Our story, Romance
by Design, continues today. If you’re a new reader, you can begin the story
with Chapter One by scrolling back to Tuesday, September 4th, or you
can click HERE.
Chapter
Twelve
At home on Monday, Ryan just finished the dishes
after lunch when his cell phone rang. He had spent the morning cleaning the
house, putting things away, getting rid of moving boxes, and trying not to
think about Goldie.
A
losing battle.
His
cell phone lay on the kitchen table, and he picked it up on the second ring.
“Ryan Collins.”
“Hello
there! This is Sheriff Whalen.”
Ryan
sank to a kitchen chair. “Sheriff. Any news?”
“You’re
in luck. We apprehended the man who crashed into your Sunfire.”
“Oh,
that’s great!”
“Yep! Just happened to
drive down a residential street this morning, not too far from your street, and
I saw an SUV that was smashed in the front right side.”
“Really?”
“The vehicle even had red
paint flecks in the smashed area. The guy who lives there confessed to hitting
your car and then driving off. Evidently he’d been drinking on Friday night.”
“Wow.”
Ryan rubbed his hand across his forehead.
“Do
you want to press charges?”
“No,
I just want his insurance company to pay my car repair.”
“Okay.
Come into town.” The Sheriff gave him directions to the Knotty Pine police
station. “The culprit’s name is Henry Nesbitt, and I’ll keep him at the station
until you get here. You’ll need to fill out some papers, stating you won’t
press charges, and he can give you his insurance company info.”
Ryan
breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thanks so much. I’ll be there as soon as
possible.” He closed his phone.
“Meow.”
Archie entered the kitchen and rubbed against his leg.
“Isn’t
this great, Archie? Now I won’t have to pay my own car repair bill.” He glanced
up at the ceiling. “Thank You, Lord!”
Depositing
the phone in his pocket, he grabbed his car keys from the hook by the side door.
“See you later, Archie. The Lord is good!”
A
warm feeling filled his chest, and he smiled. He was right with God again. And
even though a few bad things had happened—his smashed car, Goldie’s anger—Ryan
knew the Lord would take care of him. He would work everything out according to
His own will.
Ryan
had just pulled into the police station parking lot when his cell rang again.
He turned off the engine and answered the phone. “Ryan Collins.”
“Ryan.
Tom Moss from Stratton, Moss, and Klein architectural firm.”
Catching
his breath, Ryan sat up. This was the call he’d been waiting for. “Yes, sir,
Mr. Moss.”
The
man cleared his throat. “I’m afraid I have bad news. Our firm decided to hire
another architect for the opening we had.”
“Oh.”
Ryan’s shoulders drooped.
“I’m
sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I voted in your favor, but Mr. Stratton
made the final decision.”
“I
see.” It didn’t make Ryan feel better at all; he wasn’t hired. “Thanks for
letting me know, Mr. Moss.”
With
a sigh, he closed the phone. Another bad thing to add to his depressing day.
Now it was back to the drawing board in looking for a job. And he’d have to
keep working at the Blue Haven as a chef until an architectural firm hired him.
Mentally, he added find
another firm and apply for a job to his To-Do list. And there was something
else he still needed to do—call his mom.
He certainly had a lot to
tell her.
* * *
We’ll see what happens on
Monday. Have a good weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment