Seasons (18 page)

J.P. explained a little about the baby and all that Jaci had been through over the past few months. “I’m trying to be patient
since she’s dealing with so much right now. I almost fired Linda this morning for making her wait in reception for no reason.
If I hadn’t seen Jaci on her way in, there’s no telling how long Linda would have had her waiting. I don’t know what’s wrong
with that crazy woman.”

Big Pat rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I do. She’s set her cap for you, and she’s trying to run the competition off. I heard
her on the phone when I came through reception. She was talking about how she was going to get rid of somebody. I’ll bet anything
she was talking about Jaci. She bears watching, son. Something about her I ain’t never liked. Better yet, get rid of her!”

A
s Jaci passed through the reception area, her mind spinning over what had just happened, she almost didn’t realize that Linda’s
quiet but viciously spoken words were directed toward her. “You think you’re smart, don’t you. Playing up to J.P. like you
are. Well, let me just tell you in case you are suffering any misconceptions. J.P. is spoken for—he’s mine, and you don’t
have a snowball’s chance in hell with him. So move on, honey, and stay away from him, or I will move you myself. I mean every
word I’m saying. And don’t tempt me because I’ll be glad to show you.”

Jaci stared at her for a moment before shaking her head and escaping through the door. She really didn’t need anymore drama
in her life.

After reaching her truck, she got in and sat there for a minute, trying to process what she had just experienced. She shook
her head again.
Lord, it’s amazing how much trouble I get into just minding my own business.
As she drove out of the parking lot, she pushed her troubling thoughts to the back of her mind and decided to stop by her
office.

She called the hospital to check on Jasmine as soon as she arrived at her office, and, after being told that the baby was
stable, Jaci decided to go through her in-box to clear it before checking her messages. She wasn’t anxious to retrieve the
troublesome messages that were inevitably waiting on her voice mail. Since this was Saturday, hopefully she would get through
a lot of work without interruption and take some pressure off of next week.

Of its own accord, her mind went back to J.P., and she cringed in embarrassment when she remembered what had transpired between
them last night. What in the world had gotten into her? Thank God, once again J.P. had acted with some restraint because she
certainly hadn’t. It seemed she had none where he was concerned. And this morning, his father’s ridiculous remarks about her
marrying him made her realize she had to get things under control between J.P. and herself. No way was she going to put her
emotions in the hands of a man until she was ready to deal with the repercussions.

Her desk phone rang, causing her to jump in surprise.
Now who would be calling here on a Saturday?
she wondered. Curiosity made her pick up the phone. “Hello,” she said in a cautious voice.

“Girl, what are you doing at that darn office today?” her friend Lena yelled into the phone. “You still haven’t gotten it
have you? Newsflash—you ain’t a superwoman! Everybody needs to rest sometimes, Jaci. Now what could have been so important
that you had to go to that pit today?”

Jaci began to laugh. “Girl, how you doing? And I know I ain’t a superwoman. I just decided to come by here and clear my desk
a little because next week is going to be hectic. But guess what I’m doing? I’m sitting here thinking about stuff best forgotten.
Figure that.”

It was good to talk to Lena, one of the few true friends she had made over the years. Lena was an attorney with the city,
and they occasionally collaborated on cases where owners filed suits against the city for demolishing their dilapidated houses.
They got together often to lament over the lack of men in their lives and supported each other through the ups and downs of
failed relationships and the ongoing survival struggle.

Jaci told her about the trip to Corpus Christi, gave her an update on the baby’s condition, and then told her about the call
from Maxie. Lena couldn’t believe it.

“Just how did that bastard fix his mouth to even speak to you after all these years? And did you curse his tail out and hang
up?”

Jaci told her about the conversation with Maxie, and J.P.’s subsequent kindness, without going into too much detail.

“And you won’t believe this! I went by J.P.’s office this morning to give him my report, and guess what? His father came in
while I was there, and, girl, he had the nerve to ask me when I was going to put J.P. out of his misery and marry him. Can
you believe that? I was so embarrassed.”

Lena was quiet for long minutes. Jaci was about to ask if she was still there when Lena finally took a deep breath and said,
“Wellllll, I think Pops has the right idea. I mean . . . J.P. has been leaning over backwards to show you he’s interested
in more than a roll in the sack. You need to open up and give him a chance. You never know, Jace, he could be the one.”

It was Jaci’s turn to be quiet as she remembered just how close she had actually come to rolling in the sack with him, and
at her invitation. “You may be right,” she said finally. “We are very attracted to each other. But the thing is, I don’t know
where I want it to go. I have some serious fears about getting hurt again. I don’t know if I could handle that. Oh, and let
me tell you about Linda, J.P.’s receptionist.” Jaci felt it was a good time to change the subject.

“Oh yeah, the old witch who always makes you wait so long to see J.P.?”

“Yep. That’s her. And you nailed it when you called her a witch. This morning J.P. caught on somehow to what she was doing
and called her in. Whatever he told her, it must not have been good, because when she came out, she gave me a real dirty look
before telling me I could go on in. Then, when I passed her desk on the way out, she threatened me.”

“She what!? Jaci, exactly what did she say?”

Jaci repeated what Linda said, ending with, “You know I need that kind of drama like I need a hole in my head.”

“You need to tell J.P. what she said. Let him deal with her. And then you need to give this thing with J.P. a chance, girl.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Listen, I’m not going to keep you. But don’t stay there too long, Jaci. I cooked up a lot
of food, so come by and eat before you go
home
!” She stressed the word “home” because she knew Jaci was most likely not going home before stopping by the hospital to check
on the baby. She was right.

Arriving home later that evening, Jaci felt more hopeful about the baby than she had ever dared. Jasmine was showing definite
signs of improvement since the surgery, and the doctors were guardedly optimistic. Her good feelings didn’t last long.

There were two disturbing messages on her answering machine. One from Maxie demanding to know whether she had talked to Randi
yet. And the other from her mother, advising that her paternal grandmother was not doing well and wanting to know when Jaci
could come to Riverwood to see her. Jaci had deliberately kept the seriousness of the baby’s condition from her parents, so
they had no idea what was currently going on. They were under a heavy burden themselves, taking care of her grandmother and
dealing with their own old-age troubles.

“Oh, Lord!” Jaci said to the empty house. “This couldn’t have come at a worse time.”

She had still not talked to Randi who was already dealing with so much that Jaci was reluctant to dump the sudden appearance
of her long-lost daddy on her. She had hoped, somewhere in the back of her mind, that Maxie would just go away. But apparently
he was not going to do that. She was going to have to do something real soon.

She called her mother and got the full scope of her grandmother’s condition. She conceded that, yes, from the sound of things,
she did need to go right away. She hung up and began making travel plans.

Monday, as she prepared for Thursday’s hearing, something else happened to put even more pressure on Jaci. She was summoned
to Wynola Dickson’s office and reprimanded for being discourteous to a citizen. Jaci searched her mind, but for the life of
her couldn’t recall doing anything even remotely like that. She always put herself in the other person’s shoes and tried to
treat them as she would like to be treated. She knew she hadn’t deliberately done or said anything objectionable to anyone,
but with so much going on, maybe she had done so unconsciously.

“If I did something like that, it wasn’t done deliberately, and I’ll gladly apologize,” Jaci said. But when she asked for
the name of the citizen she needed to make the apology to, Wynola refused to supply it.

“I have the right to confront my accuser,” Jaci insisted. “It could be that someone has either lied on me, or at the least
misunderstood something I said.”

“You don’t have the right to anything,” Wynola stated coldly. “And there’s never any excuse for that kind of conduct. I’ve
received many complaints about you over the years, but since you’ve done a reasonably fair job, I’ve chosen to overlook them.
But this time you’ve gone too far. If it happens again, I’ll start disciplinary actions toward removing you from your position.”

Jaci was dumbfounded. Never had she received less than an acceptable performance review in all the years she had worked for
the city.

“I’ve never heard about any complaints before,” she told Wynola. “And I don’t recall my performance reviews ever showing that
my work was below par in any way.” Jaci got angry. “I don’t know what’s going on, but something’s not adding up. I’ve worked
too long and hard in this department to be dealing with something like this. And I certainly don’t like the idea of walking
around with this kind of cloud hanging over me.” Jaci made a mental note to request prayer from her church.

Wynola felt a little sliver of concern run through her. She knew Jaci’s past performance reviews would show the truth of Jaci’s
statement, but she refused to back off.

She smiled nervously. “As long as you understand that I won’t put up with any further misconduct, you’ll be all right. I don’t
have anymore time to waste on you today, I’m late for a meeting.”

Jaci left Wynola’s office with an unsettled feeling. For some reason she felt an overwhelming desire to talk to J.P., but
she quickly quashed it. He was already much too involved in her affairs.

She told her staff what had happened, asking if anyone knew anything about it. They were all shocked and angered by the accusation.

Bill Whitmore had the most volatile reaction. He had been around long enough to know everything about everyone in the department.
It was a well-known fact that Wynola had gotten her position because of political connections and that she was basically an
airhead without basic knowledge of what the job entailed, with no interest in learning. He also knew what Jaci had gone through
to get where she was and despite what was going on in her life currently, she was still one of the most valuable employees
in the department.

“What in the world is wrong with that crazy woman?” Bill shouted. “After all these years, she should know that’s not your
style. She’d better realize what side her bread is buttered on. Without your hard work, she probably would have been out of
here a long time ago. Naw. Something else is going on, and I’ma find out what.”

Bill decided he would call the department director. The two men had been hired around the same time, and although it was not
widely known, they had maintained a close friendship over the years. Bill had cheered and helped his friend on his way to
the administrator job, while he happily chose to stick to inspection work. He had never infringed on their friendship with
personal requests, but he was going to do so now.

Jaci tried to concentrate on preparations for the hearing and for the trip out of town. She dreaded the six-hour drive to
Riverwood, but knew she had to go. She put in her request for time off and was shocked when it came back from Wynola unsigned
with the word
DENIED
written across the top in red.

Normally she didn’t take a lot of time off work. She had grown into that habit when her child had been young and prone to
childhood sicknesses. Jaci had gone to work many times so sick she could barely stand, reluctant to use her sick or vacation
leave on herself. Even during her daughter’s illness with the baby, she had seldom missed any whole days. She would use only
as many hours as necessary, and spend the rest of the day on the job.

She took the form and headed to Wynola’s office, praying for help from the Lord as she went. “I need to see Wynola,” she said
walking pass the secretary without stopping.

“Wait! She’s busy right now,” the secretary called as Jaci walked through the open door to Wynola’s office.

“Tough,” Jaci replied.

She walked across the large office to Wynola’s desk and asked, “What is the reason for this, Wynola?” She threw the form on
the desk and stood, waiting for the woman to get off the phone.

Wynola looked at her with distaste and took her time ending what was obviously a personal call. She then turned to Jaci. “What
do you mean barging into my office like this? You really are tired of working here, aren’t you? It means just what it says,
‘denied,’ or can’t you read?”

Jaci couldn’t believe the viciousness of the woman. “Lord help me,” Jaci whispered before responding. “Yes, I can read. I
asked you for the reason it was denied. I have the time and there’s nothing that my staff can’t handle if I’m out of the office
a few days. So why?”

Wynola looked at Jaci with a smirk. “Because I felt like it. Now get out of my office.”

Jaci picked up the form and walked slowly toward the door. It occurred to her that she had been wrong in her approach. She
turned around and found the woman staring at her with open dislike. “Wynola, the reason I need this time off is because my
grandmother is very ill, and I have to travel out of town to see her. I’m asking again. May I have this time off?”