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I tilted my head a bit, very unsure of myself, and said, “He seems like he’s a nice guy. He’s got a good message.” I was much more certain of what I said next. “Corinne, honestly, with my past…this kind of thing really isn’t my element. It makes me feel…” I struggled with exactly the right word to tell her before settling on, “really uncomfortable. If this is your element, that’s well and good; I respect that. I just don’t feel like it’s mine.”
Corinne said, sincerely, “I’m not pressuring you, Elijah. But, I know this man very well, and if you were in his church in person and he knew your story, he’d welcome you. He wouldn’t hold anything in your life against you; he’d just be glad you were there. Maybe one day, you will get to meet him and you’ll see for yourself.”
Taking a deep breath while weighing her words, I said, “Thank you, Corinne. Thanks for asking me over for this. And, thanks, I guess, for still being willing to see something good in me and not giving up on me. I suppose I’m kind of a work in progress, still.”
“So is everyone.” She smiled back at me.
CHAPTER32
Corinne. Monday
It was “work as usual” when I sensed that people around me were looking up from their cubicles, their attention going from work to something else. I looked up as well and saw the reason why. The boss had come down to visit again.
Elijah’s eyes swept the Call Center like the beacon of a lighthouse. They came to rest on me for just a second, and he sent just the hint of a smile in my direction. I smiled back, more openly.Why should anyone think anything untoward about that, I reasoned.Why would I not be happy to see the boss?
Brett leaned over in my direction and asked, “Is it just my imagination or is he coming down here more often lately?”
I didn’t answer.Why on Earth, I wondered with a lingering smile,would anyone think Elijah was coming down more frequently? You’d think there was some reason he was visiting us more often than he used to.
Elijah began to work the room, walking in the opposite direction from my cubicle, but I guessed he meant to circle back around to me. He made me think of the Captain of a ship, walking the deck and showing himself to his crew. He said hello to everyone and asked how they were doing, and seemed genuinely interested in whatever they had to say.What a good mood he was in, I thought.What might be the reason for that?
As I expected, he did come around to where I was sitting. But unlike all the others, Elijah came all the way into my cubicle and offered me his hand.
I took his hand as he asked very courteously, “And, how areyoudoing this morning, Corinne?”
“Very well, Elijah,” I said, very demurely in spite of my thoughts at the moment being anything but.
“Good,” he said. “You know, if there’s ever anything you need, anything at all…” He let it go at that.
“Yes, I know, thank you,” I replied.
Every eye in the place was already trained on the sight of the boss having stepped into my cubicle with me. I could practically feel all those eyes bulging at what happened next. Elijah leaned over and kissed me — just a peck on the forehead, but more than he’d done, and more than he would have done, for anyone else present. And, I just smiled at him, pretending that my toes weren’t curling and my shoulders and neck weren’t tingling.
“Well, carry on, then,” said Elijah. “And, have a great morning.”
“I will,” I said. “And same to you.”
Elijah strode out of my cubicle and back towards the outer hall, where Steven, the curly-haired intern who said Elijah was “easy on the eyes,” had come back from what was probably a bathroom break just in time to see the little kiss that I’d gotten from the boss. Elijah greeted Steven and shook his hand on the way out, and Steven, flabbergasted and slack-jawed, walked over in my direction.
While a murmur of surprise and fascination rose up in the Call Center after Elijah left, and all eyes stayed fixed on me in disbelief and amazement (and probably a good amount of envy), Steven stared at me. He seemed to be focusing the mood of the entire place like a magnifying glass and shining it all right onto me. “What wasthat?” he asked, astonished.
“He’s just a good boss,” I replied, sighing.
“No kidding!” he reacted, looking in the direction where Elijah went, obviously wishing for a Elijah of his own. I hoped he’d get one soon.
“We’re just…working on something, that’s all,” I added.
Knowingly, Steven said, “I’ll bet!” And he walked off, taking with him what I guessed were his very accurate conclusions about the situation.
A little later, a text came on my phone. It was from Elijah.
Lunch?
Yes,I texted back.
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On the elevator ride down to the lobby, Elijah asked me, “Is that same sandwich shop all right? We don’t have to go there if it reminds you of…you know. We can absolutely go somewhere else.”