Healing the Boss's Heart (5 page)

“And leave your clothes in the apartment?”

“Yes.” She knew he was simply being gallant but the notion of living under the same roof as her boss was off-putting, to say the least. Still, the apartment would be warm and dry—and free. There was no good reason to refuse his magnanimous offer, nor was there likely to be a better option anywhere else in High Plains, given the condition of many of the homes she’d seen so far.

Her mind insisted that she praise and thank God for this current opportunity and she did manage to do so.

Her heart, however, had serious reservations.

One of the elderly neighbors Maya had intended to check on stood on her own littered front porch
two doors away and waved a greeting as they passed. “Yoo-hoo!”

“Hello! Are you all right, Miss Linda?” Maya called back.

“Fine. Just fine. Too bad about your lovely house.”

“It’ll be all right,” Maya answered. “Keep an eye on what’s left of it for me, will you?”

“Sure thing, dear. I’d ask you and Layla to stay with me but I’m going to be full up. My daughter’s place over on Fourth was leveled and she and the kids are coming here.”

“Are they okay?”

“Just fine, praise the Lord.”

“I have been. All afternoon,” Maya replied. She waved again. “You take care, Miss Linda. Best not go out till they get more of the wires and things picked up.”

“I won’t. You be careful, too. Especially with that pretty little girl.” She grinned until her apple cheeks glowed before she added, “Nice to see you’ve got a big, strong man to look after you for a change.”

Maya heard her boss begin to chuckle. She whipped around and gave him the sternest look she could muster. “Don’t go getting ideas, Mr. Garrison. I may be letting you provide me with a place to stay for a week or so but I’m still capable of taking care of myself.”

“I never said you weren’t.”

He continued to laugh softly, further aggravating
her, so she decided to change the subject and focus on another of her gray-haired neighbor’s comments. “God was certainly with us, and many others, this afternoon.”

“How do you figure?” he asked.

“We’re here, we’re in one piece, and as far as we know so far, there weren’t any serious injuries. If this had happened when school was in session or during that big Fourth of July celebration we held in the park last week, no telling how many people would have been hurt or even killed.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” he answered. “Guess we were pretty lucky in spite of everything.”

“Luck has nothing to do with it. Like Miss Linda said, God was good.”

“I don’t know how you can believe in a God that would allow the chaos and destruction that’s all around us.”

All Maya said was, “How can I
not
believe when we’re both alive and standing here having this conversation?”

B
y the time they reached Main Street again, a young fireman in a heavy-looking yellow turnout coat and helmet was standing in the middle of the intersection and directing what little traffic was inching by.

“You can’t go back in there,” he shouted as they approached the office door. “The whole town is off-limits till we get it checked out.”

Maya recognized the firefighter and hailed him. “Hi, Stan. It’s me.”

“Oh, hi, Maya. Sorry. I have my orders.” He wiped perspiration from his brow with the back of his hand.

“We just came out of there, Stan. It was fine, honest. All we want to do is drop off a few things and then leave again.”

“Well…”

Though he never actually gave her permission,
he did turn his back to yell at someone else. Maya took immediate advantage of the tacit opportunity and slipped inside with Greg and Layla.

The child was awestruck. “Wow, Mommy. Your office is really messy, just like my school.”

“Only because of the storm,” Maya said. “I pick up my things every day, and so should you.” She heard her boss’s low, soft laugh and saw his shoulders shake.

“That’s what Miss Josie and Miss Nicki always say.”

“They’re smart ladies.”

“Uh-huh.”

Gregory paused at the interior door that led upstairs. He set Layla on the bottom tier where there was no standing rainwater and looked to Maya. “Shall we?”

Nodding, she handed him the pillowcases and followed her daughter up the steps while her boss brought up the rear. Since she had only recently come to work for Garrison Investments, she hadn’t yet seen what had been done to the second floor or how the apartments had been divided out of the available space.

When she topped the stairs and stepped into the wide hallway she paused, astonished. Hardwood floors shone, the ceilings were a bright white with intricately molded cornices accenting their outer edges, and a brass chandelier hung from the center
of a medallion as big as her dinette table had been before the tornado had smashed it to smithereens.

“Wow! When you fix up a place, you really fix it up.”

“Glad you approve.” He smiled. “I’d show you my suite but I haven’t finished folding my laundry.”

“If there wasn’t an impressionable child present I’d stick my tongue out and give you the noisy raspberry you deserve,” Maya said, rolling her eyes.

Layla clapped her hands. “Ooh! I love raspberries.”

“It’s a different kind, not like the ones we eat,” Maya told her as she cast a warning glance at her grinning boss. “Mr. Garrison and I were just joking around.”

“Oh.”

He led the way on down the hall to an unmarked mahogany door, then opened it and stood back. “This is the spare suite. As I said, I have some boxes and things stored here but I’ll get everything moved out as soon as possible.”

Hesitating, Maya had to force herself to step forward. Layla had no such qualms. She skipped into the apartment ahead of the adults as if she’d lived there all her life.

“Ooh, Mommy, look! There’s a boat in the living room.”

Maya was about to disagree with her when she entered and realized the child was right. “I like your decor, Mr. Garrison. It’s very outdoorsy.”

“I brought the kayak with me from Chicago. I used to row it on the lake and I thought I might get a chance to paddle on the river once I got settled here. Never seemed to find the time, though.”

“That’s a shame,” Maya said. “You work too much, too hard. Everybody needs some fun.”

“As you so aptly observed, we Garrisons have a strong work ethic.”

“No argument there.”

Walking to one of the tall, narrow windows that looked out onto Main, she caught her breath. “Oh, my. Everything looks even worse from up here. There isn’t anything left of the old town hall but the foundation. If that part hadn’t been built of limestone it would probably have blown away, too. What a shame.” She sighed and shook her head. “I just remembered. We were supposed to be having a meeting there tonight.”

“Guess you’ll have to cancel. What was it for?”

“I’m on the planning committee for the Founders’ Day Christmas Celebration. We hold that same program every year. You must remember it.”

“Vaguely. I was never very involved in town festivities.”

“But you came to that celebration, didn’t you?” Now that she thought about it, she didn’t recall having seen him around much. Of course, she was younger than her boss so they would have traveled in different social circles. And speaking of society, she was also not in the same league as the Gar
risons. Not even close. None of the Logans were. That was the way it had been almost since the time of the community’s founding and nothing had changed much in recent times.

“I went away to boarding school the semester after my mother died,” he explained.

“Didn’t you come home for the holidays?”

“Not if I could help it,” he said flatly. “Enough about my childhood. Let’s drop off your stuff and head for the church. I’m sure they need all the volunteers they can get.”

As she followed him out the apartment door and down the stairs, she had to wonder about his early life. Had it really been as lonely as his tone had made it sound? She supposed it could have been. After all, having a rich father was no sure sign of happiness. If she’d learned anything by being a single parent, it was that as long as she provided for her daughter’s basic needs and also loved her with all her heart, the child would thrive.

It would have been nice to be able to give Layla more extras, but this storm would have stolen most of them anyway. Thanks to the tornado, folks were going to have to pull together, to help each other, to share what little they had left with those less fortunate. In a way, that was not such a bad thing.

Greg was the first one out the door on the ground floor. He went straight to the fireman, got his atten
tion and pointed across to the hardware store and adjoining lumber yard.

“I told my people to let folks get whatever they need from the store and that goes for police and fire, too,” Greg said. “Your departments can just help themselves. I’ll be at the community church if you have any questions or need me for anything.”

“Gotcha. Thanks, man.”

“Glad to help,” Greg answered emphatically.

Maya was waiting for him at the curb. “I heard what you said. That was very nice of you.”

“Thanks. The only thing I can’t understand is why you keep acting so surprised. You had me pegged as a real ogre, didn’t you?”

“I wouldn’t go that far. Actually, I hardly know you.”

“That’s right. You don’t.” Greg hadn’t meant to sound so gruff, but he was getting pretty tired of being treated as if he were the world’s biggest miser. He didn’t mind if his father carried that negative reputation but he wasn’t like Dan. Not in the least. Sure, he was a savvy businessman. There was nothing wrong with that, as long as he was honest and didn’t take unfair advantage of anyone.

As they passed the High Plains Bank and Trust, which had been founded by his and Michael’s great-grandfather, he was relieved to note minimal damage. That was also true of the new town hall that sat between Second and Third Streets. Some of the
hardiest citizens were beginning to congregate there, too.

The General Store, on across Third, hadn’t been so fortunate. Neither had Grocery Town next door to it. Apparently, the tornado had hopped, skipped and danced through the business district just as it had the nearby neighborhoods, leveling some buildings and totally missing others.

He paused long enough to inquire if the professional rescuers working in the grocery store needed his help, then rejoined Maya and Layla. “They’ve got a handle on it. They say there were some minor injuries but nothing severe, as far as they can tell. The shoppers and employees ducked into the walk-in coolers in the back of the market to ride it out.”

“That was smart.”

“Very. I also asked about the beauty parlor.” He pointed to a shattered front window and partially collapsed facade. “They all got out in one piece, too.”

Maya arched her eyebrows. “Phew. To look at the place you’d think anybody inside would have been killed.”

As they watched, an ambulance slowly, cautiously, inched along Main. “No sirens,” Greg observed. “That’s a good sign.”

“I know. I can’t imagine what it’s like at our little local hospital, though. It must be terribly crowded.”

“Thankfully, we don’t have to go there for treat
ment and find out,” Greg said soberly. “How are you doing?”

“Fine. You were right about the shoes.”

“I’m surprised you admit it.”

That made her laugh. “It slipped out. Forget I said it, okay?”

“Okay.” He guided her across the front lawn of the church, then followed her to the side door that led to the annex containing the preschool.

“I’m going to see if I can leave Layla here for a little while,” Maya said. “I can be of a lot more help in the kitchen, or wherever, if I don’t have to keep an eye on her, too.”

“Good idea. I’ll go find Michael and see what else he needs. If the generator isn’t already here, tell the ladies I’ll have power for them soon.”

“Will do.” She paused, then gifted him with the sweetest smile he’d ever seen. “And I take back everything I thought about you, Mr. Garrison. You’re all right. Just like regular folks.”

He returned her smile. “I assume that means I should be grateful.”

“Very,” Maya said, laughing quietly. “You have no idea.”

The next few hours passed in a blur. Maya found plenty to do in spite of the crowd of women who had already made enough cold sandwiches to feed a small army. Some people were arriving in shock,
weeping and lamenting their losses, while some praised God and went right to work helping others. Surprisingly, there was as much laughter among the women as there were tears.

That had been one of the biggest surprises for Maya. The joy in spite of everything. It was as if she and her fellow survivors were happy just to be alive, to have their families around them, to be gathered in God’s house where they could openly rejoice and either shed tears of relief or whoops of delight without censure.

As she worked preparing the dining tables in the fellowship hall to accommodate the large numbers of evacuees they were expecting, Maya wondered how her boss was faring. The image of him, kneeling and hugging Tommy, kept popping into her mind. If she lived a hundred years she’d never forget that sight. The man had shocked her all the way to her toes.

Overcome by a strong urge to see him again, to know he was all right, she checked with the others in the kitchen, was assured that there was nothing else that needed to be done, then picked up a spare plastic bottle of drinking water and excused herself to go seek him out.

He wasn’t easy to locate. Dozens of men were laboring outside the church, making sure that no one was trapped in the collapsed structures nearby and clearing the streets for emergency vehicles as
best they could with their bare hands. She finally spotted his blue shirt among the other workers and hurried to him.

“Hey. How’s it going?”

“Pretty good.” He straightened, wiped perspiration from his face with his shirtsleeve and quickly downed the bottle of water she’d handed him. “Thanks. Man, it’s so hot out here I’d almost welcome another rainstorm. But we didn’t find any victims here so that’s good news.”

“I’ll say. Michael’s planning a short praise service tomorrow. Will you come?”

“I suppose so,” he answered. “Don’t want to tarnish my bright and shiny do-gooder image when it’s so new.”

She was about to offer a wry comment when she looked toward the river and saw a small boy near the water. “Is that Tommy?”

Gregory frowned and shaded his eyes against the late afternoon glare. “Could be. I guess we should go see.”

“I’ll go. You stay here and keep working.”

“We’re about done. Even if that isn’t Tommy, I think we’d better see what the kid’s up to. He could get hurt down there.”

When he wiped off his hands and held one out to her, Maya took it. She realized that letting her boss hold her hand like that was probably too bold, but under the circumstances she was going to do it.
She needed to feel his firm yet gentle touch, to rely upon his strength just a little while longer. And if casual observers took it for more than it really was, well, too bad.

Together they approached the river. The small boy had his hands cupped around his mouth and was trying to holler “Charlie” so loudly his thin voice squeaked.

Maya stepped aside and approached on Tommy’s left. Gregory came at him from the other side. As soon as the child realized he wasn’t alone, he tried to bolt.

Gregory snagged him by the neck of his striped T-shirt. “Whoa. Hold it, champ. We’re not going to hurt you.”

“I ain’t goin’ home,” Tommy shouted. “I’m gonna find Charlie.”

“It’s awfully dangerous, especially so close to the river,” Maya told him. “Did Mr. and Mrs. Otis give you permission to come out here?”

His lack of response told her the answer. Lowering her voice and bending to look into his eyes, she spoke gently, reassuringly. “We have a little more time before dark. If you’ll promise to be good and stay with the people at the church, Mr. Garrison and I will keep looking for Charlie until the sun sets. How’s that?”