Anytime he asked her about Dennis or his calls, Jenna got nervous and defensive. Josh was really starting to wonder what exactly was going on. Jenna would be traveling again next week and he really didn’t want to think about Dennis calling her every evening while she was gone. Looking outside, he saw Jenna watering her flowers. Again, he wondered what was going on between his wife and Dennis Gillman.
Jenna was enjoying the last rays of sunshine as she watered the flowers around the house. Holding the hose above a big planter at the corner of the porch, she heard her cell phone ring and pulled it out of her pocket. Gillman, again. Jenna sighed and turned off her phone.
Dennis Gillman was a new hire at the office. He, along with Jenna and two others, traveled together to Washington D.C. for training. When they weren’t in classes, he seemed to think she was his personal escort.
Although well into his forties, Dennis Gillman appeared to have all the maturity of a teenager. With a pretty-boy face and a suave manner, he seemed to be under the impression that no woman could resist him. When Jenna completely ignored him, he took it as a personal challenge and had been in relentless pursuit of her affections ever since. Pointing out she was married and uninterested only spurred him on.
Jenna hoped coming back home from the training and settling into a work routine would calm him down, but if anything, he was getting worse. She knew Josh was irritated with his phone calls. Good thing he never saw her emails, or he would come unhinged with some of the suggestive messages Dennis had sent.
Not wanting to get Gillman in trouble, or possibly fired, Jenna thought she could handle the situation. Unfortunately, Dennis was turning out to be more difficult than Jenna imagined. She planned to try one last time to set him straight and if that didn’t work, she would go to her supervisor with a copy of the emails and a record of the phone calls.
Turning off the hose, Jenna decided tomorrow would be soon enough to worry about Mr. Gillman.
<><><>
Callan was down on her knees, pulling weeds out of the flower bed in her front yard when she saw Josh pull into the driveway. She thought it odd he would take time off work when she knew he was busy haying, but also that he would just show up at her house mid-morning on a Friday.
Standing up, she brushed dirt from her jeans, pulled off her gloves and walked over to meet Josh at the front door.
“Well, Josh, what brings you over today?” Callan asked, giving him a hug. “Is this a social call or is something going on?
Josh, looking tired and worried, took off his ball cap and played with the brim. “Can we go inside and talk?”
Callan knew immediately something was wrong and bothering her brother. He was rarely serious and the fact that he wanted to go inside to talk wasn’t a good sign at all.
Leading the way inside the house to the kitchen, Callan motioned Josh to the table while she washed her hands and poured them both a glass of cold sweet tea.
“What’s up? Something is wrong. Let’s hear it,” Callan said placing a glass in front of Josh and sitting down across from him.
“I think Jenna may be having an affair,” Josh finally said, tracing circles on the tabletop with his finger, unable to look Callan in the eye.
Callan’s head shot up. “What? Are you insane? What in the world would make you think that?”
“This guy named Dennis Gillman keeps calling for her. It started the day after she came back from D.C. He calls every evening. If I answer, he usually hangs up or is extremely rude. Last night he called and hung up then right before bed he called back and Jenna answered. She didn’t know it but I picked up the phone. Their conversation was very interesting, to say the least.”
“What did Jenna say?” Callan asked.
“I didn’t actually hear her on the phone. But I heard Gillman tell her he missed her and couldn’t wait to lay his eyes on her ‘luscious bod.’ I hung up after that. I’m about ready to let Gillman know exactly what I think of him.”
Placing her hand on her brother’s, Callan tried to look at the situation from a different angle. “Josh, don’t do anything you’ll later regret. Did you talk to Jenna? Did you ask her about it? Maybe it isn’t what it seems.”
Josh shook his head. “I’ve tried talking to her about it a couple of times, but she gets defensive and clams up. What am I supposed to think?”
“I agree it sounds incriminating but Jenna would never cheat on you. She loves you,” Callan tried to reassure him.
“Would you talk to her, Cal, please?” Josh pleaded. He looked dejected and wounded, uncertain what to do. “Would you see if you can find out what is going on? Even if she isn’t having an affair, there is definitely something not right about the whole situation.”
“I agree. There is something peculiar about it all. I’d be happy to talk to her. Maybe you two could come over for dinner this weekend,” Callan suggested, trying to think of a way to broach such a delicate subject with her sister-in-law.
“Could you please talk to her today? Please?” Josh begged. “I can’t take the not knowing, Cal. I need to know what is going on. You could go out to lunch and talk to her then.”
Callan wasn’t sure what to say. This was so unlike Josh. He rarely asked her for favors and she’d never seen him look so upset and discouraged.
“Tell you what, let me call and see if she’ll meet me for lunch. If so, I’ll go talk to her. If not, we’ll have to think up a Plan B,” Callan said, dialing Jenna’s number.
Josh could tell from the one-sided conversation that Jenna had agreed to lunch and Callan would meet her at the office at noon.
“All right, I’m going to have to hustle to get cleaned up and to her office before noon,” Callan said, getting up from the table and punching in another phone number. Hanging up from the school secretary, she turned to Josh.
“You are going to have to take care of the girls today. Clay is in class all day, so you need to pick up Emma at school at 11:40 sharp. I called to let them know it is fine for Emma to leave with you. Then you need to be here at 3:20 to meet Audrey when the bus drops her off in case I’m not back yet. I planned to run into Portland early next week to pick up some things for an event next weekend, but I’ll pick them up today.”
“Okay, Emma at 11:40 at the school and Audrey here at 3:20. I can take care of it,” Josh said, walking to the sink and putting his now empty glass in it.
“Emma will need lunch and Audrey likes to have an after school snack. You can either stay here with the girls after school or take them back to your house. I’ll call you as soon as I’m almost home,” Callan said, walking Josh back out to his pickup.
She pulled Emma’s booster seat out of her car and fastened it into the back seat of Josh’s pickup. “Now get going so I can get ready.”
“Thanks, Cal,” Josh said, giving her a warm hug, “You are the best.”
“Don’t forget it,” she teased as she ran back into the house, convinced that Josh was wrong about his suspicions.
<><><>
Jenna was looking forward to lunch with Callan because she was in the mood to celebrate.
First thing this morning she had marched up to Mr. Dennis Gillman and told him he either left her alone or she was going to make her supervisor aware of the problem. His response was to ask her what color underwear she was wearing and attempt to kiss her. Fed up with his inappropriate shenanigans, she marched back to her office, printed off his offensive emails, retrieved a list of her incoming cell phone calls and took the evidence to her supervisor. After a brief discussion, Gillman was relieved of his duties, given a few minutes to clean out his desk and escorted out of the building with a warning to never come back.
Feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders Jenna couldn’t wait for Callan to get there. A few minutes before noon, the receptionist called to let her know she had a visitor. Picking up her purse, she hurried out to the reception area and gave Callan a warm smile and hug.
“This is such a pleasant surprise, Ca
llan. Your timing is perfect.” Jenna said, looping her arm through Callan’s as they walked out the door and onto the busy sidewalk. “What are you in the mood for?”
“A big green salad and a nice quiet place to talk,” Callan said, giving Jenna a pointed look.
Not sure what Callan wanted to discuss, Jenna suggested they go to a nearby restaurant that offered some private outdoor seating areas. They soon found themselves sitting outside in the pleasant afternoon, enjoying the sunshine and good food.
“You might as well get to the point, Cal,” Jenna said, taking a sip of her iced tea. “You weren’t really just in the city today and decided to have lunch. We’ve been friends long enough I can tell something is on your mind. Spit it out.”
Callan occasionally forgot Jenna’s gift for being plain spoken and driving right to the point. Taking a deep breath, she decided to give Jenna the facts.
“Josh came to see me this morning, quite concerned about you,” Callan said, putting down her fork and looking at Jenna. She still couldn’t imagine Jenna ever doing the thing Josh had accused her of. She loved her husband too much. “Jenna, Josh… well he thinks… Josh thinks you might be having an affair.”
Jenna choked on the bite she had just swallowed and the tea she gulped to help made her cough all the more. Thumping her on the back, Callan didn’t know what else to do. When Jenna could finally speak, sparks were shooting from her brown eyes.
“Josh thinks what? That idiot! How could he think that?” Jenna asked, thoroughly incensed that Josh would ever question her commitment to him. “I would never, ever do such a thing.”
Callan was relieved by Jenna’s reaction to the news. “He said some guy named Dennis Gillman keeps calling and he heard him say something rather inappropriate to you on the phone last night.”
Jenna’s mouth flattened into a tight seam. She knew she should have taken care of the problem sooner rather than ignoring it and hoping it would go away. Releasing the breath she was holding, she explained to Callan what had happened, including her discussing the problem with her supervisor and Dennis being fired just that morning.
“Well, merciful stars, Jenna, why didn’t you say something? Why didn’t you tell Josh?” Callan asked, incredulous that Jenna wouldn’t tell someone, anyone, what was going on.
“I didn’t want to seem weak for not being able to handle the problem. I’m a business professional and I should be able to take care of situations without involving anyone else. I train employees how to deal with problems exactly like this. It was embarrassing that I couldn’t handle Gillman,” Jenna quietly explained. “Besides, you know Josh. He would have flipped a gear and done something he shouldn’t have.”
“Well, I can see why you didn’t tell Josh. I probably would have done the same thing with Clay,” Callan agreed. “But you should have let someone at work know when it first started. You had no reason to be embarrassed, Jenna. He was the one who did something wrong, not you. It isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of being human.”
Callan reached across the table and squeezed Jenna’s hand. “I told Josh there was more to this than he knew about and I’m glad, that once again, I can prove my little brother wrong.”
Jenna smiled at Callan, an idea forming in her head.
“I agree the evidence gave him reason to think something was going on, but he should know his own wife well enough to not jump to conclusions. Crazy man,” Jenna said, starting to grin in a way that meant she was plotting something. “I think we need to teach him a lesson.”
Callan smiled a wide, mischievous smile. “I’m all ears, what have you got in mind?”
<><><>
Josh was at Emma’s school five minutes before she got out for the day. Standing outside with other parents, he waited for her little curly head to come bobbing down the sidewalk.
He spotted her as soon as she came out the door. She was chatting with two other little girls, dragging along her purple backpack.
“Emma,” Josh called as she came down the sidewalk. “Emma Matthews.”
Emma’s head came up and she looked around. Spotting her Uncle Josh, she said a hasty “bye” to her friends and ran down the sidewalk, curls flying while the backpack slapped against her legs.
Josh hunkered down and held out his arms to her. “Hey, Sweet Pea. You mind spending the afternoon with me?”
Emma threw her arms around his neck and gave him a tight hug. “Really, Uncle Josh? I get to spend the day with you? Just me?”
Standing up, Josh hugged Emma to him and carried her to his pickup. “Yep. It’s just the two of us until your sister gets home from school.”
“Yipee!” Emma said, giving Josh another tight hug. Emma climbed into her booster seat in the back seat of the pickup and fastened her seat belt.
Sliding in the driver’s side, Josh started the truck and drove toward a fast-food restaurant. “Can I interest you in some lunch, Sweet Pea?”
“Yep. I’m starving,” Emma said, beaming a huge smile as she looked at her uncle.
Josh smiled at her as they pulled into the parking lot and went inside. Emma wanted the kid’s meal with a hamburger and was soon busy playing with the toy that came with it rather than eating her food.
“Emma, eat first, then you can play. Okay?” Josh said, scooting her discarded hamburger closer to her and pulling the toy away.
“Okay, Uncle Josh,” Emma said, not happy about the interruption in her playing, but obeying. She hurriedly ate her hamburger, took two bites of her fries and turned her attention back to her toy. Josh let her play for a few minutes while he finished up his meal and her fries.
“Are you ready to roll?” Josh asked, cleaning up their table and dumping the trash into the garbage.
“Let’s roll,” Emma said, grabbing his hand and swinging on it.
If he wasn’t careful, Josh could get used to the feel of a tiny little hand in his big one. Looking down at Emma’s curly head, he smiled. Callan nicknamed her Sweet Pea when she was just a few weeks old and the name stuck. If you mentioned Sweet Pea, most everyone knew that referred to little Emma.
Picking her up, he set her in the booster seat, waiting until she was buckled in to close the door. He had no idea how he was going to entertain her all afternoon, but he supposed he could figure something out. Jenna kept a box of toys somewhere in the house because he’d seen the girls playing with it before. Jenna also had some Disney movies that Emma might like to watch. How hard could it be to keep a 6-year-old entertained?
Two and a half hours later, Josh had exhausted his repertoire of child-appropriate stories, watched cartoons, and despite his heated protests, played Barbie’s. He made Emma promise not to tell anyone he had sat on the floor and pretended to be Barbie’s friend Misty. She had finally fallen asleep on the couch so he left her there and sat down to take a break in his recliner.
Looking at his watch, he knew they’d have to leave fairly soon to go pick up Audrey. Closing his eyes for just a moment, Josh woke himself up when his chin hit his chest. Opening both eyes, he looked at his watch and panicked.
He had less than ten minutes to get to Callan’s house before Audrey would be there. If he hustled, he could make it.
Springing out of his chair, he scooped up a sleeping Emma, ran out to his truck and belted her limp body into the booster seat. Speeding down the gravel road, he barely stopped at the stop sign, drove quickly to the highway and zoomed toward Callan and Clay’s.
Pulling into the driveway, he could see the school bus turn down the road. Perfect timing. When Audrey got off the bus, Josh was standing at the end of the driveway waiting for her.
“Uncle Josh! What are you doing here?” Audrey asked, giving him a big hug as she ran off the bus and up to him.
“Auntie Callan had something she had to go take care of, so she asked me to take care of you and Emma for a while,” Josh said, helping Audrey into the back seat of his pickup, where Emma was still sleeping. “You can come back to my house, okay?”
Pulling up by the back door, Josh helped Audrey climb out then carried Emma in the house. As they walked into the kitchen, the phone rang. Dropping his keys and Audrey’s backpack on the counter, he struggled to grab the phone and shift Emma to one arm.
“Hello,” Josh said, nearly dropping the phone as Emma woke up and started wiggling.
“Josh, its Callan. I’m running a few errands and will be a little later than I planned. Are you doing okay with the girls?”
“Yes, we’re doing fine. I picked up Audrey and we just walked in the door when you called. Take all the time you need,” Josh said, sitting Emma down on the counter as she opened her eyes and came fully awake. “Did you get a chance to talk to Jenna?”
“I did and what she shared was very interesting. I think we better discuss this in person,” Callan said, not giving any indication if he was right in his thinking or if something else was going on. “Thanks again for watching the girls.”
“No problem. Thanks for your help, Cal,” Josh said, even more worried now that Callan obviously got information out of Jenna and wasn’t saying anything. “I’ll talk to you later.”
Hanging up the phone, Josh looked at the two little girls in his care and decided they probably both could use a snack. Scooting Emma onto a bar stool and helping Audrey onto one, he got out milk and cookies and the three of them sat enjoying their treat.
“Uncle Josh?” Audrey looked at him with her sweet face and big blue eyes that reminded Josh of a china doll he’d seen at his grandma’s house when he was about Audrey’s age. “Can I ask you a question?”
Country Boy vs. City Girl Page 7
