Where Azaleas Bloom (3 page)

When she got back to her car, she rested her head against the
steering wheel and fought the tears that were never far away these days. She
tried hard not to give in to them, but sometimes she simply couldn’t hold back
all the pain and frustration. A few minutes later, a tap on her window had her
sitting upright, her heart racing.

“Mitch!” she exclaimed. “You scared me half to death.”

He gestured for her to roll down the window. When she’d
complied, he regarded her with what looked like real distress. “Please tell me
you were not even thinking about applying for a job here,” he said, heat in his
voice.

She frowned at his tone. “I did apply, but the only thing
available is overnight. Obviously, I can’t do that.”

“You shouldn’t be working here at any hour. It’s
dangerous.”

“If the clientele’s so rough, what are you doing here?”

“I was on my way to my plumbing supplier’s and saw the HELP
WANTED sign in the window and your car in the parking lot. After our
conversation earlier, I stopped to check it out, make sure you weren’t about to
do anything crazy.”

“There’s nothing crazy about needing a job.”

“Of course not, but not here, Lynn,” he said flatly.

Annoyed by his attitude, she retorted, “I already told you I
couldn’t take it because of the hours. What business is this of yours,
anyway?”

“Just one friend looking out for another,” he said, clearly not
fazed by her attitude. “Do you know the reason they need a new night clerk? The
last one was shot a week ago during a robbery.”

Lynn started trembling uncontrollably. “Good God,” she
murmured. “I had no idea.”

“It was in the paper, the same one you were reading this
morning.”

“I just checked out the ads.”

“Well, I imagine if I hadn’t come along to tell you, Carter
would have stepped in. He has more problems around this area than anywhere else
in town.” He hesitated, clearly waging some sort of internal debate with
himself. “If you’re this desperate for a job, work for me,” he said with
unmistakable reluctance.

She almost laughed, but the expression on his face said he was
serious. Not happy, but definitely serious. “You? Doing what? The last
do-it-yourself job I tried to tackle at the house was such a disaster, it had to
be redone by a professional.”

He had the audacity to smile at that. “I wasn’t suggesting
putting you on one of my construction crews. I could use the help with
paperwork.”

She studied him skeptically. “Don’t you already have
someone?”

“Nah. In the winter I can usually keep up with the billing and
payroll myself, but with spring coming on and more jobs, it’s harder for me to
manage all that and the paperwork, too.”

“I doubt I’d be much better at that than I was at wallpapering
the kitchen,” she told him candidly.

“It’s an easy system,” he assured her. “I can teach you in an
hour.”

“You have an office?”

“No, that’s the beauty of it. You can work at home. I’ll just
bring my laptop and a printer to your place and leave ’em. How about we give it
a trial run, see how it goes? If you’re comfortable with it, we’ll take it from
there.”

Lynn felt a faint frisson of hope. “And you swear you’re not
making up work just to give me a job?”

“Cross my heart,” he said with a grin, sketching an exaggerated
cross on his chest. “You can start tomorrow. I’ll bring the laptop by in the
morning and show you the basics. There are half a dozen bills that need to go
out, and maybe you’ll be up to speed to do payroll by the end of the week.”

“If all this is as simple as you make it sound, how many hours
are you thinking?”

“Just part-time, maybe twenty. You’d be able to keep the job at
Raylene’s, too. Would that be enough to help?”

“It would be a godsend,” she told him, especially the part
about working at home. “But only if you’re sure. You didn’t look all that
certain when you first mentioned it. Were you already having second thoughts
before the words were even out of your mouth?”

“Not at all,” he said, sounding more convincing. “I’m sure
about this, Lynn.”

“And you’ll fire me if I’m lousy?”

“I don’t think you’re going to be lousy, but if you are,
something tells me I won’t have to do a thing. You’ll quit, either out of
frustration or mind-numbing boredom.”

She looked into his eyes, a gray-blue shade she’d never noticed
before and filled with kindness. “I seem to spend a lot of time thanking you
lately, but I have to say it again.”

“Don’t,” he said. “You’ll be solving a problem for me.”

She smiled. “I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?”

“I’ll be over first thing in the morning, then, as soon as the
kids have left for school. Is that okay?”

She nodded. “That’ll be perfect. I don’t have to be at
Raylene’s shop until ten. I’ll be home just after two and can jump right back
into whatever you need me to do.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” he said. “And I’ll stop by before
I head home at the end of the day, in case you have any questions. Or you can
just run next door if something crops up that you don’t understand.”

“This really is a blessing, Mitch. Thank you.”

“No more thanks, understood? This is a business arrangement,
okay? I need help. You’re looking for a job. It works out well for both of
us.”

She shook her head. “Sorry. I can’t promise you I won’t keep
thanking you. I have the funniest feeling you’re my guardian angel.”

The remark seemed to fluster him. “Sweetheart, I can assure you
I’m no angel. You can ask anyone in town about that.”

Lynn shook her head, not buying it. “I think you’re wrong about
that, Mitch. I’ve never heard a single bad word ever said about you.”

“Then you never spoke to Nettie Rogers, who swears I trampled
her azaleas when I was rebuilding her screened-in porch. And then there’s Sissy
Adams, who accused me of changing the sunny shade of yellow paint she chose to
mustard just to annoy her, never mind that the woman is flat-out color blind. I
could have painted her walls bright orange and I swear she wouldn’t have been
able to tell that from neon pink.”

Lynn laughed. “You’re exaggerating, but those aren’t exactly
the sort of sins I was thinking about.”

He grinned at her, a surprising twinkle in his eyes. “Now sins
are an entirely different kettle of fish,” he said. “I think we’d best save
those for another day, or you’ll quit this job before you’ve even started. Now
head on out of here. I want to see you safely on the road before I drive
away.”

“See you in the morning, then,” Lynn said, turning on the
engine and putting the car in gear. She was about to open her mouth to utter
another thank-you, but the expression on Mitch’s face stopped her. He looked as
if he were just daring her to say the forbidden words again.

Lynn waited until she was out of sight before murmuring one
more time, “Thank you, Mitch. You
are
my guardian
angel, no matter what you say.”

Who knew that a guardian angel could come in the guise of a guy
in blue jeans with red hair, twinkling gray-blue eyes and one very sexy
butt?

3

D
espite the relief she felt at having a job
lined up, Lynn’s stomach remained tied up in knots as she drove toward the
center of town. She hadn’t forgotten her promise to Lexie to find out where Ed
was and when he was due back. She had her own valid reasons for wanting to know
those things, as well. She knew that trying to wrangle information out of the
very loyal and discreet Noelle over the phone would be a waste of time, but
face-to-face, Ed’s secretary would have a lot more trouble holding out.

The success of Ed’s insurance business was ostentatiously
showcased in the large brick building he’d built just off Main Street.
Personally, Lynn had always thought it was pretentious, but he’d insisted it was
good for business, especially the insurance business, to look impressive and
solid.

Lynn parked in the large lot out back and went in through the
closest entrance, drawing startled glances from several of Ed’s colleagues who
hadn’t laid eyes on her since she and Ed had split up. Assuming they’d taken his
side and not wanting to put any of them on the spot, she nodded politely and
kept right on walking to his large suite of offices in the front.

“Hi, Noelle,” she said.

Ed’s secretary uttered a small gasp, but recovered quickly.
“Mrs. Morrow, how are you?”

“Just fine, Noelle. And you?”

“Doing all right. What can I do for you? Ed’s not here.”

“So I’ve gathered. Any idea where I can reach him or when he’ll
be back?”

“As I told Lexie when she called, I’m not entirely sure.”

“On either point?” Lynn asked skeptically. “I can’t recall a
single time when Ed has ever been out of touch with you.”

“Well, of course, I speak to him if there’s an emergency,”
Noelle said, looking increasingly uncomfortable. For all her loyalty to her
boss, she was also a sympathetic woman and a single mother herself. Lynn thought
she probably understood the situation all too well.

“Then how about sharing with me how you go about contacting
him?” Lynn requested. “Please, Noelle. You spoke to Lexie. You know how much she
misses her father. And there are things I need to discuss with him that can’t
wait.”

“He’ll be back soon,” Noelle said, holding firm.

“How soon?”

“Next week at the latest, maybe sooner.”

Lynn shook her head. “Not good enough. I want to speak to him
today.”

Noelle regarded her with what appeared to be genuine sympathy.
“I really wish I could help you, but I need this job. I can’t violate his
confidence. He’d fire me.” She gave Lynn an earnest look. “You know he
would.”

Lynn sighed. Unfortunately, she knew that all too well. Even
before she’d walked into the building, she’d known she was going to be putting
Noelle in an impossible position. The last thing she wanted to do was to get
another single mom fired.

She was struck by a sudden thought. Ed always kept petty cash
in his office in a secret compartment at the back of one of his drawers. Since
he’d failed to send his support check, she figured she was entitled to get that
money however she could.

“Would you mind if I left a note on his desk?” she asked
Noelle.

“No problem,” Noelle said, looking relieved that Lynn wasn’t
going to keep pressing her.

“Thanks. I’ll just be a minute.” She walked into the office
she’d worked so hard to decorate for him, choosing colors that were warm and
inviting and furnishings that were tasteful and, at Ed’s insistence, far more
expensive than they’d needed to be.

She sat in his ergonomic leather chair behind the oversize
mahogany desk and opened the bottom drawer. Reaching into the compartment hidden
behind a stack of company stationery, she plucked out two hundred-dollar bills
and guiltily stuffed them into her purse.

To make good on the request that had gotten her into the room,
she removed a piece of stationery and jotted a quick note asking Ed to call her
immediately on his return, folded it and shoved it into an envelope, then tucked
it into a corner of the pristine blotter centered on his desk.

“All done,” she told Noelle, exiting quickly. “I left the note
on his desk. Please make sure he reads it, okay? As soon as he sees my
handwriting he’ll toss it in the trash, otherwise.”

“I’ll do my best,” Noelle promised, then regarded Lynn
apologetically. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help.”

“You helped enough,” Lynn assured her.

Back in her car, she found herself trembling for the second
time that day. No matter how strongly she felt that she was owed much more than
that two hundred dollars, she couldn’t help thinking that she’d turned into a
thief. That’s what this divorce was doing to her.

Then she thought of her kids and squared her shoulders. She’d
done what she had to do and if anyone should be ashamed of their behavior these
days, it was Ed. And she’d tell him exactly that if he had the audacity to make
an issue of this.

* * *

Even with the promise of another paycheck soon and the
money she’d stolen from petty cash in her purse, Lynn couldn’t bring herself to
go on a spending splurge at the grocery store. Who knew what other crises might
arise before Ed finally paid up the way he was supposed to?

She left the store with two small sacks of groceries and a
heavy heart. This would barely get them through the weekend, and then what? A
couple of hundred dollars seemed like a fortune, but it wouldn’t last long. It
would barely cover the electric bill, much less make any dent in the overdue
mortgage.

After putting the few pitiful purchases into the refrigerator
and pantry, she knew she had to do something more to address the situation. Not
even another paycheck was going to solve things, not with interest and late fees
adding up on their bills. Reluctantly, she picked up the phone and called
Helen.

“The support check hasn’t come again,” she told the attorney.
“I just spent practically the last dime I have on enough groceries to get us
through the next couple of days.” She drew in a deep breath, then confessed, “I
actually resorted to taking money from petty cash in Ed’s office. I know it’s
theft, but what was I supposed to do, Helen? Let my kids starve?”

Helen uttered an epithet that would have blistered Ed’s ears
had she said it in court. “Look, I can’t very well condone stealing, but let’s
pretend you never told me about that. Believe me, I get how desperate you must
have been to resort to that.”

“It’s not going to make a dent in the bills,” Lynn said in
frustration. “But it will cover groceries for a couple of weeks and one or two
other things, if I pinch every penny.”

“I’ll stop by with a check before the day’s out,” Helen
promised her. “And before you say no, believe me, I will get it back from Ed,
even if I have to take it out of his sorry hide!”

Lynn smiled. “I want to be there for that,” she said. “Just
anticipating it will be the one huge bright spot in my life.”

“What about those bills you mentioned?” Helen asked. “Are you
managing? Is Ed covering what he’s supposed to be covering—the mortgage payment,
the utilities?”

Lynn drew in a deep breath, then told her, “I just got a notice
from the bank. They haven’t received the last two house payments. They’re
threatening to foreclose. The electric company has given me two weeks to pay or
they’ll disconnect service.”

“That scum!” Helen said fiercely. “Does he really want to take
the roof from over your heads?”

“I don’t think he cares about anything but himself these days,”
Lynn said. “I’ve managed to find a part-time job at Raylene’s shop, but in this
economy the pay’s terrible. And today, Mitch Franklin hired me part-time to
handle his billing and payroll, but even with both jobs, there’s no way I can
keep up. And the kids need clothes and supplies for school. I can’t bear the
looks in their eyes when I tell them there’s no money for something they need,
never mind for a few extras like seeing a movie with their friends. Forget
putting gas in the car. Until today when I went looking for a second job, I
hadn’t driven anywhere in weeks.”

Once she’d started, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from
pouring out all the frustrations and fears she’d kept bottled up. Helen listened
without comment, then said with quiet reassurance, “We’re going to fix this,
Lynn. I promise you that.”

“Before I’m homeless?” Lynn asked wryly.

“Absolutely,” Helen said. “I’ll speak to the bank. If need be,
I’ll get the court to intervene while we straighten this out.”

Lynn breathed a sigh of relief. She could bear just about
anything, she thought, except the thought of being on the streets with no place
to go. Her parents had died several years ago. Her sisters lived in other
states. If they knew how bad things were, they’d try to help, but she simply
couldn’t bring herself to endure the humiliation of asking them. She’d been
saving that for a truly desperate last resort.

“I’ll be by in an hour or two with that check,” Helen promised
her. “You’ll still have time to get to the bank to cash it. In the meantime,
I’ll call Jimmy Bob West and put the fear of God into him about his client’s
behavior. Once I get to your place, we’ll take a look at those bills and see
what we can work out, okay?”

“Thank you, Helen. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without
you in my corner. If it were just me, I could walk away. Start over, even from
the very bottom. But I owe the kids better than that.”

“You’re a strong woman, Lynn. Try to remember that. You’ll do
whatever it takes to keep your family healthy and safe. I just wish you’d told
me about this sooner. Maybe I could have done something before things
deteriorated so badly.”

“I was taught that asking for help was a sign of weakness,”
Lynn said. “I kept thinking I could figure things out or that Ed would shape
up.”

“Turning to friends, and especially to your attorney, is not a
weakness,” Helen replied emphatically. “Remember that. I’ll see you soon.”

“Thanks,” Lynn said, her spirits marginally improved.

But then, as if to mock her, when she went to wash her hands in
the downstairs bathroom, the cold-water knob came off in her hand.

“This is just the bloody last straw,” she muttered, sitting
down on the toilet and letting the tears come. She wasn’t sure which was flowing
harder, her tears or the water leaking in the sink.

“This is not solving anything,” she muttered, making an attempt
to find the shut-off valve, only to discover it was stuck. She thought of Mitch.
She doubted he’d had any idea what he was letting himself in for by offering to
help her out. These days it seemed the disasters in her life were way too
plentiful. Still, he
had
offered and he was right
next door.

She splashed water on her swollen eyes, ran a brush through her
hair, then hurried to Raylene’s. At her knock, Raylene opened the door at once.
She frowned when she saw Lynn.

“Are you okay? You’ve been crying. What can I do to help?”

“Just a frustrating day,” Lynn told her. “Is Mitch here? Do you
suppose I could borrow him for a minute? I have an impending plumbing disaster
and I’m at a loss. He offered to help out if I ever needed anything.”

“Of course he will,” Raylene said. “I’ll get him and send him
right over.”

“Thanks.”

Raylene started away, then came back. “Lynn, if you ever need
anything at all, you know Carter and I will be happy to pitch in. Mandy adores
Lexie, and we love having her over here anytime she wants to come. You and
Jeremy are always welcome, too. I imagine it’s been tough since Ed left. I put
that much together when you came to me for a job.”

“We’re managing,” Lynn said tightly, wondering if Helen had
filled Raylene in on how bad things were, if Raylene had only given her a job
out of pity. She immediately stopped herself from even considering such a
possibility. Helen’s ethical standards were too high for her to be blabbing
about her clients’ woes.

And after all Raylene had been through—her first husband’s
abuse, a bout with agoraphobia and a final confrontation with her ex after his
release from jail—Raylene was quick to lend a hand to everyone these days. She
said it thrilled her to finally be able to repay some of the kindness extended
to her when she’d been psychologically trapped in her own home for so long.

Lynn forced a smile. “Thanks for offering, though. You’ve
already done plenty for us.”

“We’re always happy to help. I mean that.”

Lynn nodded. “I know you do.” For the second time that day,
she’d been reminded that she did have friends, people who would be there for her
if only she asked.

“Okay, then,” Raylene said, then left to get Mitch as Lynn
walked back home.

When Mitch appeared at her house and immediately set to work on
repairing the knob, she couldn’t help noticing how quietly competent he was. He
was also a man of few words. She liked that he didn’t ask a lot of questions
about how she’d managed to break the stupid thing in the first place. Ed would
have turned the whole incident into a flurry of accusations about her
incompetence.

When the job was done, Mitch washed his hands, then smiled at
her. “Good as new,” he declared. “Or as good as a twenty-year-old fixture is
likely to be. You might think about replacing it one of these days.”

“I’ll put it on the list,” she said.

He gave her a chiding look. “Is this one of those long lists
that no one ever gets to?”

“Pretty much.”

“I could get one for you at cost and replace it in no time,” he
offered.

Lynn shook her head. “That’s okay. This one will have to hold
up a while longer.”

“Okay, then,” he said, not pressing. When they got to the
kitchen, he hesitated. “Other than that knob coming off in your hand, has
something else happened since I saw you earlier? You look even more
stressed.”