The conference room emptied in under a minute. I was a little apprehensive about a return trip to the Queens'. I checked my purse to see if I had taken my Valium this morning. I found a dozen unopened double packs. I knew I had taken a complete two pill pack yesterday after my doctor's visit. And I remember the results. So with no open pack, I must not have taken one this morning. I opened a fresh pack and washed a tablet down with a big swig of bottled water. I was determined to rehydrate after my excesses of yesterday.
I glanced at my desktop picture of Dave and me at our first anniversary celebration last December seventh. We wanted a day that Dave could remember and one that didn't interfere with a football Saturday. I wore an emerald green cocktail dress that was just short enough, just low enough and just tight enough to show my assets. The dress brought out the color of my eyes and contrasted nicely with my light blonde hair which nearly matched my creamy complexion. I wore my hair up and heals just high enough to thrust my pelvis forward. This outfit and hairdo brought my five foot ten inch height almost even with the top of Dave's head.
I opened the top center drawer of my desk to take a look at our honeymoon pictures from Key West. We had let our hair down in more ways than one. My long blonde hair fell over my shoulders and blended with the surrounding skin. I wore a very brief bikini and a thin gauze sarong blurred my body. The only way the picture could have been better was if had been taken mid summer when my hair was lighter and my tan was darker. As we stood there barefooted Dave was clearly several inches taller than I. I slipped the pictures back into their special space, that's when I noticed the half pack of Valium.
Here I was in my pinstriped business suit double dosed on Valium. This was not the way I wanted to start the day. That's when Randy walked in. He informed me that I was riding with him to the Queens'. He was the boss so a simple "Yes sir' was the proper reply.
I was somewhat apprehensive about our outing because Randy and I had a history. I texted Dave and told him l was on the way to the Queens' with Randy to celebrate our office administrative assistants day. He replied, "OK?"
There was little conversation during our drive to the Queens' and my mind drifted back to when I first came to town four years ago. I was a newly divorced twenty-two year old looking for a new life. I met Randy at a job fair, he practically filled out my application for me. In a matter of weeks, just after Memorial Day, I was a federal employee with a security clearance making more money than I could imagine. I wasn't getting rich but I was making as much as the other secretaries who had been there several years. I also had the benefit of knowing someone in the office, Randy was my new boss's boss.
I soon realized that every job finder charged a fee. It started with the usual pleasantries, escalating to casual touching, then invitations to lunch and more. The first real payment was about to come due. On Friday the thirtieth of June Randy and I were lunching at Queens'. Until this day lunch had only been lunch. Sure there had been lots of double entendres but no real follow through. Today was different. We had just finished our meals and Randy had paid the waitress.
He looked me in the eyes and said, "You know that I sent Dot and the kids to the beach for the Forth. Do you think that we could spend a little time together?"
I arrived back in the present about the time we arrived at the Queens'. It was well into lunch hour and most of the parking was taken. We ended up parking in the area of the motel rooms. Randy helped me from the car, as we walked to the restaurant it was clear that in my heals I was taller than Randy.
We entered the restaurant and joined the rest of the office in a private room. I was ill at ease being seated beside Randy at the head table, but there were the only two seats left.
The waiter asked "What do you want to drink?"
Randy replied, "She will have a Absinthe Frappe and I will have a rye."
I corrected him, "I will have a white wine and a water."
I wondered, "Who had talked to whom and what were they told?"