Mr. Reilly, do you wish to dictate those letters about the graduation exercises now?”
Max looked up from the stack of applications on his desk. His secretary stood in the doorway with her steno pad and pencil in hand.
He smiled. “Sorry, Edna. I was supposed to do that this morning, wasn’t I?”
She gave him an uncertain smile. “Shall I come back later?”
“No, no, they need to be mailed out right away.” He waved her to a chair. “Please sit down, and we’ll do that now.”
He shoved the applications aside and took his notes for the letters out of the top drawer.
Get ahold of yourself, Maxwell. You’re slipping. The thought caused him to exhale loudly, and Edna frowned at him. Max couldn’t blame her. She wasn’t used to him being absentminded or stressed. He needed to pull himself together.
With an apologetic smile tugging at his lips, he shrugged. “You still have last year’s letter on file, don’t you?”
“Of course. But—”
“Good! Just use that one, and incorporate these additional notes, please, if you don’t mind.” He held out his pages of notes to her.
“No, I don’t mind, Mr. Reilly.” She stood and took the notes, then left the room. But Max couldn’t fail to see the confusion in her eyes.
He walked over to the window and looked out. Some of the trees were beginning to bud. A sign of the approaching spring. But he knew that winter could just as easily come rushing back.
His dinner with Leah on Sunday had started out like spring, too. Fresh and joyful. But her words, laughingly spoken, kept ringing through his ears. I thought you had some deep, dark secret or something. He hadn’t missed the relief in her tone of voice. Apparently she had perceived that everything wasn’t as it should be with him. Now he feared he was deeper in the quagmire of deception than before. And he knew Leah didn’t deserve to be a part of it.
He had to get this mess straightened out before Leah and Collin got hurt. He supposed he should just back out of their lives. It would probably be the kindest thing to do. But he couldn’t. His feelings for both of them were too strong for that now. More than anything, he wanted them for his own. He wanted to be a husband to Leah and a father to Collin. But could that ever happen? Could he ask them to share his life when a shadow hung over his good name? Would God in His mercy show him a way out of this pit?
Max had always believed that God loved him and would take care of the things concerning him. Even when the incident had first happened and the unjust accusations had caused turmoil in his life, he had never doubted God. But now … Why, God? Why? For the first time in his life, God seemed far away, and no comforting words came to his mind. In sudden grief and frustration, Max doubled up his fist and hit the wall hard, not even feeling the pain.
Leah’s high heels clicked against the sidewalk as she almost danced up to her front door. Finally, after all these months of worry, she had a job. Even better, her dream job. The salary was a little lower than she had hoped for, but the owner of the bakery had promised a raise after her initial training. Mrs. Crumply was a widow in her early sixties, and she needed someone who could take over the major part of the pastry making as well as learn the business end. This was just the sort of opportunity Leah had been dreaming of.
God was so good to her. First to clear up her concern about Max and now to provide a real job again. She couldn’t wait to tell Collin.
She spent the rest of the day doing laundry and baking cookies. She might as well get all the practice she could. She grinned as she sat at the table sampling one that was warm from the oven.
The door slammed, nearly sending her through the roof.
“Oops! Sorry, Mom!”
Leah grinned at the sound of Collin’s voice. Hurrying into the living room, she grabbed him in a tight hug and whirled him around in circles.
“Mom! What are you doing?” Collin stumbled out of her grasp and stared at her with a frown that tried to hide the smile lurking behind it.
Leah laughed and tousled his hair.
“I have a job, Collin. A really good job. Isn’t it wonderful?”
“Wow, Mom. That’s terrific. Where you going to be working?”
“Crumply’s Bakery. Can you believe it?”
Collin leaned his head back and let out a whistle through his teeth.
“Swell, Mom. Peachy keen. When do you start? Do you get to bring home free stuff?”
“I start tomorrow morning. And we didn’t talk about free stuff. But there are cookies on the counter. Get changed while I pour you some milk. Then you’d better get your homework done before Mr. Reilly gets here.”
She knew Max planned to take Collin out for hamburgers after their tennis practice. This had become a Tuesday ritual. She smiled softly as she poured the milk and put two cookies on a plate.
The doorbell rang just as Collin was closing his notebook, and he jumped up and ran to the door, throwing it open.
“Hi, come on in,” Leah called out from the chair where she sat darning socks.
Max walked in with his hand on Collin’s shoulder. His eyes twinkled when he saw what she was doing.
“Boys are hard on socks, aren’t they?” he queried.
“Well, this one is.” They shared a knowing look, and both laughed.
“Guess what, Mr. Reilly? Mom’s got a new job. She starts tomorrow. And it’s in a bakery.” Collin licked his lips and rubbed his stomach, grinning widely.
Leah and Max burst out laughing.
“I can see this is a job after your own heart, Collin. Congratulations, Leah.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ve been walking on cloud nine all day.”
“How about joining Collin and me for hamburgers later to celebrate?”
“That sounds very tempting, but I have ironing to do. I need to get it all done up since I’m starting back to work tomorrow.”
“Okay, Mom. We’ll see you later. We need to go now.” Collin’s not-so-subtle hint got through to Max, and he laughed.
“You’re absolutely right, sport. Let’s go. See you later, Leah. We should be back by six. Is that all right with you?”
She nodded, and he flashed her a smile and headed out the door with Collin.
Leah leaned back in the porch swing and covered a wide yawn with the back of her hand.
Max sent her a crooked smile. “Am I boring you?”
“Oh, sorry. It’s not the company. I’ve just had quite a day.”
“I’d probably better be going so you can get some rest.”
“Not yet. Let’s sit here awhile longer. It’s such a beautiful night. I don’t know when I’ve seen the stars so bright.”
“Um, you’re right.” Max leaned back, too, and stretched his arm out behind her. Collin had gone to bed nearly an hour ago, and they had sat here since, talking softly about the tennis game and how well Collin was doing in school.
“Leah …”
“Yes?” she answered softly.
A lock of her hair had fallen loose from the velvet ribbon holding it back. Mesmerized, he took it and wrapped it around his finger. She turned toward him, and they gazed into each other’s eyes for a moment. He caught his breath as she smiled lazily at him.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered. “Leah, do you realize how much I care for you?”
“I care about you, too, Max. You are so wonderful with Collin, and … well, it’s not only because of Collin.” She took a deep breath and whispered softly, “I care about you for you.”
He swallowed and cleared his throat. “There is so much I want to say to you, but …”
She reached over and placed her hand on his arm. “It’s all right, Max. Let’s just get to know each other a little better. I don’t want to rush into anything, either.”
She smiled warmly, and he thought his heart would melt.
Maybe, just maybe they could make this work. Maybe, when the time was right, he would tell her everything, and she would understand and believe him. But not now. He couldn’t, wouldn’t spoil this moment.
Leah swallowed the last bite of her toast, then gulped down her orange juice.
“Collin, you need to hurry, sweetheart. We have to leave in five minutes. I don’t want to be late my first day.”
Collin stood up silently and took his dishes to the sink. She followed as he turned without looking at her and went into the living room, where he donned his coat, still without speaking.
“Is something bothering you? You haven’t said a word since you woke up.”
He lifted his eyes and shot her an accusing look.
“I saw you and Mr. Reilly on the porch swing last night!”
Leah felt her face flame.
“Oh. Well, Collin, I … What do you mean? We were just talking.”
“He’s my friend, not yours! Anyway, you’re my mom. You’re not supposed to have boyfriends!”
Stunned, Leah stared at her son as she felt the blood leaving her face. Her hands trembled as she grasped desperately for the right words to say.
“Collin.” She reached for him, but he eluded her grasp and stomped out the door. By the time she followed him out, he was halfway down the sidewalk to the bus stop.
Leah rushed to catch up and reached him just as their bus pulled up. Collin flopped onto a seat and moved over so she could sit next to him.
She turned to him only to see him trying unsuccessfully to hide a tear that had slipped from his eye.
“Collin, I’m sorry you’re upset. We’ll talk about it this afternoon.”
He scowled and turned toward the window.
Leah’s heart felt like it would break. It never would have occurred to her that Collin would object to her friendship with Max. What would he do if that friendship did grow into something more, as it appeared to be doing? How in the world would she handle this new development?