The Choir Director (11 page)

“Look, I don’t wanna beat around the bush anymore, Bishop. We both know why I’m here.”

“Oh, and why is that, Smitty?”

“You want me to cut your little choir director friend a break,
but it’s not happening. I want you to understand that we are not going to stand for you hiring this young man. We don’t have the funds.”

“Do you really want to fight me on this, Smitty? I’ve beaten better men than you in that boardroom.” Suddenly I realized that if we continued our conversation in this manner, things were going to turn ugly. As mad as I was, I still had to remember that I was a spiritual leader—and that not too long ago, I considered this man a friend.

I took my tone down a notch and said, “Heck, let’s be real about it: Most of those times it was you fighting alongside me. I don’t want to fight you, Smitty. Why don’t you go hear the kid sing? I think it will convince you we’re making the right choice.”

My peacemaking attempt got me nowhere. He would not back down. “No, thanks. I’ll pass. And yes, I was fighting alongside you, but you’re not thinking rationally, so someone has to take you down a few pegs.”

I cleared my throat. “What has gotten into you? We’re supposed to be friends.”

“We are friends, T. K., but I have to do what’s best for the church—and having you as pastor and him as choir director is not in the church’s best interest.”

So, the rumors were true. Smitty, for whatever reason, was trying to take me out. Well, so much for handling this with diplomacy. If my enemies were going to come gunning for me, I would have to use some ammunition of my own.

“I’m not quite sure what that’s supposed to mean, Smitty, but I’ve got to do what I think is best for the church also.” I reached into my lower desk drawer and pulled out a folder. “After you read this, I think you will agree that I’m not going anywhere, and neither is he.”

Smitty opened the folder and examined the contents, which caused him to gasp. Expressions of shock, recognition, and then fear rippled across his face.

“Oh dear Lord, where did you get this?”

“James Black knows the dirt on everybody in this church, Smitty. You know that. You do recall how close we are, don’t you? Well, I now have possession of all his files.” I leveled a
steely gaze on him. “It sure would be a shame if this information leaked out, wouldn’t it?”

“You wouldn’t,” he challenged.

I smirked. “I wouldn’t hesitate.”

“But … but you’re a pastor, a man of God. You wouldn’t stoop this low. This is blackmail. It’s goes against your moral code.”

“Who are you to decide what my moral code is? And for the record, I’m still a man of God, just one with something hanging over your head. You didn’t really think I’d let you railroad me out of my job or push out a man after I gave him my word, did you? You should know me better than that. And a lesson for future reference: Before you come after any man, you should always be sure your own skeletons are in check.”

“T. K….” Smitty was backing down in a hurry. “Bishop, you don’t understand. If this gets out, my life as I know it is over.”

“You’ve been keeping secrets for so long you don’t even realize that life as you knew it has been over for a long time now. But I’m gonna give you a chance to keep the status quo.”

“And how are you going to do that?”

“I want you to go into that meeting and let them know you want to keep Aaron Mackie as the choir director. You do that and I’ll see to it that your secret stays with me.”

Suddenly, it was as if all the fight had gone out of him, like his body was shrinking before my eyes. He was clearly a defeated man. What I didn’t know was that the pressure he was feeling wasn’t coming solely from me.

“You don’t understand. They have the same information that you do, T. K. This is way bigger than just some simple hiring of a choir director. This is about you. They want you out, and they are not going to stop until you’re gone.”

“Who, Smitty? Who could want me gone that bad?”

He didn’t give me an answer. With fear in his eyes, he got up and headed for the door, his head hung low. “I can’t go into that meeting and say what you want me to say, old friend. They’ll ruin me if I do. But I’ll give you a fighting chance by not showing up at all. You think that will be good enough?” For the first time
since I returned from hiring Aaron, I saw the real Smitty again. I saw my friend—and he looked deeply troubled.

“If you’re not there to push them, it just might be. But, Smitty, please, I need to know who’s doing this.”

“I can’t do that. You’re a man of God, so I’m going to trust that you’ll do the right thing, the godly thing, and keep my secret. Them, on the other hand … there’s no telling what they’d do if I revealed their identities. I have a family to consider. All I can do is warn you. Resign before this thing gets ugly. This whole thing is way bigger than you or me.”

Aaron Mackie and Simone Wilcox
. I wrote it on my day planner and surrounded it with a heart. Silly, right? Well, I had been doodling silly stuff like that all day long. I’d met the man only two days ago, but I just couldn’t get him out of my head. Sure, I’d had my share of crushes over the years on some of the finest men you’d ever want to meet, but this was different. It was like he was a missing piece of me I didn’t know existed. I truly felt like he could complete me. Lord knows it had been a long time since a man had taken over my mind like this. A very long time.

“Simone, your father’s on line four.” Anita Lowery, my secretary, popped her head into my office, snapping me out of my fantasy world and back to the reality of running a car dealership.

Oh, great. Just what I didn’t need today, a call from dear old Dad.

“How’d he sound, Anita?” I held my breath as I waited for her reply.

“He sounded agitated. He snapped at me twice.”

That wasn’t a good sign because Daddy liked Anita.

“He didn’t ask to speak with Willie, did he?” I asked hopefully.

“No, he just wanted to speak to you. I told him you were on the floor with a customer, and he said he didn’t care, that I should go get you.”

“Oh Lord, what the hell does he want?” I wondered out loud. Anita shrugged, probably glad that it wasn’t her he was upset with. “Okay, Anita, thanks. I’ll take it from here.”

Anita pulled her head back and disappeared into the hallway,
shutting my door. I, on the other hand, stared at the phone, willing it to spontaneously disconnect the call. I took a deep breath and finally picked it up, pressing the flashing red button.

“Hey, Daddy,” I said in an upbeat, almost teenage-sounding voice. I was in my late thirties, but I knew the best way to keep my father calm was to butter him up and keep him thinking that I was still his little girl, helpless and always in need of his help. “How’s the greatest father in the world? Still handsome as ever, I’m sure.”

It wasn’t a lie. My father was a great-looking man for sixty-six. He was still trim and fit. Since he and my stepmom retired to a Sarasota, Florida, senior community, he walked and exercised every day. He even lifted weights. He pranced around like a male peacock, so I treated him like one.

“Don’t you BS me, girl. I’m not in the mood.”

His voice sounded brusque. This was a problem. It was evident that he wasn’t buying what I was selling, which could only mean he’d found out something that I didn’t want him to know. The real question was what did he know, and just how damaging was it?

“What do you mean, Daddy? I wouldn’t BS you.” I stuck with the girlie voice in case it might still soften him up.

“Did you fire Michael Nixon?”

Damn! How’d he find out about that?
My palms got sweaty, and my heart started pounding. I knew what was up, and I wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation. I sure wished the nosy-behind folks around here would mind their own damn business. They were always diming on me. Just jealous, that’s what they were.

“Yes, Daddy, I fired him.” I sighed loudly as I pulled the phone away from my ear in anticipation of the yelling I was sure to hear. My father didn’t disappoint.

“What the hell is wrong with you? That man is our best damn salesman!”

The phone was three feet away from my ear, and I could hear every word he said as clear as a bell.

“Daddy! Daddy! Please … please hear me out before you start screaming again. Please.”

“You got two minutes!” he huffed.

Michael Nixon had been working at Wilcox Motors for almost fifteen years, and my father was right; he had been our top salesman since the day he started. With that being said, I still fired his ass last week when I found out he was getting married. No, it wasn’t the brightest move I’d ever made, but it sure as hell made me feel better. You see, on top of being the best salesman, Mike Nixon was by far the most handsome man in the company. I’d started sleeping with him about two years ago when my father retired and turned the business over to me. It wasn’t anything serious, at least not for me, and after a few months, I got bored and gave him the boot. I did, however, let him keep his job. I figured it was the right thing to do. Like I said, he was our top salesman.

Everything was fine until he started strutting around the dealership last week talking about getting married. Now, I didn’t even know the woman he was marrying, but there was no way I was gonna let him support some floozy with company funds when he was clearly just on the rebound from me. So, I fired his ass and hired two cuter, noncommissioned guys for half of what he made.

“Daddy, I didn’t want to fire him, but I had no choice when I found out he was planning on opening his own dealership down the block next year. No way was I going to let him finance our demise and tear down what you built with money we paid him. I’m sorry, Daddy. Maybe I should have spoken to you first, but I felt I had to act fast.” I knew I shouldn’t be lying to my father, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. Besides, I’d been lying to him for as long as I could remember. It was practically second nature at this point.

There was silence on the line when I finished speaking. Then my father exploded. “That sneaky son of a bitch!” he shouted. “Don’t worry about it, baby. You did the right thing.”

“Thank you, Daddy.” I held the phone away from my mouth and exhaled.

“But don’t think you’re off the hook yet. Weren’t you supposed to get me a check out last week?”

“We didn’t send you that check?” I tried to sound surprised. “I’ll have to check with accounting on that.” I was stalling for
time and trying to placate him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t buying it. As often as I lied to him, there were still times I couldn’t fool him.

“Don’t play games with me, Simone. You know that check didn’t go out. I already called Lisa in accounting.”

“Daddy, I’ll be sending it at the end of the week. I promise.”

“I don’t want your promises, Simone. I just want my check. And it better not bounce,” he warned. “You do not want me to catch a plane to New York and make some changes. You may run the company, but technically I still own it.”

“I know, Daddy. You’ve made that pretty clear the past two years.”

“Don’t you dare patronize me! You missed last month’s payment, and when you finally sent it, it bounced. I didn’t put you in charge of my company so I could worry about my retirement.”

“You don’t have to worry, Daddy. I got this, okay? And you don’t have to come to New York. I’ll get you a cashier’s check and text you the tracking number tonight, all right? Look, I gotta run. Love you.”

“I love you too … sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” I repeated, not believing my ears.

With that, Daddy hung up. I closed my eyes and rubbed them, thankful to get out of that conversation with just a mild tongue-lashing and a demand for a check. Daddy could be so coldblooded when it came to his money. I was going to have to get him that check. Last thing I needed was for him to be taking a trip to New York and snooping around with all the things I had going on.

Anita stepped into my office and closed the door behind her, looking flushed. She leaned against the door frame and fanned herself with her hand.

“Anita, what is wrong with you?”

“Simone, there is a customer out there waiting to see you, and he is so fiiiine!”

“He asked for me?” I had an inkling I knew who the gorgeous man was. “Is his name Aaron Mackie?”

“Mmm-hmm.” She nodded.

“Oh my God. He’s here?” I lifted my head, primping my hair
with my hand. “He wasn’t supposed to come by until around six.” I glanced at the clock. It was six, all right. Where did the time go?

“Gurrl, who is he?”

“He’s the new choir director at my church.” I smiled proudly.

“Well, then consider me a new member of your church.” It was clear from the look on her face that she was dead serious.

“Anita, you are a trip.”

“I didn’t see a ring. Is he available?”

“No, he’s not available.” I cut my eyes at her as I brushed off my suit. “And if you value your job, I better not catch you flirting with him.”

She raised both eyebrows. “Oh, my bad. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize he was one of yours. I mean, he’s just so damn fine. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Well, now you know.” I gave her a pointed look to make sure she understood that the conversation was over.

I liked Anita, and she was a good secretary, but there were reasons I didn’t have very many women working here. Number one: I don’t like competition, despite the fact that there usually isn’t any. Number two: Bitches are sneaky when it comes to men. I knew I was, and if I would do something, I damn sure knew another bitch would too. However, it did feel good to watch another woman go crazy over a man who was mine—or at least who was going to be mine.

“You want me to show him in?” Anita asked with a hint of an attitude. Obviously she was pissed about the way I spoke to her, but I didn’t give a damn. All’s fair in love and war.

“No, wait. Just a minute.” I picked up my compact, freshened up my lipstick, swiped my makeup sponge over my face, and ran my hand through my hair. I sat up straight in my chair and crossed my legs. “All right, you can send him in now.”