Silver Bells

by Raney,Deborah

  “Now?” Rob must have talked to him. This was not good.

  The receptionist rolled her eyes. “Well, I didn’t walk all the way back here to tell you he wants to see you yesterday.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Myrtle.” She’d learned quickly that the best way to handle Myrtle Dressler was to ignore her gruff comments. Michelle smoothed her skirt and tried to check her reflection in the glass of the framed map that hung behind her desk. Not that looking good was going to help her now. This was it. She was going to get fired. She tried to imagine how she would tell her parents. How disappointed they would be in her—even though they’d no doubt be secretly happy that she’d be forced to move back home.

  Myrtle was waiting, so Michelle typed a quick note to herself about the story she’d been working on and followed the older woman to the front of the building. Myrtle abandoned her as soon as they got to the reception desk.

  Michelle wiped her palms on her skirt and knocked on Mr. Merrick’s open door.

  He looked up.

  “Myrtle said you wanted to see me?”

  “Yes. Come in, Michelle.”

  He didn’t ask her to close the door. That was a good sign. Either that or he intended to make an example of her in front of the whole office. She could see Joy Swanson still at her desk—no doubt pretending to type while she bent an ear. Myrtle likely had her neck craned toward the boss’s office too.

  Mr. Merrick shuffled some papers on his desk before handing a couple of them to her. They were letters to the editor. She skimmed them then worked to curb the smile that wanted to come. “This is great….” It came out sounding more like a question, but she couldn’t tell whether he agreed, by his stony face.

  “We’ve also gotten half a dozen phone calls saying pretty much the same thing.”

  “Really?” The letters complimented the Beacon for using pictures of local children and for publishing something besides sports or national news on the front page. She glanced at one of the comments again.

  “It’s wonderful to see a photograph that actually captures the charm of Bristol—the reason so many of us chose to live in this small town. I hope we can count on seeing more of the same in the future.

  Mr. Merrick drummed his ball-point pen on the desktop. “I probably shouldn’t tell you that this smacks of a campaign to keep Michelle Penn employed.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Do you know the people who wrote those letters?”

  Did he seriously think she’d solicited the letters? She looked at the names on the letters again. “Mary Genevieve teaches at the elementary school—at least she used to. I think I know who Beatrice Goodman is. A Goodman family used to attend our church.”

  “These aren’t, by chance, your mother’s friends, are they? Or your friends?”

  “You think I asked these people to write letters? Or that I’d ask my parents to?” For the first time, she wondered if Mom and Dad had done something so crazy as to organize a write-in campaign. But she was pretty sure they didn’t know the two women who’d written the letters––at least not well enough to make such a bold request.

  “I didn’t say that,” Mr. Merrick said. “But it does look a bit suspicious. We average maybe three letters to the editor a week—rarely all on the same topic. And the phone calls…” He waved a hand as if dismissing the very idea that the phone calls could have been legitimate.

  “I promise you—I had nothing to do with any of it.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “The only thing that does matter is that the ice cream truck franchise called and placed an ad. I seriously doubt you had anything to do with that.”

  “Well…except for my front-page photo,” she blurted.

  He merely nodded, which she chose to take as an acknowledgment that she was right. Otherwise she might say something she’d regret.

  “Just so you know,” he said, “this does not change what we talked about last week. But I told Robert I’d like you to be responsible for the front-page photos for the next couple of issues. Something in the same sappy vein as your ice cream truck. We’ll see if people continue to respond positively.”

  She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. “I–I’d like that. Thank you.” She laid the letters back on his desk.

  “Nothing to thank me for.” He tapped the letters on his desktop, placed them in a desk drawer, and gave her a why-are-you-still-here? look. “That will be all.”

  She turned on her heel and went back to her desk. Robert III had been on the gruff side when she first met him. It had taken awhile before she saw his gentler side, but she was starting to believe that anything kind or sweet about him had come from his mother. It certainly hadn’t come from this jerk.

  Chapter 15

  Rob had just started working on the week’s front-page stories when he heard Michelle in her cubicle. He pushed back his chair, rose, and peered over the divider. “Did you talk to the boss yet this morning?”

  “Just now.” She seemed to be biting back a smile.

  “You don’t have to be so smug about it.”

  “I’m not being smug. Can I help it if I was right?” She made no effort to hide her smile now.

  “Show-off.”

  “Don’t be mad. I’m sure you’ll get to go back to putting athletics on the front page as soon as basketball season starts.”

  “Don’t forget softball.”

  She smirked.

  “I don’t like being shown up, Penn, but I can be man enough to give congratulations. My old man was pretty impressed about the ad. They’ve never advertised in the Beacon before.”

  “They probably just want to be sure people know they’re still making their runs, since we’ve had such a warm fall.”

  He eyed her, trying to decide whether she was just being magnanimous. “He didn’t tell you, did he?”

  “Who? Tell me what?”

  “According to Joy, the guy said he sold out the truck on Friday.”

  “Sold out?”

  “Of ice cream. Sold everything he had on the truck. He said the customers told him they saw in the paper that he was still running his routes. Convinced him of the power of advertising.”

  “Ohh…” Understanding dawned in her eyes. “No, your dad didn’t mention that part. Maybe Joy didn’t tell him.”

  “Oh, she told him all right.” He came around to stand in Michelle’s doorway. “That turkey! He owes you an apology.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Rob. You already talked to him once.” She looked at him with a question mark in her expression. “Didn’t you?”

  “Yes. I did.”

  “Well, then, there’s no sense in jeopardizing your job too.”

  “Too? He didn’t threaten to fire you again, did he?”

  “Not this time.”

  “I’m sorry, Michelle.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how many times I can apologize for the man when I seriously doubt he’s going to change, but—”

  “You don’t owe me apologies on his account.”

  “Well, I am sorry.”

  She waved him off then tilted her head and swallowed hard. “So you’re not mad about the front-page thing?”

  “I’m not mad at you.” That was all he could say without fibbing. “Like the boss says, you can’t argue with subscribers.”

  A commotion outside his cubicle made them both turn. Two good-looking women were making their way down the corridor toward the cubicles. “May I help you ladies?”

  “We’re looking for Michelle Penn. The receptionist said we’d find her back here.”

  Rob stepped aside so they could see Michelle at her desk. When she spotted the women, her hazel eyes lit up like sparklers and she jumped up to embrace both of her visitors. Rob watched over the partition while the squeal-fest that ensued made everyone else in the office stare.

  Afraid his father might intervene and embarrass her, he whispered to Michelle, “Why don’t you take your coffee break now. You can take your frie
nds to the break room…or if you want to take a little longer break and go down to the drugstore, I’ll tell the boss you’ll be right back.”

  “Thanks, Rob. Oh—sorry.” She stopped beaming long enough to introduce him. “These are my friends, Kathy Parks and Carol Vohlmer. We were best friends in high school and roomies at K-State.”

  “Yeah,” Carol said, giggling, “until you took her away from us.”

  He wondered if Michelle picked up on her friend’s unintended meaning.

  The blush that crept up her neck answered that question.

  He pretended not to notice and shook the girls’ hands in turn, submitting to their frank appraisal. “Nice to meet you, ladies. Michelle can show you the break room,” he said, hoping she’d take his hint. His father did not take kindly to such disruptions in the office—especially not on a Monday morning.

  “Well, we can’t stay long,” said Carol. “We’re on our way back to school, but we just had to see Michelle before we left town.”

  “You’ll have to show them the microwave oven. Now, there’s a story.”

  Michelle gave him a ha-ha-very-funny smirk and brushed past him. “Come on, girls. Wait’ll you see this.”

  They left him in a wake of giggles and girl-talk, making him grateful they were leaving the newsroom. But, oh, he would have loved to be a fly on the wall in that break room.

  * * *

  “You work with Rob Merrick? You never said anything!” Kathy’s eyes were as round as quarters and twice as shiny. She had cut her hair and bleached it platinum blond. She looked hip—and maybe just a little cheap. Michelle wondered if something was going on with her.

  Carol narrowed her eyes at Michelle. “What is your problem? You’ve been holding out on us!”

  “I have not.” She laughed. “The first letter I sent you said I was working with Rob Merrick.”

  “We thought you meant the old man.” Carol clutched her heart. “He is such a hunk!”

  “The old man?” she deadpanned.

  “No, you goose! The son!”

  “Shh! He’ll hear you!” But she joined the giggling, loving that her friends had stopped by to see her here. She showed them to the small table in the corner of the break room and filled three Styrofoam cups with coffee.

  “Rob is super nice too.” Under her breath she added, “Unlike his father.”

  “My mom couldn’t believe it when she heard you were working here.” Kathy looked toward the door and lowered her voice. “She said Mr. Merrick has chased off half the people who’ve ever worked for him.”

  “I believe it. He’s practically fired me twice already.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Not kidding.” She pointed at the microwave oven on the counter. “If your coffee needs warming, just let me know.”

  “Hey”—Carol punched her arm—“what was Rob talking about? Something about a microwave-oven story?”

  Michelle laughed and gave them a comical version of her first day on the job when she’d practically burned the place down, trying to warm up a cookie. “Rob hasn’t let me hear the end of it since.”

  Kathy gave her a knowing look. “Sounds like you two know each other pretty well.”

  “We do, but—” She stopped, unsure whether she wanted to reveal how she felt about Rob. Knowing Carol, it wouldn’t stay secret for very long, and if it got back to Rob… She held up her coffee cup. “I’m going to heat this up. Anybody else? I promise I won’t scorch it.”

  She carried her cup over to the oven, put it inside, and casually turned the dial to fifteen seconds. Carol gave the same reaction as Michelle had the first time she’d heard the oven start, jumping out of her skin. When Carol and Kathy quit laughing, they each took a turn trying out the microwave to heat their coffee.

  “A girl in my sociology class said they have one of those,” Kathy said. “She says in five years every household in America will have one. But then, they’re filthy rich. They’ve got all the latest gadgets.”

  “Back to the subject,” Carol said, when they’d settled back at the table. “What about Rob? Does he have a girlfriend?”

  “No,” she said quickly. “We sort of went out once—”

  “What?” Carol squealed. “You never said anything.”

  “Let me finish. It was just to a ball game. It was sort of for work, but his dad had a fit. Employees aren’t supposed to date each other, so we’re playing it cool.”

  “Michelle! I’d be looking for another job so fast, your head would spin.” Kathy had a dreamy look in her eyes, and for the first time since she’d left college, Michelle didn’t feel jealous of her friends.

  “There’s nothing that pays as well, at least not in Bristol. And if I worked out of town, then I’d eat up everything I made, paying for gas.”

  “Do you ever hear from Kevin?”

  The question hung in the air between them. The truth was, she hadn’t thought about Kevin Ferris for days. Her breath caught. She’d even forgotten to pray for him recently. If he got killed…how would she ever forgive herself? She shot up a prayer right then. “No. I haven’t heard from him, and I don’t expect to.”

  “The man is a fool. I still don’t know what he was thinking.”

  “Me neither,” Carol echoed.

  “Forget about it.” Michelle waved away their sympathy. “It was his choice. He didn’t owe me anything.”

  “Still…”

  She glanced at the clock over the refrigerator. “Hey, guys, I hate to run you off, but I’d really better get back to work. Monday is one of our busiest days, and Rob and I have to develop some pictures.”

  “You develop them here?”

  “Yes, in the darkroom.”

  That sent the girls into another frenzied swoon.

  “Penn, you have got to be the luckiest woman I’ve ever met,” Carol said. “Who else gets paid to spend time in the darkroom with Rob Merrick?”

  “Cut it out, you two.” But she soaked up their fawning. “I’m so glad you stopped by. Maybe some weekend I can come up to K-State and spend—”

  The door to the break room opened and Mr. Merrick stuck his head in.

  Michelle jumped up. “Mr. Merrick…”

  Kathy hiked her purse over her shoulder and rose. “We’d better hit the road, Carol.”

  Michelle started to introduce her friends, but almost before she opened her mouth, her boss left. He was no doubt waiting to pounce on her once her friends left. At least he hadn’t embarrassed her in front of them.

  Yet.

  Chapter 16

  Rob heard Michelle’s friends in the hallway—trying, but failing miserably, to be quiet. When she finally came back to her desk, he breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn’t believe his father hadn’t called her down for having friends in the office. It would no doubt come up in the staff meeting on Friday.

  Not two minutes later, Michelle’s head popped over the partition. “Am I in trouble? Having my friends here…?”

  He gave a little grimace. “I wouldn’t let it happen too often. But nobody’s said anything yet.”

  She let out a breath. “Sorry, but I just hated to ignore them. I haven’t seen Carol or Kathy since school started.”

  “I’m kind of surprised Myrtle let them back here.”

  “You obviously don’t know Carol. She could talk a polar bear into moving to the Sahara.”

  He laughed. “So, you were friends in high school?”

  “All four years. You don’t remember any of us, do you? We were lowly freshmen.” She smirked. “Not even a blip on your radar.”

  “Sorry. I guess I was distracted. By all the studying and academics, of course,” he added quickly.

  “Oh, right. More likely by some cute senior girl.”

  “I plead the fifth. But don’t tell me you weren’t sweet on some guy back then.”

  “Also pleading the fifth.”

  “I’ll tell if you will.”

  She grinned. “You go first.”

&
nbsp; “Oh, no you don’t. I pled the fifth first.”

  “Fine. Okay, there may have been someone. But that’s ancient history.”

  “How ancient?”

  He thought she hesitated a second too long. But she seemed to recover. “Pretty ancient. Like, back in the sixties.”

  He laughed. “That long ago, huh? So was it pretty serious?”

  She shook her head. “Oh, no you don’t. Your turn.”

  He shrugged. “Never really had a girlfriend.”

  “You have got to be kidding. I spilled all for that?”

  He smirked. “You call that ‘spilling all’?”

  “Well, that’s all you’re getting now, for sure.”

  “Oh, no. I’ll get it out of you.” He affected a heavy German accent, attempting a Hogan’s Heroes Colonel Klink impersonation. “I varn you… Ve haff ways to make you talk.”

  “Very funny.”

  “You wait and see. I’ll get it out of you,” he said again.

  “Will not.”

  “Will too.”

  “Will not, Kevin. How much you want to bet?”

  He grinned knowingly. “So his name was Kevin?”

  Her eyebrows went up. “How’d you know that?”

  He cracked up. “You just called me Kevin.”

  “Did not.”

  “Did too.”

  He could see her replaying their conversation in her mind, and she apparently realized her faux pas, because her hands went to her mouth and her cheeks flushed pink. Without another word she slinked below the partition, and a minute later, he heard the furious clatter of her Selectric.

  He was tempted to go to her cubicle and tease her out of her embarrassment, but something told him it was more than embarrassment. Just how serious had this Kevin person been? Bristol High was a small school with only about a hundred students in each class, but he truly didn’t remember Michelle or her friends. He’d admittedly been a hotshot athlete and the new kid on the block, having moved to Bristol from Kansas City during his sophomore year. And while there had been a couple of girls in the class below him that he’d been interested in, he hadn’t given the frosh girls a first glance, let alone a second.