The Garden To Destiny: Only Believe Series - Book 1

By Michele Rousseau

The challenges of single life begin to grab hold of Angela in a way that cause her to make some drastic decisions. She needs to escape from her job and her emotions for her co-worker, Vince, so she accepts an offer for a new job on a university campus. She wonders, however, if she can truly get over her feelings for Vince in her new office surro

• Language: English
• Publisher: TOPLINK PUBLISHING, LLC
• Release date: Apr 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9781950540853

Michele Rousseau

The author was born in New Jersey, but grew up in Pennsylvania. Writing and journaling was always a great comfort to her and helped her gain perspective on times of heartaches, misunderstandings and disappointments throughout her life. At some point in the author's many personal trials she came to a place where she was broken of her own will and surrendered to the will of God for her destiny. As a graduate of Christian Counseling from Cairn University the author has shared her faith in a variety of gifts, including music, teaching, intercession and writing. This series, Only Believe, is one expression of the author's faith.

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The Garden

To Destiny

Only Believe Series – Book 1

Michele Rousseau

Copyright © 2019 by Michele Rousseau.

Paperback:  978-1-950540-84-6

eBook:  978-1-950540-85-3

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Contents

Prologue

Hot and Cold

His Loss, Her Loss

Take Hold and Let Go

Partly Sunny Skies

Restless

The Past, Present and Future

Explorations

Soaring on Romance

Disillusioned

Friendship Comfort

Hesitant

Delighted

A Surprise Reunion

Fill My Cup

Sharing and Caring

Distractions

Amazing Grace

More Grace, Please!

United We Stand

To my daughter, Arielle

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And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Prologue

Angela sorted through the photographs in her hand until she came to her favorite. It was a photo taken at her office picnic last summer. She stared at the picture for a lingering moment, focusing on the grin of her co-worker, Vince. Eventually, she looked at her own smiling face in the photo, remembering the fun she had that day. Angela enjoyed sharing time with Vince away from the office environment and routine. She was intrigued with his conversation about intimate things in his life, especially family experiences that she considered personal and perhaps even pri vate.

That photo stirred her growing feelings for Vince, yet she had not allowed herself to confront her emotions. She tried to ignore the closeness she sensed developing between them, denying her feelings. She often wrestled with thoughts about Vince while she wondered if he was thinking of her. Was he also sensing a closeness growing between them or was the closeness just her imagination? Angela would even argue with herself about Vince. What am I thinking? Vince has a girlfriend. Why would he even think of me or think of us as being close? Why would he even be drawn to me?

Still, she continued to glance at the photo, remembering some of the childhood memories he shared with her that day.

After my dad died, he said, my sister was so angry all the time. It was a difficult time for my mom and me. I felt helpless at times because I was the younger one, so my sister would not listen to me. I tried to stand up to her for my mom’s sake, you know? My mom was already so sad, beyond sad, missing my dad and all, and my sister would only give her more grief! Angela was completely absorbed as Vince poured out the lingering pain and frustration from that time in his life.

Vince continued to elaborate about the difficulty with his sister. She actually hated God for a long time. She really blamed God for dad dying and for everything that went wrong. My mother would try all kinds of things to break my sister from her rage, but I often found my mother crying in frustration over my sister. Then, suddenly, it seemed like she grew out of it or something. She behaved totally opposite, like Jekyl and Hyde. She became peaceful and gentle, like I had never seen her before. I’m not one for believing I would ever witness a miracle, but I might actually categorize my sister as one.

Angela’s thoughts came back to the present, and she wondered what Vince really believed about God and faith. She looked at the photo one last time and placed it back into her box of keepsakes. She placed the box on the shelf of her bedroom closet and noticed the smell of lavender from the sachet her mother had hung on the doorknob as she closed the door. She still kept some treasures in her bedroom at her parents’ home where she stayed on occasion when she visited them overnight.

Angela walked out of her bedroom and went downstairs in search of her mother. She found a pot of homemade soup on the stove. She could smell the soup’s basil herb throughout the house as she continued looking around. She peeked into her father’s office but did not say anything, not wanting to disturb his work on tax returns for his clients.

Searching the house further, she found her mother in the food pantry near the kitchen. Hi Angela! I’m all set for dinner, but wouldn’t you know I can’t seem to find a thing for lunch, her mother said.

You probably have plenty for lunch, but you don’t know what you want to eat.

You’re right. What would you like to eat? Would you like to have lunch with me?

I’d love to. How about your mouth-watering grilled cheese sandwiches? I’ll bet you can even get dad away from his office for one of those. He could probably use a break.

That’s a good idea! I haven’t made grilled cheese in a long time.

Angela and her mother came out of the pantry and headed for the kitchen.

Angela, I know you’re not happy about this temporary layoff from your job, but I’m glad to have you home with us for a visit.

Me too, Mom. But guess what? I applied for a job at Summit University near Ben Franklin Park. They called this morning, and I’ve got an interview tomorrow at two!

That’s great, Buttercup! This will have to be a celebration lunch!

Not yet, Mom. We’ll celebrate if they offer me the job.

OK, I guess I’m putting the cart before the horse.

Plus, I still have a job to go back to after the layoff is over.

Do you really want to go back to that job? Do you really like it there?

I don’t know. Everyone is so strange, except for one person. We’ve grown close over the time I’ve been there, but the others have so many quirks about them.

Well, that’s the difference between having your own business and working for an employer. You end up working with a lot of quirks. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’ve seen your dad with some clients who had some quirks. People are human, and sometimes what’s normal to you is not normal to someone else. Oh, you’ll be fine, wherever you find work. If not, you could always take over the accounting business for your dad when he retires in July, technically, even though we will move south in to our retirement community in May.

Mom… Angela said, sounding tired of the subject.

I know. I know. We’ve already been through that. I’ll get those grilled cheese sandwiches started. Will you set the table for me?

Sure.

We’ll still celebrate, but we’ll celebrate the interview. It’s not every day you get called in for a job interview.

That’s true. OK, we’ll celebrate my interview. Thanks, Mom, for encouraging me and believing in me.

I always have, Buttercup. I always have.

Hot and Cold

Angela noticed that winter was yielding to the signs of spring as she looked at the landscape of Summit University campus. She thought she saw the first robin of the year, but as the bird flew off she was not sure. The air smelled like the freshness after a rain shower, but it was really the smell from the last remnants of melting snow in patches scattered around the grasses and hedges. There was still snow in areas of the sidewalks which were hidden from the sunlight. No doubt the warmer temperature today would melt the snow the sun had not touched. As Angela continued her walk from the parking lot to the Academic Development Department, she felt as if she had walked a mile already as her feet strained to carry her to her destina tion.

I should have worn dressy flats for this walk, she thought as the neglected calluses on her feet began to throb with each step.

As the sidewalk came to a wider maze of adjoining sidewalks and buildings, Angela decided to stop. She squinted to read the building names in the distance and looked at the campus map in her hands. She located the Fine Arts building. East of that was the Biological Sciences building, and on the west side were the Engineering and Physical Sciences buildings. Angela looked up from the map and sighed.

I should have allowed myself more time to get here, she thought, reprimanding herself as the time grew late for her appointment.

When she first arrived on campus, she had trouble finding a place to park, even after getting a permit and directions from the Campus Security booth at the parking entrance. Studying the map last night had not prepared her for the hurdles of campus life since Angela was used to parking directly outside the office building at her present, perhaps soon-to-be former, job.

Now she began to feel the pressure of limited time before her interview appointment, and her uncertainty about the remaining distance to the Eugene Samuels Library, where she needed to be, added to her anxiety. Again she studied the map and identified the Fine Arts building, which was connected to the Performing Arts building. Beyond that was the library. She checked her watch as she climbed the marble steps of the library.

Thank God! Five minutes to spare, she thought with a sigh of relief.

She climbed more stairs to the second floor, wishing she could have taken an elevator to give her feet a brief rest. At the top of the stairs, she saw a large waiting area with chairs and lamps on lamp tables which gave a sense of a cozy atmosphere. As she walked through the waiting area she saw brochures about various academic services on the tables. She passed the English Development and Math Skills Centers and finally arrived at Assessment Services where she was welcomed by the who cares attitude of the secretary.

Hi. I’m Angela Fisher. I’m here for a two o’clock interview.

If you will have a seat in the waiting area, I’ll tell the director you’re here, the secretary said with little enthusiasm.

Angela returned to the waiting area thinking. She almost sounded resentful, but I guess I’m just nervous. I’m starting to imagine things.

She calmed herself from her intimidating thoughts and was glad for the opportunity to rest her throbbing calluses from that long walk in her low but not-so-comfortable gray pumps. She wanted badly to take off her shoes for a few minutes, but she feared she would be called in for the interview just as her feet came out of the shoes.

Angela?

Yes, she answered, looking up.

Hi. I’m Paulette. Come on in and we’ll talk about the position. Then I’ll show you our office, so you can get a better idea of the work environment here.

Angela followed Paulette into an office lit by lamp rather than the usual ceiling fluorescent light. Paulette was cordial and open about the duties of the vacant position since she had been doing many of the tasks herself to keep the office functioning.

As the interview continued, Angela felt a twinge of self-consciousness. She strongly detected that she was being judged and scrutinized competitively. A scene flashed through her mind of how she would be the topic of office gossip after she left the interview. She secretly cringed at the thought while she persevered through the rest of the questioning and discussion, feeling like a stranger in a foreign land and at the same time, hoping to leave the familiar stagnation of her present job. She wondered what her fate would be. She sighed at the thought, knowing that only time would tell.

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At her apartment, Angela reflected on the interview again as she had done while walking back to her car and during the drive home. She kept sensing that she was under competitive scrutiny as well as detecting a hidden resentment from the secretary who had greeted her. The dean of the Academic Services Department kept boasting about the last person in the job, and Angela wondered if anyone could successfully follow the predecessor’s performance, let alone herself. As she continued to remember the afternoon, Angela began to feel anger and resentment, and she decided she did not want to work around such attitudes. She would rather stay in her present job. She preferred not to work around people who gave her such a cold reception. The chill of the workers in the assessments office had no cooling effect on the flaming heat of anger in Angela.

Why did that Dean Purcell keep discussing the credentials of the previous employee in the job? Was he trying to intimidate me? Angela asked these questions to herself out loud, but there were no answers, only assumptions.

With a sigh, Angela resigned herself to return to her present job when the layoff period was over. She dreaded going back to that office and the people, except for Vincent Miles Capris, whom everyone called Vince. Since the day of the office picnic, Angela could no longer deny her strong but mixed emotions about Vince, which was the reason she took the plunge to search for a new job. When she found out that Vince requested a job transfer closer to home to shorten his commute, Angela could not bear the thought of working in that office without Vince. If he got the job transfer, how could she possibly go there each day, look at Vince’s empty desk, put up with all the bizarre customer service calls and cope with the strange behaviors of her co-workers? All Angela could see was cloudy skies on the horizon of her vocational future.

She let out another sigh and moped around from room to room, changing her scenery but not helping to change her mood. As she stared into another daydream, she hardly knew that she was slipping into a late afternoon nap.

His Loss, Her Loss

Angela turned the key and opened her apartment door to the sound of her telephone ringing. She rushed in and ran to grab the rece iver.

Hello, Angela answered and waited, listening to the voice on the other end. She recognized Paulette’s voice almost immediately as she heard Paulette inviting her back for a second interview. One thing was certain. Paulette seemed different towards her this time, less scrutinizing. Angela agreed to a second interview and put the phone back into its cradle. She stared into space as she wrestled with the shock and the emotions surfacing into her awareness. She was afraid to get excited.

A second interview, she thought. Is that good? Angela hoped it was good, and she allowed herself to feel some excitement. Perhaps she would not have to stay at her present job after all, and then she would not have to endure the inevitable emptiness of the office without Vince if he transferred closer to his home.

She had called the office last week, bored from the layoff and missing Vince. She had finally admitted her feelings for Vince to herself, but she cringed as she remembered how she impulsively spoke the L word to him on the phone before hanging up from their conversation. She wondered, What does he think of me now, suddenly expressing my love in such a vulnerable way? She became restless with worry after having exposed her feelings, but when she talked to him again the next week, Vince answered saying, I knew it was you.

How did you know it was me? Angela surmised that he had been anticipating her call, maybe even wanting her to call.

I just knew, Vince said, not really giving her any specific explanation. Then he was quiet for too long, and Angela knew he welcomed the feelings she had expressed to him the week before. She quickly broke the silence and began talking with him, and before she knew it they were agreeing to have lunch at the Chinese restaurant down the street from the office along with their co-worker, Antwan. This is how their office experience began: the three of them together sharing the bizarre endeavors of their workplace. Now she wondered if these working relationships were all about to come to an end with her second interview at Summit University.

As she talked through her second interview, she felt more welcomed by Paulette as well as by the dean. The secretary was not at her desk to give her the chilly greeting this time. When Angela left the second interview, she had a better feeling and a better outlook toward this job opportunity.

However, if she was hired at Assessment Services, she knew she would miss Vince. At the same time she also knew that it would help her to accept Vince’s transfer much easier if she were in a different work environment. She would not have to be reminded of Vince every time she walked past his desk. Instead, Vince would have to look at her empty desk, if Paulette hired her.

Angela wondered, Will Vince miss me? As she drove out of the university parking lot, she remembered their lunch at the Chinese restaurant and thought, He insisted on paying for my lunch. Could that have possibly been his way of equally expressing the L word to me? Angela remembered the lunch with a warm feeling inside. Somehow, she knew Vince would miss her as much as she would miss him.

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Much to Angela’s surprise and excitement, she was hired by Assessment Services at Summit University. She returned to her job for two weeks to give them the courtesy of two weeks resignation notice. When she first saw Vince, she was surprised by the change in his appearance. He had grown a beard over the three weeks of her layoff. Also, another co-worker, Kristen, seemed to have grown very comfortable with Vince. Angela noticed this and felt a pain in her heart. She hoped Vince did not sense her pain as she looked away from Kristen’s flirty display with Vince. Suddenly her job felt strange and unfamiliar to her, and she welcomed the thought of leaving.

Minutes after Kristen left from flirting with Vince, Vince came by Angela’s desk, and Angela knew he had recognized her pain earlier. Angela tried to talk and joke with him as they usually did, but somehow it did not feel the same.

The workday progressed, and soon the news of Angela’s new job had spread around the office. She began to feel her mood lift as Vince asked her about the new job and congratulated her. Angela would not allow herself to acknowledge any more pain in her heart over Vince. She would only allow herself to focus on the new job and the new opportunity.

The day came for her farewell luncheon. The office staff gathered at the Chinese restaurant where many of them had lunch together on occasion. Vince was there with many of the other office staff to wish Angela well. She hoped Vince would show her a sign that he would miss her or secretly express some last treasure towards her from his heart. Instead, he just socialized with everyone and seemed remote and distant from her. Angela did not feel triumphant at the moment, even though she had what she wanted: a new job to put space between her and Vince. Instead of triumph, she only felt disappointment because she knew that whether she stayed of left this job, she would lose Vince from her life. Even though there was a new horizon waiting for her, losing Vince was feeling more painful than Angela expected. No matter how she tried to escape him, she knew she could never forget Vince, and she believed Vince would never forget her.

Take Hold and Let Go

Sharing office space was not anything new to Angela. The biggest adjustment for her was the new office and the work routine. Clouded expectations and vague training paved the road of unclear direction in the beginning. Angela sat with the manuals of procedures to learn most of the job on her own. Introductions to other workers were made. Angela sensed sarcasm toward her in the joking of some staff because of resentment that she filled the position. Paulette came to Angela’s rescue after witnessing the unwelcome manner of the s taff.

They are just trying to ruffle your feathers because Doris also applied for your job. Doris and Sarah are friends, so you can expect them to be catty at times. Just ignore them. They’ll get over it. Paulette painted the picture of insight for Angela.

You’ll have plenty of time to read those procedures manuals later. Right now, I want to introduce you to some other staff on campus. Sam shares an office with you, but she is out today. You’ll meet her tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll get to know her well. I’ll walk you over to the Computer Center. You’ll be going there every morning to pick up your reports.

Angela tried to absorb all the office dynamics and rituals just dropped in her lap by Paulette. The grand tour took about forty-five minutes. Angela enjoyed the change of atmosphere and the break from reading all the technical procedures of her duty. On the tour of the offices around campus she met Greg, the supervisor of the Computer Center located in the Engineering and Physical Sciences building. She also met staff in the Registrar’s Office, the Admissions Office, the Security Office and the Eugene Samuels Library, which was the building that housed Angela’s office.

The ESL is pretty resourceful if you need information. Sometimes, I end up spending my entire lunch here on the first floor. Truthfully, I spent many evenings on the basement level doing research for my master’s degree. If you decide to go to grad school, the ESL is the place to hang out. Paulette was enjoying center stage attention with Angela.

What’s the ESL? Angela asked, trying not to look stupid, even though she feared she was asking a stupid question.

Oh, that’s right! You wouldn’t understand the nickname, and I’m so used to saying ESL that I didn’t think of explaining the acronym used for this building. We call this library the ESL instead of saying the Eugene Samuels Library. Of course, you could just say library, but our campus has many libraries. I haven’t shown you the Arts Library, which is for the Communications, Fine Arts and Performing Arts students. We also have the Social Sciences Library for our Psychology, Sociology, History and Foreign Language majors. Our law students have their own library, but the administration has proposed what will become the largest combined law and medicine library to exist on a university campus. It’s probably all you will hear about for the next six months until its old news.

Angela wanted to ask many more questions but was concerned about appearing as stupid as she felt. She thought to herself, There’s so much to learn. Am I stupid or is it just because I’m new to this campus that I feel like I’m struggling to relate to the conversations?

Overwhelmed was probably a better perspective of her new situation. At the end of the day, Angela adapted herself to new personalities, grasped new duties, learned a whole new environment and locations of resources she needed, especially the restroom and the cafeteria. Those are priority resources to map out the first day on the job, she thought to herself with a smile as she reflected on her accomplishments of the first day.

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Angela’s first week at the job was completed, and she went to her parents’ home on the weekend to go out to dinner with them in celebration of her new job. Her father had actually ended his work early to spend the evening with his two best girls! He always called them that whenever they were going out socially together. Since Angela was the only child, the phrase was often trumpeted by her father.

So tell me, Angie, what is better about this job than working for your old dad?

Now, Luis, her mom said, don’t go spoiling dinner tonight. She has to find her own way now, and tonight’s a celebration of this new job!

I know. Angie, I just want you to keep this option open in your mind, in case things don’t work out. You know I’m just teasing you. Besides, it helps me get used to the idea that I’m retiring soon when I talk about you working for me.

Oh! Is that your strategy, Daddy? All along, I thought you wanted me to take over your business for you. Angela grinned with twinkling eyes. Her father smiled at her in the rear view mirror and her mother just shook her head at both of them.

"Well, I can tell you how my first week went. I actually have a sense of routine; although, I’m remaining neutral in the personality dynamics of the office. I have an office mate named Samantha, but she prefers to be called Sam. Sam really does have a way of describing the secretary, Sarah, true to life. Honestly, our secretary is so critical of everything that doesn’t meet up to her standards, and the more she