The snowfall outside his office window reminded Nate that he needed to make sure he got around to putting chains on his tires before the ice got bad this winter. He had forgotten the previous year and ended up running his car off the road and right into a ditch on his way to work. A repeat of that fiasco was not what he was looking for any time soon.
It was nice and warm inside the building today, maybe a little too warm. The maintenance people never could seem to get the climate controls balanced right always freezing people out in the summer, and making it like a tropical island in the winter. Nate Foster had joined the consulting firm of Bryant and Collins five years earlier right out of college. The office was made up of an interesting mix of old veterans and hungry, young workers ready to make their mark. Nate considered himself to be top dog in that latter group and he had the success stories to prove it. The word around the water cooler was that he would soon be seeing his name on the door of an office on the executive floor if he kept up his current streak.
The room around him was a typical cube farm with partitioned office spaces stretching off into the distance. Occasionally, a head would pop up over the top of one of the fake low walls like a prairie dog popping out of its hole. The image made Nate chuckle.
"What's so funny?"
Nate glanced to his left and tried not to grimace when his eyes fell on the rather rotund form of Nancy Balmgarner. Nancy was middle-aged, recently divorced, and more or less the self-appointed office organizer for parties be they employee birthdays, or of the holiday variety. She also had a horrible crush on Nate, and he tried to keep his distance from her most of the time. It might have been unfair to blame Nancy for her interest even if she was twenty-years Nate's senior. He was a very handsome man with curly, dark hair that surrounded a face a male model would have envied. His deep blue eyes flashed with a roguish charm beneath a pair of thick eyebrows with a smile that could light up a room as it pulled back from rows of perfectly straight, white teeth.
"Nothing, just musing about the day. What can I do for you, Nancy?"
She shuffled nervously closer, and waves of strong perfume assaulted Nate's nostrils.
"Jesus, Nancy. Did you use the whole bottle?" he thought absently.
"I'm sure you know I am in charge of this years office Christmas party."
"I can't imagine a more qualified person to lead us in the quest for holiday cheer," replied Nate making Nancy beam with delight.
"Well, I do my best..." she said while her pale skin darkened a deep pink.
"Anyway, Nate, I am having everyone draw names for the secret Santa present exchange."
Nancy shoved a small, brown box in Nate's face with tiny slips of white paper folded up and lining the bottom.
"Oh...I see. Sure." he replied uncertainly. He had never been a big fan of office Christmas parties, and the whole secret Santa thing seemed kind of silly, but he didn't want to look as if he didn't care about his fellow employee's that wouldn't do for a prospective executive on his way up.
Nate fished in the box withdrawing a single slip of paper, and carefully unfolding it as Nancy looked on.
"Kelly Markham..." he said out loud.
The name meant nothing to him at first which was a surprise since he prided himself on knowing just about everyone at the company especially all of the female someones. He had to think hard for a moment before a vague image of a tiny platinum blond appeared in his head.
"Markham...Markham," he repeated to himself as if saying the name would fill in the missing details of the image.
"Kelly Markham. The new girl who just joined us in accounting. She works for Jack Ross," supplied Nancy helpfully.
That did it. All of a sudden, a clear picture popped into Nate's head. He had met Kelly Markham once, but he could be forgiven for not remembering since she hadn't said much at the time and tried to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. It had been outside Jack Ross's office four months earlier when Nate had stopped by to talk about a potential new client and wanted to get a background check done. Jack had called Kelly over to explain what he needed. She was just a slip of a girl, maybe five-foot-three-inches tall, falling well below Nate's six-foot frame.
When she did glance up briefly while shaking his hand, Nate recalled a pair of brilliant green eyes in an attractive face with soft, full pink lips painted a dusty rose color. They had talked about the client. He now recalled that she had a hushed voice, so quiet he had strained to hear her at the time. Jack had dismissed her to her task, and Nate did remember thinking that she had a very nice rear end in her plain black skirt as she walked away.
"I guess I should push on. I have lots of folks to pair up," said Nancy pulling Nate out of his reverie.
"Yeah, right...Good luck with that..." he said only half paying attention.
Nancy hesitated a moment but seeing she had lost his attention she quickly exited the small office while Nate continued to stare at the paper in his hand pinching his bottom lip in thought. One of the things he hated about these kinds of gift exchanges was the fact that if you didn't know the person it could be darn challenging to pick the right gift. Certainly, he could go out and get some generic gift, but his family had raised him to be thoughtful in his choices.
The desk chair creaked a bit as he rose and walked out into the main office area. A few heads turned following his path especially a pair of nice looking young ladies at the elevator bank who admired Nate's well-chiseled athletic body as he walked passed. He made eye contact with one, a tall brunette with a very substantial chest, and she smiled in return. There was a moment when he considered stopping to chat. The number of women that Nate had dated in the office was considerable though he was always careful to keep it low-key. When the time came for him to ascend to the executive floor, he didn't want a reputation for being a flirt to color peoples assessment of his abilities.
The women passed behind him, and Nate put his head down deciding to focus on the task at hand. The far side of the building was identical to his with a large cube farm and high wall offices down the far side facing the windows. The sounds of people typing away on computers, or talking on their phones wafted out to meet him. He dodged around a short, chubby young employee carrying a stack of folders then spied his destination in a far corner.
Kelly Markham was pretty much as he remembered. She had cut her hair a bit shorter than it had been several months back, but that only served to accentuate her gorgeous features. He hovered near the edge of her desk, but she seemed to take no notice of him still staring intently at her computer. Nate cleared his throat putting on his best-winning smile.
"Hey! It's Kelly, right? I don't know if you remember me, Nate Foster, you did a background check on a client for me a few months back."
Kelly's head pivoted away from her monitor, and she turned a cool gaze on Nate looking him up and down, but without the apparent interest that the women at the elevators had shown. It was kind of intimidating, and Nate found himself shifting nervously on his feet while he waited for her to speak.
"I remember you, Mr. Foster. Did you need something from me?"
"Yeah...Well...I was just wondering if you were free for lunch today?"
"Why?"
The abruptness of her answering question took him off guard. Nate was used to being the aggressor in these situations, but Kelly had turned things around. He fumbled for an answer wondering why he had to justify asking a pretty girl out to lunch.
"I...Um...Just thought we might get to know each other a little better. Don't you enjoy a good lunch? I know this Indian place that..."
"Did you run out of girls in the secretarial pool?"
Nate froze again thinking his dating activities had attracted more attention than he thought.
"Ha! That's funny...I don't know what you've heard about me, but I'm just trying to..."
"I'm not interested Mr. Foster so unless you have some business-related reason for standing at my desk I really need to get back to work."
Kelly turned back to her computer screen taking no more notice of Nate who stood awkwardly for a moment before he turned away.
"Well...First time for everything I guess," thought Nate to himself. He rarely had faced rejection in his life at least not from women, and he wasn't sure how to process it. Glancing briefly back at Kelly, he thought about her standoffish attitude wondering if she was like this all the time. He ended up veering into the office of a colleague of his, Max Short, who worked in the same department as Kelly.
"Max! How are things my friend?" he asked flopping into one of Max's guest chairs.
"Not bad, Nate. What's wrong run out of women on your side of the building?"
