do you make this sound like a bad thing?”
“It’s not but . . . I don’t want to make a mistake. I don’t want to do anything that might hurt her. She’s gone through so much already.”
“Then you won’t. You’ll bend over backward to do the opposite, you’ll see. Listen to your heart, Hannah. It has all the best answers.”
“Mmm.” If she asked the right questions—maybe. “So, anyway, I wrote my first official note to the school to excuse her absence and she left with them. Then I went back to the house to call junk dealers and antique collectors and work out a plan to evacuate the house. Joe, you wouldn’t believe the stuff in that house.”
“So you’ve said.” He chuckled. “And what about the boy?”
“What boy?”
“The sheriff.”
“Oh. Him.” Her heart picked up some nervous speed. “He’s going to be trouble. He keeps looking at me.”
“Oh? And what do you keep doing to cause this?”
“Nothing. I swear. Every time I looked up, he was staring at me like he’s trying to figure me out.”
“Have him call me. I’ll straighten him out on impossible puzzles.”
“He doesn’t know me,” she said, ignoring his comment. “He remembers this . . . this sad, frightened, pathetic little girl he somehow managed to think he was in love with for two or three seconds in high school and I’m not her.”
“Two or three seconds,” he said shrewdly. “Sometimes that’s all the time it takes.”
“For what?”
“To know someone better than we know ourselves. But if you’re no longer attracted to him, then I can’t see why this would be upsetting. Let him look. You’re a pretty woman. You don’t have to look back, you know.”
“And I can do anything for two weeks, right?”
“Right. Longer if need be.”
“You’re not having fun there, are you?” she asked, eager to change the subject. “It took me so long to get you to retire, maybe I shouldn’t have asked you to watch things for me. Maybe all this is a bigger mistake than I thought.”
“Don’t you worry. At this moment I recall perfectly why I decided to retire. Your boy, Jim Sauffle, is making my backside ache.”
She cringed. Joe had the patience of Job when it came to new agents starting out—when it came to most everything, actually. His backside didn’t ache often enough to be ignored.
“Talk to me,” she said, slowing to turn into the parking lot at the high school, close to the football field where track events were also held. In short terms Joe described her new associate’s faulty handling of a group health policy for a Precision Auto Parts franchise and then a term life package for a newly married couple with young children from previous marriages. Apparently, he’d quoted a set of terms to both clients, went back a few days later saying he’d found better policies for them, then only the Friday before had reversed his decision once again.
Hannah worried the stitching on the leather-covered steering wheel as she pulled into a parking space overlooking the field below and turned off the engine. “Friday I got Grady’s call, Joe. I’m trying to remember if Jim tried to talk this over with me or if he . . . well, if this is the new Precision place out on Fredrick Avenue near Catonsville. Larry Watts already has a policy on his other franchise. With me. I’m sure Larry would have told him. Why didn’t he just attach them?”
“That’s what Mr. Watts asked me first thing this morning. And since he’s worked with you for so many years, he’s willing to let me get to the bottom of the problem and get back to him. Young Jim and I had a discussion. That’s when I found out about the term life clients as well.”
While her mind tried to wrap itself around the idea that her new associate might be trying to steal from her, issuing new policies to her preexisting clients . . . she became aware of a group of runners taking off around the track.
“Mixed with the multiple quotes, I
“It’s not but . . . I don’t want to make a mistake. I don’t want to do anything that might hurt her. She’s gone through so much already.”
“Then you won’t. You’ll bend over backward to do the opposite, you’ll see. Listen to your heart, Hannah. It has all the best answers.”
“Mmm.” If she asked the right questions—maybe. “So, anyway, I wrote my first official note to the school to excuse her absence and she left with them. Then I went back to the house to call junk dealers and antique collectors and work out a plan to evacuate the house. Joe, you wouldn’t believe the stuff in that house.”
“So you’ve said.” He chuckled. “And what about the boy?”
“What boy?”
“The sheriff.”
“Oh. Him.” Her heart picked up some nervous speed. “He’s going to be trouble. He keeps looking at me.”
“Oh? And what do you keep doing to cause this?”
“Nothing. I swear. Every time I looked up, he was staring at me like he’s trying to figure me out.”
“Have him call me. I’ll straighten him out on impossible puzzles.”
“He doesn’t know me,” she said, ignoring his comment. “He remembers this . . . this sad, frightened, pathetic little girl he somehow managed to think he was in love with for two or three seconds in high school and I’m not her.”
“Two or three seconds,” he said shrewdly. “Sometimes that’s all the time it takes.”
“For what?”
“To know someone better than we know ourselves. But if you’re no longer attracted to him, then I can’t see why this would be upsetting. Let him look. You’re a pretty woman. You don’t have to look back, you know.”
“And I can do anything for two weeks, right?”
“Right. Longer if need be.”
“You’re not having fun there, are you?” she asked, eager to change the subject. “It took me so long to get you to retire, maybe I shouldn’t have asked you to watch things for me. Maybe all this is a bigger mistake than I thought.”
“Don’t you worry. At this moment I recall perfectly why I decided to retire. Your boy, Jim Sauffle, is making my backside ache.”
She cringed. Joe had the patience of Job when it came to new agents starting out—when it came to most everything, actually. His backside didn’t ache often enough to be ignored.
“Talk to me,” she said, slowing to turn into the parking lot at the high school, close to the football field where track events were also held. In short terms Joe described her new associate’s faulty handling of a group health policy for a Precision Auto Parts franchise and then a term life package for a newly married couple with young children from previous marriages. Apparently, he’d quoted a set of terms to both clients, went back a few days later saying he’d found better policies for them, then only the Friday before had reversed his decision once again.
Hannah worried the stitching on the leather-covered steering wheel as she pulled into a parking space overlooking the field below and turned off the engine. “Friday I got Grady’s call, Joe. I’m trying to remember if Jim tried to talk this over with me or if he . . . well, if this is the new Precision place out on Fredrick Avenue near Catonsville. Larry Watts already has a policy on his other franchise. With me. I’m sure Larry would have told him. Why didn’t he just attach them?”
“That’s what Mr. Watts asked me first thing this morning. And since he’s worked with you for so many years, he’s willing to let me get to the bottom of the problem and get back to him. Young Jim and I had a discussion. That’s when I found out about the term life clients as well.”
While her mind tried to wrap itself around the idea that her new associate might be trying to steal from her, issuing new policies to her preexisting clients . . . she became aware of a group of runners taking off around the track.
“Mixed with the multiple quotes, I
Similar Books
