A Soul Searching Romance
Monday, November 25, 2024
As she prepared for another mundane workday at home, thanks to COVID-19, Joy Bell grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of black yoga pants to change into that morning. She put her dark brown hair into a high messy bun, grabbed her coffee out of the kitchen, and headed toward her office. Okay! It wasn’t exactly an office. It was a small desk crammed between the living room and kitchen of her one-bedroom apartment. It was the best she could do under the circumstances.
When she moved into her one-bedroom apartment on December 14, 2019, she had no idea that a worldwide pandemic would turn her world upside and force her to work remotely from home for an indefinite period of time. Her saving grace was her co-worker, childhood best friend, and neighbor, Noelle Love. Somehow, they’d managed to make the most of their time out of the office. It was actually quite enjoyable.
As she sat down to check her email, she had ten unread messages. All of them were marked urgent, so she started with the first one. It was from Brian Tanner, her boss.
“… Good morning… yada yada … thank you for all you do… yada yada… hope you have a great Thanksgiving… yada yada…I’m looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday…yada yada… wait… what?” Coffee flew out of her mouth and landed on the screen. She couldn’t believe what she was reading. She’d read the rumors on the office group chat, but she didn’t think it was true. They couldn’t go back into the office now. It was almost Christmas. There was so much to do! She didn’t have time to go back into the office and work.
As she reached for her holiday planner, she heard a knock at the door, and she knew it had to be Noelle.
“Come in!” She shouted in distress.
Noelle used her key and hurried inside Joy’s apartment. No matter what was going on, she was always such a ray of sunshine when she entered a room with her red hair, green eyes, and freckles.
“Joy! Are you awake?”
“Of course. I’m a–” Her words came to a screeching halt when Noelle came into plain view. She was wearing a silk green button- down shirt, a pair of black dress pants, and a pair of black high heel boots. She was wearing a pearl necklace and a bracelet to match. “Where are you going dressed like that? It’s eight o’clock.”
“I had a meeting with Mr. Tanner this morning. You know how he feels about us dressing professionally online.”
Joy smirked and said, “He can’t see your shoes.”
Noelle fanned her hand dismissively. “I didn’t come to talk about my shoes. I came to ask you about the email. Did you see it?”
“Which one?”
“The one about returning to work.”
Joy rolled her eyes. “Yeah! I read it. Did you know about this?”
She closed her eyes and nodded her head. “I couldn’t say anything until it was official. He just approved the email a few minutes ago.”
Joy put her hand over her face. “What are we going to do? We can’t afford to go back into the office right now. We have to help our parents with the Holly North Lane Christmas Festival. Ruth Ann is already driving my mom crazy. I can’t let her down.”
“I know.”
“And what about the toy drive at church? We volunteered to come in on our lunch breaks to wrap toys.”
“I know.”
“And what about the Rudolf Family Farm? We were supposed to drive there one day during the week to avoid the rush, so we can pick out the perfect Christmas trees for our apartments this year.”
“I know. I know—”
“So, what are we going to do? Look at me. I’m not ready to go back. I don’t even have anything to wear. I’ve been reduced to cute tops and yoga pants.”
“Well, look on the bright side—”
“What bright side?” She asked, sarcastically.
“The Black Friday sale is this week, so you can purchase some new clothes for at least fifty percent off.” Noelle said, looking at Joy from head to toe.
Author’s Note
As we wait for our first Soul Searching Christmas Romance Novel to be released, we will post free chapters of our book, Joy to the Office! We were too excited to wait. Besides, their story started today. We will post the next chapter on Black Friday.
