It was definitely a typical Monday morning!
Winifred Sommers just barely managed to catch herself before she sprawled across the New York City pavement. Freddie, as she preferred to be called, had been certain that the door to the "dinner only" restaurant, adjacent to the classy motel, would be locked. She hoped to jiggle the door enough to catch the attention of some early hour employee. After all, it was only 10:00 in the morning. So she really put her weight into pulling on the door - and she had plenty of weight to use.
But the door wasn't locked and it opened immediately when she pulled on it. The resulting backlash of force nearly knocked Freddie down. The shock caused her to yell out loud and now several people were staring at her like she was crazy as they quickly walked past her on the street. With as much dignity as she could muster, Freddie reached for the door again. This time she managed to get inside without mishap - well, almost.
Freddie's eyes had barely adjusted to the light when she saw a huge stack of boxes flying through the air straight for her. Freddie only had time to reach up and cover herself with her hand before the stack came tumbling down around her.
When she heard the last box land, Freddie realized that she had shut her eyes in anticipation of being hit by the boxes. She heard a deep, masculine voice said, "Damn, damn, damn!" Freddie chanced opening her eyes and peered into the semi-darkness. Right in front of her, separated by a sea of boxes, stood one of the best looking delivery men she had ever seen. Freddie grimaced as she realized that her entry had probably been what had distracted him and caused him to trip. She smiled her best apologetic smile and bent to pick up the box closest to her.
"What do you think you are doing?" the man asked her irately.
Freddie rolled her eyes and then looked up at him. "Well, unless you think that you have these boxes so well trained that they will jump back into your arms, it looks like you could use some help carrying them. If you hadn't been trying to carry them all in one load, you wouldn't have spilled them all!"
The man's face contorted with annoyed shock as he stood looking down at the woman bent over picking up boxes. "If I hadn't . . . why, you . . . oh, forget it!" he bellowed.
Freddie just smiled sweetly up at him. "Maybe you would like to start picking up a few yourself? Then you can show me where you were trying to go. With my help, you might even make it there this time!"
Although he continued to snarl at her, he did begin picking up the boxes closest to him. They worked in silence until they had all of the boxes in their arms, then, without a word, the delivery guy started across the room toward a storage closet.
As she followed him, Freddie watched the man in front of her. He was tall, at least 6'3". And he filled out his height nicely. He certainly wasn't a lightweight. His dark hair and dark eyes seemed to glow in the soft light of the restaurant. His jeans hugged his backside with well worn loving care. Freddie noticed his cowboy boots and almost laughed out loud - yeah, he looked like he would be more at home on a horse than in a five star dining establishment. But with his looks, he could also easily be on the cover of a magazine.
Freddie sighed, knowing that this man wasn't very amused by her presence, let alone interested in her attraction. "And just for your information," he suddenly said, as though they had been having an ongoing conversation, "I wasn't trying to carry all of the boxes in one load. This happens to be my fifth and final trip!"
Freddie tried not to laugh at his exasperated tone. He was obviously sick and tired of carrying boxes and she hadn't made things any easier for him. She decided not to reply to his comment. She just strengthened her resolve to help him get the boxes put away.
When they entered the storeroom, the man went straight over to a set of shelves on the opposite wall. He dropped the boxes he was carrying in front of the wall unit and then began placing them in the appropriately marked spots. Freddie noticed that her boxes seemed to contain paper towels, so she moved over to put them on the correct shelves.
After they had worked together in silence for a few minutes, the man looked over at Freddie. "Look, I'm sorry about being so snappy. I'm just hot and tired. I don't mean to be a pain. What are you doing here, anyway? The restaurant doesn't open until 5:00." Freddie smiled over at the man. Even with the lines of exhaustion creasing his face, he was incredibly handsome.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I was hoping to get a job. I've just come into town and I thought I might stick around awhile if I could get some work. Of course, I didn't plan on making work for myself by causing you to drop all of these supplies. That was just an added bonus!" she answered teasingly. The man looked slightly taken aback, almost as though she had caused him to be wary of her.
"So what made you choose this place?" he asked.
Freddie gave a small laugh and grinned impishly, "Can you keep a secret?" The man looked at her like she was crazy. But she continued anyway, "Over at the motel where I'm staying, when I was checking in, there were two ladies over in the corner - you know the type - really dressed to the nines and full of themselves. They were discussing current and future male conquests. They mentioned several names that I've heard, like in the news and on TV, as having been their most recent dates. But then both of them started to really get hot and bothered when they began talking about this restaurant and motel. Apparently the owner of this place is just, well, to quote them, "to die for!" And neither one of them seemed to have been able to catch his eye. So, I figured that, being a good, red blooded American girl, I'd come check him out. Couldn't hurt, maybe I'd get a job and I'd get to see a real live hunk as well - at least according to my informants!"
The man rolled his eyes, "So do you plan on trying to 'catch' him, too?"
This time, Freddie laughed outright. "Yeah, right! That's the kind of man I would go for! Look at me. Do I look like the kind of woman who would turn that kind of man's head? No way."
The man just kept staring at Freddie. Although it wasn't in her nature to be so comfortable and open with a stranger, she decided to continue. "I'm just me, you know," she said. "I'm built like a Mack truck and only 'cute' on the best of days. Don't get me wrong - I will enjoy seeing Mr. Owner, but, honestly, that's not what I'm looking for in life. I would hate to date somebody like that. It would really get to me after awhile - all those women fawning all over him, them wondering what he sees in me and how I managed to snag him. I'm not up to that kind of critic."
The delivery man continued to stack up his boxes as he looked at her with a somewhat speculative look in his eyes. The silence became uncomfortable to Freddie, so she said, "So, do you know the owner?"
The man nodded his head, "Yeah, I've met him."
"Well???" Freddie said.
