Chapter 7
After spending two hours helping three of his employees painstakingly pour wax into their new special edition glass containers, Junior had returned to his office to answer emails.
When he turned on his computer, he mentally groaned.
He’d received thirty emails since he’d left his desk.
Some were orders, other folks wanted status updates on orders placed.
Finally, about six of the notes were inquiries about his company’s products and were requesting phone calls instead of brochures.
He couldn’t help but shake his head in wonder. Walden Wax Works had sure come a long way over the last decade.
But he was also starting to feel like he was drowning in work.
Each one of the emails was important and Junior valued them. Answering those thirty alone would likely take much of the rest of the afternoon . . . especially since he would likely receive at least another thirty emails before the end of the day.
Just thinking about the amount of work that was piling up was overwhelming. He was either going to have to work late or return at six tomorrow morning.
He really should’ve brought the dogs with him today.
“Junior!” she called out in a singsong voice. “Junior, I need to tell you something.”
He grimaced. Cherry’s interruptions always took time, and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with her at the moment. “Jah?” he asked, barely looking up.
“How are you?”
“I’m busy, Cherry. What do you need?”
“Oh. Well . . . sorry to bother ya, but there’s someone here to see you.”
“Who is it?” Hopefully it was somebody whom Cherry could deal with.
She grinned. “A stranger.”
Most of the time he was amused by the way Cherry attempted to make a game out of most anything. This was not one of those times.
Still staring at both his computer screen and the stack of papers on his desk, he fought to keep his voice even. “Who is it then? A salesman?”
“Nope. And it ain’t a saleswoman, either. Guess again.”
Her singsong tone forced him to lift his chin and meet her gaze. His receptionist’s eyes were lit up like it was Christmas, her birthday, and her anniversary all rolled up into one. Obviously, she was amused by something.
Very amused.
This was never a good sign.
“What’s going on?” He held out a hand. “And just to warn you, don’t make me listen to another clue. I’ve got too much paperwork to play games, and my mood ain’t the best right now.”
She exhaled dramatically. “Oh, fine. Your visitor’s name is . . . Beth Schrock.”
Suddenly nothing in his computer’s inbox mattered. He turned to stare at Cherry. Beth. Schrock. The woman whom he’d verbally sparred with for ten minutes before dropping her at her grandmother’s house. The woman who was currently the focus of most every gossip’s fodder in Walden.
The woman who was not only English, but pregnant with another man’s child . . . and a man—rumor had it—whom she’d barely known.
She was also the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. And maybe the bravest.
And she’d also been rather snippy with him.
Getting to his feet, he said, “What does she want?”
Cherry shrugged. “I don’t know. All she said was that she wanted to see you.” She bit her lip. “No, that ain’t the truth. She said she came over to say hello.”
“She showed up here just to say hello?”
Cherry shrugged. “That’s what she said. What do you want me to tell her?
” She popped a hand on her hip. “Beth Schrock is sitting on the sofa out front, probably drinking the last of my coffee. Do you want to see her?” Brightening a bit, she added, “Or, I could just tell her that you’re far too busy to chat and that she should make an appointment in the future. ”
“Did she just get here?”
“Oh, no. I couldn’t come back right away because I had things to do. She’s been here five or ten minutes.”
Beth had already been sitting out in the lobby. Waiting on him. “She’s been here that long?”
Some of Cherry’s smile dimmed. “Jah. Maybe longer. It took me a second to figure out her purpose, you see. No way was I going to let her just wander about without an appointment.”
He doubted Cherry had given Beth a chance to speak a word. “Cherry, you shouldn’t have left her there.”
“Sorry, but what could I do?” She deftly stepped to her left while he strode out the door. “I knew you wouldn’t answer your phone if I called.”
Cherry had a point, but still. He didn’t like the idea of Beth being told to wait in the lobby like she was some random salesperson.
Walking into the cavernous area where his twenty employees were melting wax, setting wicks, and mixing fragrances and colors, he headed toward the front of the shop.
“Junior, you got a second?”
He turned to see Edmund walking toward him. “Only a second. What do you need?”
“We just received an order for three hundred candles for a wedding reception in Iowa.”
“Okay . . .”
“The kicker is they need them by next week. Can we do it?”
“I’m not sure.” He hadn’t yet gotten around to looking at the orders, timetables, or current delivery times.
“I need to know right now. They’re waiting on the line. What should I tell ’em?”
“That you’ll get back to them within a couple of hours.”
Edmund crossed his arms across his chest. “They ain’t going to like that. They really want these candles soon. If we canna give them to them, they’re going to go find someone else.”
And . . . that was Edmund to a T. He didn’t like waiting and he didn’t like gray answers.
“They can’t expect for you to have an immediate answer, Edmund. Ask them for two hours.”
“But—”
“Sorry, but your second is up, Ed,” Cherry interrupted. “Our boss has someone waiting on him.” Sounding even more important, she raised her chin. “It’s a woman, too.”
All traces of impatience on Edmund’s expression transformed into a new, almost mischievous one. “Junior’s getting female visitors?”
“He is.”
“Who is it?”
Cherry waggled her eyebrows. “She’s a stranger to me . . . but not our boss here.”
Junior gritted his teeth. Of course, Cherry had brought out her singsong voice again.
As if all his concerns about the waiting Iowans had vanished, Edmund grinned. “Hey now. I better go sneak a peek.”
Junior crossed his arms over his chest. They were talking about him like he wasn’t in the room. “Excuse me, but I’m standing here.”
Edmund looked his way again. “I see ya, boss.”
Cherry’s lips twitched. “Don’t be mad at us for being interested in your life, Junior.”
“Jah. We’ve all be wondering when you were going to ever think about something other than candles.”
“I think about other things,” he blurted before he remembered that he absolutely did not need to go down this slippery conversational slope.
“Like what? Wicks and wax?”
“Start walking, Cherry,” he grumbled.
“I’m walking.” She passed him, opened the reception door, and said, “I found him.”
Junior’s heart started beating faster as he followed.
And then practically ran into Cherry, who was gaping at Beth Schrock.
Beth was sitting in Cherry’s chair, talking to Jimmy, one of his salesmen, glancing at the computer, and then writing something down. “Does this make sense to you?” she asked Jimmy.
Leaning close to her, Jimmy nodded. “Well, I think so . . . if you believe it could work.”
Junior was taken aback. And, dare he say it? Confused? “Hey,” he said. His voice squeaked a bit. Yep, he probably sounded like his voice was changing, but he couldn’t help it. He was pretty sure his mind had just gone on vacation.
“Hi, Junior,” Beth said in a calm and cool tone. Standing up, she looked apologetically at Cherry. “I’m sorry I took your place, but you were gone for a while and things started heating up around here.”
Cherry folded her arms over her chest. “Heating up how?”
“I’d be interested in hearing this, too,” Edmund announced.
Looking increasingly guilty—but somehow also defensive— Beth pointed to the desk. “First, about a minute after Cherry left, everything started going crazy. Two of the office lines started ringing, and the FedEx guy came in with a delivery. I couldn’t have just ignored it.”
“Why not?” Edmund asked.
“Well . . . it’s not my way.”
Cherry appeared torn. Like she couldn’t decide whether to thank Beth for meddling or chew her out. “FedEx should’ve gone to the back,” she muttered.
“Perhaps, but he needed a signature.”
“So you signed?” Junior asked.
Beth’s blue eyes fastened on his. “Well, yes. He was in a hurry. His truck was blocking parking places. Anyway, it’s right there.
” She pointed to a flat envelope on the corner of the desk.
“After I signed for the delivery, I decided I might as well help Cherry out and answer the phones. This is a business, after all. It wouldn’t do for customers to have to leave messages. No one likes to do that.”
“Hmm,” Cherry said.
“So, I started answering phones.”
“On your own,” Edmund said.
“Well, yes.” Beth shrugged. “I thought I’d take messages if nothing else. And then Jimmy here came in.”
Now Jimmy got into the fray. “I was just going to say hi, but when I heard Beth here was talking to someone about candle sizes and the new spring catalog, I walked over to show her where that was on Cherry’s computer. She was doing her best, but she needed a helping hand.”
Beth held up a catalog. “I found one of these, too.” After smiling at Jimmy, she continued. “Between the two of us, we were able to answer the caller’s questions.”
“No, she did one better. She placed an order for seven hundred sets of our new line.” Jimmy grinned. “Ain’t that something?”
“You sold seven hundred sets of the Daylight line?” The Daylight line was their most expensive line of candles. Selling seven hundred sets was a minor miracle.
Glancing down at the form on the desk, Beth nodded. “Yes. Now, I took down all the information and did warn Emerson that someone might be calling back because I was new.”
“You’re new all right,” Edmund said with a chuckle.
Jimmy fist-bumped Beth. “She might be new, but no doubt about it. She’s a natural.”
Beth chuckled, but abruptly stopped when she glanced at Cherry.
Only then did Junior notice that Cherry had slowly looked less and less amused about Beth taking over her desk. She was now glaring at Beth with her hands on her hips.
“Sorry,” Beth said as she stepped farther back from the desk. “I didn’t mean to overstep.”
“Really? You just couldn’t help yourself?” Junior asked.
Obviously stung by his sarcastic tone, Beth lifted her chin. “I was only trying to help. Like I said, it was crazy in here for a few minutes and no one was around.”
“That’s true. No one was here,” Jimmy said.
“That’s because Junior was taking his time about coming out to the front,” Cherry blurted.
Edmund cleared his throat. “I don’t think it’s right to blame Junior for everything. . . .”
“And she was helping, Cherry,” Jimmy added. “I’ve heard you say more than once that you wish you had more help up here.”
“She’s said that?” Junior asked.
“Of course she has,” Edmund said. “This ain’t no sleepy company any longer, Junior.”
“Hmm,” he said.
“All I know is that when you left your desk, she signed for important documents, took a message, and helped a customer. If she hadn’t,you would’ve come back here to two messages and a note from FedEx saying that they couldn’t deliver something important,” Edmund said.
“As far as I’m concerned, Beth Schrock saved your hide. What’s your problem?”
“Well—” Cherry said.
Beth interrupted. “Her problem is that I stepped in where I didn’t belong,” Beth said quickly. “I shouldn’t have done anything.”
When Jimmy looked ready to argue that point and Edmund appeared determined to spout off his opinions to anyone who listened, Junior knew it was time to get Beth out of there. “Want to come back to my office to talk?”
“Do you have time?”
“Of course I do. Come on.”
“Don’t forget all the work you said you have piling up, Junior,” Cherry called out. “It won’t get done on its own.”
“I won’t forget. Jimmy, do you need something as well?”
Looking slightly amused, Jimmy nodded. “I did come in to discuss some things with ya, but I can wait. Cherry here can help me for now, seeing as she has nothing but time on her hands.”
“Jimmy, for the record, I do not.”
“Come on, Beth,” Junior said. Without thinking, he pressed his hand to the small of her back, happy to carefully lead her out of the reception area and into the warehouse. “It’s time I got you out of here.”
Beth glanced up at him in surprise but didn’t move away.
He wondered if she appreciated his touch, or if she was so used to mannerisms like that in her regular life that she didn’t think anything of it.
As they walked back through the cavernous space, he felt the eyes of nearly every employee on the two of them.
When they got to his office without being interrupted, he counted that as a win.
“It’s warm in here,” he said. “You’re welcome to take off your coat and get comfortable. Would you like a water?”
“Sure. Thanks.”
He walked to his small refrigerator and pulled out two bottles.
When Junior faced Beth again, her sweater was off and Beth was staring at him with her big blue eyes. Her soft-looking lips were parted.
She looked pretty. So pretty.
All of a sudden, he couldn’t care less about anything else. Deadlines didn’t seem that urgent. Neither did Edmund’s mood nor Cherry’s demeanor.
Oh, who was he kidding? At the moment, he couldn’t care less about candles, the weather, or pretty much the state of the world.
All he wanted to think about was standing in front of him and looking far too pretty and vulnerable.
It was all he could do not to pull her into his arms and promise to do whatever it took to make her smile again. He didn’t even care that she was sporting a small baby bump.
Which showed him that there was no doubt about it . . . he was in over his head. He needed to get a grip on himself. Fast.