When the last note of the song was finished, Joy heard applause all around her. It took her a minute to realize that they were clapping for her, for her solo.
Misty came forward and gave Joy a hug. “That was just wonderful, honey. I’m so glad you decided to sing with us.”
“Thank you. I’m glad, too. Would you just excuse me, please?” With as much dignity as she could manage, Joy left the room. As soon as the door closed behind her, she ran to the bathroom and was sick after all.
But she rinsed her mouth out and went back to the choir room, glad to be behind the piano again for the rest of the night. Before they left, Misty asked everyone to keep their new soloist a secret. “It will be a wonderful surprise for Grace’s party.”
Joy gathered her music, but she couldn’t escape without most of the choir wanting to congratulate her personally on trying to overcome her stage fright.
People were pressing around her and all talking at once. Panic rose within her and she felt dizzy and unable to breath for a few moments. Then Misty broke up the crowd, sending people on their way home.
Joy thought she was the last to leave, except for Misty, who stayed to lock up, but Angel Marcel, the choir’s newest member, was waiting in the hallway. “I know Misty shooed us all away from you, but I really wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your singing.”
“Thank you,” Joy replied stiffly. She wanted to be friendlier, but she wasn’t used to praise and was unsure how to respond.
“Let me buy you a cup of coffee,” Angel begged. “You sang so beautifully and on your first time through. You deserve to celebrate.”
At first, Joy meant to refuse politely. She’d taken a big step tonight, and all she could think about was going home where she could be alone. But then she decided that Angel was right. She did deserve to celebrate.
They spent an hour and a half lingering over their drinks. Angel took care of most of the talking, and Joy was content to listen. She discovered that she liked Angel and could almost relax with her.
Angel’s cell phone rang, and she dug through her purse, looking for it. “I’m sure that’s Jeff,” she said, referring to her fiancé. “He’s dog-sitting for me tonight.”
She found the phone and pulled it out. “Hello, Jeff…Yes, I know choir practice has been over for…that long? I’m sorry, but…Oh, I’ll tell you about it when I get there.”
“Thank you for the coffee,” Joy said.
“Thank you for coming with me. I’m still sort of new in Orchard Hill, and I could use some more friends. I’m sorry to break up the party, but…well, my dog can be a bit of a handful.”
“Is he a big dog?”
Angel laughed. “No, she’s pretty small. The problem is that she’s turned out to be an escape artist. And just lately she’s figured out how to open the refrigerator.”
“I’ve never had a pet,” Joy said, without even stopping to think.
“You really should get one,” Angel urged. “Orchard Hill has a great animal shelter. Go and visit. I bet you won’t be able to come home alone.”
****
Isaac managed the office much better the rest of the week, although he had to give up a few hours of sleep to do it. But working kept him from dwelling on Joy, and what Pansy had told him. A naturally compassionate person, it was difficult for Isaac to think about Joy’s upbringing. Obviously, her grandfather had been wealthy enough to take care of all her physical needs, but he’d seriously neglected her emotional needs.
On the other hand, it was just as difficult for Isaac to forget what she’d said. Pansy’s story haunted him. Had he done the right thing by telling Joy he cared for her, but then walking away? He thought he was protecting her, but maybe she didn’t see it that way. Maybe to Joy, he was just another person who withheld affection from her.
On Friday afternoon, Isaac had an appointment with Ian O’Neil and Lily Robinson, yet another in an endless series of pre-marriage counseling appointments. He looked forward to it with a complete lack of enthusiasm.
In fact, when the appointment time came up, Isaac was buried in some research for the Bible study he led. He didn’t realize Ian and Lily were there until they knocked on his door.
“I thought Joy was filling in for Pansy,” Ian said as Isaac ushered them over to the small sitting area in his office. It was more personal than staring at each other across his desk.
“She was,” Isaac replied, “but…” But what? I fired her? How could he tell them that? “But I realized that I could do without a secretary until after the holidays.”
Ian took a seat next to Lily. “She doesn’t seem too broken up about it.”
That caught Isaac’s attention. “What do you mean?”
“She adopted a pet from the shelter this week and brought it into my office for a check up.” Ian was a veterinarian and donated a considerable amount of his time to the shelter.
Lily was a volunteer at the shelter. “I was with her when she picked it out. She was so happy. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her say more than two words together, but she wanted to know absolutely everything about taking care of her pet. It was like playing ‘twenty questions.’”
Isaac had to get this straight. “We’re talking about Joy Harper? Our organist, Joy?”
Ian and Lily both nodded. “She was really excited. I think it may be her first pet,” Ian added.
“Lots of people don’t get pets until later in life,” Lily reminded him.
“And most of them are sensible enough not to start out with a difficult case,” Ian replied, reminding her of her stubborn insistence on adopting a formerly abused cat who had serious trust issues, much like Lily herself. “But I’m glad you did, because you wouldn’t even talk to me before that cat came along,” he quickly added.
Isaac didn’t know what to make of it. He decided he’d think about it later. Right now he needed to focus on Ian and Lily, who by now were staring into each other’s eyes with love-sick expressions on their faces. If he waited any longer to begin the session, he feared they’d forget about him all together. But Isaac couldn’t resist asking, “What kind of pet did she get?”
Lily smiled. “The perfect pet for Joy —a canary.”
****
Joy was so proud of herself she could hardly keep from smiling all day long. Not that this was a bad thing. She’d met two of her goals already and she thought that maybe she had the start of a friendship with Angel as a bonus.
She looked up, hearing a trill of a song from Mozart, her canary. She wondered what Rosie would say when she came back after Christmas. Mozart was definitely a good idea. She’d sat in her car outside the shelter for twenty minutes before she mustered up enough courage to go in. Luckily the volunteers just assumed she was there to look for a pet, because Joy could hardly get two words out, let alone give them an explanation.
She’d oohed and aahed over the dogs and cats, but when she saw the lone canary in a cage on the dryer, she knew he was for her. Her shyness ebbed as she became concerned with the process of adoption and finding out how to care for the canary. It wasn’t until after she’d gone home that she realized how much she’d talked to Lily. She recognized her from church, but didn’t really know her.
Buoyed by her successes, Joy decided to set another goal for herself. She’d been sitting with the phone in her lap for half an hour, trying to decide what to say. Then she realized that all this analyzing was preventing her from actually making the call. She pulled out the slip of paper that held her latest Bible verse, Psalms 118:6—The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? She read it three times and then picked up the phone.
****
On Sunday, Isaac only saw Joy from afar. He saw her at the organ of course during the sermon. And he saw her heading toward the Sunday School rooms afterward. He knew she would be playing the piano for their Christmas program.
He was relieved. He wouldn’t have to face her during the coffee hour. But he did see Delia Parker. A lot. Every ti
me he turned around, she was at his elbow.
He hoped that Pansy hadn’t encouraged Delia. He’d heard that Pansy occasionally dabbled in matchmaking, and the last thing he needed was her idea of the perfect helpmate.
By the time Monday rolled around, Isaac was exhausted from trying to do his own job and Pansy’s. He pulled out his calendar. How many more days until Christmas—until the holiday rush was over and he could reasonably hope to find a new secretary or at least a competent temp worker?
With a sigh of resignation, Isaac closed his date-book and started to work on some notes for this week’s confirmation class. After about ten minutes, he was actually nodding over it, half asleep. The sound of the door of the outer office jerked him awake.
Great, he thought. Who could that be?
Isaac heaved himself out of his chair and forced what he hoped was a welcoming smile on his face. He crossed the room and opened his office door to find…
Joy putting her purse into Pansy’s desk.
“Good morning,” she said in seemingly calm voice. She sat in Pansy’s chair and turned on the computer.
Maybe he was still sleeping. This couldn’t be real.
“Joy? What are you doing here?”
“I’m working.” She was pulling files out of Pansy’s inbox, not even bothering to look at him.
“But…but…why?”
“You need a secretary.”
“I thought we discussed why you couldn’t be my secretary.”
“No,” she replied, still not looking at him. “We talked about why you couldn’t date me, not…”
“All right, but I thought you understood…”
Joy stood up. “I’m going to make myself a cup of tea before I start. Do you want anything?”
Isaac shook his head and watched her walk out of the office.
****
Joy made it to the bathroom before she lost the contents of her stomach. She hoped Isaac hadn’t seen how hard it was for her to do this. She hadn’t even been able to look at him.
But she was going back in there, and she was going to do her job. Because she had to prove to herself that she could. Originally, the idea of showing Isaac she could change had motivated her. Then, once she’d begun confronting her fears, it was more about seeing how far she could go. She thought she’d long ago given up the hope that she could lead a normal life, but now…
She’d sung in front of people. She’d had coffee with a relative stranger—and enjoyed herself. She’d adopted a pet. What else could she do? Whether things worked out with Isaac or not, she was glad she’d made the decision to move forward.
She’d spent most of the weekend working with Faith Fielding, the elementary school’s secretary. When her son Kevin was younger, Faith had helped with many of the Sunday School’s Christmas programs, so Joy did know Faith, although they hadn’t spoken recently.
Once again, her courage had paid off. Joy was amazed that Faith not only showed her how to use the computer for both word processing and accounting, but she gave her a crash course on the other duties of a secretary. She had been the secretary at Orchard Hill Elementary for over ten years.
And was now engaged to the principal, Andrew Thomas. She was one of the brides scheduled to walk down the aisle in the coming year.
Joy had barely gotten back to her desk and seated herself when the Isaac’s office door swung open. “I have a meeting,” he said, striding swiftly past her.
“When…when will you be back?”
“After lunch. Maybe.”
In fact, he didn’t come back until it was time to close up for the day. Joy had to reschedule two appointments that he’d missed, and she had a stack of phone messages for him, but she’d made it through the day. She had the newsletter put together and had it ready for copying and mailing. She’d caught up on the filing and paid the bills. And she’d managed to greet and speak to every person who came through the office door that day.
Admittedly that wasn’t many. Clouds had rolled in and a damp chill had descended over everything. Joy was glad to be going home. Her work day had been a success, but her personal life had taken a turn for the worse. Isaac was avoiding her.
She was just shutting down the computer when Isaac came in. He stopped when he saw her. “You’re still here?”
“I was just leaving, but if you need anything…”
“No.”
“You have some phone messages on your desk.”
“Thank you.”
He was obviously waiting for her to go, so Joy came around the desk, shrugged into her coat and went to the door. He caught her arm as she passed.
“Did you drive?”
“Yes.”
“It’s raining and everything is turning to ice. Do you want me to take you home?”
Everything was turning to ice. Isaac certainly had. Maybe he’d realized that he’d been mistaken about his feelings for her. At any rate, she didn’t want to force herself on him.
“No, thank you. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Pastor.”
****
After Joy had gone, Isaac shuffled into his office and sat down at the desk without bothering to turn on the light. He flipped through the pile of phone messages she’d left on his desk.
A groan escaped him as he saw that he’d missed two appointments today. He thought his schedule had been clear. The appointments were both—what else?—pre-marriage counseling. He was suddenly glad he’d missed them. He was sick to death of talking about commitment and love and everything else that had to do with the married state.
There was a knock at the door—which he realized he hadn’t closed. He recognized Shaun Thiesen’s silhouette in the door. Isaac had been counseling and, to a certain extent, mentoring the younger man. Shaun was not here for pre-marriage counseling. He was already married and had a baby on the way. But he and his wife had only recently reconciled after a separation. To celebrate, Shaun wanted to renew their vows. It might as well be another wedding, Isaac had thought.
“Come in, Shaun.”
Shaun came in, followed by Joseph Velasquez.
“Anyone else out there?” Isaac asked with a weak grin.
“No, just us.” Joseph flipped the switch and Isaac winced as the lights came on.
“So, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?”
“We heard you were AWOL today.” Shaun flopped down onto one the chairs in the sitting area.
“I took a mental health day.”
Joseph came and stood across the desk from Isaac. “So we gathered. Anything you need to talk about?”
Isaac dropped his head into his hands. “How did you find out about this anyway?”
“One of the appointments you missed today was with my sister,” Joseph told him. “She was worried about you.”
“Tell her I’m sorry I missed the appointment, and I’m fine.”
“She said Joy was working today.” Joseph sauntered over to the sitting area and joined Shaun.
Great. They weren’t leaving any time soon. Isaac raised his head and said in a clear voice, “I. Don’t. Want. To. Talk. About. It.”
“I must have told Isaac that about a hundred times in counseling,” Shaun remarked. “You know what he did when I said that?”
“Let me guess,” Joseph replied. “Made you talk about it anyway?”
“Yeah. He just sits there and waits until you start talking.”
“Like he’s got all day, and he’s happy to spend it staring at you.”
“Exactly,” agreed Shaun. “And pretty soon you find yourself spilling your guts because you can’t stand the silence for another second.”
“The weather is getting nasty out there,” Isaac reminded them. “I believe you two have a wife and a fiancée who will both be worried if you don’t get home.”
Joseph continued, “And if you try to talk about something else as a diversion, he sees right through it and steers you back to whate
ver it is you need to talk about.”
“Seriously, I’m tired. I just want to go home.” Couldn’t these guys take a hint?
“You know what I think his problem is?” Shaun asked Joseph. “I think it’s all these weddings that are getting to him. Too much stress.”
Orchard Hill Volume Three Page 22
