But Maizie never left anything to chance and never allowed herself to grow too confident, no matter how foolproof a situation might look. So when Eddie had walked into her office just now, looking a tad uncomfortable, Maizie had braced herself—just in case—and then was relieved to discover that it had been a false alarm.
So far, it was all going according to plan, and she couldn’t be more pleased.
“You’ve come to tell me that you’re going to have to turn down that last job I sent your way,” she guessed. That wasn’t a disaster; it just put off the inevitable. The two were still going to meet at the school, where Tiffany taught fifth grade, now that Eddie was taking over Chelsea Jamison’s third-grade class.
“Oh no, I’m still going to do that.” He was quick to set her straight. “It’s just that I’m going to have to get started on the remodel early tomorrow morning, and do my best to finish up by late Sunday night.”
“And if you can’t?” Maizie asked, always wanting to remain one step ahead of any surprises.
“Then I’ll have to come back next weekend so I can get the job done,” he told her. “Do you think that’ll be a problem?”
The young man was one in a million, Maizie couldn’t help thinking.
“The kind of work you do, Eddie,” she told him, “I’m sure that the home owner will be more than happy to accommodate you.”
He glanced at his watch, a gift from his mother when he had graduated from college. He never took it off. Pressed for time, he realized he had to be getting back.
“I’m just finishing up this other job, so I won’t be able to give the home owner a proper estimate until I get there tomorrow morning and look the job over.” He didn’t believe in quoting one price and then upping it as the work got under way. He took pride in keeping his costs, and thus his prices, low.
“That’s no problem at all,” Maizie assured him. “The owner’s mother is paying for it. She referred to it as an early birthday present. She told me to tell you that as long as you don’t wind up charging anything exorbitant, she’ll be all right with your fee.” Maizie smiled at the young man, delighted with the way this was going. “I told her you were very reasonable. She was happy you were taking the job.”
Eddie laughed. “I guess that means I’ll just have to put that Hawaiian vacation I was planning on hold,” he quipped.
“Of course you will,” Maizie deadpanned. “Don’t forget, you have children to educate now.” Unable to maintain a serious expression any longer, she allowed herself to smile, radiating genuine warmth. The kind of warmth that had clients, and people in general, trusting her instantly. “I’m very happy for you, Eddie. I know that you feel that teaching is your calling. I really hate to lose you, but if I have to, I’m glad it’s for this reason.”
“Well, you’re not exactly ‘losing’ me, Ms. Sommers,” Eddie told her almost shyly, exposing a side to her that most people didn’t see. “I still do have those student loans to pay back so I’ll need to pick up those extra jobs on weekends—as long as your clients won’t mind having me around then, working. I’ll do my best not to get underfoot,” he promised earnestly.
Maizie laughed. It was obvious that the young man before her didn’t realize just how rare a competent worker was. “Eddie, considering the prices you charge and the work you do, I’m fairly certain they would be willing to put up with all sorts of crazy hours on your part.”
She sat back, thoughtfully regarding him for a moment. “So, just to be sure, I can tell Ms. Lee that you’ll be at her house tomorrow morning?”
His grin lit up the office. Maizie saw that her assistant looked utterly entranced as she glanced in their direction. “Absolutely,” Eddie said.
Maizie clapped her hands together and declared, “Wonderful!”
* * *
Eddie looked at the address on the piece of paper again. Specifically, at the name that appeared right over the address and beneath the phone number he’d been given in case he needed to cancel the appointment or to change the time he’d be arriving.
With everything that had been happening these last couple days, the name, when he’d heard it, hadn’t fully registered. It did now.
Tiffany Lee.
Could it actually be her?
No, Eddie told himself, he was letting his imagination get carried away. Neither Tiffany nor Lee was an uncommon name, and he was fairly certain that even if he Googled them together, or searched through Facebook, he would find more than a handful of “Tiffany Lees.” And none would be the Tiffany Lee he remembered from college who was, hands down, the most argumentative woman on the face of the earth.
Or more importantly, the same Tiffany Lee he had had a crush on—when she was four and he was five—before she had become such a competitive pain.
Damn silly thing to remember now, Eddie thought, pulling his car up in front of the modest looking two-story house. What his mind should be on now was doing a good job for this woman, getting paid and focusing any spare time he might have tonight and tomorrow night on getting fully prepared to take over Chelsea Jamison’s third-grade class.
He’d already done his due diligence as far as that was concerned. The moment he’d learned from the principal that he would be taking over the woman’s class, he’d requested a list of the students’ names and any sort of notes Chelsea might have made regarding the individual students.
Eddie prided himself on never going in cold or unprepared. This way, there would be no awkward period of adjustment. He wanted the students to respond to him immediately. To feel as if he was their mentor, or at least someone who was willing to listen to what they had to say—both in the class and privately, if they needed help with something of a more personal nature, like being bullied.
He loved teaching, and wanted to leave a memorable impression on the students he encountered. More than that, he wanted to, by his own example, encourage the kids he’d be dealing with to make the most of their potential. Had his fifth-grade teacher, Miss Nocton, not done that for him, not seen past his cocky bravado, he might be languishing in a prison somewhere right now, like some of the guys from his old neighborhood. But Miss Nocton, a dour-faced, straitlaced woman, had awakened a thirst for knowledge within him by challenging him. Every time he felt that he had done his best, she had told him he could do better.
And damned if he couldn’t, Eddie thought now with a smile. Granted, he had a great family and he loved his mother and his sisters, but it was that little, no-nonsense woman in the sensible shoes who was responsible for the fact that he was who he was today. He intended to make her proud, even if she was no longer around to see it.
Eddie took a deep breath. Time to get to work, he told himself.
Shelving his thoughts, he reached over and rang the doorbell.
Tiffany Lee was not fully awake as she stumbled down the stairs and toward the annoying noise. Her eyes were still in the process of trying to focus. It was the sound of the doorbell that had disrupted her sleep and eventually forced her out of bed to answer it—because it just wouldn’t stop ringing.
She had never been accused of being a morning person. She was especially not a weekend morning person. Five days a week, she resigned herself to the fact that she had to be up and smiling at an ungodly hour—and any hour before 9:00 a.m. was ungodly in her book. But her job called for her to be up and at ’em early.
Someday, when she became queen of the world, school wouldn’t begin until noon, she promised herself. But until that glorious day arrived, Tiffany knew she had to make every effort to turn up in her classroom before eight in the morning.