When Love's at Work (10 page)

Meanwhile, Alex McCallister and Judd
Broadstreet were knee-deep in water in the men’s locker room. The
two men were trying to get the toilets to stop flushing. The water
was swirling at a fevered pitch, with liquid spewing everywhere.
Lucky for them the toilets weren’t clogged; however, the water was
not receding. The more the pressure increased, the higher the water
around their legs rose.

“
This is not working,”
Judd said, out of breath from all the plunging.

“
We’re going to need to
call a plumber,” Alex agreed. “The longer we wait, the worse it’s
going to get.”

Judd waded his way back to the counter to
grab his suit jacket. He figured his pants were ruined, although he
did have an excellent dry cleaner. His shoes were a total loss.

“
I’ll make the call,” Judd
said, wondering how much this would set their budget
back.

“
Damn!” Alex muttered
under his breath, tossing the plunger into the water. He was not a
plumber and didn’t know the first thing about toilets, drains or
flooding. He followed the same route Judd did, taking a towel from
the rack on his way out.

Alex was wringing out his shirt when he saw
Charlie Mankins, a teenager about 16 years old with a wicked sense
of style and a brain that was smart as a whip.

“
Hear you got yourself a
flood in there,” Charlie said, approaching Alex.

“
It’s a hell of a mess,”
Alex responded, shaking Charlie’s hand.

The force of the agitated water could be
heard, even with the locker room door closed.

“
Mind if I take a look?”
Charlie asked.

“
Be my guest.” Alex opened
the door and walked down the short ramp and back into the cold
water.

“
Might be a good idea to
shut the water off,” Charlie said, his common sense stating the
obvious.

In his hurry to stop the overflow of water,
Alex hadn’t thought about simply turning the valves off. He
consoled himself with the fact that Judd hadn’t thought of it
either.

Charlie found the water intake valves and
turned them off. The water stopped flowing.

“
Well, I feel pretty
stupid,” Alex remarked.

“
No need,” Charlie
replied. “It’s funny how sometimes you never think of the most
obvious things when you’re right in the middle of a crisis. It’s
like your brain cells go on vacation or somethin’.”

Alex put a hand on Charlie’s back. “You’re a
good man to have around in a tight spot, Charlie.”

“
That’s what my mom always
says.”

“
Your mom’s right. Now,
let’s get out of these wet clothes. I think we owe you a new pair
of shoes and a pair of pants.”

“
You, too,” Charlie
said.

The clean-up crew was hard at work and
within two hours the area where the Garden Party had been held
looked undisturbed by human hands.

Purity and Sheila were in Pure’s office
toasting their success and putting paperwork, invoices, and
programs in stacks to be dealt with tomorrow.

Pure headed down the hallway to use the
restroom and saw a light on under Alex’s office door. She tapped
lightly and then opened the door, saying, “Anyone home?”

There stood Alex in his white shirt, navy
blue and white striped tie, suit jacket, white boxer shorts and
nothing else.

“
Is this the new attire
for board members?” Purity asked, not able to stifle a
giggle.

“
Very funny.” Alex
scowled. “I’ve been trying to figure out how I’m going to leave
here without being seen. Got any ideas?”

“
Well,” Purity began,
amused at the scene, “if you were a girl, I’d say just tie your
suit jacket around your waist, but um… I’m not sure that works as
well for a man.”

“
You’re enjoying this way
too much,” Alex said, walking toward her.

Purity was extremely aware of Alex’s lack of
clothing and her great desire to wrap her arms around the virile
man standing before her.

“
I think I’d better leave
you to your own devices,” Purity said. “Besides, I have to use the
restroom.” She quickly made her way back out the door. “Good luck,”
she proffered through giggling lips.

“
You’re deserting me in my
hour of need,” Alex countered at the doorway.

Purity’s answer was a melodic laugh. It was
becoming Alex’s favorite sound.

He watched Purity walk down the hallway to
the women’s restroom. He considered following her, then resisted
the lascivious pull of his groin. Instead, he shut his office door,
pulled on his still-wet slacks, socks and shoes and began cleaning
off his desk before he headed for home.

When Pure returned to her office, Sheila had
her things gathered and was ready to leave.

“
Thanks, again, Sheila,”
Purity said sincerely. “I couldn’t have pulled this off without
you.”

Sheila beamed at the praise and knew that
Pure’s comments were earnest. And, the raise Purity had gotten her,
and several other staff members, showed that she backed her words
up with action. She hadn’t had a boss with integrity in a long
time.

“
Let’s get out of here,”
Purity said as she retrieved her belongings and headed out of the
office into the hallway.

The strains of
Heart’s
Magic Man
could be heard and Purity checked the display on her cell
phone to see who was calling.

“
Hey, bro,” she said,
answering the call.

“
Hey, sis, long time no
speak,” Bobby replied.

“
Are you in
town?”

“
Yeah, I just got in. I’m
headed over to the hospital to see mom. I can’t believe she’s
having surgery tomorrow.”

“
What? Ang said she wasn’t
having surgery and was going to be discharged.”

“
I don’t know about that.
She called and said mom was having carotid artery surgery at 7am
tomorrow morning.”

Purity’s left hand clenched into a fist as
the fingers on her right hand held her cell phone in a death
grip.

“
She never tells me
anything; then, if she does bother to tell me something, it’s
inaccurate. I am so sick of this shit, Bob!” Pure tried to restrain
her anger, but it seeped into her tone and spilled over in
frustration.

“
I know. You have to
consider the source, Pure. Ang has always been like this and she’s
not going to change. We just have to learn how to work around her
psychotic tendencies.”

“
You’re going to bunk at
my place, right?” Purity asked, changing the subject.

“
I don’t want to put you
out,” Bobby began, knowing Purity would interrupt him.

“
Don’t be silly. I have a
whole bedroom just sitting there going to waste and I haven’t seen
you since last Christmas. Please, please, please stay with me. I’ll
make blueberry pancakes and home-made bread drenched in sweet cream
butter.” Pure knew Bobby’s weaknesses and used them against
him.

“
Okay,” Bobby said only
slightly reluctantly. It would be good to catch up and. if he was
lucky, Meg Silvers might come over for a visit, too. Ever since he
saw her last Christmas, visions of her face and lithesome figure
had appeared in his dreams, both day and night.

“
Do you remember how to
get to my place?”

“
Geeze, Pure, it hasn’t
been
that
long
since I’ve been around. Yes, I know how to get to your
place.”

“
I was just asking, you
creep.”

“
Moron.”

“
Asshat.”

“
Stick-in-the-mud.”

“
Hey, I resent that one. I
have not now, or ever, been a stick-in-the-mud.”

“
Okay, I take that one
back. I’ll see you later tonight, sis.”

“
Okey dokey. I’ll have the
bread waiting for you.”

They both hung up their phones and Purity
filled Sheila in on the latest news about her mother and her psycho
sister.

“
Wow. That must be hard. I
mean, it’s challenging enough to be dealing with your mom’s health
issues but then to not even know if what your sister is telling you
is true or not, or not even keeping you informed, well, that just
makes it ten times worse.”

“
It certainly
does.”

Alex fell in step with the women. “Good
evening, ladies.”

“
Hi Alex,” Sheila said,
noting his drenched attire and the squishing sound his shoes made
while he walked, but wisely not saying a word about
either.

“
Nice outfit,” Purity
couldn’t help commenting as her eyes gleamed with delight at his
predicament.

Alex ignored Pure’s comment. When they
reached their cars, Sheila said, “Keep me informed about your mom.
I’ll be praying for her, and you.”

“
Thanks, Sheila.” Purity
said a quick prayer thanking God for Sheila’s presence in her
life.

“
Did something new develop
with your mom?”

Purity filled Alex in on the surgery, her
brother’s arrival and her sister’s non-communication.

“
I can be at the hospital
tomorrow with you, if you’d like,” Alex said, closing the short
distance between them.

Purity could feel herself closing up. The
barrier she had built years ago was strong and quickly came to her
aid, even when it wasn’t needed. So much time had passed, she
wasn’t sure how to stop the wall from keeping everyone at arm’s
length any more. Well, not just anyone, men. She wanted to feel
Alex’s reassuring arms around her, to accept the solace he so
willingly and easily offered.

She’d never had that in her life and she
knew if she wanted it, and she desperately did want it, she needed
to open herself up and risk being hurt. She just didn’t know
how.

“
I can’t hear you,” Alex
said, trying to lighten the mood a little with a bit of humor. “I
know you’re trying to say something.”

Purity avoided his eyes, glancing down at
his feet instead. Water was seeping out of his socks and dripping
down his shoes.

“
You know those are
goners,” she said, feeling much too exposed already.

Alex reached out his hand and touched Purity
on the arm. “If you want us to have a relationship, you’re going to
have to let me in at some point.”

“
I know,” Purity replied,
her voice barely audible. She swallowed hard and met Alex’s gaze.
“I’m not really sure I can do this,” she paused. “I want to. You’ll
never know how much I want to. It’s just… it’s just that I have
huge trust issues. Gigantic. Mammoth. Colossal.”

“
Dr. Phil says you can’t
change what you don’t acknowledge, so acknowledging it is half the
battle,” Alex said rather philosophically.

“
Did you just quote Dr.
Phil to me?” Purity replied, eyes wide in disbelief.

“
I like Dr. Phil. He’s
full of wisdom,” Alex defended himself.

“
He’s full of something,
but I’m not sure it’s wisdom,” Pure said, glad she was off the hot
seat for a moment.

Alex put his hands on either side of
Purity’s face. “All I’m saying is that I already care about you a
great deal and I’m willing to give you space and time. Are you
willing to let me care about you?”

No one had ever put it like that before. Was
she willing to let Alex care about her? If something were to go
awry, not only would her emotions be in a jumbled mess, but her job
might be in jeopardy as well.

Purity could feel her spirit leaning into
Alex’s body space like a magnet to steel. Was she really taking a
step toward him with her barriers discarded? Could it be this
easy?

“
Looks like you got caught
in a deep puddle,” the familiar voice sent shock waves down
Purity’s spine.

“
We had a little trouble
with the plumbing in the men’s locker room,” Alex responded, not
recognizing the gentleman. He didn’t want to be cordial and polite.
He wanted to encircle Purity’s body with his own and prove to her
that he wasn’t like every other guy she had known.

Purity couldn’t move, speak or even breathe.
Derek Worthington was four feet away from her. Every part of her
body was ready to run, yet her feet were cemented in place. She
couldn’t look in his eyes. She didn’t want him to see how much he
frightened her.

“
You didn’t return my
call,” Derek said, casting his gaze on Purity’s profile.

Pure couldn’t find her voice. It was buried
deep inside her memory. She knew if she could just move, take some
kind of action, she’d break the spell. Finally, she was able to
move the pinky on her right hand. With that small movement came
release and she reached into her purse, retrieved her cell phone
and dialed 911.

Feeling a renewed power at taking forward
motion, Purity’s eyes met Derek’s and held them fast as she said to
the 911 operator, “My name is Purity Zyetta. Derek Worthington is
four feet from me right this minute and he is violating a
restraining order I have against him.”

“
Aw, Pure,” Derek said,
taking a step toward Purity.

Alex stepped directly in front of
Purity.

“
I think that’s the lady’s
way of saying it’s time for you to leave,” Alex said, not knowing
the situation, but automatically taking Pure’s side.