Best Laid Plans

Lies for Lunch

She parked her car and trudged through the slush left by the previous evening's snowstorm. She entered the mall on its upper level near a door close to the office complex and took the stairs up one flight. She walked down the hall and into a small office with the sign "HP Imports, Inc" at the side of the door. She sat down at the lone desk sitting in the office and started up the computer sitting on it.

She played her answering machine messages most of which were wrong numbers or prank calls, while she signed herself on to her email server. One of her phone messages was a request to meet for lunch with a "service rep" from Holiday Toys. Helen smiled at the way the request was worded, "...a chance to discuss future business. Perhaps, a more lucrative liaison between our two corporate interests..." In other words, her boss wanted to meet with her for lunch and a "nooner", and Helen was definitely in the mood after the way Ryan had yanked her chain this morning.

Josh Radford was not averse to sending Jason Williams out of town on business when it meant keeping Helen to himself. But today he was hoping to play it out differently. He knew that Ryan Dalton was no fool and would probably be checking her out. He hoped that Helen's distress at his "untoward moves" would force Ryan to become her knight-in-shining-armor and move things along between them. His company was in dire need of Dalton's designs if they were going to survive into the next century.

Helen arrived at the dimly lit Bistro that Joshua had mentioned in his phone message and allowed the waiter to show her to the table. Josh was waiting for her with a publicity kit from Holiday Toys and a small post-it note that said, "Slap me and then leave." Helen stared at the note for a moment and then did exactly what it said.

Josh watched as Ryan took the bait and followed Helen back to her office. He knew that Helen was more than capable of handling things from that point on. Ryan caught up with her just outside her office door, and offered her a tissue. "Here. Dry your eyes, you wouldn't want your boss to know that you have been crying."

Helen took the tissue and said, "My boss already knows. I work for myself; I just didn't know how I felt when we first met. I have such lousy luck with men..."

"No need to apologize or explain," Ryan interrupted, as he opened the door to her office.

Before Helen could sit down at her desk, Ryan reached for her answering machine and hit the "Play" button. The message from Joshua poured forth from the speaker. Ryan shook his head as he listened to the "invitation" to meet with his business rival. "Desperate men..." he said as he deleted that message. "I'm sorry," he said.

"For what?" she asked. "It's not your fault that he made a pass at me. The guy is just a creep, that's all."

"I guess that I should thank you, then," he smiled at Helen as he spoke.

"For what?" she asked curtly.

"For not slapping my face this morning," he said resting his hands on her desk as he bent over it.

Helen leaned forward in her chair. "I like your face," she said smiling at him and leaning closer.

Ryan reached forward, grabbed her head and kissed her hard on the lips. "I like your face too," he answered softly before letting go. "How about some lunch?"

Helen stared blankly at him; "Some what?" she answered absently, her mind still on his kiss.

"Lunch. You know, food, eats, stomach filling..."

"Anywhere, but the Bistro."

"I know the perfect place," he said as he pulled her to her feet. "The chef is a friend of mine. You'll love it, I promise!" Ryan dragged her out the door, barely giving her time to grab her keys and no time to grab her coat.

"My coat..." she started to blurt out.

"You don't need it!" he interrupted.

Ryan dragged Helen behind him back into the mall and down the escalator to the lower level. She followed him past the mall’s anchor stores to the other end where the theatres were located. Just before arriving at the cinemas, he stopped in front of the Beef Barrel.

"Well?" he asked with a childish grin on his face.

"You have got to be kidding!" she answered in astonishment. "A burger joint? You said you knew the 'chef'. This place doesn't have a chef, it has a cook."

"Michael is a 'chef', not a 'cook' and he makes the best hamburgers on the planet. But if hamburgers aren't good enough for you..."

"No, that's okay, I like hamburgers and I'm really too tired to walk anywhere else.

Ryan led her inside to a table close to the counter. "Let me order, I know what Michael's specialty is. And if you are nice, I'll even introduce you to him." He left Helen sitting at the table while he placed the order and came back with a little numbered stand-up. "It will be a couple of minutes, but they will bring the order to the table." He sat down next to Helen and leaning towards her asked, "Well, what do you think of the ambience?"

"I have to admit that this place isn't your usual burger joint. I don't see any clowns or crowns anywhere."

"This place caters to grown-ups, not kids. Michael thought that adults shouldn't have to be tripping over the little darlings every time they went out, so he designed the place to have zero kid appeal. He asked me to help him avoid anything that might be attractive to the little trolls."

"Does this mean that you don't like kids?" she asked. Helen could imagine anyone in his line of work not liking kids. But Ryan wasn't like anyone she had met before, so anything was possible.

"No, I love the little darlings. I would love to have ten or twenty of my own someday, but Michael wanted a place where you could talk openly about making babies without the little creatures overhearing the conversation."

"You mean a place where you could talk about fucking your brains out without some mother having a stroke because her little angel heard a bad word?"

"Exactly!" he answered as the food arrived.

Helen looked at the enormous hamburger placed in front of her. She examined the toppings and discovered that it resembled a salad without the onion or tomato. It consisted of a lettuce leaf topped with alfalfa sprouts, carrot curls, cucumber slices and Thousand Island dressing. Ryan placed the top bun on his burger and started to eat.

Helen looked at the potatoes that came with the burger, they were sliced red bliss potatoes, which had been sliced like thick chips and deep-fried. She tasted one and discovered that they had the distinct taste of garlic, but she couldn't figure out how. She watched Ryan as he dipped his chips into a small container of whipped sour cream and did the same. The taste was incredible.

The burger was cooked thoroughly but was still juicy. Her lunch was as near perfect as her breakfast had been. Helen expected her dinner at her parent's house to be somewhat of a letdown and told Ryan so.

"Does that mean that you'd like to meet Michael?" he asked.

"No, that's okay," she answered. "What I'd really like is to go somewhere and fuck you." Helen had no idea why she had blurted that out.

"Well, I know just the place." Ryan pulled Helen to her feet and led her back behind the counter. He took her into a back room and lay her down on a cot. Smiling down at her, he stroked her face with his hands and asked his first question. "Who are you? What is your real name?"

"Helen Parker" she blurted out.

"Who do you work for?" he asked next.

"Holiday Toys" she replied.

"And what do you do for Holiday Toys?"

"I steal designs, and sometimes people, from other toy companies"

Ryan stood up, walked across the room and kicked the wall. "Damn it, Helen, I really like you. Why?” he asked. "Tell me why the really pretty ones are so evil."

"Ask her," Michael responded.

"What were you planning on stealing from me?" Ryan asked Helen as she lay there staring up at the ceiling.

"A few moments of your time," was her surprising reply. "I like you, you excite me. All I want is to spend time with you. That and to jump your bones," she said smiling.

Ryan sat down next to her and bent down. She reached her arms around his next and kissed him. Ryan pushed her away. "Not now, later when the drug has worn off, that is if you will still talk to me." Ryan helped her to her feet and walked her back to her office. He helped her into her coat and, after picking up her purse, out to his car.

Michael met him outside in the parking lot and Ryan tossed Helen's keys to him. "It's a pale blue Metro. It's gotta be parked around here somewhere. She's going to get worse before she gets better," Ryan remarked. He sat down in the driver’s seat after pouring Helen into the backseat of his green Mercedes.

Michael followed him home through the light afternoon traffic and parked Helen's car in her space. He helped Ryan extricate the somewhat giddy Helen from the backseat and into the elevator. Michael unlocked her apartment door while Ryan kept Helen conscious and standing. He left her keys on the dining table and waited for Ryan to lay Helen down on her couch.

"I think I gave her too much," he said as he looked at the limp woman.

"Do you think?" Ryan sniped back.

"You got the truth... not that it came as any surprise!"

"Actually, the truth was a surprise. I wonder if she is even aware that she has fallen for me."

"I've gotta go, I have a restaurant to run." Michael pulled his keys out of his pocket and headed towards the door. "See you around, bro!"

"Stay out of trouble, Mikey!"

Michael closed the door behind him as he left the apartment and mused, "I wonder if you are aware that you have fallen for her!"

Ryan sat down and watched as Helen drifted off to sleep. He knew that he should leave her there but he wanted to apologize to her when she woke up. Ryan had not slept well the night before and it caught up with him while he was sitting there.