by Edna Curry
As he walked through the quiet main room of Cameron Company’s offices he noticed a light still showed in Jolie Carson’s office. Jolie was a new hire, well, she’d been there a few months now. She was a very good graphics designer and was something special herself, too. She was shorter than he was, but she had a gorgeous figure, full in the right places, yet slim and trim in others. And her smile always sent goose-bumps running along his veins. Oh, yeah, he’d like to have plans with her.
He stopped at her open door, looked in and did a double-take. Her head was down on her arms on her desk in front of her computer. Her short, blonde hair covered her face, but he was relieved to see she was breathing. She was probably okay, then.
“Hey, no sleeping on the job allowed.” He spoke gently so as not to startle her, but she jumped anyway.
Jolie gasped and snapped awake, her sleep-dazed eyes landing on Bart Matthews, who worked down the hall from her. His tall frame leaned against her doorway, a crooked grin twisting his lips. Those oh, so kissable lips that she’d been fantasizing about since she’d met him. Not that she was likely to do more than dream about him.
Embarrassment sent heat flooding her face. Oh, no, she hadn’t fallen asleep at work again! “Uh, sorry. Guess I dozed off. You won’t tell, will you?”
Bart cocked his head, as though debating the issue with himself. “I guess I could forget it, provided you join me for dinner. I’m getting really hungry and have a hankering for Chinese.”
She eyed him for a moment, and then laughed. “All right. But you know that’s blackmail.”
He grinned back. “Yeah, but it should be fun, right? Come on, let’s go, everyone else has left.”
“Huh? Everyone has left?” Dinner out sounded like fun, but could it really be that late? Jolie glanced at her watch, then moved to the door of her office and looked around the main office area. The desks were all unoccupied and even the lights had been dimmed to the night light status.
He was so close he could almost touch her, but didn’t. “You didn’t believe me?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time you teased me, you know.” She swatted Bart’s arm, returned to her desk to back-up her work and shut down her computer. She slipped the back-up jump-drive in her purse, picked it up, locked her office and followed him to the elevators.
He punched the down button and eyed her as they waited for the elevator. “So you didn’t get much sleep last night?”
Taking advantage of the elevator’s arrival to avoid his gaze, she stepped inside as she shook her head. “Insomnia.”
“Because?”
She uttered a harsh, disbelieving laugh. “Do I need an excuse?”
Bart sent her a sideways glance. “Not an excuse—a reason.” The elevator stopped and he took her arm as they left the Minneapolis office building. “There’s usually a reason people can’t sleep, isn’t there?”
Jolie tightened her lips and refused to look at him as they walked to his car. “I wouldn’t know.” She knew she was being impolite and stubborn about not discussing her problems. She didn’t know him well enough to tell him she’d give anything for God’s peace in her life.
Bart had been very nice to her since she’d started working at Cameron Company six weeks ago. She liked her job and her coworkers—well, most of them, there always seemed to be a lemon in the basket—and didn’t want to spoil a budding friendship. He’d already remarked several times on how tired she was this month. She had to get herself together. She needed her job.
He held his car door open for her, then got in and drove to the restaurant. The small restaurant was warm and crowded with families. The hostess took them to a small table off to one side.
“I’m sorry it’s so busy here tonight,” Bart said. “It hasn’t been the other times I was here. Would you rather go somewhere else?”
“No, this is fine. But let’s do the buffet. It’ll be faster, don’t you think?”
“Sure, it looks good.”
A waitress hovered, wrote down their beverage order and told them to help themselves to the buffet. They filled their plates from the well-stocked selection there and then made their way back to their table.
“So how do you like your job at Cameron now that you’ve been here a few months?” Bart asked, forking up a fat shrimp and some peapods.
“Great,” Jolie said. “I was hoping for something in graphic design just like this job when I was in business college. Frankly, I thought it was unlikely that I’d really find that dream job.”
“I’m glad you like your job here.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah, I like you and want you to stay around a while.”
She felt heat rise in her cheeks. She looked down at her plate, then picked up a roll and buttered it. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she just accept a man’s compliments and go on from there? Why did she always doubt them? She didn’t know and she couldn’t explain in any way he’d believe. Anyway, he was just a friend and she needed to keep it that way. She couldn’t tell him not to count on her for more than that.
“Where did you go to college?” Bart asked, forking up a piece of tomato from his salad.
“U of M.” When he raised an eyebrow, she elaborated, “The University of Minnesota.”
“Oh, of course. I’m not up on all the local slang yet. I went to UCLA. When I wasn’t surfing,” he said with a grin.
She laughed. “I love California. I spent a year there in grade school. And another in New York. And another in Texas. And—“
“Whoa! What did your parents do? Join the gypsies?”
“Close. USAF. The brass liked to move us. Mom used to say they were afraid we’d get attached to any one place.”
“That must have been hard. Always moving, leaving friends behind and being the new kid in a new school.”
She swallowed back tears that he got it. Hardly anyone she knew did, but he did. He understood how she’d hated the nomadic lifestyle. “Yes, it was. But you get used to it,” she said, trying to be flippant. “And if you hated the new school you knew you would be moving on soon, so you just pretended you liked it there until you left again.”
“I would have hated that.”
“I did some of the time. In other schools, I made friends that I still keep in touch with. And for a few years, there were summers on the farm in Minnesota with my grandparents.”
“Only for a few years?”
“Until they died.”
“I’m sorry.”
Jolie nodded. “Me, too. Thanks.”
After a moment, Bart asked, “How’s your shrimp?”
“It’s delicious,” Jolie said, glad to change to a happier subject than her grandparents’ deaths. She speared another fat shrimp and dipped it in the spicy red cocktail sauce. “I think this is my new favorite place.”
“Good. Now, are you happy you came?”
“Definitely,” she agreed as they lingered over more tea.
A tiny woman in a high-necked long brown dress stopped at their table. Her brown and gray hair was swirled on top of her head in a tight knot and a red bone comb held it in place.
Her bright blue eyes fixed on Jolie and her fingers made snapping noises as she chanted in a sing-song voice, “Look out for your little girl. Danger lurks in a swirl. Pop pa-pa-pop, pop, pop! Sunshine and new-mown hay. Hide, little girl, hide to see another day. Pet the soft little kittens. Hide, Little girl, hide behind a bale of hay. Pop, pop, pop!”
The woman didn’t smile, and what she said didn’t make any sense. But something in her eyes sent a cold chill through Jolie.
The woman’s sharp gaze lingered on them as Bart and Jolie gaped at her. Then she turned away and moved on. Before they could catch their breath, she disappeared into the crowd moving past the cash register and out the door.
Bart watched her go. “What a character,” he said. He started to laugh, then as he turned back to Jolie, he froze at seeing the panic and fear on her white face.
He grabbe
d her hand to get her attention. “Jolie, what’s going on? Do you know that lady?”
She shook her head, pulled her hand away and picked up her water. She gulped some down. Now her face held a tight, closed expression. She curved her lips into the most fake smile he’d ever seen. “Ah—no. No, I don’t know her. Weird, huh?”
“Definitely weird.” Bart sat there, unable to make sense of the crazy encounter.
“Let’s get out of here,” Jolie said.
“Sure,” Bart agreed. He pulled out money for a tip, then picked up their bill and joined the line waiting to pay at the cash register. Jolie stayed close beside him. He noticed she kept glancing around as though expecting that lady to return.
As they walked out into the starry summer night, he took her arm. She smiled up at him and he was pleased to see the color had returned to her face.
A thought occurred to him. “Do we need to go back for your car?”
She shook her head. “I rode in with Callie Jenkins this morning. She lives in my apartment building and works in Cameron’s human resources department, so we often share driving. But she left work early to go to a party tonight.”
“So how were you planning to get home tonight?”
“Call a cab.” She grinned at him. “But you saved me the cab fare.”
“Any time,” he said.
On the drive to her apartment, he chanced another question. “Had you ever seen that odd lady before?”
At first he didn’t think she was going to answer, then she mumbled, “Yeah. She’s been around.”
“Really?”
“Mm hm.”
“Where?”
She turned to watch the traffic from her side window. “Oh, here and there.”
“But you don’t know her?”
“No.” She shuddered. “No, of course I don’t know her. She’s just some weirdo who likes to chant strange stuff.”
“Has she talked about a little girl in danger before?”
He felt her shudder and glanced at her. Her face was pale and grim looking again.
“Yeah, she said some of the same stuff the other time, too.”
“Do you know who the little girl is? I mean, do you have a little girl?” Yikes, he didn’t know much about her at all. Was she married? Lance had said no, but maybe in the past? Divorced? Widowed, even?
“No! I—I don’t have any children. I’ve never been married. Please, let’s forget about that lady. She gives me the creeps!”
“Okay.” He heaved a sigh of relief at her declaration of never having been married. Though why he should care, he didn’t know. He was single and staying that way himself.
They rode in silence for a few minutes, then she said, “My building is the next one on your right in this block. The white two-story one.”
He pulled up to the curb in front of her apartment building, turned off the motor and looked at her. “Jolie, if you ever need any help with anything, just let me know, okay?”
She avoided his gaze. “Sure, Bart. I’ll be fine. Thanks for dinner and the ride home. Goodnight.”
He opened his door. “Wait. I’ll walk you up.”
“But I live on the second floor. That’s really not necessary,” she protested as he opened her car door and took her hand to help her out.
“I know. But humor me, okay?”
She gave him a little smile and he walked her up the stairs to her door. He watched her dig through her purse for her key, then took it from her and opened the lock.
He took her in his arms and kissed her. At first she kissed him back, but then she pulled away, so he let her go. “Goodnight, Jolie. Sweet dreams.”
“If only,” she muttered. She stepped inside, then turned and said, “Goodnight, Bart. Thanks again.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She had responded to his kiss at first, he thought as he strode back to his car. Before she’d changed her mind and stopped herself. Maybe there was some good reason she didn’t want a romantic relationship.
Or maybe she was just still upset over that weird woman spouting danger for a little girl. That was strange and scary enough to give anyone nightmares.
He started his car and pulled out. She’d said, ‘if only,’ when he’d wished her sweet dreams. Was she having nightmares? Was that what was giving her insomnia and keeping her tired all the time the past couple of weeks?
He thought back to when she’d first come to work at Cameron Company. His friend, Lance Jennings, worked in human resources, and had told him about the hot new graphics designer they’d hired. And when Lance pointed her out to him, he’d gone all warm and fuzzy inside.
And he still did, every time he got close to her. He parked his car in the underground parking at his apartment building, used his key to get inside and took the elevator to his floor. Not many women appealed to him as she did. He’d taken one look at those long, sleek legs and shiny cap of blonde hair and was sunk. He couldn’t get her hazel eyes and curvy image out of his head. She’d gotten under his skin and stayed there.
She’d said yes the first time he’d asked her to go with a group of them for lunch. And yes again when he’d taken her to dinner a couple weeks ago. But since them, she’d always had an excuse not to accept. Until tonight. And then that creepy lady had appeared and ruined the evening for them.
Jolie had been looking really tired lately. She’d been acting rather wary of strangers, too. He hadn’t seen any evidence of other strange behavior. He hoped seeing the creepy lady again was the reason for her reaction tonight. Especially if she seemed to be following her around. That and the ditsy rhymes would freak anyone out.
He hoped she wasn’t just paranoid. He sure didn’t want another mentally ill woman in his life. One had been more than enough for a lifetime.
***
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