Bring on the Blessings by Beverly Jenkins Page A

looked up. “Tamar called and asked if I’d wade through some of this for you. I was an executive secretary back in Atlanta and she thought I could help. Hope that was okay?”
    Bernadine wasn’t sure.
    Lily continued, “I didn’t know how you wanted everything broken down, but in the pile on the dresser are all the financial papers I found. On the chair, things related to the subdivision, and here—”
    Bernadine held up a hand. She looked around the room. In the relatively short time she’d been away, Lily had brought order where there’d been none. Papers were neatly stacked and labeled with sticky notes on the top of each pile. Talk about hidden talents. “How much do you make a year where you’re working now?”
    Lily was the one caught off guard now. She started to explain about the buyout and all but decided to just ask, “Why?”
    “Because I want to hire you and I’ll pay you thirty grand more than whatever you’re making now.” Bernadine firmly believed that God put certain people in your life for a reason and the Lord knew Bernadine needed help.
    Lily smiled and shook her head.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing. This morning, I was telling Marie that maybe I wanted to move back here.”
    “And?” Bernadine answered with a smile of her own.
    “I guess I am.”
    “Wonderful.” Bernadine wanted to shout hallelujah! Bernadine guessed she should probably be asking for references and other documentation, but she didn’t feel the need. It was as if an occult hand had dropped Lily in her lap, and she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Welcome aboard, Ms. Chief Operating Officer.”
    Lily stared.
    “You think I’m playing? You get a title and all the benefits that will go with the job description just as soon as I have the lawyers draw it up.”
    “Okay,” Lily laughed.
    “First thing I want you to do. I ordered a trailer to live in. Find out when it’s coming.” Bernice read Lily the phone number of the dealer stored in her BlackBerry. Lily found a pen and wrote it down.
    “Next. Get yourself a round-trip plane ticket to Atlanta so you can get packed up and make arrangements to ship your things back here.”
    “Shipping is expensive. How about I rent a U-Haul, and—”
    Bernadine interrupted, “How about you listen to your Got Rocks boss?”
    Lily chuckled, “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Thank you.”
    They spent the next few minutes firming up Lily’s move.
    Bernadine confessed. “Lily, I have no idea how to set this up. I’m going to be relying on you big-time for just about everything office wise.”
    “That’s okay. I’ve done it all from mail room to executive secretary. My bosses know that I’m detail oriented and meticulous.”
    “Good. Do you have a laptop?”
    She nodded. “It’s at Marie’s. Wireless. Thanks to the new router, it’s actually working.”
    “Then start ordering whatever you think we’ll need to do an office from the ground up. Everything. If you can find some good deals that’s okay, but nothing cheap. Here’s a credit card.”
    Lily took the offered square of black plastic.
    “Get furniture, printers, paper, desks. The works.”
    “No problem.”
    Bernadine thought for a few more minutes. “We’re also going to need either trailers or modular homes for the foster parents and kids to live in until the new houses are done. The parents are supposed to be visiting the day after tomorrow and I’ll be bringing in the kids by Friday, hopefully.”
    Lily stared. “So soon?”
    “Yep. The sooner we get them here, the sooner they can start adjusting, but I’ve only got two couples and they’re both shaky.”
    “How shaky?”
    “To the point that I’m real worried, but we’ll talk about that later. Go ahead and order the trailers, add one more because we’re going to need an office until we can get one built.”
    “You want to lease them for now?”
    She nodded. “See if we can have them for sixty days. Mr. Kelly says, weather