health. Yes, it was better just to remain silent. Elizabeth waited and when LuLu spoke, she was surprised by what she shared.

“George hired a new lawyer.”

Lisa frowned. “That's it? George brought in another lawyer. He's always hiring new attorneys. Word is that he doesn't like to work, so he just pretends by employing more legal representatives. That's nothing. Old news. You better give me something else or there might be more purple on the horizon.”

LuLu frowned before saying, “You don't understand. He didn't hire just
any lawyer.
He hired blue eyes himself!”

“Ol' blue eyes? Like in Frank Sinatra? I thought he was dead,” said Wesley.

“I didn't say ol' blue eyes; I just said blue eyes. As in, he has the dreamiest blue eyes a woman has ever seen. Anyway, he is a high class defense attorney for some of the meanest criminals known to man. They say he prides himself in getting the guilty off scott-free.”

Elizabeth frowned. Now why would George, who was an expert in white collar crime, hire such a high-profile criminal defense attorney?

Lisa interrupted her thoughts. “Oh, yeah, I've heard about him. He's young, attractive, and likes to eat all over town with one beauty or another. He never dates anyone from work. He's on all the society pages.”

LuLu buttered a roll and asked, “How would you know? Have you been reading the society pages?”

“Of course, I always read the society pages.”

After that, the normal argument between LuLu and Lisa ensued. LuLu was of the opinion that reading the society pages was of the Devil, and Lisa took the position there was nothing wrong with it. The pastor had tried to reason with the two women using a theological explanation, but it had done no good. They were both firm in their beliefs. One said it was okay; the other that it was wrong. Wesley and Elizabeth had decided to just let them argue it out. They figured when one of them was personally convicted by Jesus, it would all work itself out.

As the two ladies were going back and forth, Elizabeth spotted a new individual entering the promenade. He was tall with midnight black hair. His build was similar to that of Wesley's, but he seemed broader in the shoulders.

He sat down at a table and looked up, catching Elizabeth in the act of openly staring at him. He sent a smile in her direction, causing her to blush bright red. Her heart beat a rapid tattoo against her chest. Her throat tightened as she swallowed the food in her mouth. She lowered her gaze back to the table, but not before Wesley caught her.

“I see you finally spotted someone you like.”

“What?” Elizabeth asked in a shocked whisper.

“Don't be ashamed. That's the first time in the year I've known you that you have openly stared at anyone.”

“I was looking because he's new. That's all.”

“Elizabeth, there's nothing wrong with finding someone of the opposite sex attractive. In fact, I believe that's God's plan for all of us, or part of His plan.”

“It doesn't matter. You're wrong. I was just staring because he's new.” Sighing wistfully, she continued, “It wouldn't matter anyway. I'm hardly the type of girl that would attract his attention.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Look at me, Wesley.”

“I look at you a lot. You're a very attractive and beautiful woman.” He lifted a piece of her brown hair. “You have lustrous brown hair and sparkling emerald green eyes, as well as a heart of gold.”

“You're just saying that to be nice,” Elizabeth said, feeling heat rise to her cheeks.

“Nope,” he said, while popping a carrot into his mouth and crunching on it.

With uncommon boldness, she asked, “Then how come you've never asked me out, hmm?”

“Good question. Do you want to go out?”

Elizabeth raised her eyebrow. “I don't think Lisa would like that too much.”

“How did you know?” asked Wesley, an eyebrow raising in surprise.

Elizabeth shrugged. “It's obvious. Why didn't you guys just tell us?”

“We didn't want to change the friend dynamic by announcing that we were dating. We would still like to be friends if it doesn't work out.”

“Good. I'm glad to hear it. You guys will be great together.” Elizabeth thought for a moment and then looked at Lisa and LuLu, who were still hot and heavy with their moral discussion, before asking Wesley, “How would I go about getting the attention of someone like that?”

“What kind of attention?”

“That's a good question. I mean, I could
get
attention from him now. He would probably think I was a frumpy housewife that had no time to take care of her personal being. I think I would rather be noticed as a woman, I mean a real woman.”

Wesley tapped his forehead. “Maybe you should ask Lisa to help you with a makeover. She's into clothes and looking her best and all that.”

“I know Lisa could help me, but I don't really want to try and be overly attractive and attract the wrong kind of guy. Not that Lisa does that. I mean, you're a guy. And I just want to look womanly, I guess. How about you help me instead?”

Wesley shifted. Elizabeth placed a hand on his arm, looked into his eyes, and said, “It'll be okay.”

Taking a deep breath, he finally answered, “Yeah, I'll help you. When do you want to do this?”

“When are you free?”

“I don't have a date with Lisa tonight, so maybe we could meet after work. Say at six. Here in the promenade.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

By now Lisa and LuLu had stopped arguing about society pages and were discussing what they were eating. Lisa was on LuLu about counting her calories so she would eat less; LuLu was on Lisa to count her calories so she would eat more. Wesley and Elizabeth rolled their eyes, sat back and enjoyed their meal, and the brief rest from work.

Elizabeth stared down at her food, thinking. She didn't know what had possessed her to want to appear more feminine. Surely just looking at a tall, attractive man wouldn't cause her to just drop this style and change back to what she'd worn before. But she had been looking at herself in the mirror a lot more lately. She knew she wasn't a beauty queen; she also knew she wasn't completely ugly. Her family wondered why she wasn't married yet, and of course she hadn't told them about her change in appearance. If they knew she'd changed just so she could work as a secretary, they might not have been too happy.

When Elizabeth glanced back up at the man with the black hair, he was watching her. She smiled in his direction, because it felt like the right thing to do. His eyes stayed locked on her. Elizabeth sighed and angled her gaze downward. When she looked down, she noticed her sloppy appearance. A sigh parted her lips. How was she ever going to meet anyone under these circumstances? Who would want to have anything to do with her? Not only did she look terrible, but she was a walking time bomb. She wasn't safe to be around. The what-ifs continued to swirl through her mind until a headache set up behind her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she wondered,
What am I doing to myself?

Chancing a glance at her watch, Elizabeth noticed her lunch break was over. She said good-bye to the group, gathered her things and left. As her feet slapped the shiny tile floor, Elizabeth's mind wondered. Would Mr. Hampton be upset when he returned from lunch? Had George's announcement been a pleasant surprise?

As she continued on her way back to the office, she was struck by a flash of color. In the middle of the promenade was a huge round brick planter that was filled with trees, green foliage, and real blooming flowers. Elizabeth directed her feet to their location. On one of the leaves sat an interesting sight. It was a butterfly.

Elizabeth bent over and studied the unique features of the creature. When the wings were shut, they were a drab brown, and when they opened they displayed an intricate design of orange and black, with a hint of blue. Elizabeth placed her hand forward. The butterfly walked onto her waiting palm.

“That's a very nice specimen.
Vanessa cardui,
or Painted Lady, I believe.”

His voice was deep and sent chills down her spine, causing Elizabeth to take a swift breath. With the movement, the creature flew away.

Looking into the stranger's face, the first thing she noticed was his deep blue eyes. He was even more attractive at this range. Her tongue stuck to the top of her mouth, refusing to work.

Bowing her head, Elizabeth barreled toward the elevator, leaving him at the bushes alone. More than ever, she needed Wesley's help.