Rocky Mountain Angels (18 page)

“Lord, I’ve gone down so many dead ends in my education. Please guide me to the right path—to your best plan for me.” She wasn’t struck with an immediate revelation, so she scooped up a bite of Hamburger Helper and opened her laptop again to find more information on the Religious Studies program at UCCS. Words were bouncing around in her head.

Education illumination.

Process of elimination.

Clean it, sell it, snap it, teach it.

Put it in your pipe and preach it.

For a second, she nearly veered offtrack to look at creative writing classes but speedily reined in that notion.
Talk about a waste of time.

Her best friend, Rhonda, had been trying to get published for years. She remembered the fat file folder she had shown her jam packed with rejection letters. She kept trying, though, waiting tables during the day and writing every spare minute. Mari had read a few of Rhonda’s books and actually thought they were quite good. Better than most popular fiction.
If she can’t get published, what chance have I got?

Chapter 15

Mari was surprised Monday morning by a winter wonderland outside. Five inches of snow had fallen gently during the night, outlining every tree and bush in white fluff. She hurriedly pulled on long underwear, jeans, two pair of socks and a sweater before pulling her camera out of the closet and donning her coat, mittens, scarf and boots—both the snow and therapeutic varieties.

Pulling her front door open, she saw Joe at the end of her sidewalk with snow shovel in hand. “Wait, Joe!” she yelled. “Let me take a picture before you mess it all up!” Joe straightened, leaving the shovel end in the street and putting one hand over the other on the handle.

And that’s the first picture Mari took.

From her tiny porch, she took a picture of a pine tree that looked like it should be on a Christmas card then one of Joe scooping. She waded out into the yard and snapped a picture of her snow-covered car then one of Joe scooping. She took a picture of the Rhodes’ Victorian House with snow topping the porch rails then one of Joe scooping. She zoomed in on her back fence where each post was topped with a cap of snow then pivoted back to take a picture of Joe staring right at her, leaning on his shovel.

Mari pulled the camera away from her face, embarrassed. Her cheeks were already red from the cold, however, so Joe didn’t pick up on it.

“Nice camera. Do you do more than have fun with it?”

Mari walked over to where he stood. “I’m not a professional, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Could you be?”

“Maybe. I was actually pondering just that last night. It’s on my list of possibilities.”

Joe went back to scooping. “What else is on your list?”

She held her breath as a blue bird with a black crested head soared down to a nearby juniper bush, sending a storm of feathery light snow to the ground below. Her fingers were getting cold, however, and she couldn’t get focused before it took off again. “Rats.”

Joe looked back at her. “Rats? Training or research?” Joe smiled and winked at her, and her traitorous insides did a flip.

She quickly turned her face away. “Rats, as in ‘rats, I missed a great shot of that awesome bird.’ It was blue with a black crested head.”

“Sounds like a Stellar Jay.”

“It certainly was. Stellar, that is. I’ve never seen one like that.” Mari pointed her camera and shot, not really noticing what. “But back to your question, other possibilities on my list are Marketing and Religious Studies and...” She stopped herself right before “writing” popped out, wondering why part of her brain kept dwelling on that idea.

Joe scooped another shovel full of snow and paused. “And...”

Mari shook her head, still facing away from him. “Nothing. Just Marketing and Religious Studies.”

Joe reached her porch and leaned on his shovel once again. “Well, marketing should have some job potential, but what are you thinking of doing with Religious Studies? Seems like the only options would be teaching or becoming a Rabbi.” He took a step toward her into the snow-covered yard. “Do you want to become a Rabbi, Mari?”

She looked back at him and was suddenly irritated. “You were the one who told me to just ‘be’ for awhile and let God speak to me.”

He took another step toward her. “You don’t have to study to do that. Don’t get me wrong, Mari, I’m sure anyone could benefit from some religious study, but if your goal is to get through school this time with a career, you need to think about the end result of your study.”

Mari knew he was right, and she really had no idea why his handsome face looking at her intently was making her mad, but she decided it would be best to leave. “I’m... I’m getting cold. I think I’ll go in now.” She slipped around him to step on her porch. Before going in she remembered her manners and turned back.  “Oh! Thanks for scooping my walk. I really appreciate it.”

Joe gave her a smile that created dimples on his rosy cheeks. “It was my pleasure.”

The porch gave her enough height to put her face on almost the same plane as his, and Mari nearly got lost in the blue of his eyes in the frosty air.

Joe walked to the porch and seemed a bit lost, as well. His smile faded into something more intense. “Mari, I didn’t mean to tell you what to do with your life. Forgive me for butting in.”

Mari’s feet moved to the edge of the porch of their own volition. “That’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” Joe’s aftershave wafted over to her nose as her gaze locked with his, and suddenly she felt as if she couldn’t breathe at all. She swallowed, her brain as frozen as her hands. “I... I need to buy a bird feeder.”

His gaze slipped to her lips even as he licked his own. “A bird feeder.”

“So I can take their pictures easier. They’ll sit still longer.” She touched her camera, dragging Joe’s attention downward for a moment before his gaze slowly returned to her face. “I’m a bird...” —she paused in mid-sentence, analyzing the different shades of blue in his eyes.

A corner of his mouth twitched. “You’re a bird?”

“...watcher,” she completed absently.

His eyes were almost pleading when he whispered, “Mari.”

Time seemed to slow to a stop. “What, Joe?” she asked, almost as quietly.

“Ho there!”

Mari and Joe stumbled away from each other as Eli trotted across the yard, reestablishing the trail between their houses. He stepped up to the porch and gave Mari a peck on the lips. “I see Joe beat me to scooping your walk.”

Mari awkwardly tried to slip a strand of hair behind her ear with her mitten. “Yeah, he... he made quick work of it.” She turned to take hold of her doorknob. “Thanks again, Joe.”

Joe was already heading down the walk. “You’re welcome, Mari.”

***

Eli made pancakes and hot chocolate while Mari took a shower. He wished that he had been the one to scoop her walk for her, but he hadn’t even realized it had snowed until he walked out the door. Ever the early bird, Joe had made the discovery first.

Eli pulled two colorful plates out of Mari’s cupboard and was doing a search for pancake syrup when Mari appeared in jeans and a bulky burgundy sweater. Eli was glad she didn’t dress like most of the women he had spent time with, but he would love to jazz up her wardrobe just a tad. He thought she needed more clothes like the soft blouse she was wearing on Saturday. S
omething that highlights her curves a bit more.

Mari crossed to the pantry closet Eli was staring into and pulled out the syrup. He turned and slipped his arms around her. “Do I get my kiss now that you’re squeaky clean?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck with the syrup bottle in hand, and Eli dipped his head to place his mouth on hers. She seemed tense at first, but his experienced lips soon had her relaxed and melting against him.

He slid a hand down her butt, and Mari pulled away. “I guess we better eat. I hate cold pancakes.”

Eli gave her a sly grin and turned back to the stove. “Coming right up.” He slid the last four pancakes onto the platter and brought it to the table where Mari was already sipping her hot chocolate.

“Thanks for breakfast, Eli.”

“Well, I’ve got what will probably be an all-day meeting with the Marshall’s, so if I wanted to see you before tonight, it would have to be over breakfast.”

She took two pancakes and layered them with syrup. “Why so long?”

Mari passed the syrup to him, and he followed suit. “Joe wants the absolute final draft on the apartment plans today, so we are going to hammer out any further changes on the spot.”

Mari nodded as she chewed. After a sip of cocoa, she continued with questions. “How do you do that? Do you use a pencil and paper, or do you design on the computer?”

“Mostly on computer, but sometimes I just goof around on paper, especially for my beginning designs. Joe says I just like using scales.” He smiled— “He’s probably right” — and forked a bite of pancakes into his mouth.

Mari looked puzzled. “Scales?”

Eli nodded as he swallowed, realizing she was picturing the wrong kind of scale. “Not weight scales. Scales, as in scale rulers.”

“Oh, okay.” She smiled. “I like messing around with those myself.”

They ate in silence for a bit, Eli trying to think how to approach the subject on his mind. He reached across the table to caress Mari’s hand wrapped around the warm mug. “You and Joe looked like you were having a pretty serious discussion when I came out.”

Mari finished chewing before speaking. “Oh, not really. We were just discussing my career ideas.”

Eli pulled his hand back as Mari lifted the mug to her lips, irritated that Joe had usurped another thing he could have done for Mari. He shifted in his seat. “Be careful. Joe has a way of working everybody into his corner. Before you realize it, you’ll be an employee of Rhodes Construction.”

“Hmm.”

Mari cut off another bite of her pancake stack, looking thoughtful, and Eli couldn’t stand not knowing what was going through her head. “So what was Joe’s assessment? Which of your ideas got his stamp of approval?”

Mari swept a still slightly damp curl behind her ear. “He said marketing would probably have job potential.” She smiled at Eli’s nodding head. “He didn’t give it a stamp of approval, Eli. It was just an innocent observation.”

Eli was still nodding. “That’s how it starts. Just a nudge to get you thinking about it; then before you know it, Joe’s got your life planned out, and he’s signing your paycheck.” He gathered his dishes and rose.

Mari laughed. “You make him sound like a master manipulator.”

Eli loaded the dishwasher then came back to the table for Mari’s dishes. “You, my dear, have hit the nail on the head.”

Mari was still giggling. “Maybe we should call him The Master.”

Eli returned to her side and took her hand to pull her out of her chair and into an embrace. “That would give him far too much satisfaction.”

“Oh, you’re being ridiculous. What does his fiancée do?”

Eli turned and guided her out of the kitchen with an arm around her waist. “Well, before she met Joe, she was an artist. After a month or two, she was enrolled in classes to learn accounting, so she could be Rhodes Construction’s new accountant one day.”

Mari stopped and narrowed her eyes at Eli. “Seriously?”

Eli just nodded as he took his coat from the rack. His eyes landed on Mari’s camera on the end table. “So... can I see the pictures you took this morning?”

“Uh, sure, later. I’ll get them uploaded to my computer, so you can look at them in a decent size.”

Eli moved to take her in his arms for one more kiss. “Goodbye, beautiful. I’ll come over after the meeting.” He stepped back and buttoned his coat. “And if Joe hasn’t already turned you to the dark side, I’ll be glad to listen to your career list.”

Mari rolled her eyes as Eli grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips for another another quick kiss before letting himself out.

***

Joe was once again sitting in his bedroom, staring at Beth’s painting. He couldn’t get his mind around what he thought almost happened between him and Mari. The air between them had been electric. Just another few seconds, and he was certain he would have kissed her. He rubbed a hand over his face.
She had to feel it, too, didn’t she?

He jumped from his chair and paced, thinking about the moment Eli had interrupted and the flustered look on her face that probably matched his own. Even just the quick kiss that Eli had given her had Joe feeling envious.
Dear God, please take this... this... attraction away. Let me be happy for Eli.

He heard the front door open and guessed it was probably Eli coming back from Mari’s. He looked at the clock and realized they needed to leave in fifteen minutes.
I’ve got to get my head into this meeting. I want those designs finished today.
Stripping off his jeans and t-shirt, he walked to his closet and pulled out slacks and a pale green button shirt.

After slipping on the pants, he realized the shirt was  pretty wrinkled. Carrying it out into the hallway, he met Ben coming up the stairs. “Morning, Ben.”

Joe moved past him, hit the bottom, and was walking swiftly along the rails toward the kitchen when Ben leaned over the railing at the top. “Joe, I’m sorry about last night. I was in a bad mood, and I took it out on you.”

Joe paused, looking up. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

He started forward again, but Ben wasn’t finished. He came back down and followed Joe to the kitchen. “I mean, you and Beth’s relationship is totally none of my business.”

Joe forced a small smile as he opened the broom closet in the back corner of the kitchen and pulled out the ironing board. “You’ve got that right.” The last thing Joe wanted to think about right at the moment was his and Beth’s relationship. He set up the ironing board in front of the refrigerator and took down the iron from an upper shelf in the closet and plugged it in.

Ben sat at the table as if they were going to have a long heart-to-heart. “I wish I understood women—what makes them tick—what they want.”