Cinderella in Overalls - By Carol Grace Page 0,45
he was already at work, in his high-rise office far above the smoke and the fumes and the noise. She looked up in the direction of the tall buildings that stood outlined in the early-morning light.
The atmosphere was different in the stall with the men around, lifting, carrying, laughing and joking. Sometime around midday Jacinda gave Catherine a series of sharp, inquisitive looks. Catherine gave her her best serene smile so she couldn’t possibly guess that Catherine was suffering from post-wedding blues. The kind that make you think the whole world was paired off while you longed for someone of your own.
She would be fine tomorrow when the men went back to work and things were back to normal. But her mind wandered back to the wedding. To the feeling of the rain on her skin and Josh’s lips on hers. Her eyes wandered, too, searching among the crowds of shoppers for a tall figure with close-cropped dark hair who towered above the others. But he didn’t come.
After lunch the crowds thinned out. Some of the women leaned back against the sacks of potatoes and closed their eyes. But Jacinda never rested. Her black eyes assessed Catherine, and she took her by the arm. “Let us go have a coffee and discuss business.”
“Business?” Catherine asked. “So soon after the wedding?”
Jacinda nodded solemnly, but said no more until they were seated at the counter of Don Panchito’s coffee shop.
“You know my friend Doña Margarita who made your new sweater and skirt?”
“Of course I do.”
Jacinda lowered her voice. “She went to the bank to ask for a loan.”
“Really? What happened?”
“Señor Bentley treated her very kindly and sent her to the loan counselor, the same one who teaches us. He gave her the forms to fill out and bring back today, but...” Jacinda paused and her eyebrows knit together in a frown. “They did not fill them out because they cannot write very well. I thought perhaps you...”
Catherine looked at her watch. “What time is the appointment?”
“Five o’clock,” Jacinda said. “I didn’t want to bother you, but they have no one else to ask.”
Catherine set her cup down. “Of course I’ll help if I can.”
Jacinda’s face wrinkled into a smile. “You can.”
Making their way up the hill, Jacinda explained that Doña Margarita and her daughter and her son-in-law wanted the loan to buy alpaca sheep. With the softer wool they could make better sweaters and charge more.
While her daughter manned the stall, Margarita and Catherine pored over the papers in the back. When they finished, Margarita asked Catherine to go with them to the bank. They looked so nervous that she couldn’t turn them down. In a few minutes she found herself on the familiar route across town and up the avenue. She was afraid Josh would be there. She was more afraid that he wouldn’t.
Without him it would be all business. With him it could get emotional. What if he turned them down? After talking with Margarita, Catherine was convinced the group would make good use of the money and could earn enough to pay it back. It should be easy to see, but what if Josh didn’t see it that way? What if she wasn’t being objective? If she wasn’t, Josh would let her know. That was what she was afraid of.
She needn’t have worried. The loan officer Josh had assigned to them treated them with all the courtesy reserved for his most valued customers. When she saw they were at ease with him, Catherine slipped out of the office and stood in front of the elevator, watching the arrow above go as high as twelve. Twelfth floor, Josh’s office. Hypnotically the arrow jerked its way downward, and when it stopped, the door opened and Josh got out.
She gulped. A surprised smile lit his face. “What are you doing here?” he asked, clasping her hands in his.
For a moment she was unable to speak. “I’m on my way home,” she said at last, trying to ignore the vibrations set off by the touch of his hands.
He pulled her with him across the lobby. “I’m glad you caught me. I’m on my way home, too. My stove finally arrived with the rest of my stuff.”
“I came with the weavers,” she said, standing at the heavy glass doors with him. “They’re in with Duran, the loan officer, talking about getting a loan so they can buy alpaca sheep.”
“Have they got a support group, a decent profit margin and one year’s experience?” he asked.
She