"Don't you have a date to get ready for?"
"That's cruel. I was trying to help."
"Help how? By telling me I made a colossal mistake. Gee, thanks. I wasn't aware of that. But my attorney sure was."
"If you don't learn from the past you'll be doomed to repeat it," Sally said ominously.
"I'll keep that in mind. So where are you meeting him?"
"At Cattie's downtown."
"You hate Cattie's."
"He picked it."
"Oh." Harry studied the remarks he'd just written and saw that instead of post he'd written the word past, instead of level, he'd written the word lover. There were times like this he really hated Sally. He scratched out the words and tried again.
"What do you think I should wear?"
"Now I know you're in the wrong office."
She smiled. Harry's version of fashion was a red tie with his white shirt and gray slacks instead of blue. "Sorry. I'm nervous. What if this is it? What if he is the guy? What if, in the next three hours, my life is about to change forever?"
Harry grunted, deciding not to encourage Sally's overly dramatic ramblings, and tried once more to focus on his work.
“Do you have any idea how long it has been since I've been kissed?”
He slammed the pen and paper down on his desk and glared at her. “Do you mind? I'm trying to work here. Work. You know that thing you're supposed to do for me between the hours of eight and five.” He lifted his wrist. “Oh look. It's only four. Huh. That's strange.”
Grumbling under her breath about him being an ogre, she got out of her chair. “Fine. I'll go back to work. But I just thought you might like to wish me luck on what may prove to be the most important night of my life.”
Deliberately, he didn't answer her. He watched her face fall a little in disappointment and then felt like a heel.
“Good luck,” he finally said reluctantly. “I guess.”
She smiled again and flashed her white teeth at him. “I don't suppose you'll let me leave early so I can properly prep?”
“Sure. Right after you catch that pig that's been flying around outside my window. It's really starting to get annoying.”
She stuck her tongue out at him as was her custom and departed with a huff that he knew was simply for effect. Sally liked to make entrances, and she liked to make exits. It was her thing.
He wondered what Alex would think the first time he saw her. Would he like the strawberry blonde color of her hair? And the dimples in her cheeks that made her seem more like twelve instead of thirty-one?
Special. It had been his first thought when she'd sat down across from him on the other side of his banged up metal desk in the old office. The tiny two room office space where he'd started Montrose Consulting had been just big enough for him and the receptionist when he decided he needed more help. Sally was his first and last interview.
He'd known from the very first she would be a perfect fit for him. Professionally speaking. Of course she was very energetic, a little dramatic, and had a tendency to butt her nose in where it didn't belong. But she was also highly organized, very intelligent and intuitive, and he discovered that when she did butt her nose in she was usually right.
She'd once hinted to him that marrying Ellen was a mistake. Deep down he'd known she was right. But he'd cared for Ellen. He'd been with her so long he couldn't imagine his life without her. So he thought… what the hell.
What the hell, as he soon discovered, was not a legitimate reason for getting married.
So Sally was going on a date. It was probably a good thing. Maybe they were getting a little too chummy. Late nights. Some weekends. They were eating almost all of their meals together.
That kind of working environment could lead to confusion. A blurring of the lines that existed between employer and employee. Not that that had ever been a problem for them. Sure, she'd thrown him a surprise party. Yes, he'd taken her car in to have the oil changed because she didn't like the smell of the car place. But that didn't mean there was anything going on between them.
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Hadn't she proved that by signing up for an eDate?
Slowly, surreptitiously, he scanned his office assuring himself that he was in fact alone. Then he moved toward his computer, clicked his mouse a few times, and typed in a search.
No reason why two people couldn't play this game, he decided. If Sally could get a date then so could he. The site in question popped up on his monitor with the picture of a very attractive woman. He clicked on the picture to read her profile.
Never been married, enjoyed tennis, working out, and long walks.
What was it with long walks, Harry wondered? Why did people think that was some kind of turn on? He hated long walks. If a walk was long, he drove instead. Instantly, he ruled out the woman in the picture.
He went to click on another picture when the site asked him for his credit card number.
The fact that he was contemplating giving it to them – that's when he knew he was in serious trouble.
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My March Release, Calculated Risk!
Calculated Risk
March 2005
Silhouette Bombshell™
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