Amy's Dilemma. (Book 4 Of The Arlington Series) (complete )

Chapter 7

"This is the way I see it. If you have to turn customers away you're losing money. If you hire someone you get a percentage of what she brings in but if she isn't any good she could hurt your business. Now you weigh the two and make your own decision."

"You're no help." Karishma moaned.

"Why don't you hire someone on a trial basis and if they don't work out let them go. Of course you want to make it understood from the start that it is a trial period."

"Yes, that sounds good. I'll advertise and require references and see what happens."

Karishma put her ad in the paper and received several applications. After reading over them all she narrowed it down to two. One was an older woman that didn't have many references but what she had were good. The other was younger but had exceptional references. Karishma finally hired the younger one. It turned out to be a big mistake. She was good at her job but she was always running late and often didn't show up at all. That left Karishma having to shuffle her own schedule to work in the other girl's customers or turn them away if she couldn't. This made quite a few ladies angry because she couldn't do it all in the time allotted. She finally had to fire her. She was afraid to try again but went ahead and hired her second choice, fortunately she was still available.

Olivia Snippit was thirty-two and from the area. She had moved away to the city hoping to make it big but only succeeded in working herself to the bone for a beauty salon chain. When she saw the ad in the paper from her home town she felt it was time to go back. She was disappointed when Miss Walker turned down her application and resigned herself to a miserable life. Needless to say she was thrilled when she got Miss Walker's call asking if she was still interested in coming to work for her. They discussed terms and Olivia was pleased to hear that her percentage was going to be quite good so she said that she would come.

Karishma was glad that she made that call. With what she brought in from the salon, and the rent money she got from Amy, she was able to make her payments and put some aside after expenses. Even though Olivia was older she was a steady worker, always on time, and did an exceptional job. She even acquired many customers who requested her specifically. Things were finally going well for her.

Contrary to Jacob's prediction Amy was quite content with the way her life was going as well. True, she didn't have a lot of money since she was now paying rent, but she felt good about the fact that she was able to provide for herself. Granted the rent she paid was low compared to most places but she was still doing it on her own. Her parents had expressed concern when she first told them about her move but now that they saw that she was handling her relative freedom responsibly their concerns had been alleviated.

After several more months went by Amy decided to pay the Worthington's a visit. She often saw Natalie and Joshua when they came into town to do their shopping at PJ's but she hadn't seen anything of Jacob since she left. When she asked about him they said that he was fine, but he never sent a word of hello or anything and she hated that they had parted on such terms. When she told them that she was going to take them up on their invitation to visit they were thrilled. They told her that they would expect her Sunday afternoon for lunch.

Amy enjoyed her lunch with the Worthington's but was disappointed because Jacob never showed up. They had no idea where he was and couldn't understand why he hadn't come in. He had come in for breakfast that morning and didn't say anything about any other plans when they told him that she was coming. They kept apologizing and that only made Amy feel worse. It was obvious that he was avoiding her.

They ate and then the two ladies cleaned up while Joshua prepared a tray of coffee and cake. It was a pistachio velvet cake with cream cheese icing. He carried it out onto the porch where the rocking chairs were. When the ladies joined him they spent a leisurely hour catching up on what was going on in Amy's life. Finally Amy gave up all hope of seeing Jacob and left. Natalie had cut a couple of pieces of cake and sent them home with her for her and Karishma and she cradled it in her lap as she headed for home. She had to move it though because she was afraid the tears running down her face would get into the wrapping and ruin the cake.

Jacob stood out of site as Amy passed by on her way home. He was in the tree house in the big oak tree at the end of the drive. It was his secret hiding place. His parents would never think to look for him there because to their knowledge he hadn't gone there since he and Jasmine had left school. Because of that he often went there to think when he was troubled and didn't feel like talking to anyone.

He felt mean treating Amy this way. When his parents came back from town and sent her hellos he would just grunt in reply. When they asked why he wouldn't acknowledge her greetings or send any back he wouldn't say anything. He couldn't explain it to himself let alone anyone else. All he knew was that he felt as if Amy had let him down. She went waltzing off to town to be independent. He thought that she would be coming to him to pick up the pieces when things didn't work out. But that never happened; things were going great from what he heard. She didn't need him after all so why couldn't he accept it and get on with life. Instead he worked himself until he was so exhausted that he often fell on his bed without showering. His mother would grumble about the dirt in his bed. The one thing that bothered him the most was that he had no way of knowing if she got home safe or not.

What Jacob didn't realize was that he was feeling left out of Amy's life. He had appointed himself big brother, keeping an eye on her without her knowing it. When she was living with his parents he was the last person to go to bed when she was out in the evening and, after his blow up when she came in late that time she had the flat tire, was always in the tree house watching to make sure that she got home safely. He hated it when she moved out because he couldn't watch over her any longer.

If Amy had known what he was doing she would have told him that she didn't need a big brother. She already had three and had got as far away as she could get. She was tired of being treated like a baby. What she wouldn't admit was what she really wanted, that was for Jacob to love her, to make her his wife. She had fooled herself into thinking that it didn't matter when she thought he was going to marry those other girls but the fact was it hurt. Each time he got serious over somebody she convinced herself that she could endure it because they were the one that could make him happy not her. Each time the girl broke up with him her hopes would be raised only to be dashed at the news that he was interested in someone else. She finally convinced herself that she didn't care anymore, so she thought. Deep down her subconscious knew that she did still care. Why else would she come all the way to Rocky Mount to go to school? She had been offered scholarships from other schools closer to home. She was only fooling herself when she told everyone it was because she wanted as far away from her brothers as she could get.

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Author's Note: Fortunately for Amy and Karishma things worked out well. Will it be smooth sailing from here on out as they think? What could possibly go wrong? Will Jacob get past his feelings of rejection and accept Amy on her terms?

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