Chapter One #4
“Nothing,” Ann shrugged miserably. “He said nothing.”
“Did you tell him how you feel?”
“He has to be an idiot not to know,” Ann gulped down some of her slushy goodness. “There has been a rumor going around the company for years that we have been having an affair. He has never even kissed me. He is the perfect gentleman.”
“You say that like it is a curse,” Elle thanked the waiter for her drink and Ann ordered another before the waiter could get away. “Maybe you should slow down.”
“I wish, just once, that company didn’t have glass offices everywhere.
I wish he would have just ripped off my clothes like in one of those steamy trashy romance novels.
Fifty shades of Ramesly corporate,” Ann sighed and stirred her drink with a straw.
“I cannot believe I have wasted twenty years! I am forty. What if I have no good eggs left? What if I cannot get pregnant? What if there are complications because I have left it so long? What if I never want to have anyone is babies but Michael’s? ”
“Those are a lot of questions, and I don’t think you need to answer them all tonight,” Elle grabbed a menu. “Why don’t we order something before you manage to try to get yourself stinking drunk?”
Geanie slid into the booth. “Sorry I am late. I was very sorry to find out that you had a personal family emergency Ann.”
“What?” Ann looked at her in confusion.
“That is what Mr. Ramesly said. That you left early and would not likely be in for a few days because you had a family emergency,” Geanie tried to flag down a waiter but was unsuccessful.
“There is no family emergency.”
“You know that, and I know that, but Mr. Ramesly didn’t know that I knew you were resigning. I think he is going to try to sweet talk you into coming back,” this time Geanie managed to get the waiter is attention. “Three shots of Tennessee whiskey plus two glasses of your best lager.”
Elle and Ann stared at her.
“What? I thought we were getting smashed tonight? Ann just did the hardest thing a woman could ever do. She broke up with the guy who doesn’t even know she loves him,” Geanie gave them an innocent look.
She was one of the most professional secretaries in the firm, but once she was off the clock, Geanie was a firecracker.
Something which very few people in the firm knew.
“Although, if he does come around begging you to come back, maybe you could ask him for passionate sex in exchange for returning to your job?”
Ann rolled her eyes. “He is not going to go for that.”
“At least ask him to be your baby daddy. You can get his squirmies in a cup down at the clinic and get them to inseminate you.”
“Geanie!” Ann laughed then sobered and wiped a tear away. “I hope those shots of whiskey are not for me. I cannot stand hard liquor.”
“Don’t you worry, they are for me. My mama taught me how to drink.”
“I can see I am going to have to be the sensible one here,” Elle reached over and squeezed Ann is hand. “If there is anything Noah and I can do for you, let me know.”
“Thank you but I don’t see there is anything anyone can do,” Ann sighed. “He is simply oblivious.”
The waiter returned with a tray and Ann’s second daiquiri joined her first. Geanie lined up her assortment of glasses and they ordered appetizers.
When the waiter left Geanie volunteered, “I have a cousin. His name is Orville but don’t worry, nobody calls him that.
We call him Magnum. He looks like Tom Selleck did in Magnum P.I.
Anyhow, his girlfriend Judy left him and if you would like I could set you up. ”
“No. Please, no set ups or blind dates yet,” Ann protested. “I am not ready.”
“You are the one who said her eggs aren’t getting younger,” Geanie pointed out.
“He is a firefighter. Or if you would prefer there is Holden. He is a detective for the police force. His wife Deedee died of cancer a couple of years back. He has three children, two girls and a boy so you would have a ready-made family.”
“Can I just mourn the unrealistic dream that I had of being with Michael before we discuss new men?” asked Ann.
“Absolutely,” Elle raised her drink. “To Ann and starting over.”
They all raised their glasses to that.
By the end of the evening, Elle made sure that Geanie and Ann got home safely. As Elle walked the very drunk Ann through her apartment to bed, Ann lamented mournfully, “Do you know there is a rumor going around the office that we are having an affair? It has been going around for years!”
“Noah mentioned something about it. So did you, earlier at the bar. Here we are. Sit down,” Elle pulled off Ann is shoes and tipped her back into bed. “You should get some sleep.”
“He has never even kissed me,” Ann groaned.
Ann also groaned in the morning when daylight blinded her. Elle had left two pain pills and a bottle of water on the nightstand. Ann rummaged on the floor for her purse and pulled out her phone.
There were no messages from Michael.
She pressed a pillow over her head to drown out the light. Her head hurt.