Love Gently Falling (10 page)

“Do you mind if we pick up some takeout food?” he asked as he got behind the wheel. “I haven't eaten since noon.”

“Sounds lovely.”

“I'm craving a cheeseburger and shake, but I'm guessing you might be one of those California cuisine girls, so we—”

“I would adore a cheeseburger and shake,” she confessed.

“I know just the place.”

Within minutes, loaded down with their to-go dinner, Johnny was unlocking the door to what appeared to be some kind of warehouse. “Where are we?” she asked curiously as he led them in, flipping on lights.

“Jolly Janitors,” he said.

“Oh…” She looked around the large, organized space. “Nice.”

“We can eat in the office.” He led her over to a room with windows, unlocking the door and turning on lights. “Warmer in here.”

“They give you keys to the office?” She set the bag containing their shakes on what looked like a conference table.

He chuckled as he opened a nearby cabinet, extracting a couple of paper plates and setting them across from each other on the table. “Take off your coat and make yourself at home.”

“You won't get in trouble for doing this?” She set the shakes by the paper plates.

“Nah. It's okay.” He hung his red and white janitor jacket over the back of chair and flipped on a switch that instantly produced music—not too loud, but nice.

“You're sure?” She looked nervously around, taking in the sleek dark wood cabinets, the big, tidy desk with its comfy looking leather chair. What if Johnny's boss walked in on them right now?

“No problem.” He handed her a burger and bag of fries.

“This is an attractive office.” She cautiously removed her coat and sat down. “Comfy chair, too.” She studied him carefully. “You're sure this is okay, Johnny? I'd hate for you to get in trouble.”

“It's fine. Really.” He picked up his burger. “Trust me.”

After one of the most delicious fast-food meals she could remember, she insisted on cleaning up, trying to leave everything as spotless as they'd found it. Johnny watched with what seemed like amusement. Maybe he wasn't used to anyone cleaning up after him. And then he turned off the lights and locked the door. “Did you bring a list of what you need?”

“To be honest, I probably don't really know what I need.”

He chuckled. “Well, let me offer my assistance.” He led her over to where painting supplies were stored and started to gather things.

“But can you do this?” she said with concern, “I mean, just borrow these things?”

“Don't forget, you're a Jolly Janitor account.”

“Oh…right.” Still she felt uneasy.

After he'd assembled what seemed a very generous pile of tools and things, he led her to another section. “Now I'm not sure what you have in mind for a floor, but we just happen to have a bunch of these tiles.” He opened some boxes, pulling out some squares of black and white. “I think there's enough to do a checkerboard, but I'm not sure you'd like—”

“I love that,” she exclaimed. “That's what Mom originally had in the salon. Have you ever looked at the photos in back?”

He shook his head. “Nope. But you can have these if you want.”

“
Have
them?”

“Sure. They're just taking up space and—”

“What is going on here, Johnny?” She pressed her lips together. “I mean, I realize you're a Jolly Janitor employee and Hair and Now is a client. But you can't go around giving their stuff away just like—”

“I can if I want.” He reached over to pick up what looked like a can of paint, setting it next to the tile boxes. “You'll need this too, as well as some—”

“Johnny Hollister!” She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I will
not
let you do this.”

“Why not?” He grinned. “You won't find a better deal anywhere.”

“This is like stealing,” she said hotly. “And I'm shocked that you'd even—”

“You really don't know, do you?” He peered curiously at her.

“Know what?”

He waved his hand. “Who owns this business?”

“Huh?”

“I know your mom can't speak. But Ricky didn't tell you? Or Marley?”

“Tell me what?”

“This is
my
company.”

“You
own
Jolly Janitors?” Rita almost felt like she needed to sit down. “Really?”

“It was originally my grandpa's business,” he explained as he picked up a few other things, setting them down by the boxes of tile. “My dad had no interest in it. He prefers wearing an expensive suit and handling other people's money. But I'd worked for Grandpa, to put myself through college.” He went over to get a cart, setting some things on it. “By the time I graduated, Grandpa was getting ready to retire. I had my fancy business degree, so he invited me to step in. After a year or so, he offered to let me take over in exchange for a profit-sharing plan that will see him through his golden years. The business has grown more than either of us expected in these last six years. We're both pretty pleased.”

“Wow.” Rita slowly shook her head. “And here I was worried that the police were about to show up and drag us both off to jail.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “So you really thought I was just an employee? That I was actually stealing this stuff?”

She nodded sheepishly. “It didn't seem like you.”

“And you were okay with that?”

She pressed her lips together, not wanting to lie. “To be honest, it bothered me a lot.”

“Did it bother you that I was
just
a janitor?”

“I'll admit that I questioned it at first.”

He frowned. “You think janitors are second rate?”

“No,” she said firmly. “I'm not sure what I thought exactly. Maybe it was that you were too smart to just be cleaning other people's businesses. You know?”

His frown melted some. “Anyway, it's getting late. Let's get all this stuff to that pallet over there and I'll label that it's taken.”

As they quietly worked together, Rita felt silly, and more than just a little embarrassed, for a number of reasons. Worse than that, she felt like a hypocrite and a phony. Discovering that Johnny was not merely a janitor, but the owner of a thriving custodial business, had probably elevated her interest in him. Or maybe it had simply put her more at ease. And even if that was honest, it also seemed wrong. Not to mention shallow. What was wrong with her?

Johnny had encouraged Rita
to take some tile samples to lay out on the floor with the lime green chairs, just to be sure that was what she really wanted. “I don't want to talk you into something just because the price is right,” he had joked last night.

On Tuesday morning, she was eager to get to the salon and see if the free tiles really did work. So, before Charlene showed up, she laid out eight squares beside a green chair and decided that it all looked pretty good. Now if only she could get the wall paint right. She'd printed out a number of ideas from the Internet and had narrowed it down to three options, but she just wasn't sure. What she needed was a second opinion. And no one had a better artistic eye than Marley.

“To be honest, I'm not sure about any of these,” Marley told Rita as they stood in the salon, where only one customer was getting her hair shampooed by Jillian. Marley pointed out the reasons she questioned each photo then offered another idea. “It seems like a lot of work to rip off that wainscot,” she said, “especially when you're so crunched for time. And what if the drywall comes off with it? Then you'd really be in trouble.”

“That's true.”

“You say you're going to paint those ugly oak cabinets white?”

“To save money.”

Marley twisted her mouth to one side. “White is going to show up the wood grain, which is okay if you're going for shabby chic, but that doesn't seem like what you want.”

“No, it's not. I'm just trying to save money. I want a somewhat contemporary look—in a retro sort of way.”

“Why not paint them black and paint the wainscot to match? Kind of like a wide black stripe going all around. It will really set off those floors and the chairs.”

“You don't think that'll be too dark?”

Marley went over to a cabinet, running her hand over the worn surface. “You could top these with something lighter. My brother Gordon's in the quartz countertop business. He might be able to help you.”

“Ooh, quartz would be cool.”

“And you have to replace those ugly brass drawer pulls.” Marley wrote down Gordon's number then pointed at the walls. “And if I were you, I'd paint the walls in a paler tone of the chair color. Kind of a margarita shade.”

“Margarita.” Rita laughed. “Like my name? Or like the drink?”

“Both.”

“Will you help me pick out the color?”

“Absolutely. You gather up some paint samples and I'll help you decide.” Marley pointed up toward the ceiling. “And I'd paint a wide stripe up there—about twelve to eighteen inches I think—in a darker shade of green. Maybe more like the chair color or something in between.”

Rita nodded. “I can see that.”

“And then I'd paint words right on top of that stripe.”

“Words?” Rita frowned.

“Inspiring words,” Marley continued. “Something your customers could look up at and feel encouraged by. You know?”

“Maybe…” Rita was trying to imagine the three ladies from the retirement home looking up at words and feeling inspired.

“You can get stencils for letters and signs like that online,” Marley explained. “I had one made for my kitchen a couple years ago. An excerpt from the scripture about speaking the truth in love. Rex has probably painted over it by now.” She laughed.

Rita made a sympathetic frown.

“This is the name of the company, if you're interested.” Marley wrote it down. “Naturally, you'll want to pick a modern style of lettering, something fun that jibes with this whole contemporary thing you've got going on.”

“Okay…” Rita looked back at the wall and got an idea. “What about inspiring verbs? Something that suggests action, you know? Like
believe
or
create
or
love
or
embrace
?”

“That would be awesome.” Marley nodded. “I can just see it. And if you decide to do that, I'm happy to help with the stenciling. It's actually kind of fun.”

“I'll take you up on that.”

“You better get right on it then. Make your word list and make sure the company can get the stencils back to you on time. I remember putting a rush order on mine because I was trying to finish up my kitchen in time for book club.”

“I'll do it today.”

“And get a lot of paint samples for the lime green shades,” Marley told her. “Greens can be tricky.” Marley went over to a mirror above the cabinet. “What do you plan to do with these mirrors?”

“Well, I'm not a fan of those heavy oak frames, but we obviously need a mirror at each station, and I'd like to avoid the cost of replacing them. I thought maybe I could just paint the frames. Should they be black too?”

“I have an idea.” Marley explained how Rita could get small black and white ceramic tiles and make a checkerboard frame that was similar to the floor. “I'll bet you could adhere the tiles directly to these frames since they're pretty flat and fairly wide.”

“That sounds perfect.” Rita patted Marley on the back. “I knew I called in the right person.”

“I'm glad you did. I could do this kind of thing all day. I love design!”

“Well, you've given me fabulous ideas. I owe you big-time.”

Marley handed her a list of nearby secondhand stores. “You still have lots of shopping to do. I wish I could join you, but I need to get back to my shop. And don't forget to order those stencils.”

After Marley left, Rita got online and found the phone number for the stencil company. A helpful woman promised to get the stencils back within a week if the order was placed by five today. So Rita picked out a contemporary font and, doing the math for how much space each letter took, she started writing down every inspiring verb she could think of, envisioning them circling the salon like a mantra:
believe, nurture, embrace, forgive, give, create, encourage, love, imagine, hope, enjoy, relax, dream, excite, pamper, kiss…
until she had more than enough to fill the walls and, hopefully, a patron's heart. She sent in her order then called Marley's brother Gordon, explaining her need for eight pieces of quartz countertop. “But I'm on a very tight budget,” she told him, sharing about how she was doing this for her mom.

“I heard about Donna's stroke,” he said. “I hope she's doing better.”

“She makes improvement every day. But it's still going to be a long, hard road.” She didn't go into the details of Ricky's frustration this morning, or her family's fear that Donna was getting depressed.

“So what sizes are these cabinets?”

She told him the dimensions. “I measured with just a little extra so the quartz would go half an inch bigger than the cabinet top. Does that make sense?”

“Absolutely. And interestingly, I happen to have a lot of remnants in that three-foot range. I hold on to these leftovers in the hopes that someone will need bathroom vanity tops, but they tend to pile up over time.”

“Do you have eight white ones?”

“I have tons of white pieces. Do they all have to be the same shade of white?”

She considered this. “I don't see why.”

Then he told her his price and she told him she'd take them. “I'll pick out ones that are as similar as I can find. If you're certain about those measurements, I'll go ahead and cut them to length.”

“I need to pick them up by early next week, at the latest. Does that work?”

“No problem. And I'll deliver them, Rita. They're pretty heavy.”

“Does that cost more?”

“Not for your mom. Did you know that she did Shannon's hair for free when we got married last year?”

“I didn't know that.” Rita smiled. “But it doesn't surprise me.”

On Wednesday morning, with her notebook and lists in hand, Rita set off to do some serious shopping. Her goal was to hit the discount stores first, to look for the best deals, and to hopefully get everything she'd need before her helpers showed up on Saturday to work. She also picked up a variety of paint samples for Marley to choose from.

“To thank you for your help, I'm buying you lunch, and you're going to let me,” she told Marley as they went into Noah's Ark.

“Hey, look over there,” Marley nudged Rita with her elbow. “Zinnia and Johnny—under the rainbow.”

“Oh…?” Rita just nodded, pretending to be uninterested as she glanced over to where Zinnia was talking animatedly to Johnny.

“Think we should intrude on them like Zinnia did to you the other night?”

“No.” Rita looked away. “Of course not.”

“I was just kidding.” Marley gave Rita a curious look.

“Two wrongs don't make a right,” Rita said primly. Okay, she knew she was being silly about this, but something about seeing Zinnia and Johnny just set her teeth on edge. After they received their orders, Rita led the way to the opposite end of the café, as far away from the couple as they could get.

“But your aversion does make me curious.” Marley seemed to be studying Rita closely. “Was there more going on than you let on?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, between you and Johnny the other night?”

“I simply offered to buy him dinner to thank him for taking out my trash,” Rita said in a way that she knew sounded rehearsed. “No big deal.”

“If you say so. I know Zinnia will be relieved to hear that. She was a little concerned.”

“Concerned about what?”

“Like I told you, she's had her eye on Johnny for some time now. And with Valentine's Day coming, I think she's actually hoping for a ring.”

“A ring?”
Rita tried not to choke on her tea.

“Okay, that's probably an exaggeration on my part. But Zinnia keeps hinting that he should go shopping at the Jewel Box.”

“Seriously?” Rita set down her cup. “Are they even dating?”

“Define dating.”

“You know what I mean.” Rita glared at Marley.

“Hmm…?” Marley's brows arched. “For someone who claims she's not interested, you seem awfully interested to me.”

Rita forced a smile. “I'm just curious, that's all.”

“Really?” Marley looked unconvinced.

“You didn't answer my question, Marley. Are Johnny and Zinnia actually dating? Are they a couple? I mean, why would Zinnia say she's hoping for a ring—”

“I take it back, okay? Zinnia merely paused in front of the Jewel Box store window the other day, when we'd gone for coffee. She was drooling over the diamonds, and then she said something about Johnny. I guess I just put two and two together.”

“So do you think you're right? Is it really serious between them?”

Marley grinned. “Ooh, so you really
are
interested, aren't you?”

Rita rolled her eyes as she unfolded a napkin. “It's just that you said something that didn't quite make sense to me. I mean, when a woman is hoping for a ring—or simply a piece of jewelry or, well, even flowers—I mean, for Valentine's Day…well, it sounds somewhat serious. Doesn't it?”

“What difference would it make to you?”

Rita grabbed up the oversized bag she was using to haul around all her lists and samples and, eager for a distraction, pulled out her handful of paint swatches. “Help me pick out the wall colors.” She splayed them across the table like a green rainbow. “I think this one is nice.”

“I can't pick colors out here, silly.” Marley swooped up the samples and handed them back.

“Why not?”

“I need to see them with the chair.”

“Oh…yeah…” Rita nodded, slipping the samples back into her bag. “That makes sense. That reminds me.” She pulled out the fabric swatch she'd gotten from Mr. Cabot last week. “This is for the waiting room chairs. I'm a little worried the print might be too much with the checkerboard floor. But they're already being recovered.”

“Sweet.” Marley fingered the fabric. “But I agree, it might be a bit much.”

“I wondered about a rug beneath the chairs to separate the patterns. Might warm the reception area up a little, too.”

“But you'd want a really simple rug. Nothing too busy. Maybe a sisal or one with solid color blocks of green. Or if you want to be really retro, how about a nice, thick shag? That might be fun.”

With Rita's iPad opened to an interior design website, they were busily discussing shag carpet colors when Johnny and Zinnia stopped by to say hello.

Rita tried to act natural as they exchanged greetings. Smiling broadly at Johnny, she tried not reveal how jealous she was feeling—a shade that would go nicely with the paint swatches in her handbag.

“Someone doing some redecorating?” Zinnia nosily peered down at the iPad. “Shag area rugs?”

Rita closed her iPad with the fabric sample inside. Maybe it was juvenile, but she really didn't want Zinnia to know what she was up to. “I thought that might look good in my Beverly Hills condo,” she said quickly.