Keepin' The Faith Read online

  Since I was starving and refused to eat any fast food garbage, I had no other choice but to stop off at the food store on my way home. I headed back to the organic section to grab some things for a salad when the little girl standing next to me caught my attention. She was sorting through the lemons and humming a tune. The hood of her sweat jacket was over her head while the rest of it hung off her, swaying back and forth.

  “Uh oh!” she exclaimed as a few of the lemons rolled on the floor. As she reached down to pick them up, I noticed the rosary beads hanging around her neck. Balancing the lemons in her arms, she gazed up at me through her long dark lashes with the prettiest green eyes I had ever seen. “Bless you, my child,” she spoke, making a sign of the cross with an adorable smile adorning her face. I scanned the area, wondering where her parents were.

  “Joey! There you are!” A frazzled looking woman struggling with an overfilled basket of items resting on her arm approached us. “Joey, don’t run off from Mommy like that. You scared me!” she reprimanded the little girl. Her deep brown eyes were cast upon me as she pushed a strand of her long dark hair that was falling out of her ponytail behind her ear. Even in her disheveled state, I couldn’t help but notice she was pretty hot. Without saying a word, she took the little girl’s hand while shifting her basket to her other arm.

  “Peace be with you,” the little girl said, looking up at me once again with the same bright smile just as her mother let out an annoyed breath and pulled her away.

  “That was weird,” I whispered, shaking my head and continuing to pick out tomatoes. I had to admit she was a cute kid even if they did annoy the hell out of me. At a stage in my life where most of my friends were settling down and starting a family, I was the exact opposite. I was married to my company. I didn’t want to settle down with one woman, and I definitely didn’t want any messy, bratty kids. I was selfish and not ashamed to admit it.

  After gathering everything I needed, I made my way to the only open checkout, finding myself behind the peculiar little girl I had encountered in the produce section and her mother. My head was spinning just watching the little girl hop up and down on one foot. Her hot pink rubber rain boots squeaked each time her foot would hit the floor, and I wondered how the heck she had so much energy.

  “Oh shoot!” her mother shouted, frantically digging through her purse. “Joey, did you put the change back in my purse that the lady at the movie theater gave you after picking out your candy?”

  The little girl finally stopped bouncing around and was now standing still, with her arms at her side, staring up at her mother.

  “Joey, did you?”

  “No, Mommy.” She shook her head.

  “What did you do with it?”

  I could sense the cashier’s frustration mounting.

  “I put it in the bank at the movie theater.”

  “The bank? What bank?”

  “The one with doggies and kitty cats on the front of it.” Her voice was meek and on the verge of tears.

  “You put the change into the Animal Shelter Collection?”

  She nodded once again, batting her eyelashes up at her mother.

  “Joey, that was almost fifteen—” Her mother began before stopping herself and directing her attention back to the cashier. “Okay, I’m just gonna take some stuff off.” She rummaged through the bags, scrutinizing what to give back.

  “You know what? How much are you short?” I finally asked.

  “Oh no, it’s really not a big deal. I can just put this back,” she said, pulling out a bottle of orange juice from the bag.

  “Eight dollars and fifty-six cents,” the cashier blurted out in an effort to get the line moving.

  I reached in my wallet and handed the cashier a ten-dollar bill.

  “Really, that’s not necessary,” the woman insisted.

  “It’s fine.” I was hoping that she would just accept it and leave so I could pay for my stuff and get out of there.

  “I just...we were just at the movies, and my daughter—” She was rattled, and I put up my hand to stop her. “I can pay you back.”

  “Really, it’s fine,” I reassured her.

  Her smile was very similar to that of her daughter’s. “Thanks,” she whispered, gathering up the bags in her hand.

  “No problem,” I muttered back.

  “God bless you, mister,” the little girl said as her mother tugged her hand.

  I smiled and shook my head, watching the two of them walk out. As cute as she was, she looked to be quite a handful, another reminder as to exactly why I didn’t want kids.

  I arrived home and was finally sitting down to eat when my phone began to ring. Phoebe no doubt. The only way I was getting together with her tonight was if she came over here and if I was promised something out of the deal. If not, then all bets were off. When I pulled my phone from my pocket I was surprised to find that it wasn’t her, but my grandmother instead. The worst started going through my mind as I wondered why she would be calling me after ten on a Friday night.

  “Hey, Grandma, what’s the matter?”

  “Nothing’s the matter. Can’t I call my handsome grandson without there being something wrong?”

  “Yeah, but it’s after ten. Aren’t you usually asleep by now?”

  “What do you think, I’m old or something?” She laughed, causing her to have a coughing fit.

  “Still smoking ’em up, I see!” I lectured.

  “Ah, leave me alone! It’s the one pleasure I still get out of life.”

  “So, to what do I owe this phone call?”

  “A friend of mine has an interview at your place on Monday.”

  “An interview?” The only open position in my company was an administrative assistant for me. I could hardly see any of my grandmother’s senior citizen friends being able to keep up with those duties.

  “Yeah…for a something assistant?”

  “An administrative assistant.”

  “Yeah, yeah, that’s it. Why don’t they just call it a secretary anymore, for crying out loud?”

  “Grandma, no offense, but I really need someone who’s up to date with the latest computer programs. It’s a really fast-paced environment, and I need someone who can keep up with that and—”

  “Put up with your demanding perfectionist attitude?”

  “Well…yeah.”

  “Oh, trust me, I’m pretty certain this gal can do all that and reel you in when you start barking out orders.”

  I was too tired to argue with her, and even if I weren’t, I knew I was losing the battle anyway. She never let you win an argument. She was always getting the last word in. She still had my father under her thumb. The one and only thing she’d been unable to control in his life was who he had fallen in love with. She was less than pleased when my father chose to marry my mother, a non-Jewish girl. Even though my mother allowed me to be raised with all of the Jewish beliefs just to appease my grandmother, it still wasn’t good enough to her. Deep down inside she loved my mother and proved that on the day my mother died. It was the first and only time that I had ever seen my grandmother cry. She was tough and she always told you how it was, like it or not. Now her quest to find that perfect Jewish girl was focused on me. I let her have fun but never took it seriously. Ever since I had broken off my engagement, I wasn’t looking for a relationship with anyone. I was now more into the no strings attached thing with the type of girls my grandmother would never approve of.

  “Okay, Grandma, I will make sure I’m courteous to your friend and if she’s the best fit for the job then I’ll consider her.”

  “That’s all I can ask of you, and please don’t let her know you’re my grandson. I wouldn’t want her to think she was getting special treatment just because she knows me...even though I know she will.”

  “Not a problem. What’s her name, by the way?”

  “Faith.”

  I could only imagine who she was sending my way, but I was willing to put on my best game face an
d suck it up. The same way I would when she would try and fix me up on dates. I had no intention of dating any of those nice Jewish girls she tried pushing on me, the same way I didn’t have any intention of hiring her senior citizen friend.

  ***

  The weekend flew by in the blink of an eye. I had spent a good part of it working and decided to take a few hours to myself on Monday morning at the gym. A ton of emails and phone messages needing to be returned awaited me as I walked into the office, making me regret my decision of spending my morning someplace other than the office.

  “Mr. Samuels, your eleven o’clock interview is in the conference room,” Regina, one of the receptionists, reminded as she poked her head into my office.

  I had just set up a conference call on my way to the office for eleven thirty, forgetting all about the interviews I had schedule today. “Hey, Regina, can you see if Chad can do this one? I’ve just scheduled a last minute conference call with one of the beta testing companies.”

  “Yes, but didn’t you want to have a say in who would be working for you?” she asked, knowing my micromanaging ways all too well.

  “Yeah…but let him do the first go-round, so he can weed some people out, and I’ll sit in on the second interviews,” I directed as I looked over the email that had just come in.

  “O-okay,” she replied, scurrying out of my office, unsure over my uncharacteristic behavior.

  “Come on!” I shouted at the pinging of a text message. This was what I got for taking a few hours to myself on a crazy Monday morning. There were days I really regretted teaching my grandmother how to text and today was one of them as I looked down at my phone.

  Don’t forget to be on your best behavior with my friend.

  Now I would have to stick my head into the conference room to say hello or I would never hear the end of it. “Damn it,” I whispered, sucking it up and heading off to the conference room.

  “I thought you said—” Regina started as I strode by her desk.

  I didn’t have time to give her an explanation. I just wanted to show my face and get out of there so I could get back to more important things. Chad was in the middle of giving his spiel when I walked in. I hesitated for a second, surprised to find a very young, attractive, and familiar looking girl on the other side of the conference table. Her attention diverted from Chad and her deep brown eyes locked with mine. Her face reddened, and in that moment, I was pretty certain that she sensed that same familiarity I was feeling. It took me a few seconds to figure out where I had seen her before, but once she smiled, there was no mistaking it. She was the girl from the food store the other night. She was even hotter than I had thought. The long loose waves that fell down her back at the moment were a far cry from the sloppy ponytail she was sporting the other night.

  “Gabe, this is Faith DiNatale. Faith, this is Gabe Samuels.”

  She stood up to shake my hand, and I couldn’t help but notice I was correct in my assumption when I saw her the other night in that oversized sweatshirt—she did have a pretty hot body. Her long legs seemed to go on far past the short black skirt she was wearing, accented by the perfect amount of cleavage under her formfitting suit jacket. This girl was friends with my grandmother? There had to be some kind of mistake, but what were the chances of two people named Faith interviewing today?

  “Hey, it’s nice to meet you.” I didn’t want to bring up our encounter at the food store. She already acted nervous enough, and I didn’t want to add to it.

  “And you as well.” Her voice faltered.

  Even though I didn’t have any intentions of sitting in on this interview, something about this girl intrigued me. I scanned the copy of her résumé as Chad continued to talk. She wasn’t up to date on the latest office software programs, she didn’t have a degree, and she didn’t have any office experience whatsoever, making me wonder how she had even got a call for an interview. All the reasons not to hire her were right in front of me in black and white, but as I listened to her speak, I was hoping she would give me a reason to look beyond what was printed on that paper. This was so unlike me. I only hired the best of the best. It didn’t matter if I thought she was pretty damn hot. I never mixed business with pleasure. That was just a line I would never cross. Was I actually letting my feelings get in the way of business? As I thought back to her and her little girl as she dug through her purse trying to scrape up money to pay for her groceries, my heart kind of went out to her.

  Something on her résumé caught my eye. She had studied graphic design for two years in college, which could be a big plus, or at least that was what I told myself anyway. I knew there was no way I would allow her to put those skills to use.

  “So, you studied graphic design at Rutgers?” I asked.

  She cleared her throat and nodded. “Yes, I did. I’m hoping to someday go back to finish up so I can get my degree. I had some personal things come up that didn’t allow me to finish.”

  I nodded and set my gaze upon her, pretty certain that those personal things just happened to be her daughter. I listened to a few more responses that she had to Chad’s questions before excusing myself for my conference call.

  For some unknown reason, as I stood outside the conference room door, I wanted to give this girl a chance.

  “Mr. Samuels?” Regina finally broke me from my thoughts. I turned my head in her direction, with the girl on the other side of the door still weighing on my mind.

  “Yeah,” I responded.

  “Jack Barnard from Demographics called and wanted to see if he could reschedule your conference to this afternoon.”

  “Yeah, can you call him back and tell him the only time I’m free is between two and two thirty?”

  “Will do,” she replied.

  I was taken off guard when Chad exited the conference room with our interviewee. Clearing my throat, I gave her a curt nod and began to walk back to my office, hoping she didn’t catch me getting in an extra glimpse of her.

  “Mr. Samuels,” she shouted.

  I stopped in my tracks and caught her gaze as she moved closer.

  “It’s Gabe,” I corrected her.

  She reached into her purse and pulled out a ten-dollar bill. “I believe I owe you this. Thanks so much for helping me out the other night.”

  “It’s fine.” I held my hand up for her to put it away. “I’m happy to help out the animals.”

  The corners of her mouth turned down into a frown.

  “Oh no, I didn’t mean it that way. Your daughter said she gave the money to the animal collection.”

  “Oh…yeah.” She let out a relieved laugh. “Her latest kick is she wants to be a nun. She drops money in every collection bucket everywhere.”

  I nodded. “Oh, so that explains the rosary beads and headgear.”

  “Yeah, she has quite the overactive imagination. Well, thank you.” She dropped the money back in her purse and gave me a crooked smile. “It was nice to meet you.”

  “You too,” I replied as an awkward silence fell between us.

  “Okay, see ya.” She took a step backward, tangling her feet in the cord from the computer monitor that was left on the floor.

  I grabbed her arm before she made it to the ground, but it was too late for the contents of her purse that were now scattered all over the floor.

  “Are you okay?” I asked as she bent over, frantically picking up the items that spilled from her bag.

  “I-I got it,” she stuttered as I began to help her. Our hands reached for the same item and my eyes widened when I finally honed into exactly what that item was. I wondered if my grandmother knew that her friend carried around cock rings in her purse.

  “That’s not mine.” She snatched it from my hand with her face now a bright shade of red.

  “I didn’t think so,” I teased, trying to lessen her humiliation.

  “No, my daughter—”

  “What!” I exclaimed.

  “Oh...just...just forget it.” Her hands shook as she snatched up
the arsenal of feminine products from the ground and haphazardly threw them in her purse.

  “Oh no, what happened?” Regina asked, rushing over to help her collect the rest of her belongings from the floor.

  “What the hell was that monitor doing in the middle of the floor like that?” I demanded.

  “Bill was switching it out and just left it there while he ran down to his car to get the new one.”

  “Tell him to get it the hell out of the middle of the floor before someone breaks their neck!” I barked. “Are you sure you’re okay, Ms. DiNatale?”

  She nodded with her face still as red as a tomato before abruptly turning around and walking out of the office.

  I stood there shaking my head in amazement, staring at her ass a little longer than I should have as she made her exit. Leave it to my grandmother to introduce me to the sweet, homely looking girls to date, and the hot, sex toy carrying ones to hire.

  Chapter 6

  Faith

  I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me. I knew I had bombed the interview of my own accord and what had just happened sealed the deal. The fact that he was so freakin’ hot didn’t aid in my mortification either.

  “Hey, Faith! How’d it go?” a very familiar voice beckoned.

  I was happy to see Natalia’s boyfriend, Darius.

  “Don’t ask!” I shook my head.

  “Ahh…how bad could it have been?”

  “You got a year?”

  He let out a loud chuckle. “I’m actually grabbing a bite to eat for lunch. Care to join me?”

  “Sure.” If I couldn’t wallow in my embarrassment to my best friend, her boyfriend would have to do.

  After ordering our lunch at the little sandwich shop just next door, I started to unload.

  “I’m going to smack Natalia for making me go to this interview!”

  “Let me guess. Samuels was an arrogant dickhead like he is…pretty much all the time.”

  I creased my eyebrows. That wasn’t the impression I had gotten from him and usually my first instincts were dead-on. “No, actually he was just the opposite.”