Just to be Left Alone (3 page)

My
white cat, Bella, was waiting for me as usual. I scooped her up, glad to see
her. Going about my weekend chores got my mind off of my problems. After
cleaning, I grabbed a sandwich and settled down to a movie with Bella. Mom
called during the final credits, so I told her everything except the gory
details of the night with Jason. I knew she’d only worry too much, and besides,
I only told her the serious bits of my love life. I realized long ago that I
should never divulge too much to a woman who wants me married off.

The
next day, there was a delivery of my favorite flowers and a note gushing an
apology from Jason. I was going to throw them away, except I hardly ever got gorgeous
flowers so I kept them on the kitchen island as a reminder of better days. Things
had been less scary when we had first started dating. It’d be a true symbolism
of our relationship dying off before it was trashed.

On
Monday, work was back to normal and by lunch all the girls had checked in. I
told Chastity about the flowers and she thought I should’ve had the messenger
send them back to Jason in shredded petals. I just laughed it off. We both knew
I wasn’t the type to be so cold-hearted.

I
was exhausted by the time I got home. I got a text message from Jason around 8
p.m. asking if I liked the flowers. I decided not to reply back and headed to
bed.

Something
tragic happened just a couple of hours into the next workday. A truck came out
of gear and knocked a load of steel pipes across the warehouse. Several people
were hurt, equipment was damaged, and a support beam was cracked. The whole
situation compromised the safety of the warehouse. An ambulance came for the
injured people and companies had to be contacted about the damages. Once it was
cleaned up, I got the warehouse shut down for the day. Corporate was sending
someone to investigate. I would need the extra help.

We
all knew the driver. He was a regular and didn’t make mistakes. His truck was
sent to the shop for service. He was on the dock with me at the time of the
accident and thankfully neither of us was in the path of destruction.

Corporate
said the warehouse would be temporarily shut down for repairs and an
investigation would begin immediately. The driver was on a paid leave of
absence and the local insurance representative would be by tomorrow to check
the damages.

At
closing time, I was hanging up from a call with my boss when my cell phone
rang.

“Hello,
Samantha?”

“Hey
Felicia, what’s up girl?”

“Your
phone’s been busy for hours and I couldn’t get any answer at your work number.
Are you okay?”

“Let
me tell you about my day.”

I
filled her in on the accident.

“Well,
that’s twice in a week that you could have been hurt. Your luck better start
picking up or people will call you a jinx.”

“Well,
I had to have at least some kind of good luck or I would’ve gotten hurt.”

“True.
Call me tomorrow and try to get some sleep tonight. Bye”

I
got home in record time, which was amazing considering the day I had. Usually,
my bad days lead to traffic nightmares. When I got through the door at 6 p.m.
my home phone was ringing and I ran to go get it.

“Hello.
Hello?”

No
one was there. Just as I hung up it rang again.

“Hello!”

“What
a way to greet someone! I heard you had a horrid day, but do you generally yell
at people after your fifteenth call of the day?” Chastity asked with a wicked
laugh.
     

“You’re
so funny and I’m way past caller fifteen. I guess you talked to Felicia. Either
that or you are sleeping with one of the insurance agents that I have a meeting
with tomorrow morning.”

“Both,
actually. Kidding. No, I spoke to Felicia just after she hung up with you, so
she told me the news to save you the trouble. I also agreed with her that your
luck has taken an interesting turn this week.”

“It’s
bugging me because I know something weird happened with the driver today. I
just can’t figure out what it was. He did everything like normal, and yet somehow
this time was different.”

“It
was just a crazy mistake. They’ll let him off the hook and it’ll all be fine.”

“I
know, except my inner voice is telling me something is missing here. I guess I
need to give my mind a break for a bit. That reminds me. Are we still on for
this weekend? I may need a drink by then.”
 

“Yeah,
we’re still on. Raven will call me tonight on when her flight is scheduled for Spain.”

“Please
fill her in on the warehouse for me. I don’t think I can tell the story again. I’ll
update you guys tomorrow. Just keep your fingers crossed for me, please?”

“I
just won’t cross my legs because that won’t get you anywhere.” She laughed at
her old and often used phrase.

“That’s
my Chaz. Now let me go so I can go to bed.”

“Good
night, girl.”

She
hung up. I grabbed a romance novel off the table and fell asleep looking at the
dark-haired hunk on the cover.

Chapter Two

I
woke up five minutes before the alarm went off. Bella was purring beside me. After
hurriedly getting ready and out the door, I made a run to the local coffee shop
for my favorite French vanilla cappuccino. I saw Jason’s S.U.V. in the parking
lot, so I went through the drive through as quickly as possible, not daring to
face him and got away without him seeing me. I hoped he wasn’t there in the
misguided notion that he could change my mind. That wasn’t happening.

I
pulled up at work just a couple minutes before my appointment with the
adjuster. I only got a couple of lovely sips down before a van and a luxury sedan
pulled in together.

The
van had a rental company’s emblem on it, so I knew it was some people from my
corporate office. A tall man got out of the sedan. He had brown hair, brown
eyes and that good old American boy look about him. When he reached me, he
stretched his hand out to me.

“Hi,
I’m Parker Stevenson from FOS Insurance and you must be Samantha Malone. Can I
say it’s a pleasure to meet you?”

He
smiled as he held my hand

“Good
morning, Mr. Stevenson. Yes, I’m Samantha Malone. I don’t know how much of a
pleasure it’ll be, so we’ll see.” I said with a small laugh.

His
hand was warm and he was looking me over as I spoke.

“Call
me Parker. May I call you Samantha? We’ll be handling this mess for two to
three weeks so we may as well be friendly, right?”

He
let go of my hand, not my gaze.

“Alright
Parker, lets get this ball rolling, shall we?”

I
opened the warehouse door as the group gathered on the stairway. We made
introductions. I had spoken to a couple of them on the phone yesterday.

He
stepped aside for me to see who was coming up behind him.

“This
gentleman is Fred Sanders. He’s here to work with me on what repairs have to be
done.” Parker smiled like a Cheshire cat.

“Nice
to meet you Mr. Sanders, I’m Samantha Malone.”

I
shook Fred’s hand after he put down his hard hat and briefcase.

Everything
had been previously taped off, so we had to walk around the taped support to
the dock where it all started. Some of the corporate people stopped to look at
the damaged support beam as I was walking Fred and Parker over to the
designated area.

“This
is where the truck rolled back into the dock, knocking into the dock walls, and
sending the load out across the concrete and into the support beam,” I said.

“Okay,
let me and Fred look over these things for a few minutes. Stay close, in case
we have questions for you,” Parker replied.

I
watched them work together for a while as I drank my cappuccino. Parker had
shed his jacket and loosened his tie. Fred had rolled up his sleeves. Fred was
probably in his late thirties while Parker looked to be about thirty five. They
were well built and in good shape.

My
cell phone went off in mid-thought.

“Hello.”

“Hi,
Samantha, it’s Raven. I heard the bad news about work. How are things going
with the big wigs?”

“I’m
doing rather well so far. You should see the insurance guy they sent over here.
He’s All American Boy meets Cheshire cat. You and Chastity could flip a coin
for him,” I suggested mischievously.

“I
don’t think so. I called to let you know we are still on for this weekend and
we can meet at my place. I’ll drive us in Felicia’s car since I have a shoot
early on Sunday morning. This way you can have a few drinks to get over your
awful week.”

“I’ll
see you Friday. Maybe I’ll invite Mr. Insure Me just to see who wins the coin
toss?”

“Yeah,
see how far that gets him.”

She
was not impressed, but wait until she saw him. Then we’d see.

She
hung up and I went to the corporate group to see how things were going. I
volleyed between six people for an hour and a half before we all decided to get
lunch at a café nearby. I told them to follow me since they had all piled into
the van.

Parker
grabbed the chair next to mine. By the look on his face, it seemed like the cat
had a plan. Then I noticed that he’d positioned himself where I was stuck
between him and another wall. Clever.

“Do
I need to let you out for the salad bar?”

I
nodded. He didn’t bother to move. I stared down at him, waiting for him to
slide forward. I didn’t like the idea that I had to press against his back to
get my salad.

He
smiled, scooted up and said, “Can you bring me back some cucumbers?”

I
went to the bar and for some crazy reason; I did get cucumbers and a handful of
crackers. He let me back in, but it felt as if he casually brushed against me
while letting me over. Parker waited until I sat down before leaning over me to
spear a cucumber off my plate.

“Oh,
you’re a doll. Sorry for the reach. I couldn’t resist when they looked so
good.”

His
face was only inches from mine, so I leaned away from him a little.

“If
you’ll move your arm I’ll slide the rest of them over for you.”

He
looked a little disappointed before he slowly leaned back into his seat. I slid
the plate over so he could get them himself.

“I
would’ve shared the plate. I guess it’s too soon for that, huh? I must admit
that I like having you cornered all to myself.”

“I
came here to have my lunch, so why don’t we enjoy it before the soup gets cold?”

“Fine
by me. Thank you for my salad bar treats.”

He
retreated from battle, momentarily.

We
continued to eat without saying too much to each other then got back to the
warehouse as another truck was pulling in. Fred greeted the new man and they
took an hour looking over the damages again.

Parker
stayed on his cell phone most of that time as he relayed information. After all
three guys were finished they went to find the corporate people in the
conference room, staying there for about thirty minutes. They came back down to
tell me the news.

“We
have good news and bad news for you, Samantha,” chirped Parker

“Just
give it to me and we’ll clean up the mess afterward.”

“Well,
the support beam and dock can be repaired without tearing that part of the
building down. The problem is, it’ll take several days to get the replacement
parts delivered—if there are no hang ups with supplies or workers,” Fred
explained quickly.

“Okay.
That’s not so bad. What about the workers who can’t come in while we get this done?”

Parker
stepped in. “Corporate will pay them since it wasn’t their fault. Speaking of
fault, the driver has a witness who saw him handle the truck properly. The
driver is back at work right now, with no problems. We’re also checking the
security cameras now to see if it was sabotage on someone else’s part.”

“I’m
glad the driver’s been cleared. Now what do we need to do about the rest of
this?”

“I
have two crews to give us repair estimates and they can both be here tomorrow, though
at different times. I’ll need you to be here to help me. I’ll feed you for your
troubles.”

“I’m
here for the long haul and you don’t have to feed me for me to do my job, even
if the job description changes a little.”

“Fred,
you hear that? Record that for corporate and they’ll have it on the next
training tape for new employees.” I didn’t respond, so he continued. “Samantha,
I’ll be bugging you a lot so humor me, okay?”

“We’ll
see.”

A
genuine smile came to my face.

He
nodded at Fred and motioned for me to come closer as Fred walked away.

“Seriously,
things are going to be crazy the next couple of weeks. I need your number in
order to reach you. I don’t want you to think of it as a come-on, even though I
will certainly be enjoying this time with you.”

“I’ll
give you my number for business reasons and you can call me for any business
need that the office may have.”

“Make
no bones about it Samantha, I will be calling you and it won’t be purely for
business needs. Will you still answer?” He asked this with a charming look on his
face.

“We’ll
see.” He was beginning to grow on me.

I
went to answer my ringing office phone. It was Chastity.

“How
are things going, sweetheart?”

“Great,
if you consider repairs taking two weeks.”

“I’m
sorry. Is that the only bad news you have?” She laughed.

“You
know what, just for that I think I have a surprise for you. Hold on a second.”

I
slid the phone to my chest and stared at Parker who was just outside my door.
It’s as if he felt me staring and looked up at me before grinning again.