When Love's at Work by Merri Hiatt Page B

is so big. I don’t need all that space.”
    “ I don’t know, seems to me
if someone had that much space, they’d find a way to fill it up,”
Courtney stated.
    “ Like with babies,” Meg
said pointedly to Purity.
    “ I can’t even keep house
plants alive, Meggie, let alone human beings.” Meg and Purity had
the “you should be a mom” conversation about every three to four
months. Pure wanted to fire back with, “When are you going to have
babies?” but she couldn’t. Meg wasn’t able to carry a baby to term.
There was some hereditary thing that Purity didn’t quite
understand. She would never be so cruel as to tease Meg about
having children when she wasn’t actually able to. That would just
be mean.
    “ You’re not getting any
younger you know,” Courtney said to Purity.
    “ Well, thank you very
much,” Pure replied. “Neither are you, may I remind
you.”
    Courtney laughed, she knew that’s what
Purity would say. She was so predictable.
     

Chapter Five
     
    Everything for the Garden Party, which was
only two days away, was falling apart. The flowers Purity ordered
were delivered, but the color was wrong, Kathy’s Rentals didn’t
have enough chairs, Marsha Persimmony was waiting for a return call
with the confirmed number of guests and Sheila couldn’t find the
RSVP list, and it was too damn hot.
    The air conditioning at The Kids’ Place was
on the fritz and the heat wasn’t doing anything for Purity’s mood.
She could feel the sweat trickling down her back.
    Sheila Martin buzzed Pure on the intercom to
let her know the members of the jazz band booked for the event had
eaten some catered food at their last gig and ended up with food
poisoning. They had to cancel.
    “ Of course,” Purity
replied, her frustration leaking through her normally calm
facade.
    That’s all she needed. This was going to go
down as the extravaganza that wasn’t. She had let everyone down,
including herself. She just had too many balls in the air at once
to keep them all airborne.
    “ How’s it going?” Alex
McCallister’s voice grated on the one nerve Purity had
left.
    “ Dandy. Wonderful.
Terrific. If you want a party with no place to sit, no food, no
centerpieces and no music.” Pure reached for a tissue to wipe the
perspiration off her neck and the inside of her elbows.
    “ Sounds like my kind of
party.” Alex had a humorous glint in his eye.
    “ You think this is funny?”
Pure stood up, then came around her desk to stand within a foot of
Alex’s body as he leaned casually against the doorjamb.
    “ Amusing,” he replied,
“not funny.”
    Purity’s eyes darkened and her nostrils
flared as her anger, annoyance and disappointment in herself
finally found a target for release.
    “ Did you come here for a
purpose, Mr. McCallister? You see, unlike you, some people have to
work for a living. Do you like spending all your free time poking
your nose in where it doesn’t belong?”
    Not one to back away from a challenge, nor
one to have his integrity questioned, Alex replied, “The Kids’
Place is my business and may I remind you, Ms. Zyetta, that I am a
board member of this organization and have the ability to hire and
fire employees.”
    Alex knew it was a direct hit by the way
Purity physically took a step backward; however, he also saw the
defiant tilt of her chin.
    “ Was that supposed to be a
threat, Mr. McCallister?” Pure put her hands on her hips and stood
her ground.
    “ Call it what you want.
All I care about is that the Garden Party is a success for the
agency. I don’t care how it happens, just make it happen.” Alex
turned to leave Purity’s office.
    Purity shot forward like a bullet being
fired from a gun. She maneuvered herself around Alex so they were
now facing each other in the hallway.
    “ You think I don’t want it
to be a success?” Purity practically yelled, knowing she should
keep her mouth shut and go back into her office, but also knowing
she was beyond out of control