Catt Chasing Read online

  Jeremiah sighed and wiped the lenses of his glasses. He knew what the problem was. They all did. While Catt was cute, she wasn’t what the average man would consider sexy. She was a beautiful, sweet woman of God, but she was also a very full-figured woman. Jeremiah worried that men would be so focused on her weight that they would overlook all of her other wonderful qualities. Whenever he mentioned his concern to Catt, her response was always the same: “That’s their loss, not mine!” But in reality, it was both of their losses.

  Jeremiah was resolute and determined that there was nothing his daughter would lack, including a man who loved her as much as he did. After careful prayer and consideration, he found a solution to both of their dilemmas through unassuming and spiritually minded thirty-three-year-old Minister Eldon James.

  There was a knock at the pastor’s door, followed by Eldon, who ducked to slip his head through a crack in the door. “You wanted to see me, Pastor?”

  Jeremiah nodded. “Yes, come in, son.”

  Eldon came in and closed the door behind him. “I have the proposal for the youth lock-in right here.” He placed the folder on Jeremiah’s desk. “Everyone else has signed off on it. All we need now is your signature.”

  Jeremiah flipped through the folder, nodding at times, then scrawled his signature across the last page. “Excellent work, Minister! I think one of the best decisions I ever made was putting you in charge of the youth ministry.”

  Eldon grinned. “Well, thank you, sir. It’s an honor for me to serve God and the congregation here at Faith Temple.”

  “We’re blessed to have you. I think very highly of you, son. I hope you know that.”

  “Thank you. I’ll try to be worthy.”

  “You know, Catt thinks highly of you too,” added Jeremiah with a twinkle in his eye.

  Eldon smiled sheepishly. “Your daughter is a very special woman.”

  “That she is, but she works too hard. I guess she gets that from me,” admitted Jeremiah. “But even I know there’s more to life than work. It’s been on my mind a lot these days.”

  Eldon sat down in a chair across from the pastor. “What has?”

  “Retiring, handing over the reins to someone a bit younger, stronger. I can’t do this forever. I’m not even sure that I want to try.”

  “But, sir, you are Faith Temple Worship Center,” asserted Eldon.

  “No, son, God is. I’m just one of His many stewards.” He noted the look of concern registered on Eldon’s face. “Don’t worry—I don’t plan on going anywhere any time soon. But I’ll be fifty-three this year. I’m not the same man I was when Ola and I came here almost thirty years ago. The bottom line is that we’ve got to be able to attract young people, particularly young families. Sometimes it takes a younger pastor to do that.”

  “I can’t imagine anyone else leading the congregation but you.”

  “Well, I have my eye on someone,” he hedged. “He’s a man of great character and integrity who loves the Lord. Plus, he’s young enough to draw in some young folks but stable enough to keep the church going. He’s also the man I’m hoping will be my son-in-law one day.”

  Eldon let out a breath. “That’s a tall order!”

  “I’m sure he can handle it.” Jeremiah reeled back in his chair and folded his hands over his protruding belly. “Tell me, Eldon, what do you think about my daughter?”

  Eldon smiled. “She’s one in a million. She’s going to make some lucky man very happy one day.”

  “I’ve watched the two of you interact with each other. You’re quite smitten with her, aren’t you?” Eldon lowered his head, embarrassed. “It’s okay,” shared Jeremiah with a chuckle. “I’m not going to drag you out behind the church and beat your brains out.”

  Eldon’s anxiety dissipated. “Catt is the kind of woman I’ve been praying for my whole life,” he disclosed. “Unfortunately, I don’t think she has a lot of room in her life for a man right now.”

  Jeremiah nodded. “Yeah, I know. She won’t leave that lab long enough to meet anybody. I hate to see her making that job and this church her whole life.”

  “All you can do is pray for her, sir.”

  “I do, but faith without works is dead. Sometimes we have help those we love see what they’re missing.” He stood up and walked over to Eldon, resting a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve watched you for a while now. I know that you’re a righteous man of God; there ain’t too many of y’all out there these days, especially not your age.”

  Eldon shook his head to decline the compliment. “Don’t go putting me on a pedestal, Pastor. I’m still human. As they say, I’m not sinless; I just try to sin less.”

  “Nobody expects you to be perfect, but the fact that you’re not too proud to admit that you have weaknesses says a lot about your character.” Jeremiah returned to his seat and held up his worn Bible. “You know, Timothy says that an overseer should be a man who is ‘above reproach, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach . . .” Jeremiah turned to I Timothy in his NIV Bible and read aloud. “He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.” He closed the book. “Now I think those are mighty fine traits to have, not only in a pastor, but also in a husband. At least the kind of husband I want for my angel. I believe you fit the bill, son.”

  Eldon was humbled. “You see all that in me, sir?”

  “If I didn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Jeremiah told him.

  “I know how much you love your daughter. It means a lot that you would trust me with her heart, not to mention taking over here once you retire.”

  “You’ve proven yourself to me and to this congregation. When the time is right and with a little more training and experience, I think you’d be the perfect person to take over the helm.”

  “It’s a huge honor and responsibility and one that I want you to know I don’t take lightly.” He leaned into Jeremiah. “I don’t talk about this with a lot of people, but I think this church is primed to be the next mega-church for folks in the South.”

  “Really?” replied Jeremiah, surprised.

  “Yes, sir. God has given me a vision for this church. I see us doing all kinds of outreach ministries, opening up a school, and making a lasting change in this city.” He rose, raising his wiry arms in gesture as he spoke. “Think of all the opportunities available through television and the Internet. There’s no telling how far we could go! I look at all these young black pastors out here filling up arenas and letting God use them to reach the masses. There’s no reason we can’t make that kind of impact too. With your guidance and wisdom, I can lead this church to heights most people never even thought possible.”

  Jeremiah took stock of Eldon’s enthusiasm. “Wow, I’ve never heard you talk like this before. I thought I was going to have to sell you on the idea of taking over the reins, but it looks like you’ve already put some thought into it, Minister.”

  “I have. This is the vision God has given me for this church. Don’t get me wrong, though. You have my absolute loyalty,” affirmed Eldon. “I hope you never question my commitment to this church and seeing it grow to its full potential. I know that there’s so much more that God wants us to do here.”

  “I don’t question your commitment to this church. I just hope your commitment to my daughter will be that strong.”

  “Oh, it is,” Eldon covered quickly, sitting back down, a little deflated. “It will be. That goes without saying.”

  “As a father, I need to hear you say it,” Jeremiah added gravely, peering at Eldon over his glasses through large, dark eyes.

  Eldon sat upright and looked Jeremiah squarely in the eyes. “You have my word. If Catt does me the honor of giving me her hand in marriage, she’ll never want for anything a day in her life. I’ll love her until the Lord calls me home and, if He lets me, I’ll
love her for all eternity in heaven.”

  Jeremiah chuckled. “All right, don’t overdo it. I believe you.”

  Eldon exhaled, relieved. “I really care for your daughter, sir. I’d do anything to make her happy.”

  “That’s what every father wants to hear, son. And remember—I said I was thinking about retiring. I haven’t booked my plane ticket to Florida just yet!”

  Eldon began stammering, attempting to apologize again for being overzealous. Jeremiah held up his hand to stop him. “Don’t apologize for being eager to do God’s work. Just make sure you’re motivated by—”

  He was interrupted by his receptionist buzzing into the office. “Pastor, the contractor is here,” she announced. “He wants to go over the plans for the choir room renovations if you have a minute.”

  “Yes, I’ll be right out,” Jeremiah spoke into the receiver and stood up. “You wait here, Minister. This’ll only take a minute. I want to finish our conversation.”

  Once the pastor departed, Eldon seized the opportunity to take stock of the office and what could soon be his new digs. The mahogany furnishings, shiny plaques, and relics from Jeremiah’s extensive travel made Eldon’s modest office pale in comparison.

  “Not that I’m complaining, of course,” he mumbled, skimming over a framed letter to Jeremiah from the mayor thanking him for the work he had done in the community. “But the Lord wouldn’t have sent me here, where I’m clearly needed, if all He wanted me to do is stay in the background.”

  Eldon moseyed over to Jeremiah’s office bathroom and studied his profile in the mirror, admiring his basketball player physique. He even looked like a pastor, or at least the way he thought a pastor should look—distinguished, debonair, and handsome. He adjusted his dark-framed glasses and smoothed his hand over his neatly trimmed goatee. There was no denying that the Lord had blessed him with good genes. While he honestly felt Jeremiah was a man of God, the graying portly pastor was not the image Faith Temple needed to project in order to attract the young, upwardly mobile crowd the church needed in order to stay viable.

  Eldon’s office tour led him to the pastor’s vacated chair. The taut but smooth leather all but invited him to sit down. He stared at the leather recliner, thinking of all the power that came along with it: power to change lives, to make things happen with the stroke of a pen, and to lead a congregation like a fearless shepherd leading his flock.

  Besides, wasn’t he just as smart as Jeremiah? Just as charismatic? Just as anointed? Plus, he had youth and energy on his side. Who better than he to lead the church? Jeremiah had given his word that it would happen sooner or later. Of course, sooner was always better than later.

  Unable to resist the urge any longer, Eldon eased down in the chair, letting the soft leather envelop his skin.

  “One day this will all be mine,” he said to himself, settling in rather comfortably. “The chair, the office, the respect—all of it!”

  He reclined back, thinking how easily he could get used to this. And all he had to do was bide his time and marry the lovely Catt Cason.

  “Yep,” he thought aloud, kicking his heels up on Jeremiah’s desk and gazing at a picture of Catt. “I could get real used to this.”

  Chapter 3

  Catt Cason alternated her right foot between the brake and the accelerator in the midst of Charlotte’s downtown morning rush. Thirty-one years of living had brought her to the conclusion that there were three things in life that were inevitable: taxes, death, and traffic. She glanced down at her clock. It was already a quarter until eight, and she was still at least twenty minutes away from work. She hated being late. The only thing that frustrated her more than being late was having to deal with other people being late, which was practically a daily occurrence at the offices of Telegenic , where she’d worked as a formulating chemist for the past five years.

  She released an exasperated sigh as she watched another minute roll by on the clock. Then she remembered that she had been praying for God to grant her more patience. She had hoped He would just make her a more patient person, not put her in situations that required her to exercise patience. She adjusted her seat belt. It had gotten snug around her stomach again, burying itself within the creases of excess skin and fat.

  “I’ve got to start back working out,” she noted, then looked in the rearview mirror. She fingered her bang a little and smoothed a wayward strand of hair from her face. Her nearly-slanted eyes seemed to shine under the strategically placed gold eye shadow, enhanced by her full fuchsia lips and cappuccino skin. Her heavy form seemed to fit her assertive and take-no-prisoners nature. Chubby or not, she was still a woman who knew when and how to get what she wanted and look fabulous while doing so.

  When she finally dashed into the building at 8:10, the lobby looked exactly as it did every morning when she arrived—empty, except the lone janitor, Buck, who politely nodded to her as he pushed his broom across the floor and was always kind enough to brew the coffee.

  Catt was always the first in her department to arrive and often the last to leave in the evening. The other staff members usually didn’t stumble in until after nine-thirty, largely because the company execs wanted to keep them happy. As long as the highly efficient chemists continued to churn out top-notch products, no one minded overlooking a late morning or an extended lunch break. Usually by the time her colleagues came dragging in, scrounging for a cup of coffee and a quick pick-me-up, Catt would have slipped in a morning prayer, a little Bible study, and have gotten through a third of the items on her to-do list.

  Catt rode the elevator down to the lab and the recently vacated office across from hers, where the former head of Research and Development worked. As always, she braced for the familiar rush of cold air beating across her face when she reached her floor. She switched on the light and made her way past the lab stations and beakers to unlock the door to her office. Then she sat down at her desk. As she was checking her e-mail, Catt was startled by a sound that she wasn’t expecting to hear: another person.

  “Who’s there?” she called sternly, skittishly gripping the small can of mace suspended from her key chain.

  “It’s just me,” answered Oni Marshall, the company’s director of Product Development.

  Catt relaxed. “You’re off to an early start!” she noted as Oni scudded past her office in a black pencil skirt and high-heeled boots. The added inches gave her nearly six-foot frame even more of a commanding presence. “Maybe we can convince these other slackers to do the same.”

  “Whoa, don’t take me off the slacker list just yet,” cautioned Oni. Oni’s tardiness was usually on account of her insatiable sexual appetite that had been temporarily quenched the night before. She pulled out a compact and started fiddling with her pixie cut hair in the mirror. “I’m only here because the new R&D starts today. I want to show him around and let him get a feel for the company before everyone gets here.”

  “What’s his name again?”

  Oni helped herself to a cup of Catt’s pot of coffee before answering the question. “His name is Jamal Ford. I still can’t believe we lured him away from Mystique Cosmetics. The work he’s done for them has been incredible. Since he started there a few years ago, their sales have nearly doubled. He’s a genius in the lab.”

  “Sounds like getting him was a major coup. Have you met him?”

  “Only over the phone,” replied Oni, taking a sip of coffee. “But from what I hear from the grapevine, brother-man is six feet and three inches of sexy!” Oni crowed with a shiver.

  “Are you sure that you didn’t hire him for the chemistry he could stir up with you?” quipped Catt.

  “Don’t worry,” Oni assured her. “The shot-callers upstairs have checked out all of his references and credentials; he comes highly recommended. But I wouldn’t mind personally checking out every single inch of Mr. Ford.” Oni grinned mischievously and dashed out.

  Catt wasn’t convinced that Oni’s rationale for hiring this Jamal person was based on lo
gic as much as it was Oni’s overactive libido. She decided to do a little research about him on her own. The last thing that they needed was another brainless head of Research and Development for Oni to seduce.

  Catt began conducting a search for Jamal Ford on the company’s database. Before she could pull anything up, she was distracted by an intoxicating whiff of cologne.

  “Today must be my lucky day,” touted a deep voice over her shoulder. Catt gasped and whirred around. “I knew you had a great voice on the phone, but I had no idea you’d be this beautiful in person.” He smiled and extended his hand. “I’m Jamal Ford, and you must be Oni Marshall.”

  Before Catt could respond with anything other than a return handshake, Jamal peeled off his suit jacket and loosened his tie. “All right, I’m ready to start when you are. Let’s get down to business, shall we?”

  “I don’t think I’m the one you’re looking for.”

  He looked puzzled. “I am in the right place, aren’t I?”

  “Right place, wrong face. I’m not Oni; I’m Catt. Oni’s upstairs in her office. She’s expecting you, though.”

  “Word travels fast around here, doesn’t it?” He leaned into her computer and spotted his name on her search engine. “So, what do you do around here other than background checks?” he joked.

  Embarrassed that she’d been caught red-handed, Catt clicked off the monitor. “I’m a chemist for the new women’s line, and up until last week, I was the lead chemist for our teen cosmetic line.”

  “Teen line, huh? Sounds fun.”

  “Fun?” she sneered. “Just because the line targets teens doesn’t mean it isn’t a lot work, Mr. Ford.”

  “I didn’t say it did. Don’t be so defensive.”

  “Don’t be so presumptuous,” she snapped.

  There was an awkward silence between them, which Jamal broke by clearing his throat. “I’m guessing you’re not a morning person, huh?” he added.