Читать книгу His Uptown Girl - Gail Sattler - Страница 11

Bob paused at his customer’s question, halfway through typing the invoice. “It was just a tune-up, Don,” Bob responded. “I guarantee all the work we do, and I guarantee this, too.” Bob hadn’t hovered, but he had watched George when she couldn’t tell he was there.

She knew what she was doing.

“If you tell me what you think she did wrong, I’ll fix it.”

“Well, maybe I spoke too quickly,” his customer said. “It seems to be running smoothly, and I didn’t see any oil on the ground. At least not so far.”

“You won’t see any, either. George did a good job.”

“Do I get a discount?”

Bob gritted his teeth. “You were more than happy when my high-school-age cousin tuned up your car last year. You didn’t ask for a discount then. What makes the difference now? Is it because a woman did the tune-up?”

Don’s voice deepened. “No. Of course not.”

Bob typed the last code for the computer to add the tax, and hit Print. “Good. Will that be on your charge card?”

A flicker of movement in the doorway to the shop caught his eye.

George was standing in the doorway, stiff as a board, holding the orders he knew she hadn’t had time to do. She cleared her throat. “You wanted to see me?” she asked in a raspy squeak.

“Yes. Can you meet me in the office?”

He swiped the card, completed the transaction, closed the program, and waited until Don was out the door before he joined George. He sat behind the desk. “Bart and I had a little talk today about you.”

He slid an envelope across the desk. She stiffened in the chair.

“Unfortunately, as a mechanic, you really stick out being a, um…uh…a woman. Our customers have this corporate image of us, as a business, even though there’s only been the two of us. We think you’d fit in better if you didn’t use those blue coveralls and bought gray ones, like ours. Bart’s wife washes everything on the weekends, so buy enough to last a week. Here’s a few crests with our logo. Sew them on right here.” He patted the logo on his own coveralls. “Of course we’ll reimburse you. This is something I should have thought of sooner. Sorry about that.”

She picked up the envelope, and pulled out one of the crests. “This is what you wanted to see me about? My coveralls?” Her blue eyes, big and wide, and very, very pretty took him in.

Her voice lowered to barely above a whisper. “I thought you would be angry because I didn’t finish everything you gave me.”

“That’s nothing to get angry about. We knew you wouldn’t be able to finish everything in that pile in one day, especially with the way the phones have been ringing. But we would like you to get those coveralls as soon you can. I could probably phone the place I usually go. They size them by height. How tall are you?”

Her cheeks darkened. “I’m five foot three. I hope you’re not going to ask me what I weigh.”

“I have three sisters and one of my brothers is married.” A smile tugged at his lips. “I know better.”

“You have brothers and sisters? Plural?”

“Yes. I have three sisters and two brothers. It’s a large family. What about you?”

“I only have one sister. She’s married, so I don’t see her much anymore.”

“I don’t see my family as often as I used to since I switched churches.” He shrugged his shoulders. “But that’s okay. I still see them at family functions and stuff.”

“You can’t see your family because of church? I don’t understand.”

“Well, every Sunday I play on my church’s worship team with three of my friends. Actually, four friends, now. You remember me mentioning the accountant? His name is Adrian. He’s one of them.”

Her eyes widened as she stared at him in open astonishment. “My church has a lady who plays the piano, which my father tried to get me to learn as a child, but I just couldn’t get it. What do you play?”

“Drums.”

Her eyes flitted to his arms, before returning to his face. “I’ve never seen drums in church. But then I’ve only ever been to one.”

The words were out of his mouth before he had the chance to think. “You’re more than welcome to come and worship with us one Sunday. It’s a very contemporary service, and the crowd is very informal. Sunday evenings we have coffee and donuts after the service.”

Her eyes widened even more than they had before. “Coffee and donuts? At church?”

“Uh, yeah…” He let his voice trail off, not knowing how to reply. Her surprise told him that she hadn’t been a Christian very long.

“I’d love to go. Thank you so much for inviting me. Can you write down the address?”

Warnings about not mixing business with pleasure clanged through his head. George had done well today, but today was only one day. If her skills and abilities didn’t mesh with what they needed, and if he became too friendly with her, it would cloud his ability to make a rational judgment when her probationary period was over. That clashed with his duty toward her fledgling Christianity, which included widening her Christian circles. He couldn’t very well take back his invitation.

He scribbled down the address for Faith Community Fellowship. “Would you like directions? It’s actually not far from here.”

She scooped the paper up quickly. “That’s okay. I’m sure I can find it. I can hardly wait.”

He pictured the way most people dressed for church, compared to the way George had been dressed when she first arrived that morning.

A newcomer was always noticed, especially during the evening service. A newcomer, coming with him, dressed to the nines, would be almost newsworthy enough to make the bulletin. He wouldn’t hear the end of it for months.

“Just one thing. Like I said, it’s really informal there. Please, wear jeans.”

“It’s Sunday night. Where are you going?”

Georgette smiled at her father. “I’m meeting a friend from work. Then we’ll be having coffee and donuts. Don’t wait up for me! Bye, Daddy!”

She closed the door behind her before her father could question her further. Every day, he became increasingly irritated at the lack of details she provided him about her job, but she didn’t know what to tell him. Her clothes on the first day, suitable for work in an office, let him initially believe what he wanted to believe. But the questions became more and more insistent, and she’d finally told her father she was working as an assistant for two gentleman entrepreneurs in a limited partnership. She had told him her primary job was working in the accounting department, but part of her duties involved customer service.

He watched her leave daily, openly showing displeasure that she was going to work. However, at the same time, he seemed proud that she dressed well. He’d even noticed her new bright-red nail polish, and asked if it was because she was trying to attract a man.

Georgette detested wearing nail polish. She did it to hide the grease she couldn’t get out from under her fingernails. She took the nail polish off on the way to work, while sitting in traffic, then put it back on, on the way home.

She knew Bob wondered why she arrived at work every day dressed to impress and then changed clothes, but she found herself caught in a cycle she couldn’t break. In order to make the long drive across town and be on time, she had to leave before her father. She couldn’t let him see her leaving the house wearing anything other than what his preconceived ideas told him she should be wearing.

So the household staff wouldn’t have to lie for her, Georgette changed back into her good clothes in the gas station washroom on the way home. But, once at home, she changed in order to work on the old truck in the garage, so her father wouldn’t wonder why she smelled like oil at supper time.

Instead of confronting her father, she was acting like a coward.

She pushed that thought aside as she pulled into the parking lot of a well-cared-for building that looked as if it had once housed some kind of small business. Inside, everything had been renovated and decorated in neutral shades of greens and browns, giving the place a welcoming atmosphere. Signs indicated that classrooms and a gymnasium were downstairs. As she stepped forward, soft music from the worship team echoed in the background.

A couple welcomed her as they gave her a bulletin.

“Welcome to Faith Community Fellowship. My name is Kaitlyn,” the woman said, smiling. “Are you new to the area?”

Georgette smiled back. “No, I actually don’t live near here. I’m here with Bob Delanio, except he had to come early.”

The woman’s eyebrows arched. She quickly glanced at the man she was with, then turned back to Georgette. “Then you’ll want to go in right now, so you can find a seat close to the front. Would you like me to show you where to go?”

Georgette shook her head. “I’ll just follow the music. Thanks.”

As she’d said, Georgette followed the music until she was in the sanctuary where Bob, two other men and a woman were at the front.

Georgette slid into a chair, and surreptitiously she checked the place out. It was nothing like the church she’d been attending.

Even though she felt strange, she had worn jeans because Bob had told her to do so. Now she was glad she’d listened to him. Everyone was wearing either jeans or casual clothes. Not a single man wore a tie, including a man she thought might be the pastor.

Instead of a stately sanctuary with stained-glass windows and wooden benches, this sanctuary was a large rectangular room. A large opening in the wall showed a kitchen, which indicated that the sanctuary also doubled as a banquet hall. But for now, a single, plain wooden cross at the front, and banners on the walls clearly defined it as a church setting.

Most of the people in attendance were her age, except for a large group of teens, who took up at least a quarter of the seats in the back.

At the church she’d been going to, everyone was solemn, and once inside the sanctuary, silent.

Here, all around her, people talked and even laughed. Out loud.

“Hello, everyone!” a voice boomed from the speakers mounted on the walls. “Welcome to Faith Community Fellowship. Please stand and let’s worship God together.”

Georgette hustled to her feet. To her surprise, the first song was from one of her praise CDs that her father hadn’t managed to find and throw out.

She forced herself not to watch Bob, and to pay attention to the words.

Until now, the only time she’d actually sung God’s praises out loud was in the closed car, but here things were different. The enthusiasm of the crowd around her encouraged her to ignore her father’s warnings not to make a spectacle of herself. Here, she joined in with the rest of the congregation to praise God in song. Being able to express herself out loud among other people opened a rush of emotion she hadn’t experienced before.

By the time they had sung the fifth song in praise and wonderment of God’s glory, tears streamed from her eyes, and she didn’t care if her mascara ran.

When the songs were over, she quickly reached down and started digging through her purse for a tissue.

Bob sat beside her just as she was blowing her nose.

“Hi, George. I’m glad you found us.”

She nodded and stuffed the used tissue into her purse to hide it, taking her notepad out to record the sermon. “I’ve never been to a place like this.” She stopped as the pastor began speaking.

Bob whispered, “If you want, we can get a tape. Randy records everything for the church’s tape library.”

She stopped writing. “Really? I can have one?”

“Of course.”

At the end of the pastor’s message, Bob rose quietly and returned to the front. The worship team closed the service with one more song, one that she knew she would hear in her head all week long, encouraging her to think about God more over the days to come.

The congregation quickly left their seats and flocked to the back of the room, where coffee and trays of donuts sat on a large table. Georgette was in the process of reaching for a donut when a man with dark hair and vivid blue eyes shuffled in beside her.

“You must be George, the mechanic.”

Immediately, she backed up. The man grabbed a Boston cream donut, and smiled at her. “I’m Randy. Bob told us you’d be here tonight and I saw you together. You’d better grab that donut fast. The Boston creams go quickly.”

Before she could think of something to say, Bob’s voice sounded from behind her. “You don’t waste any time, do you?”

Randy shrugged his shoulders. “If you snooze, you lose.”

Bob stiffened. “I gather you’ve met my friend, Randy?”

She smiled. “Briefly.”

As they spoke, the other members of the worship team joined them.

“Everyone, this is George, the new mechanic and bookkeeper I told you about. George, this is Paul, Celeste, and Adrian.”

Adrian, the only one of the four men who wore glasses, smiled. “Welcome, we hope to see you back here.”

Georgette nodded. “Yes, I think you will.” She doubted she would be able to attend the morning services at Bob’s church because of her obligations to her father, but she was free to attend Bob’s church on Sunday evenings, especially since her father thought she was going out on a social visit, not to church.

She looked up at Bob, who was now standing beside her.

She couldn’t help but like him, even though she told herself what she was feeling was simply a schoolgirl’s crush, a few years too late. For the first time she was happy with her life, and everything centered around Bob.

However, it was neither practical nor wise to become personally involved with one’s boss, regardless of his strength of character. She enjoyed her job too much to jeopardize it in any way.

Bob spoke up, “We have to go put our stuff away. I’ll be right back.”

Celeste shook her head. “I can pack up the drums for you. Why don’t you two visit? We can all go out for coffee together after. You’re not in a rush to get home, are you, George?”

The opposite. Since her father thought she was going out to visit friends, he wouldn’t expect her back for a long time. “No. That sounds like fun.”

Bob’s friends all returned to the front, leaving her alone with him, or as alone as they could be in the crowd.

“What did you think? You were saying this is quite different from where you’re going.”

“Yes. Where I’ve been is quite formal. Your church doesn’t even have pews.”

Bob nodded. “Yes. We also use this room for banquets and things like the women’s auxiliary functions.”

Her heart ached, thinking of just sitting around with a group of women, talking about nothing in particular—not about who was cheating on whom or the other back-stabbing theatrics that passed for conversation in her current social circle.

Bob told her about how his parents and most of the rest of his family attended the main church, of which this one was a plant. While they talked, a bunch of the teens cleared and stacked the chairs to make the place ready for the next group using the room.

Just as the last of the chairs were stacked away, Randy joined them.

“Sorry, I can’t go with you, after all. I have to go to Pastor Ron’s place to fix his computer.”

Bob nodded. “I guess I’ll see you Wednesday, then.” Bob turned to Georgette. “We practice at Adrian’s house every Wednesday night for the coming Sunday.”

She knew Bob worked every evening except Wednesday. Now she knew why. “You mean even when you’re this far behind, you stop working and go do church stuff?”

“Yup. Every Wednesday.”

Georgette studied Bob’s face, which held nothing except honesty. Taking time off meant a loss of income. She couldn’t imagine what her father would have thought of someone willingly taking a financial loss on a regular basis to do something for church. “That’s pretty dedicated,” she muttered.

Bob smiled. “God’s done a lot for me. This is only one small thing I can do for Him. Besides, it’s something I enjoy.”

She could imagine that after a frustrating day, or week, there might be significant release in being able to whack a drum set.

Paul was coming down the steps of the stage as they were starting to go up. “I just remembered that I have a super early staff meeting tomorrow morning I need to prep for. I’ll have to take a rain check. Sorry.”

Bob blinked and looked at Paul. “Must be a very early meeting. See you Wednesday, then.”

They passed Paul and got up on the stage just as Adrian closed the zipper on the electric piano case. Celeste stood off to the side, talking on her cell phone.

“Celeste’s mother needs some help moving some furniture. I’m sorry, we can’t go after all.”

Bob’s eyes narrowed. “On Sunday night? This just came up now?”

Adrian shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry. See you Wednesday.”

Bob rested his fists on his hips as Adrian carried off the electric piano. Celeste tucked her phone into her purse, picked up Adrian’s guitar case, waved, and also walked off the stage.

“If I didn’t know better…” Bob muttered. He turned to Georgette. “I guess that means it’s just you and me. Still want to go out for coffee and a donut?”

Georgette’s foolish heart fluttered. While she’d certainly enjoyed working with him, she had also learned in casual conversation that Bob was single. Very single. Besides, she would have been stupid if she couldn’t recognize the way people in the church did a double-take at seeing Bob at church with a woman.

She also had her suspicions about why Bob’s friends had suddenly changed their minds about joining them for coffee.

Going out with Bob away from a work setting wasn’t smart.

Georgette looked up into his eyes and cleared her throat.

“Yes.”