When Love Finds a Home (12 page)

"Where does he
live?" Rona blurted out when she heard he was flying over.

Anna chuckled. "His ranch
is north of Midland."

"Wow. How did he find
you?" She stopped, embarrassed by the rudeness of her question. "What
I meant is—"

Anna waved her off.
"While I was still with Bank of America, I received a referral for a woman
who had bank accounts with us but had her investments elsewhere. She was
unhappy with her current advisor and was looking for someone else. While
glancing over her portfolio, I noticed that almost half of her investments were
in Enron stock. I recommended that she balance her portfolio by diversifying
into several different sectors. She mentioned my suggestion to her father, who
also followed my advice. All of this occurred a few months before the whole
Enron fiasco. By diversifying, they didn't lose their shirts. When I left the
bank to go out on my own, they transferred their accounts to my new firm."
Anna peered out the kitchen window. "I dread driving in that mess."

"It won't be so bad.
Traffic will be light. Take your time and don't make any sudden turns or stops.
If you start to slide, remember to tap your brakes and steer into the
slide," Rona automatically repeated all the warnings her father would
issue to her mother with each new snowfall. She took a sip of coffee, disturbed
that she had actually sounded like him.

"It sounds as though you
know what you're doing."

Rona shrugged. "I grew up
in Michigan."

Anna joined her at the table.
"How would you like to start that temp job a couple days early?"

"You really don't want to
drive, do you? You did fine yesterday."

Anna shook her head. "I
was just driving the few streets over to Julian's, and I was petrified the car
was going to slide into something. The thought of driving all the way downtown
..." She shuddered.

Rona chuckled. "All the
way downtown is only about thirty minutes away."

"There's a big difference
between thirty minutes of smooth driving and thirty minutes of slipping and
sliding," Anna pointed out. "Besides, it's not just the road
conditions that concern me. I'm worried about getting hit by all those other
drivers who will be driving as badly as I am."

Rona shook her head.
"Everyone will be as scared as you are. They'll all be driving like little
old ladies on a Sunday afternoon."

"So, you'll drive?"
Anna asked, looking at her hopefully.

Rona couldn't keep from
grinning. "Yes, I'll drive," she agreed.

They jotted a note to Tammy
and left the house as soon as Anna finished her coffee. Since the interstates
were still closed, they were forced to take the side streets into the city. By
the time Rona finally pulled into the parking lot of Anna's office building,
her central nervous system felt as though it had been run through a blender.
There weren't many cars on the road, but unfortunately, people who had little
or no experience in navigating on icy roads were driving them. Twice they
narrowly missed being hit by drivers who seemed to believe that poor road
conditions were no reason to reduce their speed. She could feel her insides
trembling when she handed the keys over to Anna.

"If I wasn't afraid my
lips would stick to the pavement, I'd get out and kiss the ground," Anna
said as she took the keys.

A sudden image of such a scene
made Rona laugh aloud. She stopped when she saw Anna watching her.

"You have a nice
laugh," Anna said as she gazed at her.

Rona quickly opened the car door.
The trembling in her stomach now had nothing to do with bad drivers.

Chapter Thirteen

Rona followed Anna to the
front entrance of the building she'd once had to sneak into through the back
door. How ironic that she was actually going to be working here. She turned her
back to the cold wind as she waited for Anna to unlock the door. The jacket
Anna loaned her wasn't thick enough to block the frigid wind. After they
stepped into the warm interior, it surprised her to see Anna lock the door
behind them. She was grateful that the wide-shouldered man who was usually the
first one in wasn't as conscious about security as Anna was, or her first stay
here could have ended very differently.

Her long stride took her to
the elevators a step ahead of Anna. She pushed the button and was slightly
surprised that the doors opened immediately. She stepped in and selected the
third floor. They rode in silence. When the doors opened, Anna was busy digging
in her purse. Rona stepped out of the elevator and automatically turned to the
right. She knew from her previous visits that the investment firm was the
second door to the right.

"You seem to know your
way around here pretty well," Anna said as she came over to unlock the
door.

Stunned by her own stupidity
Rona could only stare at her.

"How did you manage to
avoid the security guard?" Anna asked as she unlocked the door and stepped
inside.

Since she didn't ever intend
to have to sneak into another building, she saw no harm in telling. "Each
night after the cleaning people left, he went to the lounge and slept. He would
set his watch to wake him up at midnight and again at five in the
morning."

Anna nodded. "Where did
you stay? I thought all the offices were locked."

"There's a restroom on
the fourth floor. It's outside the training center. I guess that's why they
never bothered to lock it."

"So, how many people
sleep here each night?"

"As far as I know it's
just me. I found the place by accident. The night we met you was the first time
I brought anyone with me."

Anna led her through a
reception area to what looked like a small conference room. "This is where
you'll be working. Two other people work here, but neither of them will be in
today. Sharon is my admin specialist and Neal is a sales assistant. He's working
at getting his master's in finance. As soon as he does, and he acquires his
certification, I'll make him a junior associate." She pointed to a room
across from where they were standing. "That's his office." She
motioned for Rona to follow her into a room that looked like a small kitchen.
There was a microwave and a coffeepot on the counter and an apartment-sized
refrigerator. Cabinets filled the space above and below the counters.
"This is our
everything
room. We use it as a break room, a coffee
shop and supply room. My office is at the end of the hallway. The restroom is
down the main hall to the left."

Rona nodded. She knew where it
was.

Anna was fumbling with the
thermostat on the wall. "I don't know why I bother. I don't think this
thing is connected to anything. We complain that it's too cold and the building
manager eventually sends someone out who swings this little gadget around in
the air and swears it's seventy-two degrees in here, but I don't think it
is."

"Do you want it warmer
now?" Rona asked.

Anna looked at her.
"Don't you think it's cold in here? Sharon keeps a lap robe at her
desk."

"I need something with a
sharp point," Rona said.

Anna pulled open a drawer.
"Like this?" she asked as she held up a fork.

"No. I need something
with a single point." She moved to stand beside Anna as she opened another
drawer. There was a small black plastic box. Rona picked it up.

"I think those are
screwdrivers," Anna replied as she continued to dig.

Rona opened the case. Anna was
right. The box contained screwdrivers, but they were too large for what she
needed. She was about to close the case when she noticed it also contained
three small metal punches. She took the middle one. "I think this will
do." After carefully removing the plastic cover of the thermostat, she
inserted the punch into the small hole on the bottom. As she turned the punch,
the thermostat issued a slight hissing sound.

Anna watched her nervously.
"You don't seem concerned about that noise, so I'm guessing this is
something you've done before?"

Rona nodded. "When I was
a teenager, I would sometimes have to baby-sit the infants whenever special
events were held at church. It was always too cold in the room and a friend of
mine showed me how to do this." She could feel Anna watching as she
replaced the cover. "I didn't raise it very much. It'll be about thirty
minutes before you to start noticing a difference in the temperature."

"If you can make this
office warmer, you're going to become Sharon's heroine." She started
removing her coat. "Let me put my stuff away and I'll get you started on
the database." She stopped suddenly. "Crap."

"What?"

"I wasn't expecting to
hire anyone until next week or later. I intended to rent a computer to
use." She rubbed her forehead. "Why don't you use Sharon's computer
today, and I'll have her make arrangements to get you one Monday morning."
She nodded as if agreeing with her decision. "Actually that will work out
well. Sharon has a template for mailing labels."

Rona went back to the
reception area and waited for Anna to hang up her coat. As she came back down
the hall, Rona noticed that Anna was no longer wearing sneakers. She had
changed into a pair of black pumps. She found herself wondering what Anna's
legs looked like. It was obvious that most of Anna's height was from the waist
down. She imagined her legs to be long and shapely.

"Are you ready?"

It took Rona a moment to tear
herself away from her fantasy.

"Is everything
okay?" Anna asked glancing down at her pants. "Do I have mud on me or
something?"

Rona turned away to hide the
blush creeping up her neck. "No, everything's fine. I was just noticing
that you changed your shoes."

"Oh, yeah. I usually wear
tennis shoes until I get to the office. Sometimes, Sharon has to remind me to
change." She sat down and turned on the computer. As it was booting up,
she reached beneath the desk. When her hand emerged, she was holding a small
ring of keys. She saw Rona watching. "Tight security, huh?" She
unlocked the lap drawer of Sharon's desk and pushed aside a small tray holding
pencils. "Pretend like you don't see me doing this. I know they say you
should never write your passwords down, but there are too many to
remember."

Rona had no interest in
Sharon's computer passwords. There was nothing in the computer that could
benefit her. She turned away and pretended to study a painting of a waterfall.

After the computer was up and
running, Anna locked the desk and returned the keys to their original position.
She spent several minutes looking through Sharon's files for the template.
After locating the file, it took even longer for them to figure out how it worked.
By the time she left to go to her office, Rona was feeling comfortable with the
task. Alone at Sharon's desk, she flipped through the stack of papers with the
names and addresses she was supposed to be inputting. It was a much shorter one
than she had anticipated, only about five hundred names. She started typing the
information slowly. Her typing wasn't very fast, but at least it was accurate.
After typing for several minutes, she slowly got up and peeked down the
hallway. Anna's door was open, but the only thing visible through it was a
large walnut table. Rona typed a few more entries before she reached beneath
the desk and felt along its side until she located the key ring. She unlocked
the desk and eased the lap drawer open. Inside she found the usual supplies,
along with a package of gum and one of breath mints. She softly closed it and
typed a few more entries before moving to the top side drawer. Here she found
what she was looking for, the petty cash box. A tiny lock secured the small
wooden box. The box and lock were so flimsy that either could easily be smashed
open with a hammer. Rona eased the drawer closed and typed a few more entries
before searching through the keys until she found a small flat one. She reached
into the drawer and inserted the key into the lock on the box. It popped open.
Inside she found thirty-eight dollars and some change. Not as much as she had
hoped for, but every little bit helped. She locked the box, careful to leave
everything as she had found it. After locking the desk, she returned the keys
to their hiding place. She hadn't taken any of the money. For now, she was
content with simply knowing where it was. When the time was right, she would
have to be able to get to it quickly. She picked up the list to find the next
name.

"How's it going?"

The voice startled Rona so,
she almost screamed. She spun in the chair to find Anna standing at the
doorway. How long had she been standing there? Had she heard something, maybe
the desk drawer opening or closing?

"I'm sorry," Anna
said. "I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

"Did you need
something?" Rona managed to ask.

"No. It's almost
nine."

Rona stared at her blankly.

"It's almost time for Mr.
Tanner, my nine-thirty appointment from Midland, to arrive. I'm going down to
unlock the lobby doors."

Rona stood. "I can do it
for you."

Anna shook her head. "I
don't want to interrupt you. Besides, I'm going to wait for him and bring him up.
This is his first time here. I flew to Midland for our initial visit and since
then everything has been handled over the phone and overnight mail. I started a
pot of coffee if you want some."