Page 51 of Love's Harvest
The days were busy with the added time commitment to learn more about what her mother did to help run the store behind the scenes.
April and Wyatt turned out to be a compatible team working together.They were taking care of receiving the shipments, entering items into the computer system, and tagging the merchandise.
One afternoon, Sarah brought them into her office to discuss their procedures.
“I’m very pleased to see how hard you’re both working, dedicated to getting the job done, even staying late some days.I know how important it is to have some extra cash at the holidays, and you’ll find a bonus in your paycheck this week.”
April and Wyatt smiled at one another.
“Thank you, Ms.Miller,” said April.“I appreciate it.”
“Yes, me, too,” said Wyatt.
“You’re welcome.Keep up the good work.That will be all,” said Sarah.
As April and Wyatt left her office, a young female approached them.
It took Sarah a moment to realize it was Lindsay Legget, Wyatt’s girlfriend.
“Hi, Lindsay,” said Wyatt.“What are you doing here?This is a private area.”
“You promised to meet me at the library,” Lindsay told Wyatt.“Instead, I find you here working with … with April Loomis of all people.What’s going on with that?”
Wyatt made a face.“You know perfectly well I work here.April does too.We work together.”
“I don’t like it.You’re spending more time with April than you are with me.”
“It’s a job, Lindsay.That’s all it is,” said Wyatt.
Sarah watched something like disappointment flash across April’s face and disappear and realized that April really cared for Wyatt.
She got up from her chair and went to speak to Wyatt and Lindsay.“Is there a problem here?”Sarah asked, studying the tall, thin blonde who’d teased April at school to the point of downright bullying.
“I’m just talking to Wyatt,” said Lindsay in a dismissive way that irritated Sarah.
“Wyatt is at work.I suggest you converse with him when he’s not doing his job.How did you get up here?There’s a sign marked ‘private’ clearly posted at the bottom of the stairway.”
“I knew Wyatt was up here,” said Lindsay, stepping back as Sarah continued to approach them.
“I’ll walk you downstairs,” said Sarah.“We don’t want to interrupt the work Wyatt and April are doing.”
“I’ll call you later,” Lindsay said to Wyatt.“You’d better answer.”
Wyatt gave me a look of embarrassment and turned away without responding to Lindsay.
At the bottom of the stairway, Sarah spoke quietly to Lindsay.“Don’t come back to the office area again.Like you said, you can always phone Wyatt.”
Sarah watched Lindsay walk away, head and shoulders high.She knew high school was tough for a lot of kids.People like Lindsay, so entitled, so mean, made it even worse for some like April who was sweet-natured.She didn’t know the Legget family.They were among the newer residents.
Sarah went back to work and decided not to say anything about it to either Wyatt or April.
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Sarah freshened up after work to attend her last group grief counseling meeting.Being with other people who were dealing with loss had helped ground her.Talking about Jesse to a non-judgmental, sympathetic group of relative strangers had put her feelings in better perspective, allowed her to cope with a lot of her anger, disappointment, and guilt.
As part of the process, she was eager to thank the friends she’d made in the group for their help.
Her mother was staying with the girls and gave her a big hug as she left.“I’m really proud of you, Sarah, for dealing with this issue.It was a wise idea to repeat the counseling you had earlier.You’ve grown a lot.”
