Divine Appointments by Charlene Baumbich

Author:Charlene Baumbich [Baumbich, Charlene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2010-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

Seventeen

Lyle looked at his watch. Seven-thirty. He’d been walking along the lakeshore for an hour.

After he left the Encouragement Club meeting, he grabbed a bite to eat, then drove his car to the planetarium and parked. It was a beautiful evening, and he always found that a leisurely stroll provided productive, yet equally relaxing, think time. But tonight, after more than sixty minutes, he still found himself restless.

Everywhere he looked, he saw couples, families, people with tail-wagging dogs—nobody seemingly more alone than he. Twice he thought he’d seen Josie Brooks walking with another man. What is up with that? he asked himself, wondering why and how she continued to penetrate his thoughts with such regularity. When they’d worked together, he’d greatly admired her keen mind—and, he had to admit, her physical features—but he was also aware of their polarized natures and a certain antagonism between them. Now that he’d likely never see her again—now that she, too, had been sent to the curb—he felt drawn to her.

That’s crazy. Even if you had stayed at DM, in a couple months she would have been long-gone anyway. Stop thinking impossible thoughts, which are likely fueled by your current position in life, which is … adrift. Put her behind you!

A bright pink sailing Frisbee caught his attention. He stepped off the path and into the grass to watch. Young men tossed the Frisbee from one to the next, twirling, somersaulting, leaping before catching … They were really something. Then he noticed their audience: a group of laughing young women, applauding and whispering to each other.

I’m glad Josie didn’t have to be alone tonight. He’d noticed through Beth’s Bagel Haven window—and yes, he admitted to himself that he’d been spying on her—that she got into a cab with someone. He thought it was the same woman he’d seen her meet once before. Was she a friend of Josie’s? He thought Josie was a loner. But what did he really know of her anyway? Maybe she had a dozen friends in Chicago before she even arrived.

Clearly, efforts to stop thinking about Josie are pointless, so just think about her for now and then be done with her!

When he first heard that she was terminated before her job was complete, he was stunned. For a moment, he was sure people had misread the episode. Maybe she was just taking some huge box of files home for review and solicited a guard to help her carry it. She often took heavy piles of work home. But the guard, the box—the way people described the ashen and mortified look on her face …

No, he and Josie had shared the same humiliating experience. But that’s likely where the similarities ended. Although he had no idea what would happen to him next, she’d probably already networked herself to the next place.

Wait a minute! Maybe she gave them her two-week notice, at which point they decided to pack her up. It’s possible. And here everyone is spreading that terrible rumor, and most sounding way too happy about it.

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