Uh-oh--I got sidetracked last night and didn't get this posted--but better late than never, right?

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Chapter 3



Caitlyn had never been so relieved when she saw Jodi enter the store.  Half an hour early, it meant that Cate would have time to run to the bank before it closed—they were dreadfully low on change, and with Mother’s Day the following day, their business was brisk.  After a few words to her employees, Cate unclipped her nametag and got into her car.  She’d always enjoyed driving, and she relaxed a bit as she pulled into traffic.  The bank wasn’t too far away, but attempting to cross the busy intersections on foot wasn’t her favorite way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

    The bank Dawson’s used was downtown, across the street from a large law firm.  The area was quiet on a Saturday—Cate imagined that the lawyers were the only ones who were working, since that’s all lawyers seemed to do.  Well, that, and sign million dollar charge slips, she thought.  She was still impressed with the humble way Greg Tanner had come to her that morning.

    Cate had just put on her turn signal and pulled into the turn lane in the center of the street when she heard the crunch and felt her car lurch forward.  It took a moment to realize she had just been rear-ended.  Carefully putting the car in park, she unfastened her seatbelt and reached for her cell phone as she got out of the car to inspect the damages.

    Immediately, she realized it had been a mistake to leave her car.  The man eyeballing her car was clearly agitated and, when he came closer, she could smell alcohol on his breath.

    “Why’d you stop like that?”  He came closer still, and she took a step back.  “Hey, I’m talking t’you!  Why’d you stop like that?”  Cate’s eyes went wide and she reached for the door handle.  He grabbed her by the arm. 

    She opened her mouth to protest, but gasped as he tightened his grip on her.  “This is all your fault.”  His breath reeked of alcohol, and Cate tried to pull away.

    “Excuse me.”  Greg Tanner had witnessed the accident as he left his office.  Upon approaching, he had recognized Cate, and wouldn’t have allowed her to be manhandled in any event.  He put a hand on the shoulder of the man who had hit Cate’s car.  “I think you’re hurting this lady.”

    “She wrecked my car!”

    “Why don’t we just go back to our cars and wait for the police to sort this out?”  Greg was calm but firm, and the man released Cate’s arm.  Greg put an arm around her shoulders and guided her away.  “Are you okay, Cate?”

    Her eyes were huge as she looked up at him, and he could feel her trembling.  Without permission, he gently pulled her to his chest.  He felt her back stiffen after a moment and quickly released her.  “I’m fine.”  Her wavering voice betrayed her.  “I just needed to go to the bank and get change and then I heard a crunch, and the car moved forward and . . . “

    “What seems to be the problem?”  An officer from the nearby police station had arrived on the scene.  The man who had hit Cate began to give his version of the events, and it was rapidly obvious he was barely able to stand.  Cate relayed her story to the officer in a soft voice, albeit one that was no longer shaking.  Greg stood nearby, not realizing his arm was still around her until the officer turned to him.  “Your girlfriend still seems shaken up—you’ll probably want to make sure she gets home okay.”  He left before either Cate or Greg could correct him, moving to where another officer was putting handcuffs on the man who had caused the accident.  The officer motioned for Cate to move her car into the bank parking lot, and Greg crossed the street to meet her there.

    “Can I buy you a cup of coffee,” Greg suggested.  Cate shook her head. 

    “I have to get back to the store—oh!  Has the bank closed?”  They walked across the street and Cate slipped into the lobby quickly to get the change they needed for the weekend.

    “When are you done today?”

    “I was supposed to be done at 4, but I still need to call in some advertisements for a new assistant manager.”

    Greg blinked.  “Is this because of yesterday?”  It bothered him that his impatience had possibly cost someone his or her job, mistake or not.

    Cate gave him a sympathetic smile.  “Yesterday was just the last event in a chain, Greg.  Kara had been warned several times about her carelessness.”  He didn’t look convinced, but Caitlyn knew that she didn’t have the time to stay and pursue this conversation—as much as she suddenly realized she wanted to.  “I really do need to get back to work—Alex and Jodi will be wondering what happened to me, and we were running low on change already when I left.”

    “Are you sure you’re okay?  Your neck and shoulders don’t hurt?”  Cate rotated her head, stretched her neck a little, and nodded.  Greg saw that she was still smiling and decided to take a chance. “May I call you later?”

    Cate bit her lip, then nodded slowly.  She reached into her purse and scrawled her number onto a slip of paper.  Their hands brushed as she passed it to him.  “I hope you can read that,” she said softly.

    He glanced at the slip, still feeling her hand against his.  “It’s fine, Cate.  I hope your afternoon gets better.”  That got a laugh from her, which was his goal.  “May I follow you back to work—just to make sure your car is okay?” he added quickly.  The last thing he wanted her to think was that he was stalking her, but he knew from experience that there was the possibility of damage to her car that wasn’t immediately apparent.

    Cate looked relieved.  “Thank you.  I was just wondering if I was going to have any nasty surprises on the way back.  Are you sure you don’t mind?”

    He shook his head.  “I’m parked in the garage over there—I’ll go get my car and pull over to the lot here, then follow you back to the mall.” 

    She got into her car and waited for him to return.  A tow truck had arrived for the car of the man who had hit her—she had never caught his name, and couldn’t say that she cared very much at this point.  An uncharitable attitude, she knew, but she was still slightly upset over the accident, then being manhandled.  Cate sent up a quick prayer of thanks that Greg had arrived on the scene so quickly—she didn’t even want to think what could have happened if she’d been left at the mercy of a man obviously intoxicated and significantly larger than her.  A brief shudder ran over her frame as she willed the thoughts away. 

Greg waved to her from the window of a black BMW.  She did a double-take at the car—in her uneducated guess, it was less than a year old—then pulled out into the street to lead the way.  He obviously knew where the mall was located—he’d been there twice in as many days—but if her car broke down while she was following him, he might not notice right away, and she knew she needed to get back to work.  Ignoring her mother’s voice in her head, she picked up her phone and dialed the store.

“Dawson’s Cards and Gifts, this is Jodi.”

“Jodi, it’s Caitlyn.  Sorry I’ve been gone so long.”  She decided against mentioning the accident at the moment and asked how things had fared in her absence.

“We had a problem with a girl who was about 11—Alex said she’d been in earlier this morning.  She was with a friend, and they said you wanted to talk to her.”

Cate clapped a hand to her forehead.  She’d forgotten about the incident with Ashley and Tiffany that morning in the confusion after the accident.  “Did she give you anything?”

“She handed me four little votive candles, although from the look she was giving her friend, it wasn’t her idea.”

Ashley was right.  Cate wished she could’ve told the girl how proud she was of her for standing up to her friend that way, but she knew it unlikely she’d ever see the girl again.  Tiffany would steer clear of Dawson’s for a while to come, she was certain.  “Thanks for handling it, Jodi.  I should be back in about fifteen minutes.  You have my cell number if anything else comes up.” 

Blowing through a yellow light as she snapped the phone closed, Caitlyn realized she needed to pay more attention to her driving.  Greg had followed her through the light, but she had no idea how he’d made it through before it turned red.  That’s a great way to say thanks for his help—causing him to get a ticket!

Cate parked her car at the front of the employee parking area, and Greg pulled up next to her.  “How did it drive?”

“I can’t tell that there’s anything wrong with it.” 

He passed her a business card.  “This has my cell phone number written on the back of it.  If you have any trouble with it later, please give me a call—I’m pretty handy under the hood.”  She thanked him and excused herself to go back to work.  Greg sat and watched until she disappeared into a mall service entrance before driving away, hoping she would welcome his call later.

“Caitlyn, is everything okay?”  Twenty minutes later, Jodi saw her manager with her hand on her neck.  Cate closed her eyes for a moment, wondering if she had any Tylenol in her purse.  Jodi glanced speculatively at her.

“Yeah, Jodi, I’m fine.  I got rear-ended when I went to the bank earlier, and I think my neck is a little stiff, that’s all.”

“You were in an accident?  Cate, you should go to the hospital.  If you’re sore now, you’re not going to be able to move in the morning.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Have you ever been in an accident before?”  Caitlyn shook her head, regretting the action immediately.  “Trust me, you need to go get it looked at, and maybe get some painkillers or muscle relaxers.”

“I’m here until four, and then I have a dozen other things to do this afternoon before I can go home.”

“Meghann and Jessica will be here in less than an hour—Alex and I can handle things until then.  Go, Caitlyn,” Jodi prodded her boss softly.  Cate made an instant decision not to post any advertisements for an assistant manager until she spoke to Carl and Jackie at length about promoting Jodi. 

“All right.”

“Should I call someone to come get you?  I’m sure Mrs. Devlin wouldn’t mind.”

“She has enough on her plate, I’m sure.”  Their pastor’s wife was an active part of just about every ministry in their church—Caitlyn had no idea how she found the time, in addition keeping an immaculate house, tracking her husband’s schedule, and keeping up with their four children.  “I’m just going to go home and lay down for awhile, maybe put a heating pad on my neck, and see if that helps anything.

Cate knew Jodi well enough to realize the other woman was biting her tongue out of respect for their positions, but she was not going to inconvenience anyone else over this.  She thought Jodi was overreacting, but on the off chance that she did need medical attention, she knew that’s what her insurance was for—she hadn’t ascertained if the driver who’d hit her had insurance or not.  Caitlyn was sure that she was fine, though, and determined that she was not going to the emergency room.  Jodi’s look as Caitlyn dropped her nametag into her desk drawer was disapproving, but she said nothing other than reassuring the manager that the store would be fine in her absence.

She grimaced as she lowered her head to get back into her car.  It seemed to Cate as though she had just gotten back to the mall, though a glance at her wristwatch assured her it had been over half an hour.  A nap and a bubble bath were on the agenda, and she was sure she would be fine in the morning—or could fake it well enough to get through the Mother’s Day brunch.  The thought of lifting gallon jugs of juice and milk made her wince at the moment, and Cate sincerely hoped her helpers wouldn’t mind doing most of the heavy lifting.

The drive home was a blur.  Every time she raised her left hand to turn the steering wheel, she cringed.  When she finally eased the car into her parking spot near her apartment, putting the car into “park” was a relief.  She took the stairs slowly, and immediately kicked off her shoes and stretched out on the couch upon entering her apartment.  It took a moment to get comfortable, but as soon as she relaxed a bit, Cate was sound asleep.