JOELLE`S SECRET
* * * *
CHAPTER 1.
Joelle came to work for me almost six years before this all happened. Believe it when I
say, this is a first for me. I`ve been in the workforce for more than twenty years since I
graduated college, and for almost all that time, I`ve been in at least middle management.
I`d just become a department director on the previous January first when Joelle
interviewed for an open entry-level post with me. She had everything I had hoped for, and
more. An Associates degree in business and over three years experience was far better than
I`d thought might be available to me. She was leaving her present job where she had been
employed for over three years because the employer offered no benefits. Her wardrobe had a
professional appearance, even though she hardly looked old enough to be driving, let alone
working full-time. What really sold me was her childlike enthusiasm.
I hired her and she has been an excellent addition to my staff. After more than five
years, I have come to rely heavily on her, and to know I can depend on her professionalism
and ability. I have also grown to enjoy her presence and her kind heart, and occasionally
ribald sense of humor. She easily embarrasses herself, but that doesn`t stop her from
telling self-incriminating tales. I have developed a genuine fondness for her, and I look
forward to seeing her every morning.
Recently a sudden illness required emergency surgery. Even from her hospital bed, I was
included in her thoughts. The potential impact of her absence was greatly lessened by a
simple phone call. She let me know she was going into the operating room and would be out
for six weeks, if all went well. Needless to say, I visited her in the hospital and took
her meals at home when she was finally back there.
It was during one of these home visits, at about the fourth week after her surgery that
she and I had a few minutes alone. Her mom had been staying with her, but had just taken
the opportunity to go home for a change of clothes and to see her husband while I visited.
Joelle was beginning to get a little grumpy. This was a side of her I`d never seen, and
made a comment to that effect.
"I`m sorry. It`s just that I`m sick of being in the house. I really miss getting
outside and riding my bike and walking."
"Well, I could come by one night and take you out riding in my convertible. It`s
getting warm and we could bundle you up and put the top down and go for a ride under the
stars."
She was immediately taken with the idea and became excited at the prospect, but since her
mother had returned and was now in the room with us, the conversation became stilted and
strained. I finally excused myself and told Joelle I`d see her the next day.
When it was time for my visit the following evening, I was surprised to have my knock at
the front door answered by the lady of the house herself. She was out of bed and watching
a movie on television in her small living room. Of course I was pleased she was doing so
well, and a little surprised that she was home alone. Even though Joelle was thirty at the
time, I suspected she was still her mother`s little girl. Not so much by Joelle`s
choosing, but by her mother`s insistence.
But her mom was not to be found in the small house. When it finally occurred to me there
was no one else in the house, I inquired.
"So I guess your mom expected me and took the chance to run home briefly?"
"No. I asked her to go on home. She`s been stayin` here for nearly a month and she
needed to be there with dad. Besides, she was really pluckin` my last nerve. She`s just
... I don`t want to sound unappreciative, but ... well, she`s just so bossy. I`ve been on
my own for over ten years, but she hasn`t really accepted it."
"Are you okay to be alone? I mean can you do everything you might need to do?"
"Yeah. I`m really fine. I mean, I can`t lift anything heavy, but I can make a
sandwich or heat some soup. I can surely use the microwave! I mean, I probably can`t
change the bed by myself yet, but the sheets are clean and I`m sure to be totally back to
normal in another coupla weeks."
"I guess it`s probably a good thing then to have some privacy."
I had gotten the distinct impression during my regular visits over the past couple of
weeks that her mom was a little nosy. She would come and stand in the bedroom while Joelle
and I talked. She didn`t really join in the conversation, she was just there.
"She`s totally nosy. I don`t know if you noticed that when you were here, she would
come and just stand in my room and listen to whatever we talked about. Well, what you
didn`t know was that she would play twenty questions after you would leave."
"Really? About what?"
"She`s convinced we`re havin` an affair. She would ask all sorts of questions about
you, if you were married and how much older you were than me. That sort of crap."
"I`m amazed. Particularly since she used my visit last night to go home and change
clothes."
"I told her to do that. I said you and I needed to talk about a personnel problem at
the office and you didn`t want to discuss it in front of her. Oh, she didn`t want to go!
She said it was inappropriate for you to be here with me in the bedroom without anyone
else in the house. And in my nightgown!"
"I guess she`s just tryin` to protect your image."
"Don`t defend her. I`m thirty years old. I can take care of myself. It`s just been
strange the past year, since Bret and I broke up. She doesn`t understand that I`m really
not interested in datin` someone right now. I mean, I do want a relationship, but I`m
really picky. `Course, she thinks Bret was perfect. Successful lawyer, reasonably
handsome, nice house. He had all the right stuff, ya know? If she really knew the truth
about him! Sure he gave me an engagement ring, but marriage was the farthest thing from
his mind. That was five years wasted. Anyway, enough about all that. Tell me when you`re
gonna kidnap me and take me away in your convertible."
"Kidnap you? I didn`t know you were plannin` to resist!"
She quickly responded with an impish smile that let me know she was on the road to
recovery.
"You never can tell what I might be plannin`."
I just loved that coy yet mischievous expression she would get whenever she pulled a
quick one, or she was planning a quick one.
"So when are ya gonna kidnap me?"
"Well, I`ll take you for a ride tonight if you`re up to it. The kidnapping probably
ought to wait until you`re fully recovered!" I sort of laughed it off, but she wasn`t
about to let it go.
"I`ll hold you to that."
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