Season of Joy

She walked to the secure parking behind the mission, hardly noticing the people passing her on the sidewalk. Her mind was full to bursting and she struggled to squelch the feelings Grant brought to the surface. She’d told Lissa the truth; she was way too busy to date and it never worked out anyway. No guy wanted to be known as “Calista Sheffield’s boyfriend” instead of by his own name. There were very few men her age who earned more than her or had more power. The ones who were eager to take on the role were only interested in the boost it gave their own business reputations.

Her mind flashed back to Grant’s face, his appraising glance. He hadn’t seemed interested in her job so he probably didn’t care. That would be a good thing. Her life had become so consumed by her success that she had let her soul wither away. She felt as if she was just a husk, dried up and empty inside. Where there should be something vibrant, something connected to God, there was a pitifully weak, underfed shadow.

But she was ready to change, to let God call the shots for a while. She wanted to feel joy, like the look on Grant’s face when the little girl had practically tackled him with her hug. She pressed the button on her key ring and her Mercedes beeped in response. Sliding into the leather seat and reaching for the buckle, Calista felt her whole self yearn for purpose in her life. Her God was a God of second chances so she didn’t have to wallow around in her sad and lonely life.

Now, if she could just get everybody else to give her a second chance at being a decent human being, then she’d be all set.

Her cell phone trilled in her pocket. And she answered it automatically.

“I’m sending you the report on the new building sites and you have four urgent messages.” The voice on the phone belonged to Jackie, her personal assistant, who sounded calm and collected as usual. She rattled off the messages in rapid-fire.

Calista tucked the cell phone into her shoulder and turned onto the freeway. “Tell Jim Bishop that Branchout Corporation’s new commercial is encroaching on the VitaWow brand and we need to send them a cease and desist letter. Also, get Alicia down to tech support and make them promise not to wipe the hard drive on my laptop ever again. They said they were cleaning it, but all my temporary files disappeared into thin air.” She could hear Jackie typing at a frantic pace.

“How was the appointment?”

“What appointment?” Calista asked, before remembering that she’d told Jackie she had a toothache and was going to the dentist. “Right. The dentist was great. All fixed.”

The sound of Jackie’s laughter made Calista glare at the freeway in front of her.

“This is why I have complete faith in VitaWow’s CEO. You can’t tell a lie to save your life.”

“Why do you think I’m lying?”

“You never forget details, but more importantly, nobody ever says their dental appointment was great.”

Calista let out a sigh. “Fine. I wasn’t at the dentist. But I’ll tell you about it later. This traffic is just crazy in the afternoon.” Cars were slowing to a crawl in front of her. “Good thing I’m always at the office until late. I completely miss rush hour.”

“Are you using your headset?” Jackie asked suddenly.

Calista already had one ticket for cell use while driving. “I was, but I dropped it when I got out of the car and it shattered.”

“New headset,” Jackie mumbled into Calista’s ear as she typed another note. “Okay, I’m hanging up now because it would be extra bad for the company image if you racked up another ticket.”

“All right,” Calista said. “See you on Monday.”

Jackie snorted. “And talk to you tomorrow, you mean. You don’t take weekends off. Which means I don’t, either.”

She frowned, easing into another lane of slow-moving traffic. “Well, that might have been true before. But I’m determined to make it a priority to enjoy some free time. I don’t want to wake up at eighty and realize I worked my life away.”

“I never thought I’d hear you say that. How surprising.”

“Realizing your only friends are people who get paid to talk to you will do that to a girl.”

Jackie laughed and her infectious giggle made Calista grin long-distance. “I thought it was your biological clock ticking away.”

“I’m not that old! I just need to expand my horizons,” she said huffily. But the thought had crossed her mind, right about the time her sister, Elaine, had given birth and Calista had seen the pictures of all her friends gathered to meet the new baby. Calista wanted a family, but she wanted the whole picture. She wanted the faith that brought fullness to life, and the friends to experience it all with her.

“And I mean it about the weekends. I might pop into the office on Saturdays but no more Sunday work. I want to get a real life.”

“Hey, as a card-carrying member of your current life, I don’t appreciate you getting a new one unless I’m in it. But this is sounding stranger and stranger.” Jackie’s voice was still light, but Calista knew her words concealed real worry. And she had cause to be worried because Calista had made no secret of how her hypocritical father had ruined her life.

“It’s a long story.”

“Then Monday it is, and be careful driving in that traffic,” Jackie said, sounding uncharacteristically maternal before she hung up.

Calista focused on the road in front of her and tried not to think of the horror stories she had told Jackie. None of them had been exaggerated.

Her father had been the most respected man in their dusty, Southern town, but he ruled their little house like a dictator. He acted loving and gentle in front of their church family, but told his own family when to eat, sleep and pray.

The blaze that burned her house to the ground and took her mama’s life told her for certain that God couldn’t be trusted. So, she would have to make her own way in the world, without His help. Her choices were either go to college or settle down with Ray Collier, the football coach’s son. Ray was a good guy, but he would never have been happy with her. She had too many opinions, and didn’t like football. Her sophomore year in college she heard he’d married Tina Bowdy, a pretty girl whose father owned the gas station. She hoped they were a lot happier than she had been the past fifteen years. But her unhappiness was her own fault. There was ambition, and then there was insanity.

As Calista turned the car into the private parking garage under her condo, she felt hope rising in her chest. The mission was going to be a good place to spread her wings. She could be wealthy and successful, and have a few friends, too. As Grant’s face crossed her mind, she willed it away. She wasn’t volunteering so she could meet a nice guy. Even if she never saw him again, she knew this was the beginning of something...something real, something she’d been missing so far. It was time to stop hiding who she was. She had been born for a purpose, and she was ready to find out what it was, even if it meant admitting to the world that she wasn’t the perfect woman they all knew as the VitaWow CEO.

Chapter Three

“You haven’t cashed my check.” The low growl on the other end of the phone set Grant’s teeth on edge.

“I tore it up. Don’t send another because I don’t want your money.” He worked to keep his voice steady and even, but his heart was pounding in his chest.

“You’re a fool. Or a liar. I’ve heard the mission is in big trouble. I know you need the cash.” A thick, mucusy cough followed the last word, and Grant flinched as the sound echoed in his ear.

“I do what’s best for the mission and that would never be accepting your money. You’d always be there, trying to worm your way into every decision I make.” His voice had risen higher as anger threatened to choke him. They’d had this conversation ten, twenty times. He was sick of it.

“You’re right. I’ll always be here, whether you take the money or not. But thanks for letting me know I need to have my accountant send another. This time, to the board.” Then there was silence.

Grant stared into space, then slowly replaced the receiver. The board consisted of nine very respected and dedicated professionals, from bankers to business owners to pastors. All good people who would wonder why Grant wouldn’t take money the mission desperately needed for repairs and upgrades. Especially from the state’s richest man. But he couldn’t. It was tainted, stained. It was money made off the backs of the poorest of the poor. Taking money from a man who wouldn’t even provide his workers with decent health insurance was like making a deal with the devil.

He dropped his head in his hands and groaned. Lord, I’m not asking for You to stop the sun from rising. I just want him to go away. He had his chance and blew it. Isn’t it enough that I forgive him?

The sudden sound of a throat being cleared, loudly, brought Grant’s head up with a snap. Jose was standing in the doorway, shifting his weight from foot to foot, his thick arms folded over his chest. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Grant answered tersely. Jose had the habit of appearing and disappearing without a sound. He should put a cowbell on that kid.

“Alrighty then,” he said lightly, but his face was creased with concern. “Just wondering what you thought about the new chick.”

Grant struggled to regain his composure, feeling like a gorilla at the zoo who just had his cage rattled. He stood up and stretched. “She’s not a chick. And she seems all right. Should be good for office help, at least. She wanted to work in the cafeteria.”

Jose chuckled. “Yeah, that would have been a disaster. She’s so pretty the line would have taken forever. She’s like, more than the usual pretty.”

Grant didn’t want to discuss the “new chick” but he nodded. “Yup, certainly got blessed in that department. But she seemed sort of...” His mind thought back to the tapping foot, the arms wrapped around her middle.

“Nervous?”

“Right. Or sad. I don’t know.” He shrugged and checked his watch. “But then again, it was probably because her car might get broken into out in the parking lot.”

Jose’s eyebrows went up. “She has a sweet ride, for sure. But, boss...”

“Sorry.” Grant couldn’t shake off the irritation that wrapped itself around his neck like a scarf. He rubbed a hand against the base of his skull. “I’m just on edge. True, everyone carries a burden. We’ll probably never know the whole story because after Christmas, she’ll be gone.”