Stranded in Paradise (Women of Faith Fiction) - Softcover

Copeland, Lori

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0849943787 ISBN 13: 9780849943782

Publisher: Thomas Nelson, 2002

Synopsis

A funny-but-touching tale about everything that can go wrong...and what makes it all right!

Tess Nelson is poised to take a well-deserved step up the corporate ladder when it's yanked out from under her. With no job and nothing to fill her days--just a nonrefundable ticket for a trip to Hawaii--Tess decides a tropical vacation is just what she needs. But Tess's journey to paradise is a disaster from the beginning. A sprained ankle at the airport is just the beginning. Then there's the lost contact lens and the lost luggage, the lightning storm at a luau, and the hotel fire. Not to mention the approaching hurricane. And the attractive, annoying young man who keeps crossing her path--and really shaking her up. All Tess wants to do is get her life back under control. But God, it seems, has something else in mind--like opening her heart to everything her life could be.

About this title

About the Author

Lori Copeland is a bestselling author whose books includde Now and Always, Simple Gifts, Unwrapping Christmas, and Monday Morning Faith, which was a finalist for the 2007 Christy Awards. Lori was inducted into the Springfield Writers Hall of Fame in 2000 and lives in the beautiful Ozarks with her husband and family.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

stranded in paradise

A Story of Letting GoBy Lori Copeland

WestBow Press

Copyright © 2007 Lori Copeland
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8499-4378-2

Chapter One

Jan. 10, 8:55 AM Denver, Colorado

"Boy, Kim, this weather is nutty, isn't it? Where's the snow?"

"Rocky, I don't know," the female disk jockey deadpanned. "We don't have to worry about hurricanes here in Denver land: I WANT SNOW!"

Tess Nelson signaled, then switched lanes on the busy interstate. The Acura surged ahead, passing a slower-moving vehicle before shooting back to the right lane. The digital clock turned to 8:56 AM.

The disk jockeys kept up their banter. "Imagine a summer thunderstorm, a dark, hulking brute towering over ten turbulent miles into the heavens-black, rolling clouds spewing blinding rain, hailstones, and lightning. Then picture a line of these monsters seventy-five miles long, standing shoulder to shoulder," Rocky said of an approaching storm in the South Pacific. "Take that line and wrap it around into a circle 230 miles across and spin it counterclockwise at 140 miles an hour and you're in the eye of a hurricane. ... Must be something to experience ..." She frowned at the radio, as she wondered how long it took for those storms to fizzle out. She had a business trip planned for the following week in Hawaii, and the last thing she needed was some tropical depression to foul up her plans.

The Acura wheeled into the underground parking garage. Tires and power steering screeched as she ascended from the first floor to the second level. She turned into spot seven, shut off the engine, and looked at the clock. 8:57-oops. 8:58. On time.

Her newest twenty-something temp was waiting when the elevator doors opened to the fourteenth floor. "Suit wants to see you in his office." Judy chewed gum and pointed an acrylic-nailed, three-ringed finger toward the executive suite one floor up.

"I need to drop these things off in my office and get a cup of coffee-"

"No time, kiddo. The Man says now. Mucho pronto." The temp blew a bubble and popped it back into her mouth in one swift move.

Tess shifted the armload of folders, sunglasses, briefcase, and purse, then pilfered a notepad and pen from her secretary's desk. "Please spit out your gum." She pointed to the wastebasket.

"Yes, ma'am."

Ma'am? Tess flinched. She had to speak to Nick in personnel about the help he was sending her lately. The last one had taken breaks every hour to do her yoga stretches right there on the office floor. She didn't know how long she could deal with the endless array of teenyboppers behind the desk.

Stepping into the elevator, she punched floor thirty-seven and tapped the pen against the notepad as she watched the numbers change above the elevator's doors. To hear Len refer to the executive office as "his office" sounded strange. He'd taken over as chief executive officer of Connor.com upon the sudden death of his father, Dave Connor, the man who had started the company five years earlier. While dot com companies had been rising fast in the late nineties, Dave Connor had moved with caution, investing back into the business instead of buying new equipment and hiring employees he wouldn't be able to keep for the long haul. He was a man of vision. But Dave hadn't planned on dying at the age of sixty-one of a heart attack.

Dot com companies sell service, not a product, and Dave had built a strong, self-sustaining business because he cared about his customers. Connor.com allowed clients to place bids on large-ticket or small-ticket items online. If they wished, they could even do a closed bid.

Under Dave's management, changes were constantly made to meet a client's needs. Most of the schools in this area used Connor.com to order supplies like hand soap, detergent, grease-breaker soap, and soap for mopping kitchen floors, tile floors, and hardwood floors. One catalog they maintained listed over twenty thousand different soap items.

A company of this size needed a lot of people: a chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief operations officer, chief technical officer, plus middle management people and a ton of technical geeks. Not everyone could manage a company this size the way Dave had done. She hoped Len was up to it.

Tess had met Dave at a Chamber of Commerce mixer five and a half years ago. He was a kind man who had treated her like a daughter almost from the time they met. When he had asked her to join his company a few months later, she'd jumped at the opportunity.

The job was a human resource manager's dream, with a lot of potential for advancement. She was ready for the challenges. For the past two years Dave had been grooming her to take the position of vice president of human resources, second in command of Connor.com.

Apparently, this morning Len was ready to announce that he was moving her into the job. She knew she was ready to steer the company through the turbulent waters of mergers and acquisitions, setting up profit sharing and a 401(k) program that would attract experienced and loyal employees. This was the crowning achievement of all her hard work.

As she reached Len's office, his secretary, Nancy, was coming out. "Hello," Tess chirped.

"Go on in," Nancy murmured, refusing to meet her eye. Odd. Nancy Silva was one of the friendliest people Tess knew. From the look on Nancy's face she wondered if something awful had happened to her.

"Thanks," Tess said as Nancy turned her back.

She opened the door. Len had made few changes to Dave's office. When she entered the world of mahogany and Prussian blue she found Len leaning back in Dave's chair, phone to his ear, staring out the big window behind the large desk that had been his father's for over twenty years. Len had that familiar pose, forefinger tapping the back of the phone as he spoke, as if prompting whoever was on the other end to hurry it up. His sandy hair fell against his forehead in that boyish way he had. Tess felt her back stiffen as the old feelings tried to wedge their way back in. Yes, Len had his charms, she told herself, but there was a selfish side to the man.

"See you the first of the week," Len said into the receiver, then hung up the phone and swung around. "Ah, Tess."

She smiled, reminding herself of what this meeting was no doubt about. "Ah, Len." She'd waited a long time for this moment, put in many a long day and given up countless weekends to make deadlines.

She sobered when he didn't return her smile, and uneasiness grew in the pit of her stomach. His life had changed tremendously when Dave died, she reasoned, he was just having a hard day.

She could be of invaluable help now that Dave was gone, of course, and she would. She knew the ins and outs of the company better than anyone, Len included. "Have a seat," Len invited.

She sank into one of the familiar leather chairs where she'd spent many an evening after five sitting, talking business, and laughing over Dave's corny jokes. She wondered briefly if she and Len would have the same kind of relaxed, creative relationship after working hours. Maybe the man could change. She looked up into his eyes.

"You know the dot com business is a little bizarre right now, with so many companies folding," Len said quickly as he raked a hand through his blond hair.

"Yes ..." Tess replied uncertainly, wondering where he was headed. Was Len thinking of merging with another company? Connor.com was financially stable, but right now wasn't the best time-

"The good news is a lot of qualified people are suddenly available."

She shrugged. "True."

"I was talking to a friend I went to college with. We were fraternity brothers, in fact."

"Oh?" She crossed her legs and focused on him, wishing he'd get to the point. "What's his background?"

"Chuck Vinton has been V.P. of human resources at a West Coast firm, but they were bought out ..."

A prickle of apprehension snaked down her spine.

"-and he's free, so I've hired him as our new vice president."

For a split second, she felt nothing, as if she were in a tunnel without sound or reason. Vice president, he had said-vice president of human resources.

"I don't understand," she said through her fog.

Len met her eyes. He enunciated the words this time, speaking slowly as if she were unable to comprehend. "Chuck's going to take over. He's exactly what Connor.com needs."

Tess shifted forward in her chair. "You hired a fraternity brother for my job?"

"I knew you would have a hard time with this, Tess. Chuck isn't exactly taking your position. Your situation here with Connor.com has been unusual-Dad gave you a lot of responsibility. He may have made promises but that was when he was ..."

"Promises be hanged! Len, you know me. I've worked seventy-hour weeks, skipped vacations, erased my personal life-"

"And I appreciate your hard work, but I think the company's better served by hiring someone with more experience. Chuck has ten years under his belt."

He toyed with an eraser, sitting up in his chair to slam dunk the rubber into a glass ashtray.

She seethed. Her life was falling apart, and the dunce was shooting hoops.

So there it was: all her hard work, setting up the department from the company's foundation, was being tossed aside because Len Connor ran into an old college buddy. She should have known he'd pull something like this.

"I see." She struggled to hold on to some shred of professionalism. "Then you're saying that I will be working for Mr. Vinton."

Len swirled a gold pen between his fingers. "Well, you could, I guess, but the thing is ..." He paused, and she could see his jaw tense. "Chuck is bringing his own people; you'll have to apply for any openings that are left."

"He's bringing-" She tried to absorb the shock. Her mind whirled. "So either I start from square one or I'm fired?"

Len shrugged. "Sorry."

"You're firing me?" She stood up, pen and pad fluttering to the floor. The Uniball rolled under the desk.

"There is another open position in which you would fit well-"

"Where?" Her voice was almost a screech.

"Payroll." He smiled, but there was a hint of condescension in that twinkle in his eyes.

Her lashes narrowed. "You're offering me a job in payroll?"

He lifted his shoulders. "It's a good position. Decent pay. Punch out at five o'clock."

She stopped him cold. "I am a manager, Len, not a payroll clerk. I have five years of experience hiring and managing departments full of payroll clerks and a dozen other employees. Len, this is a huge professional insult!"

His tone firmed. "I'm only doing what's best for Connor.com. You know that we've tightened our belts, that we've frozen new hires-"

Anger welled inside her.

"But you can bring in your fraternity brother and his people? Do I look that stupid, Len?"

He shifted closer to the desk. Beneath the polished wood, his foot tapped erratically. "Your years of service have been duly noted, Tess. It's a tough break, but you're resilient. In a few years, who knows, maybe you'll prove me wrong."

She swallowed back an acid retort. "I'm thinking you're right. I can do better than Conner.com. Chuck does sound like the man to head the helm."

Len shrugged. "Of course the choice is yours. Perhaps you need a few days to think about it ..."

"I don't need a vacation." Right now she needed a two-by-four. A good solid plank to wipe the smirk off his silver-spoon-fed Harvard face.

He calmly met her wintry stare. "I'll hold the payroll position until I hear from you." The phone rang and he picked it up, dismissing her with a nod.

She pivoted on her heels and walked out.

Fired.

Sacked.

She had just been squeezed out-regardless of the "options" Len thought he was giving her. Payroll indeed!

Vaguely aware that Len's secretary was bent conspicuously over a file cabinet, she mustered a pleasant smile and made her way out.

Ducking into the executive washroom, Tess locked herself in a stall, refusing to cry-crying would leave her eyes red and puffy-but she breathed deeply for several minutes as she tried to harness her emotions. She would keep her dignity if it killed her.

Minutes later, she wet a paper towel and pressed it to her eyes, checked to ensure that her makeup was still flawless, then she returned to her office. There, laying on the top of her desk, sat the airline ticket for her business trip. A lot of good that was. The airline wouldn't allow her to transfer it into another name.

She stood staring at it. It would serve Len right to lose the cost of the ticket. She wondered why he hadn't mentioned her upcoming trip. Maybe he'd forgotten. She lifted the envelope and turned it over in her hands. Then in one swift move she tucked it into her briefcase. She wasn't sure why.

She had to get out of the office before she started blubbering, or worse yet before she went back and gave Len Connor a piece of her mind. She reached for her purse and briefcase, then, lifting her chin, walked quickly to the elevator. Len Connor would soon discover that Tess Nelson couldn't be replaced by a fraternity brother or anyone else.

The perky temp went on point. "Are you leaving for the day, Miss Nelson?"

"I'll be out of the office a couple of weeks," she said weakly. Maybe by then Len will have called begging her to come back. She pushed the lighted button, aware of the curious eyes following her. She straightened, her chin lifting a notch. She knew that news of her firing would spread faster than small-town gossip once she left the building. Would anyone care that she'd been dumped? She doubted it; she'd made few friends among her coworkers, but who had time for a social life with her workload? Anyway, she wasn't there to socialize. She was there to work. As they should be. That was how she'd gotten where she was, after all ...

Mona.

The dread word surfaced in her consciousness as she rode to the ground floor. She could hear her mother's voice now: Well, the news doesn't surprise me. You always mess up somehow. She slid into her Acura and flipped on the car defrosters. As she drove out of the garage, she realized that the rain was falling in sheets. She pulled into traffic, erratically swerving to miss an oncoming public transportation bus.

Len Connor could not humiliate her this way. She had helped his father build Connor.com. She couldn't be replaced by a ruthless whim, and that was all this ploy was. Len had always been jealous of the trust his father had put in her. Now that he was in charge he was rubbing her nose in it.

But he'd see Connor.com couldn't run without her-and it wouldn't take Len long to recognize it. Not once things started falling apart.

* * *

Tess unlocked the door to her condo and flicked on the light. More than anything else, her home was a deliberate reminder of how far up the ladder she had climbed. Colonial blue walls with white trim, white sofa, blue-and-white striped Queen Anne chairs, a tall lemon-yellow vase holding a silk arrangement of willows and forsythia had all been chosen to create an impression of pristine cleanliness. She remembered the dirty, dismal house she had grown up in and shuddered. How had she survived?

Shucking off her shoes, she made her way to the kitchen, where she scooped up a bowl of ice cream and topped it with a drizzle of Hershey's syrup. She dug her spoon in and lifted it to her mouth when she noticed a long hair trailing out of it. "Eww!" She groaned and gazed down at the counter where three more strands innocently lay. "Not again," she said. She set the ice cream down and made her way to the bathroom where she studied herself in the mirror. It didn't look like she was losing her hair, but lately it seemed as if she'd found strands everywhere: in her checkbook, on reports for work, in her food ...

She lifted a brush from the counter and gave her taffy-color hair a few strokes when the phone began jangling.

"Tess?" a voice said when she picked up.

"Beeg?" Tess said. Bee Gee had been her college roommate. She'd since made a name for herself as an artist working primarily in watercolor.

"Say, I was calling about your trip next week. There's this show in New York-"

"Oh, Beeg!" she moaned, the tears she'd so carefully held in now flowing freely. "That-that oaf Len Connor had the gall to fire me this morning! Can you believe this?"

"Oh, honey," Beeg consoled. "I'm so sorry."

Tess sobbed in big gulps. "He actually thought I'd take a job in payroll when he knows I've been practically running the company these past few months."

"So, what are you going to do about it? How high up is his office? Maybe you could throw rocks at his window."

That brought a smile to Tess's waterlogged cheeks. (Continues...)

Excerpted from stranded in paradiseby Lori Copeland Copyright © 2007 by Lori Copeland. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0849943787
• ISBN 13: 9780849943782
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 245