Page 36 of Wish You Faith (Christmas Sweethearts #1)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

E van woke up on Friday morning worried about everything, including a new pain in his neck.

He realized that he’d fallen asleep at the desk at his home office.

It was the smaller room in the rental condo, and it was cluttered with boxes he didn’t want to unpack because he was anticipating moving to Savannah.

To that end, he had worked late on Thursday night, trying to polish his proposal for a Savannah office. Granted, he hadn’t worked alone on this. Connor had brought two staffers to help him out the last two weeks. They went as far as they could. The rest was up to Evan.

To cut funding, he decided to keep the staff to a lean and mean crew of three people to begin with: himself, a sales person, and the office manager.

By the time he took his first break of the evening, it was midnight in Seattle and three in the morning in Savannah. He wasn’t done with the proposal, and it was looking disastrous. If he sent this to Mom, it was a guaranteed failure.

Oh, why had Mom given him such a short time to come up with a plan for Savannah?

In a bad mood, Evan decided not to text Rosie in the middle of the night. He might say something he’d regret or come across whining like a baby. And Rosie might wake up thinking it was an emergency in the middle of the night.

He worked at his desk until he fell asleep. It might have been two in the morning, but he wasn’t sure.

Evan didn’t wake up until seven o’clock when Connor texted him to remind him of their meeting at 8:30 a.m. to go over his plans.

Evan had asked Connor for his professional opinion, and he brought some financial experts to sound out any problems. They would all be in the conference room waiting for him.

He brushed his teeth at lighting speed, hopped into the shower, and barely dried his hair before he rushed out of his rental condo. No breakfast. Coffee would have to suffice. He decided he’d eat an early lunch to make up for it.

He almost broke the speed limit getting to his office. He arrived at work at eight, an hour after he’d planned to. He wasn’t sure how much sleep he’d actually gotten but it felt like it hadn’t been enough. He had a headache now from the stress of not being fully prepared for the meeting.

His walk from the parking lot to the elevator was a big blur. He didn’t remember pressing any button, but the elevator door magically opened on the right floor.

Carrying an insulated travel tumbler with half-filled coffee—his third cup in an hour—he tried to walk a straight line down the hallway toward his office, his backpack with his laptop weighing down his shoulders.

The weight made him feel pressed down, as though he would always be under this stress and strain.

I don’t want this kind of life, Lord.

But what could he do? He’d made the deal. Whether his Savannah proposal was approved or not, he was still stuck at Cavanaugh Shipping for ten years.

So groggy was he that he didn’t say a word to anyone outside his office, not even to his administrative assistant, Lloyd, who waved to him. Lloyd knew not to talk to him when he was in a bad mood.

Evan unlocked the door to his office and made a beeline for his desk. He put down the tumbler and then took the laptop out of his backpack. He had maybe ten minutes before he would need to rush downstairs to the meeting with Connor’s consultants.

He called Lloyd on the intercom connected to his phone. “Could you go to the break room, heat up a blueberry bagel, and put some cream cheese on it? Bring it to me in my office within five minutes.”

He sipped coffee and paced through his Power Point presentation. He doubled-checked his talking points. Whatever it was, it was too late to change anything now.

He closed his eyes. Prayed. Or at least tried to.

Nothing seemed to be working.

His life was slowly falling apart before his very eyes.

Maybe this wasn’t the best time to be engaged to Rosie. Maybe he should set her free rather than drag her into this mess with him.

A knock on the door broke his train wreck of a thought. Lloyd stood there, holding a tray with a bagel on it. Standing next to him was…

“Am I dreaming?” Evan thought he was seeing things. Did not having eaten any breakfast cause him to hallucinate?

He blinked a couple of times.

She was still standing there. Dressed in a vermilion turtleneck and black pants that made her legs look slim and long, she smiled at him.

That smile!

The same smile that had brightened his day the very first time he’d met her.

Evan jumped about two feet off the floor. “Rosie!”

“Happy new year!” Her voice was still the same as well.

Evan dashed to Rosie and hugged her so tightly she was gasping for air. “Sorry. Sorry.”

Evan loosened his grips. Rosie smelled lovely. Her shampoo reminded him of a spring day, and her neck smelled of lavender. Lotion or soap, he couldn’t tell.

“Ahem. I’ll just put the tray on your desk.” Lloyd sidestepped the hugging couple.

“Thank you, Lloyd. You may go.” Evan pointed to the door. He needed Lloyd to leave because he wanted to kiss Rosie.

“May I remind you that your meeting starts in ten minutes?” Lloyd said on his way out.

“I might be late.” Evan didn’t want to be, but he considered Rosie more important than any meeting in the world.

“You can’t be late.” Rosie peeled herself off Evan and wouldn’t let him kiss her. “This is for the Savannah project, right?”

“How did you know?” Evan held Rosie’s hands instead. It was all he was getting right now.

“Your mom told me.”

“My mom?” He had a sinking feeling. “Y-you spoke with Mom?”

Rosie nodded. “She’s sweet and kind.”

“Say that again? Are you describing your own mom?” Evan nearly laughed. He wondered what had transpired between Mom and Rosie.

“We’ll talk after the meeting.” Rosie hurried him along. “Go now. Take your bagel with you.”

“No time.” He picked up his laptop and tumbler. Hesitated. “Will you be here when I get back?”

“Yes, sweetheart.” She pointed to the sitting area, where there was a couch and a couple of arm chairs around a coffee table. “I’ll wait for you over there.”

“If you need anything, ask Lloyd.”

“Won’t he be with you at the meeting?”

“Oh yes. I forgot.”

“Hmm. Memory problems. How much sleep per night have you been getting these days?”

“Not enough.” Evan’s phone rang. It was Connor. Evan didn’t pick up. He turned to Rosie. “If you need anything, just text me, and I’ll send Lloyd.”

“Okay.” Rosie pushed him out of the office. “I’ll pray for your meeting. Go!”

Evan had so many questions about Rosie’s encounter with Mom, but he had to put them aside as he refocused his mind on the meeting. Oddly enough, even without breakfast, Evan felt a renewed vigor. Maybe it was the caffeine. Maybe it was seeing Rosie. Maybe it was both.

Or maybe Rosie’s prayers were effectual.

Ultimately it was God who answered prayers.

The meeting went smoothly, albeit long. Evan had expected it to last an hour, but it went on twice as long. Fortunately, Lloyd suggested a mid-meeting break, knowing that Evan hadn’t eaten any breakfast.

The cafeteria downstairs brought in a cart of mid-morning snacks. Evan went for a cup of yogurt sprinkled with nuts and berries. The others indulged in something heavier, such as bruschetta or samosa.

Evan wondered if Rosie wanted anything from the cart that he could bring back to her. He took a photo of the entire cart and texted her.

She didn’t reply.

He started to worry, but the meeting resumed, and he had to concentrate on answering and asking questions. Connor’s consultants were expensive. Evan appreciated his brother’s effort to help him win Mom’s approval.

He didn’t want to think about the possibility that Connor might want to get rid of his little brother who was always in his shadow.

No, Connor wasn’t like that.

The meeting adjourned later than expected. At that point, Evan was so mentally exhausted that he couldn’t think about “what if” scenarios if his plans failed to convince Mom, the future chairman of the board overseeing Cavanaugh Shipping.

He traipsed back to his office, hoping to have a good chat with Rosie…

Only to find her fast asleep on the couch.

He sat down at the edge of the couch and watched her sleep. She had put on some light eyeshadow, but that seemed to be all. Her skin was smooth and she had little to no blemishes on her face. Her lips were full and so kissable that Evan had to stand back up and step away.

Back to work, Evan!

He went back to his desk, thanked God silently that the meeting went well, and praised God for giving him this opportunity to see Rosie so soon. He’d thought they wouldn’t see each other for a few more months, if at all.

At first he thought he couldn’t possibly work with Rosie napping in the same office, but the opposite turned out to be true. Since he could see her right in front of him, he had no worries about being a continent away from her. Therefore, his heart was calm, and he was able to focus.

He texted his team and Connor’s staff to set up the next meeting, which would have to be Monday or Tuesday. Then he corrected his proposal while it was still fresh on his mind.

He worked for another hour until 11:30 a.m. and then decided to keep working because Rosie was still sleeping.

Hmmm.

Didn’t she get any sleep the night before?

He took a mini break and went over to the couch to check on her. She was still breathing. Whew.

Slowly her eyes opened. She didn’t say a word. She scooted over a bit so that Evan could sit down.

“Hello, sleeping beauty.” Evan sat down by her side on the couch and held her hand. “You must be tired.”

“We were supposed to fly out of Savannah yesterday afternoon, but the jet had engine problems,” Rosie explained.

“Yikes.” Evan was too stunned to speak. “Thank God you all arrived safely.”

“No worries. They discovered it before the plane took off. My mom and your mom chatted all evening.”

“At the condo?”