Romance for Matthew (2 page)

His hands came on the edge of the chair, just grazing her arm momentarily, while he steadied himself.

And she thought about Samuel, how she missed his soft touch. Even towards the end of his life, he would still kiss and hold her, after she climbed in the hospital bed with him. She found herself tearing up yet again, and cleared her throat trying to stop the sensation.

"What I'd like to do is check the accountant's report," he said, oblivious to her inner turmoil.

She began using the search feature with the voice control, and she found the report, as well as main documents they used to prepare the financial reports, taking time to peruse each one thoroughly.

When she heard a back door slam, she quickly checked her blouse and was relieved to find she was dry at last.

"Hello, Matthew?" a female voice said. "Where are you then?"

"In the den, Sarah," he called out.

A slim, older grey-haired woman breezed in the room, and stood by the desk, smiling down at Bethany. She put her hand out as Matthew introduced them, and Bethany thought she heard the trace of an English accent as the woman said, "So happy Matthew finally has hired someone to help him."

Bethany smiled at her warmly. "Hopefully I can lend a hand with his workload."

The door in back slammed yet again.

"That's probably my friend Nat," Matthew said, laughing. "He lives in the back house over the garage. Doesn't seem like we'll get too much done today. It's a revolving door around here sometimes."

A young man with collar-length blond hair strolled in and stared at Bethany with light blue eyes. "Hey Matt, what's going on my man?" His gaze took in all of Bethany appreciatively, but a bit boldly, and Sarah slapped him on the arm.

"You're going to really hurt me one day doing that," he joked, dodging her hand a second time.

"Act like a gentleman, now," Sarah said, "this is Bethany. She's here to help Matthew."

"Finally. Good choice, my man," Nat said. "I'm really happy to meet you today, Bethany."

She laughed at his antics, and said, "Nice to meet you too."

"Well," Matthew said, moving around the desk to the front, "I'll be right back. Nat can you help me to the kitchen? Mutty went out the dog door a while ago and hasn't been back since. I need to find him."

"Sure," Nat said, taking his elbow.

"So," Matthew asked Nat in the kitchen, "what does she look like? Does she have brown hair? I like her voice. It's soft, yet sort of efficient."

"Whew," Nat replied, lounging against the granite island, "she's a looker, my friend."

"You mean pretty?"

"Yes. Sort of a heart-shaped face, pink cheeks, really nice figure, shiny brown hair, curly, to her shoulders, big beautiful deep green eyes, and her lips are cute. They have a pout."

"A pout?" Matthew said curiously.

"I can't explain it. The bottom lip is a little bigger than the top one. It's like a sexy thing about her."

Matthew nodded. "I think I understand. What about wedding rings?"

"Not that I could see," Nat said, grinning at his friend's obvious interest in the woman.

"I like her perfume," Matthew said softly, smiling.

"Lucky dog," Nat said playfully. "I wouldn't mind working next to her all day. Anytime you have an opening, let me know, okay?"

Now, Matthew laughed. "I'd never hire you. You're too dishonest."

Bethany listened to them laugh in the kitchen, and she hoped it wasn't anything she did to cause it. She didn't think she could tak
e anyone laughing at her today.

"Don't mind Nat," Sarah said, smiling. "He's our resident jokester. A laugh a minute with that fellow. Could I get you something to drink?"

"Fruit juice would be wonderful. Thank you," she replied as she smiled at the woman.

But, her smile faded after the woman left, and she knew all she really wanted to do was go home to Jacob. She didn't want to work and meet new people. She checked her watch, and realized she had two more hours left to go, and she sighed deeply.

A few minutes later, Matthew made his way back into the den with his dog, and walked behind her again.

"He's so cute," she said, reaching her hand out to 'Mutty' and stroking his fur. "He looks like he's smiling," she noted with a laugh.

"I guess we'll never know. He seems happy, and I give him plenty of treats. I think he's getting too fat, actually. I spoil him terribly."

They went back to the spreadsheets. But, she found she had questions on them. "Where are the original documents these financials were made from?" she asked Matthew.

"They just give me the spreadsheets. I'm assuming they keep the original checkbooks and accounting bank statements."

"We need to get those," she said firmly. "I have to check and see if the expenses are documented properly and in the right category. Not just that, there's the income side of it too. Very, very important. If they're not correct, your bottom line will be off."

She realized, just from perusing the various spreadsheets he had her call up, that he was very rich indeed. The fact that he was blind didn't seem to have stopped him from amassing a small fortune. He seemed to be an astute businessman, good at the stock market from what she could tell, and her respect for him grew.

Just before she was to leave, after she'd checked her watch yet again that day, Matthew said to her, "I just wanted to let you know that with this job comes a bit of the unknown."

She looked up at him, as they walked towards the front door at the end of the work session. "I'm not sure I understand," she replied with curiosity.

"Some things, I just want to do but can't do by myself. I suppose it will be an adventure, day by day, you know? To see what The Lord will offer us."

She said nothing at that, she just couldn't, the way she felt about life. The bitter remnants of her shattered existence came to her then, linked only by Jacob. After Samuel's diagnosis, treatment nightmare, then death, Jacob was the only good thing to happen to her in years. And she held onto him in her heart, thinking he was the bright spot in her reality.

God had punished her enough, she thought bitterly.

Chapter 2

As soon as she arrived home, Bethany slung her purse and briefcase on a chair and ran to Jacob's playpen, lifted him high above her head before she danced around the room with him, making him squeal and giggle with pleasure.

Her mother came out of the kitchen with a towel slung over her shoulder. "Hi honey. I take it you got the job?" She pushed back her gray hair, smoothed her apron and dusted off her slacks. "He's been good all day, haven't you?" she cooed to him.

Bethany kissed her, while still hugging Jacob close. "Yes, and I even get lunch free and a gasoline allowance. It looks to be interesting. And my boss is blind."

"Your boss? Well, what a surprise. Isn't life funny?"

"Yes. His name is Matthew. A very talented man."

They sat on the sofa, while Bethany held Jacob on her knee, bouncing him up and down.

"So, what are you doing for him?" her mother asked.

"Basically checking the work of his accountants. I guess it's like a thing to reassure him. Can't say as I blame him, what with him being blind and all. It surprises me what he can do, amazes me, actually. And he can use all the checks and balances he can get."

They went on discussing her day before Bethany fed Jacob. Sitting in the rocking chair, trying to get him to burp, she thought about what it would be like to be blind. And a small part of her was thankful that everyone in her family could see and hear properly. But she said no prayer. She never said prayers anymore. Although, after meeting Matthew she wondered if he ever said prayers. What did a blind man pray for? Wasn't it, then, too late for prayers?

Suddenly her cell phone rang in her purse. "Mother, can you get my cell for me please?" she called out.

Her mother answered and handed her the phone. Bethany continued patting Jacob's back. "Yes?"

"Bethany," Matthew said, "I'm sorry to disturb you at home. I was thinking about what you said about the backup documents."

Unfortunately, Jacob picked that particular moment to burp loudly right into the phone receiver.

Trying to salvage the moment, Bethany murmured, "Sorry. You were saying?" He probably thought she did it. She tried to think of something more embarrassing that had ever happened to her, but she came up with nothing.

She could tell he was smiling as he said, "I was just wondering if you would pick up the backup items at the accountant's office tomorrow before you come out here. Again, I would pay for your gasoline."

He gave her the address, which she quickly scribbled down as she shifted Jacob to her other shoulder. "Of course. No problem. Catch you tomorrow then."

"Right. Tomorrow."

After she'd rung off, she balanced Jacob on her knees and said seriously, "Little man, you'll have to stop burping into the phone."

But not wanting her seriousness, he just giggled, burped again and sucked on his fist noisily.

Matthew sat at his desk after talking to Bethany. It was so frustrating, he thought, not being able to get a picture of her in his mind.

He heard Sarah come in the room with her duster, as she always did on Monday, humming slightly.

"Sarah," he said, "what does pink look like?"

"Well," she paused for a minute, "what do you mean pink? I mean where did you hear it?"

"Nat told me. He said she has pink cheeks and brown hair. I'm having trouble with colors. That would be Bethany, I mean."

"Pink cheeks are warm, but not hot like red. And brown is warm, but darker, like a shadow. Green, like her eyes, can be cold. Her eyes are warm after all, though, because there is a bit of brown in them, you know, mixed in with the green."

"And blue is cold?"

"Yes, Matthew. She was wearing a blue outfit, cold, but I had the definite impression she was very warm as a person."

"Thank you, Sarah. I appreciate it."

"Anytime, Matthew."

And, after that, he just sat, wondering,
what was the color of love?

The next day as she stood in her kitchen, Bethany said irritably, "Mother, I just don't have time for prayers anymore in the morning, so stop bothering me about it. It's one thing if a woman is a stay at home mother, but I'm too busy now." She grabbed the directions she'd printed out for the accountant's offices.

Sighing, he mother replied, "How can you be too busy for God? He always has time for you."

"And what has He done for me lately?" Bethany asked her, as she slung her purse on her shoulder. She gave Jacob kisses on his cheeks as he sat in his baby seat. "See you later sweetie." She left quickly before her mother could offer more words of advice.

But, after she left, her mother watched her pull out of the driveway. "Bethany, He gave you Jacob," she whispered.

Taking a deep breath, Bethany pulled up in front of Matthew's house. She was the same basket-case as the day before, with double padding on her breasts, and missing Jacob something fierce, while she gathered up the accounting materials.

Sarah showed her into the den, where he sat at the computer. "Hi, Bethany," he said absently. "Go ahead and get settled. I hope you can help me with this. It doesn't make sense and I think the computer voice is messing up but I'm not certain about that."

"Sure," she replied quickly, dropping her things on a chair and walking behind him to take a look. "Well the financials are out of balance. I can see that right away. It seems as if the voice is correct after all." She moved the mouse around, reaching over his shoulder.

Matthew lost his breath at her closeness and her faint perfume wound around him like a cloak. It was a heady feeling, and he liked it. But he had a hard time talking because of it. Finally, he said, "How to fix it?"

"Good question," she laughed, her minty warm breath close to his cheek. "I've got the back-up from the accountants with me, so let me take a look at both. Hopefully I can find the problem. They probably booked something wrong. I'm surprised they'd even issue an out of balance financial statement. That's unusual. And, very careless of them."

"Tell you what," he said, thinking of his plans for today, specially cooked up with Nat last night, "why don't you sit here, see what you can do before lunch, then we'll take a break afterwards, this afternoon."

"I don't usually take breaks," she said tentatively, wondering what to expect.

He smiled. "This is a fun one. You'll like it." He rose, and could feel her next to him so close they almost touched, before she stepped out of his way.

Calling Mutty, he made his way down the hall to the kitchen. "She might like coffee or tea," he told Sarah.