When Love Finds a Home (18 page)

"I want what she's
having," Neal said as he sat down with a small salad.

"I'll share my
Oreos," Rona offered.

Neal turned out not to be the
stuffed shirt she first thought he was. Between him and Sharon, they laughed
throughout most of their lunch hour. They all shared her cookies and Neal
teasingly encouraged her to bring more the next day. After leaving the
boisterous lunch group, Rona was concerned that the afternoon might drag. She was
surprised when Anna came in and told her it was quitting time for Rona.

"I'm sorry, I didn't
think about this sooner," Anna said. "I'm so used to working until
six or later that I never even thought about how we would work out getting you
home."

"I can take the
bus," Rona told her.

"I hate to have you do
that. It's so far out, I'm sure you'll have to transfer at least once."
Anna ran a finger over her lip. "You could take the car and go on home,
but then you'd have to come back and pick me up."

Rona thought about it for a
moment. "Can I offer another suggestion?"

"Sure."

"I wanted to start
looking for a job. If you wouldn't mind, I could work a split shift—like from
six-thirty until ten-thirty and then come back at two and work until six. If
you have to stay later than six I can just hang around."

Anna nodded. "Sure,
that'll be fine. You can use the car then."

Rona shook her head. "I
wouldn't feel right taking your car."

Anna waved her off.
"You'll be able to cover a lot more territory with it."

"Thanks."

"Good, then that's what
we'll do starting tomorrow. But for today you're stuck."

"Actually, I need to run
an errand."

"Great. I'll get you the
keys."

"No. It's nearby,"
Rona lied. Anna's car didn't need to be near where she was going. With a quick
good-bye to her new co-workers, Rona went to retrieve her meager possessions
that she had stored beneath the floorboards of an abandoned building several
months ago.

Chapter Eighteen

It was almost six by the time
Rona made it back to Anna's office complex. She clutched the battered black bag
to her chest as she waited on the elevator. After retrieving the bag, she had
taken time to remove it from die protective plastic she had originally wrapped
it in. A quick glance inside showed everything was just as she had left it.

"Can I help you?"

She turned to find a security
guard dressed in a navy blue uniform and holding a clipboard. She experienced a
moment of panic before she realized she had a right to be in the building.
"No, thanks."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but do
you have an appointment with someone?" The elevator opened but he motioned
for her to move to the other side of the hallway.

"I work for Pagonis
Investments on the third floor."

"Pagonis?" he
repeated. He studied her for a moment. "Your name, please." He raised
the clipboard and began to flip through papers.

"Rona Kirby. This is my
first day."

He looked at her again before
he waved to her. "Ma'am, would you come with me, please?"

"Why? I told you I work
here."

"Your name isn't on my
list. With this being your first day and all, I'm sure they just forgot to call
us, but I can't let you go up until I verify who you are."

Rona started to argue, but the
look on his face stopped her. He wasn't unkind, but he clearly had a job to do.
She followed him to the little office down the hall. She stood by the door as
he placed a call. "There's no answer," he said, watching her.

"Try again. The
receptionist has already left for the day. Do you have a direct number listed
to Anna Pagonis?"

He glanced at the clipboard again
and dialed. "Yes, this is security. I have a Rona Kirby down here. She
says she works for you." He listened for a moment. "You didn't call
to advise us you'd hired anyone." He listened and nodded, finally thanking
her and hanging up. He picked a pen up from the desk and began to write.
"I'm adding your name to the roster. You shouldn't have any more
trouble," he told her.

"Has there been some sort
of trouble?"

"A couple of bums tried
to snatch a woman's purse in the parking lot a few nights ago."

"Wow. Did you catch
them?" Rona tried to sound interested enough to keep him talking, but not
so much as to sound nosy. She didn't want him to quit talking.

"No. The woman filed a
complaint the following morning. Apparently the old security company had a few
personnel problems," he said as he tossed the pen back onto the desk.

"You're with a different
company?"

"Yeah, the building
manager fired the other guys and hired us."

Rona politely said good-bye
and left. As she rode up the elevator, she couldn't help but smile. So, Anna
wasn't such a pushover after all. For some reason, she was glad.

Anna's office door was still
unlocked when Rona reached the third floor. She went in, intending to wait in
the conference room, but Anna came out of her office with her coat on and
carrying her
briefcase. "I'm so
sorry about that," she said when she saw Rona. "It's my fault. I
should have called them to let them know you started working here today. It
completely slipped my mind."

"That happens sometimes
with new policies," Rona said.

Anna stopped and looked at
her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the old security
company didn't require you to do that, did they? I'm sure they couldn't have
cared less who came and went out of the building. In fact, you didn't even have
a security guard here during the day."

Anna rolled her eyes.
"You probably know more about this place than I do." She flipped off
the lights in the break room. "I'm ready to go if you are." She
noticed the bag Rona was holding. "What did you find?"

Rona shrugged. "It's just
some personal papers I'd left somewhere where they would be safe. I went and
got them."

Anna nodded. "I wonder
what Tammy's fixing for dinner. I'm starved."

"To be so skinny you sure
eat a lot," Rona teased.

"I'm not skinny,"
Anna protested. "I've been told I'm quite fine." She tossed her hair.

"That you are."

Anna stopped so suddenly that
Rona ran into her. She automatically slipped her arms around Anna to catch her.
Rona gazed into Anna's dark eyes.

"You're not so bad
yourself," Anna replied softly. She pulled away and headed for the door.

Rona was so shocked that she
was unable to move for a long moment. When she finally did, she had to run to
catch up. As soon as they were in the elevator, Anna began to chatter about the
basketball game that was supposed to be on that night.

"I'm not a basketball
fan," Rona admitted.

Anna looked at her, clearly
appalled. "We're going to have to change that. No one can survive my
family without being a Spurs fan. When they won their first championship in
'99, we threw a huge party. In fact, there's a game Sunday. Mom is making her
specialty, pastitsio."

Before Rona could refuse, the
elevator opened and Anna was sailing across the lobby. Anna rambled on about
basketball most of the way home. Under normal circumstances, Rona might have
been irritated, but she couldn't stop thinking about Anna's comment. When did
Anna start looking at her?
When did I start noticing her?
She was still
mulling over that question when they pulled into the garage.

The twins met them at the
kitchen door. Tammy was washing a bunch of lettuce.

"We went to Auntie Tina
today," Katie announced proudly.

"Who's Aunt Tina?"
Rona asked, turning to Tammy.

"Athenians,"
Tammy corrected.
"Your mom
called this morning and invited us to lunch."

"Really," Anna said.
She seemed bemused. "Did you like it?"

"I liked the
ba-la-la," Katie replied.

"Yes, I like the baklava
too," Anna agreed. "Did you bring me some?"

Karla nodded.

"You did. Where is
it?"

"On the table,"
Karla replied.

"Let's eat some."
Anna started toward the table with the twins on her heels.

Tammy cleared her throat and
looked at the girls. "None for you two until after dinner."

Anna stopped.
"Oops," she said. "I guess I should wait too. What are we
having, by the way?"

"I fixed a pork roast. I
thought we would eat in about twenty minutes."

"I'm going to go
change," Rona said as she left the room. She hid the black bag under the
bed and changed into sweats and her sneakers before carefully hanging up her
new clothes in the closet. Despite the hassles of all the shopping, she was
forced to admit that it felt good to know the clothes she was wearing were hers
and that they fit correctly.

When Rona went back
downstairs, Tammy was in the kitchen alone.

"I'm sorry about last
night and this morning," Rona said. "You were right about
everything—Anna, the haircut, the clothes, the boots—everything." She
looked up to find Tammy smiling at her.

"I'm glad to hear you
finally appreciate my keen sense of style," Tammy said as she handed Rona
the end of a carrot that she had been grating into a salad bowl.

"You know I can be a
butt," Rona admitted as she munched on the carrot. "Do you want me to
help with that?"

"No. I'm almost done. How
was your first day at work?"

"Good." Rona told
her about Sharon and Neal.

"They sound like nice
people."

Rona nodded.

"Did something happen on
the way home?" Tammy asked.

Puzzled, Rona glanced up.
"No. Why?"

"Anna seemed sort of
flustered when she came in. I've noticed she talks a lot when she gets
nervous."

Rona's face flushed when she
recalled how Anna's body felt pressed against her own.

Tammy shook her head as she
turned to check the roast. "Like I said, you should never play
poker."

"When are we playing
poker?" Anna called as she walked in. "I love to play."

Rona turned to stare at her.
"I'm seriously considering putting a cowbell around your neck. Do you
always walk so softly?"

"I wasn't walking any
differently than I always do. You just weren't paying attention," Anna
replied as she grabbed a cucumber slice from the salad bowl. She gave Rona a
dazzling smile before biting into the cucumber.

"Dinner's ready,"
Tammy announced.

It took Rona a moment to tear
her gaze from Anna's lips. "I'll go get the girls," she mumbled as
she rushed out of the kitchen.

Chapter Nineteen

The following day, Rona went
to the state employment office during her lunch period. It seemed like the
logical place for her to start looking for work. She had glanced over the
classified ads in the newspaper, but they all seemed to require more skill or
education than she had or else they sounded like scams. She wondered if anyone
really believed it was possible to earn five thousand dollars a week by
stuffing envelopes.

The counselor assigned to her
at the employment office scheduled her for a series of tests to see which jobs
she would be most qualified for. She took the tests during her lunch on
Wednesday and Thursday. As she suspected, she scored higher on tasks that
required good hand-eye coordination. When the interviewer asked her about
previous jobs, Rona told him about the band. He simply shook his head and
informed her that job listings for musicians were rare. He promised he would
call if a suitable position opened up. In the meantime, he suggested she
consider furthering her education.

Back at the office, she had
entered the final address listings into the database Wednesday morning. Sharon
helped her print out the labels. By Thursday afternoon, they were affixed to
the packets and ready to be mailed out. Anna asked her to come in on Friday to
help Sharon with a multitude of small tasks that had been slowly building up.

On the drive in Friday
morning, Anna seemed quieter than usual.

"You seem deep in
thought," Rona said.

"I was just wondering if
you'd heard anything from the employment office."

"No. I don't think they
had much hope in finding me anything."

"I was talking to Matt
Devers yesterday. He's the lawyer down on the first floor. He happened to
mention that he has several file cabinets of material that he needs to log and
then send to an archive. When I told him I had hired a temp, he wanted the name
of the agency and we sort of worked out a deal, if you're interested."

"Yes, I'm interested.
What would I have to do?"

"It sounds like you'd be
compiling a log of the files and then making sure the right files were placed
in the correct box."