Forbidden Falls

Noah knew right then Mrs. Nagel wouldn’t work out.

His third applicant was Ellie Baldwin. Noah was sitting behind his desk when she walked into his ramshackle office. He paused before managing to get to his feet to greet her. She looked young, early twenties at best. And tall—almost six feet—without her shoes and hair. Most of that six feet was legs, which were sticking a long way out of a short flouncy skirt, her feet slipped into high-heeled sandals. She had very big hair, a ton of coppery curls that were streaked with gold and that fell to her shoulders and down her back. Not only was her yellow sweater tight and revealing, but a little bit of her purple bra was showing at the low décolletage … on purpose. This was a look he’d been seeing for a while—this showing of the bra, a push-up bra no less. He couldn’t deny it was a lovely sight, but he didn’t usually see this immodest style in a church.

She had a crinkled-up piece of newspaper in her hand. “I’m looking for Reverend Kincaid,” she said.

“I’m Noah Kincaid. How do you do?”

“You’re—”

“The pastor. And you must be Miss Baldwin.”

Her eyelashes were thick with black liner and mascara, her cheeks rouged, her lips red and glossy, her nails long and painted blue with sparkles, and a glance down those long legs revealed the polish on her toes matched her fingertips. She smiled at him when she came into the room. Then she turned away abruptly to take the gum out of her mouth, though he couldn’t tell where it went. But the image of her smile was immediately tattooed on his mind—it was beautiful. Also hopeful. But what was she thinking, coming to a job interview in a small-town church dressed all honky-tonk? And he thought, Aw, Jesus. Why me?

He stuck out his hand, hoping a wad of gum wouldn’t be left in it. “How are you?”

“Fine, thanks,” she said. “Have you filled the job yet?”

“I have a couple of promising applicants. But let’s talk about the job,” he said. He had a twinge of guilt—no way could he, a single minister of thirty-five, hire someone like this. People would never understand. Or worse, they’d assume they did understand. This interview was going to be a waste of time.

“Awww, is that your dog?” she asked, smiling down at Lucy.

“Meet Lucy,” he said. At the sound of her name, she lifted her head.

“Is she really old? She looks very tired.”

“She’s recovering from a bad accident. I found her by the side of the road and, presto, I became her new owner,” he said. “The job,” he went on, “isn’t limited to office work. As you can see, there’s a lot of renovation and repair going on here. This church won’t be ready for a congregation until some very heavy and very dirty work gets done. A couple of months’ worth, at least.”

She nodded. “Right,” she said. “Fine.”

His eyebrows lifted. “If you don’t mind me saying so, you look kind of fragile for that kind of work.”

She laughed and her whole face brightened. “Is that so? Well, this fragile girl has cleaned up a lot of dumps and lifted more than her share of heavy stuff, Your Reverence.”

He cleared his throat. “It’s Noah. Please. I’m not the pope.”

“I know that,” she scoffed. “I was being funny.”

“Ah. And so you were,” he admitted. “So, not only do I need an office set up and some appointment, phone, and calendar management, but also help with moving furniture, painting, cleaning, et cetera.”

“Got it,” she said.

He leaned forward. “Ms. Baldwin, why do you want this job?”

“Isn’t it a good job?” she asked. “There wasn’t much to the ad, but it sounded like a decent job in a decent line of work.”

“Sure. And you’re drawn to this line of work because …?”

“I need a change. Something a little more secure. Less stressful.”

“And your last or current job is … was …?”

“Dancer. The hours don’t work for me. I have kids. They’re with my ex right now, but I’d like a job I can do while they’re in school. Y’know?”

“But do you have secretarial experience?”

“For when we’re done plastering and painting and moving furniture? Sure. A lot. I have a list of previous jobs,” she said, pulling a pretty tattered, folded piece of paper out of her purse.

He glanced at it. He didn’t see dancer on there but, without asking, he suspected he knew what kind of dancer. Just the way she was dressed, decidedly not churchy, suggested way too much. But, she had also worked for a real estate broker, a property manager and a “Lawyer?” he asked, surprised.

“Uh-huh. Nice guy. I did a real good job for him. You can call him—he’ll tell you. He said he’d write me a letter of recommendation anytime I ask.”

“And you left that job because …?”

She looked away a bit uncomfortably. “He liked my work, I promise. But his wife wasn’t real crazy about me. But call him!” she said, looking back at him. “I did a good job there.”

The girl had worked everywhere. Everything from a loading dock to a convenience store. “How could you do all this stuff?” Noah asked, perplexed.

“Two jobs,” she shrugged. “Office work during the day, for the experience and benefits. Then a second job, part-time, at night and on weekends. I worked at a convenience store at night till it got held up, then I cleaned business offices with a cleaning crew. I have a lot of experience.”

“Loading dock?” he asked, glancing up from her résumé.

“For a big retailer. It was kind of temporary, till I could get a job that didn’t break all my nails.” And she smiled at him. “I don’t think there’s anything you could throw at me that I haven’t done.”

“Great,” he said. “Can I keep this?”

She looked a little panicked. “Could you just copy down stuff? Names and numbers or whatever you want? I had to go to some trouble to make that up and I only have the one copy.”

“Of course,” Noah said.

“I should probably get copies,” she said. “I don’t have a computer, myself. A friend helped me do that up.”

“No problem,” he said. And he made a point of copying some things off the page, though he had no intention of following up. When he looked up at her again, it was difficult not to notice that chest. He couldn’t escape the feeling those boobs were going to poke his eyes out. “Tell me something—any chance you play the piano or organ?”

“Organ? No. But my gramma taught me the piano, and hymns were her favorite. I could manage, probably. If I had time for a little practice. It’s been a while.”

“Church hymns?”

She grinned. “It’s what I grew up on, believe it or not.”

“Really?” Noah said, intrigued. Then he found himself just staring at her for a long, mesmerizing moment. “Um,” he started, collecting himself, “where do you live, Ms. Baldwin?”

She leaned forward, and her boobs nearly fell out of that tight sweater. He could feel his eyes bulge and his hands itch with temptation. “Ellie is fine,” she said. “I mean, if I don’t have to call you Your Reverence, you can call me Ellie. I have a place in Eureka right now, but I’d like to get my kids out of there. I’d like to move them someplace small and friendly where they can grow up safe, you know?”

“Do you mind me asking, how old are your kids?”

“Danielle is eight and Trevor is four.” She smiled proudly. “They’re amazing. Beautiful and smart and … Well,” she said, straightening. “Of course I’d think that. They’re also very healthy. I shouldn’t be missing work because they’re sick or anything.”

He was speechless. “You don’t look old enough to—” He stopped himself. It was none of his business.