Chapter 17

It rained Wednesday, and by the time Jane got to work, her shoes were wet and scuffed. They were scuffed even before today from the constant walking that they had not been meant for. She hung up her raincoat and could barely wait for the coffee to brew to get rid of the slight chill that had settled in her bones. Today was unusually cold for late spring, and she kept on the gray wool sweater that she wore over her white blouse. She was wearing her navy skirt again but didn't dare wear any of the pleated skirts she owned for fear that people would make fun of her.

She would get paid Friday, and the first thing she intended to do was to buy shoes and clothes. Jen had started the coffee brewing and neither spoke to the other. She knew that Jen would hog up the computer again so she busied herself with other things even though most things they did required the computer.

Since Tim wasn't due in court today and things wouldn't be nearly as hectic, Jane decided to take a break around ten. She knocked on his door and asked if he wanted her to bring him anything back.

He thought about it. "Donuts if they have them." He dug for his wallet and handed her five dollars. "Get yourself something, too."

She was thankful for that. Her money was low. "I'll be back in about fifteen minutes."

He shook his head. "That's barely long enough to stand in line. Just be back within half an hour."

"Okay." She headed back to the door, and her shoes began to squeak. When she glanced behind her Tim was staring down at them. "Oh," she stammered. "It rained and my shoes got wet." Her face felt hotter than a smoking skillet. Now there was no way that she could ever wear these shoes again. Tim had noticed how old they looked!

He nodded and stared at her. "You take the bus?"

"Yes, two, actually. The one by the convent only drops me off downtown, and then I either take another bus to get here or walk." When he didn't say anything else, she left.

She wished it wasn't raining so hard or she would have taken a break outside. It would be the first break that she'd taken down in the canteen since the last time she'd been there with Jen. But there was no way that she could sit and relax in the work area with the woman when she practically vibrated hostility at her. Before, she had merely ignored her. Now Jen gave her nasty looks and rolled her eyes whenever she did something for Tim, like buying him the donuts. What Jen didn't get is that Jane wasn't doing it to save her job—she would have done it anyway.

When she walked past the people that had made fun of her the day before, she felt her back bristle and tried not to look at them. They didn't even look in her direction either, even though they had to have heard her approach with her damned squeaky shoes. Embarrassed, she entered the elevator and went down to the canteen.

Jane stood in front of the vending machine looking at the packaged treats, but there were no donuts.

"Jane?"

Jane looked up and saw the black woman that she had been introduced to by Jen. She wondered if Jen was ignoring them, too, and figured that they probably didn't care one way or the other.

"Hi, nice to see you again," Jane said, not sure if that statement was true or not.

"Claudette," the lady said, re-introducing herself. Claudette appeared to be in her forties, plump and pretty with a round brown face and big brown eyes. Her coifed hair was neat and her dress nice but more on the casual side than the way Jen dressed.

"I'm happy I saw you. I was planning to pay you a visit today."

"Oh?" Jane was surprised.

Claudette's brow gathered. "Do you have a minute to talk?"

"Yeah." Jane was curious. "I was just getting Tim something, but I see that they don't have donuts."

"Oh, there's a coffee shop down in the lobby, and they sell donuts and pastries there. It's usually crowded but they do have good ones. I'll show you, and then we'll have time to talk."

Jane gave her an appreciative smile. "Thanks, Claudette."

Claudette gave her a sideways look as they walked. "What do you think of Tim?"

Jane thought about that before answering. "He seems sad, but now I understand about his wife's death. Still you can tell that he's a good person."

Claudette smiled. "I'm happy to hear you say that. The other girl doesn't get it. But I've been here for over fifteen years and I knew Tim's wife—we all did. She worked with him even though she could have sat at home on her butt like so many do. And I'll tell you now, Tim is good people."

Jane listened closely as they walked. "He loved her a lot, didn't he?"

Claudette looked sad. "Yes, he did. He would say, 'I need,' and she'd say, 'Honey, I put it on your desk.' And it would be there. He really did depend on her a lot. And if sometimes he seems difficult, that's the reason."

"Thank you for that, Claudette." But she had already figured that out. They entered the coffee shop and it was indeed crowded but the line moved fast. She scanned the display for pastries and saw that the pickings were slim for donuts.

"Ugh," Jane said. "They only have chocolate ones and … I don't know what that is."

"Get him a slice of the lemon loaf," Claudette said with a smile.

"Yes?"

"Corrine got it for him when they were out of donuts."

Corrine. Jane tried to imagine Corrine standing in this very line ordering a pastry for Tim, and it sent a jolt down to her bones when she realized that she was now the "keeper of the torch."

"Jane, the reason I wanted to talk to you is because I … realized what you were saying the other day, when you mentioned living near Kigali. I know the others didn't put it together, but my church took up a collection to send to Rwanda and the charity had set up a base in Kigali."