The Living Room (14 page)

nine

A
my admired the wreath on the door for a moment before pressing the door chime. Showing up unannounced wasn’t polite, but she hoped Ms. Burris wouldn’t mind. She brushed her hair away from her face and adjusted her glasses. The door opened.

“Come in,” Ms. Burris said. “I didn’t know it would be you, but I’m glad it is.”

Entering the foyer, Amy caught a glimpse of a tall Christmas tree in the living room. There was a large ceramic angel perched atop the tree.

“May I see your tree?” she asked.

Ms. Burris was already at the door of the parlor where they’d talked before but stopped and turned toward the living room.

“Yes, we can sit in there if you like.”

The tree was placed in front of a double window that overlooked the front yard. It was covered with many unusual ornaments, some homemade, others expensive and ornate.

“It’s a pretty tree,” Amy said. “Who helped you decorate it?”

“Katelyn, one of my great-nieces, came for a visit with her husband. She’s got an artistic eye.”

Ms. Burris sat at one end of a leather sofa. Amy sat across from her in a Queen Anne wing chair. She glanced around the room again and cleared her throat.

“I’ve been waiting for your call. Have you made up your mind about the job?”

“I’m sorry I haven’t gotten in touch with you. I’m still praying and asking the Lord about it,” Ms. Burris responded.

“Okay.”

“Has something else come up?”

“Yes.” Amy nodded. “And I need to let them know by tomorrow.”

Ms. Burris sat quietly with her hands folded in her lap. Amy glanced down at the edge of the woolen rug that covered part of the floor. Mr. Phillips hadn’t told her to keep the job offer from the law firm secret.

“I got a phone call from Mr. Phillips this morning asking me to come into the office and meet with him,” she said. “I just left there. He wants me to return to work at the law firm, temporarily, while his secretary is on maternity leave, and possibly long term if I want to.”

“And you don’t want to go back to Egypt when you’ve started on your journey to the Promised Land.”

“Yes,” Amy said with relief. “That’s a very accurate way of putting it. Jeff and I need the money and benefits, but that’s not the only thing that’s important, is it?”

Amy waited, but Ms. Burris didn’t speak.

“Would the Lord tell you what I’m supposed to do?” Amy asked.

“He might, but my job is usually to confirm what he’s already shown someone.”

“I know what my husband wants,” Amy sighed. “For him, the law firm represents financial stability.”

“Which makes sense. It’s a blessing to be married to a man who thinks about his family first.”

It was a simple statement, but Amy had never applied it to Jeff. She had to admit that Ms. Burris was right.

“Yes.”

“Would it make it easier for you if I told you I wasn’t going to ask you to work for me?” Ms. Burris asked.

“That’s not the way I want to decide.”

“Good. All I can say is that my heart is telling me you have an important job to do. I don’t know whether it’s here with me or for Harold Phillips. But wherever you end up and whatever you do there, I believe it’s time for your light to shine brighter than it ever has before.”

For some unknown reason, Ms. Burris’s softly spoken challenge took Amy’s breath away. Not hiding her light was an idea familiar to her since childhood, but hearing the words at that moment, Amy knew there was a mature, much bolder expression for it.

“Yes, ma’am,” she managed after a moment.

“The Lord really loves you,” Ms. Burris said and smiled. She pointed at the presents under the tree. “He’s given you gifts that many long for but didn’t receive. Do you have a minute for a cup of tea?”

“Yes, that would be great.”

The two women sat in the kitchen at a table nestled in the space created by a bay window.

“I’ve also thought a lot about Natalie,” Ms. Burris said. “Do you think she would like to come over for a visit?”

“She’d love that, especially if she could have a tour of the house. She’s a wonderful interior decorator.”

Once again, they finished the visit by praying together. Amy felt a holy hush that reminded her of what she experienced in the living room.

“Thanks for letting me drop in unannounced,” she said as she stood to leave.

“Let me know what you decide to do about the job offer from Harold Phillips.”

“I will.”

“And don’t forget about our lunch with Natalie. Give me a few days’ notice so I can plan something special.”

When Amy arrived home, Megan was sitting at the kitchen table eating a cup of yogurt.

“Where have you been all dressed up?” Megan asked in surprise.

When Amy told her, Megan’s face grew serious.

“You’d go back to work at the law firm so I can keep taking dance lessons?”

Amy resisted the temptation to reply in a way designed to make Megan feel guilty.

“I’ll go back to work if it’s what I believe I’m supposed to do. Your dad and I want to find a way for you to continue dance whether I’m working outside the home or not.”

“If you do go back to work at the law firm, I’ll help out with Ian.”

“You will?”

It was Amy’s turn to be surprised.

“Yes, so long as it’s not all the time. I know you don’t want him coming home to an empty house, and it will cost money if you have to send him to an after-school program every day.”

“I don’t want to take advantage of you, but that would be great,” Amy said. “Even two afternoons a week would help a lot.”

“Monday and Wednesday would be the best. I won’t have anything after school on those days, and dance class is going to be on Tuesday and Thursday beginning in January.”

Ian came into the kitchen. He didn’t notice Amy’s outfit. He opened the refrigerator door and poured a big glass of milk.

“What’s for supper?” he asked. “I’m starving.”

Amy looked at the clock. There wasn’t time to put together a regular meal.

“Frozen pizza?” she asked.

Ian looked startled.

“Get used to it,” Megan said. “Mom may go back to work.”

When he got home, Jeff showed enough sense not to question why they were eating pizza from a box for supper. Amy scraped together the makings of a decent salad, which everybody but Ian ate. Because Amy’s trip to the law firm was already out in the open, it was a topic of conversation during the meal.

“Are you going to keep writing books?” Ian asked as he blew on a piece of pizza to cool it.

“I hope so,” Amy answered. “I haven’t started a new one yet.”

“Okay.” Ian nodded. “Then it would be good to make money in a real job until you do.”

Amy glanced at Jeff. “Like father, like son.”

Jeff shook his head. “I didn’t say anything to him.”

After the children had cleared out, Amy and Jeff stayed in the kitchen. She brewed a pot of decaf coffee.

“After I left the law firm I went by to see Ms. Burris,” Amy said as the water began to trickle down through the grounds.

“What did she have to say?”

“Not much and a lot,” Amy replied.

“Huh?”

Amy leaned over and kissed Jeff on the cheek.

“She made me appreciate you more.”

“I like that. Has she already hired someone to help her around the house?”

“Not yet. She’s still praying about offering the job to me.”

Amy saw Jeff’s jaw clench, then release.

“Ms. Burris believes it’s time for my light to shine in the darkness.”

“That’s easy to interpret,” Jeff said. “What could be darker than a law office?”

“You really want me to work there, don’t you?”

“Yes, because your light is so strong.”

“And not because it will be a lot more money along with benefits?”

“Yes, but for every reason I can think of, it seems like the best decision. You want to work for Ms. Burris so you can spend time with her. You can do that whether you work for her or not. Her house is almost within walking distance of the law office.”

Amy took her coffee up to the writing room to pray. However, instead of closing her eyes, she stared out the window at the darkening winter landscape. The sandhills region of North Carolina was dull and drab from December to March. It lacked the crisp starkness of
New England or the softer hues of the Deep South. The brown landscape perfectly matched Amy’s mood. She tried to encourage herself with the thought that Mr. Phillips held her in such high regard he extended a job offer designed to lure her back to work. But that was exactly how Amy felt—lured back to the daily grind of word processing by the need for money. Ms. Burris could quote a verse about light and darkness with a wrinkled smile on her face and a twinkle in her blue eyes, but Amy was the one who was going to have to leave her attic retreat and return to life in the ordinary world.

She turned on her computer and opened a new document. At the top of the page, she typed “Chapter One.” Beneath the two words was a white ocean of blank space. Amy stared at the page. If she could fill the void with words that thousands and thousands of people would buy and read, she could reclaim her freedom.

But that wasn’t going to happen tonight.

As she lay in bed listening to Jeff’s regular breathing, Amy knew what she was going to do. She turned onto her side and closed her eyes. No confirming dreams put heaven’s stamp of approval on the next step of her life.

The following morning she told Jeff her decision.

“I’m accepting the job. I’ll call Mr. Phillips around nine o’clock and let him know.”

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“I believe it’s what I’m supposed to do.”

Jeff hugged her. Feeling the gratitude in his embrace, Amy hugged him back.

After Jeff left for work, Amy called the law office. The same young female voice answered. This time Amy had a face to go with the greeting. Soon she’d know more about the young woman at the front desk.

“This is Amy Clarke. Is Mr. Phillips available?”

“Just a minute, please.”