A Younger Man (Mount Faith Series: Book 7) (2 page)

Her office was a lot more modest than Ryan's, but it was still spacious and beautiful. She loved the deep wood panels and the paintings she had tastefully placed on her wall. She had convinced her friend, Gersham, to bid on Arnella Bancroft's painting “Driftwood” at the Medical Association Banquet. She stared at it now.

She had been determined to get the painting. There was something about the scene that spoke to her. It mirrored how she felt for most of her life: like driftwood that was washed up in the midst of the sea's chaos. She also noticed that the driftwood had green buds on one side. It was a painting about struggles and life. She liked it a lot; besides, the artist was Vanley's little sister. She had wanted to help. It had cost her a pretty penny, but it was worth it.

She glanced at her computer screen. She had a few logistics to work out, and meetings with deans to attend, which was normal for the beginning of a new semester. She had always ensured that she was prepared for her meetings and had gone beyond the call of duty regarding all her responsibilities, especially since it was being noised about that she had not gotten the job fairly. Even after nearly three years in the position, she could still sense the distrust.

Granted, her promotion had been unorthodox and somewhat shrouded in secrecy, but there were persons who had been gunning for the job, especially the dean of the school of education, Joe Masters—he still had a grudge against her. He was the first person she had to meet with today. She grimaced and stared into space, cracking her fingers and hearing them pop. It was a nervous gesture that she had been trying for years to curb.

She wasn’t as blasé about Vanley as she had wanted to appear to Ryan. That day, five years ago, when he had entered the president's building, she had immediately noticed his casual loping stride, his slim body encased in black, his pale brown eyes swiveling about the place in innocent wonder, the dimple in his left chin widening to accommodate his smile, and the confident way he held his head.

He was eye-catching, and she had stopped and watched him. A strange hammering had developed in her even-paced heartbeat and she had felt a pull toward him. She had fondly imagined that he had been walking towards her to take her away with him. It had been a fanciful thought, but Anita had learned long ago not to be fanciful.

Her mutual fascination with Vanley was a secret that she guarded well, only admitting it to herself on days like this when she felt out of sorts. She hated herself for feeling the way she did about Vanley, not only because of their age gap, but she had a long list of issues…issues that would probably wipe that adoring look from his gorgeous brown eyes if he knew about them.

Admittedly, she liked the way Vanley looked at her. She was addicted to his adoration, and the thought of him moving on to somebody else or getting married literally kept her up at nights. 

Years ago she had promised Ryan that she would not encourage Vanley, who had taken to coming to the president's building everyday and camping out at her door just to see her. He had even studied for his Homiletics final exam in her outer office. She remembered the pink covered book and how every time she walked through the door Vanley would look up at her and smile.

In a slip of composure, she had given him her number, hoping that he would stop coming by. He had started calling her every day instead. She had enjoyed his phone calls even though she had adopted a maternal tone to her voice that irritated him. Then, one evening three years ago, Vanley entered her office with a determined look on his face. "Anita, we need to talk."

Anita had shaken her head. "We have nothing to say to each other, Vanley." She had taken up a sheaf of papers, hoping to look busy but she wasn't seeing a thing. All the words were swimming in front of her eyes.

Vanley had leaned on the door. His brown eyes beseeched her for understanding, and suddenly something inside her had snapped. She had thrown caution to the wind, gotten up from her chair, and walked over to him and kissed him hard. It was a punishing kiss that she hoped would make the point that she was too old for him, but his lips had been so soft, and hers had trembled against his. The sensation had completely wiped from her mind the motive for her kissing him in the first place.

The kiss had gone on for minutes and then that guy, Harry Campbell, had barged in on them and stealthily backed away. She had seen him, but she had pretended not to. Later she found out that he had been working undercover on the Carlisle case. His intrusion had quickly brought her to her senses—it could have been Ryan who had barged in on them.

She shuddered to think how that scene would have played out. She and Ryan kept each other's secrets, but now she didn't have many of his secrets to keep since he had publicly confessed to premarital affair that resulted in Taj Jackson being born. They were now uneven; Bancroft had more secrets for her now. She was concerned about that. She did not want Ryan Bancroft as an enemy as he was very protective of his family, and Vanley was family.

Not only that, Vanley was a pastor. His job would require that his future spouse be of high morals, and she was squarely in the gray area where morality was concerned.

She sighed, a lonely despondent sound that trembled on the air in her office.

Her secretary, Davia, poked her head around the door. "Guess what?"

Anita grimaced. Davia was new, enthusiastic, and completely lacking in business etiquette. As a result, Anita had spent the last week, since the New Year began, lecturing Davia.

If she were not as efficient as Ryan claimed she would have sent her back to Ryan's office, where she worked as an assistant to his secretary.

"What?" she asked Davia, more roughly than she had intended.

"Pastor Vanley is here," Davia squealed, "I just saw him in the building. I love him," she said dreamily, then she realized that she was looking at a less than impressed Anita. She cleared her throat, "And here are the papers you need for the meeting with Dr. Masters."

Anita nodded and took the papers from Davia. "Thank you."

"I go to Pastor Vanley's church you know," Davia was saying, completely overlooking the dismissive thank you. "They introduced him as the new pastor a couple of weeks ago."

Anita frowned. She was trying to discourage a personal relationship with Davia, but the girl was reporting on her favorite secret topic: Vanley. She swallowed her distaste for gossiping with her secretary and looked at Davia with interest.

"That's nice."

Davia nodded excitedly. "I think he likes me. He was looking at me the whole time he was on the podium before he delivered his sermon."

Anita nodded and smiled. She doubted that Vanley had looked at Daviafixatedly for a long period, though she was an attractive girl. She wore her thick natural hair in corkscrew curls, which were now out and framed her animated round face. She had smooth milk chocolate skin, and most importantly, she was in Vanley's age group. She was an appropriate girlfriend for Vanley. The thought had Anita frowning at her secretary darkly.

"Davia, this conversation is highly inappropriate. Remember the rules I emailed to you about office conduct?"

"Oh yes, I know, I know." Davia grinned. "I keep forgetting." She turned to the door and grinned at Anita, a happy grin that annoyed Anita.

What was she so constantly happy about?

Oh to be twenty-one, and naive
, she thought when Davia closed the door. She quickly scratched the thought. She was never naive. She had always had several issues to battle with. Whoever said that life would get easier with age was lying.

*****

Vanley approached his uncle's office, all the while looking down the long corridor towards Anita's office. His head and heart were already there.
What was the harm in saying hello
? he reasoned.

When he entered her suite of offices, he was greeted with a breathy hello from a girl who looked vaguely familiar. "Hello, is Miss Parkinson in?"

"Yes." Davia nodded vigorously. She got up, straightening her wool suit, which was a size larger than she was. "I am Davia Binns, her new secretary."

"Hi, Davia." Vanley smiled. "Can I go in?" he indicated to the door.

"I go to your church," Davia said quickly, "in Bramble; that's where I live."

Vanley smiled and Davia stared at his dimple, dazedly.

"Well, it's good to meet you, and I am sure I will see you at church." Vanley shook her hand firmly and headed toward Anita's door.

He opened the door slowly and stepped inside. He always thought the space was too masculine for Anita; but apparently, she loved it.

She looked up from her computer when he entered and sighed. She rubbed her eyes wearily, an innocent gesture that melted his heart.

"I was in the building," Vanley said. "Decided to stop by and say hello."

Anita nodded. "I heard the conversation just now. My secretary has a thing for you."

Vanley smirked. "I wonder why."

"Because you are tall, dark, and handsome," Anita said softly, and then she cleared her throat. "Happy new year."

Vanley inclined his head. "Happiness for me right now is to be with the woman I love, and she won't let me be with her, even though she compliments me. Happy new year to you too, I guess."

Anita swallowed. She clasped her hands in front of her. "You are so out there with your feelings. It's disconcerting."

"And young." Vanley raised his brow and approached her desk. "Remember you said young last time…young and disconcerting. Oh yes, you also said I was too honest."

Anita smiled sadly. He was in a blue and white striped dress shirt and black dress pants. He looked like a debonair young professional.

"What's the worst thing that could ever happen to you now?" Anita asked Vanley, watching as he sat down and crossed his long legs under her desk.

Vanley shrugged. " Right now? This moment? The worst thing would be losing my position as a minister. I really love the ministry."

Anita sighed.

Vanley watched as she looked up into the ceiling.

"That's known to happen when young ministers marry inappropriate people." She looked at him wickedly. "So there, I am doing you a favor by not encouraging this love thing with you."

Vanley chuckled. "I doubt the church organization would care if I marry an older woman. They are more interested in things like character and whether you are a member of the church in good and regular standing, et cetera."

Anita leaned toward her desk. "It's not just age, Vanley. I am not suitable for becoming a minister's wife..."

Vanley squinted his eyes and leaned toward the desk too. "Let me make up my own mind about that Anita. I am not a child; I can cope with whatever skeletons you have stashed in your closet."

Anita chuckled. "No, you can't and why should you? You are young. This thing you claim you have for me should have fizzled out a long time ago."

"Yet it hasn't," Vanley said smugly. "What does that tell you?"

"It tells me that I should probably stop acting so coy and let you be exposed to me for a while. Surely, that worshipful adoration will eventually crash if you get to know me a little better. I am cranky, anal-retentive, a stickler for having things a certain way, I am usually not happy. You'd hate me after a while."

Vanley laughed. "I could never hate you. However, we can test to see if I could. Want to go to singles retreat in St. Ann? It's a church conference thing, and it's at the end of the month: one whole weekend of counseling, lectures and activities for Christian singles."

Anita swallowed. She had had no intention of opening up a part of herself to Vanley. She barely recognized, as her own, the hoarse voice that agreed to go to a singles retreat with Vanley Bancroft.

Vanley grinned; his brown eyes lit up. "Then it's a date." He got up. "I want to catch my uncle before he leaves the office."

Anita nodded numbly. A little part of her was afraid she had just offered to let Vanley in. She could hear the silent squeaking of the proverbial closet door swinging open, and she suddenly felt vulnerable.

*****

"Hey, Vanley," Bancroft greeted his nephew fondly. He was in the conference room that was adjacent to his office. A model for a new branch of the university was spread before him in miniature pieces. The board had decided to follow the current trend in education and open an extension campus. Their first would be in the Dominican Republic. The small university they were building there would be finished in a few months and would heavily use technology and blended learning to complement the offerings on the main campus at Mount Faith.

Bancroft was looking over plans for the new campus. Most of the technology and all the necessary equipment were already acquired, and recruitment was already on in earnest.

"Hey." Vanley looked over his uncle's shoulders at the plan spread before him. He pointed to the church. "That's going to be a small place of worship. Even the gym is larger."

Bancroft nodded. "Well, they are building the place to accommodate just five hundred students, and I think the gym will double as a sports science center."

Vanley nodded and then sighed, "Uncle Ryan. Why is Anita so closed to me? You two are friends; give me some insight."