It seemed every kind of crazy to him. But he was the one standing in the middle of his lobby staring at her. He was the one placing his hands in his pockets unable to stop from smiling inwardly as he watched her. And the way he asked her what was Katie’s name still touched him deeply. Not one of the other females he bothered with ever so much as brought it up after it happened. They knew it happened, but they didn’t want to ruffle his feathers. As if saying his child’s name would ruffle him. Joynetta knew better. She didn’t give a damn about ruffling his feathers. She gave a damn about him! Which was why he loved that girl.
There I go again, he thought. How could he possibly love somebody he just met just over a month ago? He couldn’t and nobody was going to tell him he could. But that was how it felt. It felt like love. There was no doubt about that either.
“William, come here please,” Joy said as she waved him over to the reception desk.
But at the desk, Cory’s eyes grew larger. “Joy, that’s Mr. Skeffington,” he said under his breath as he was tugging on her suit coat. “You can’t bother that man, he’ll fire me!”
But Joy didn’t even hear him as William came up to them. “This is the Cory I told you about,” she said to William. “Cory, this is Mr. Skeffington.”
Cory’s heart was hammering and his voice was quivering. “Good morning, Mr. Skeffington.”
“Good morning, Cory,” William said as he extended his hand. “I’ve heard very good things about you.”
Cory was shocked. “You have, sir?”
Joy grinned. “Shake his hand, Cory, before it falls off.”
Cory looked down and saw that William had extended his hand. His heart dropped. “Oh, I am so sorry, sir,” he said as he began shaking his hand furiously.
Then Joy grinned again. “Don’t shake it off,” she said, and Cory apologized again as he stopped shaking William’s hand with his youthful vigor.
William smiled. The young man looked to be not that much older than Joy. And most attractive too. Which would have normally given William some pause the way Bobby’s interest in Joy gave to him. But Cory was obviously gay. He felt he had nothing to worry about in that department.
But Joy called William over, not just for him to say hello, but for a more pointed, serious reason. She remembered what Cory told her when they were talking five weeks ago. She decided to go there. “Cory told me that he’s been working here for the past five years. His dream is to get accepted into that executive program they have here at Skeffington. What was it called again, Cory?”
Cory didn’t believe she went there either, but a part of him was glad she did. “It’s called JEP: Junior Executive Program.”
William looked at Cory. “Have you applied for admittance, young man?”
“Oh yes sir. Six times,” Cory said. “The new classes began every six months and I’ve been applying for every single class for the past three years.”
“And he always gets rejected,” said Joy.
“Did they give you a reason?” William asked him.
Joy and Cory knew the reason, but Cory wasn’t about to tell it to Mr. Skeffington of all people. “Only that I’m not what they’re looking for each time.”
“Which makes you wonder what they’re looking for,” Joy said and she and Cory glanced at each other.
William didn’t understand their glance. But he understood a good young man worthy of a chance when he saw one. Especially in light of the fact that he helped Joy when she needed somebody to at least treat her with a modicum of respect.
William looked over by the security desk and saw one of the program administrators. “Mike?”
Mike looked over and then hurried over to the boss. “Yes sir, Mr. Skeffington?”
“I want this young man, Cory . . .”
“Parker, sir.”
“I want Cory Parker admitted into JEP forthwith.”
Cory held onto Joy’s sleeve, trying not to burst at the seams with his happiness over what he was hearing.
But Joy saw how Mike was looking at Cory as if he didn’t like even the suggestion.
“And I want him enrolled with pay.”
Mike was astonished. “With pay, sir? But, sir, that’s only reserved for our five-star recruits.”
