Sitting in my chair, staring at the screens of my computer, I was fighting that sleepy feeling as I tested a fail over sequence for one of our servers. We were in that period of the year where a lot of folks went on vacation, as a result there were no interesting projects and I was simply going through the motions, preferring to be on some desert island rather than were I was.
My name is Garret and simply said, I am an older fella, fighting the feeling that I was over the hill, fast approaching my 50th year of existence...and a little depressed about it. It was not like I was out of shape as I worked out like a fiend, nor was my hair turning grey (short cropped as it was), but I could not quite get away from the feeling of knowing my best years were probably behind me. Sigh.
I have a nice family, and a steady job that I enjoyed, but variety had somewhat left the building as my wife was rather...disinterested. Sex had become almost non-existent over the last decade, kids having killed the fire that used to burn very bright, and when it did happen it was the same position, same length of time, and identical foreplay. Any attempts at spicing things up had met with my sleeping downstairs, so I simply gave up even trying. I almost dreaded it at times, preferring to use my hand and imagination to take me to a blissful conclusion.
I had even used recreational sports like softball and basketball to fill my evenings, staying out late, to avoid the obligation as she seemed to feel it was these days. I missed the coed softball teams most of all, as there were many fine looking fillies out there, seeming to wear less and less as the years rolled by. My bad knees and other sore joints had recently stolen that pleasure away from me, the price too high on my body to continue, which only piled on to my current doom and gloom mood.
The phone buzzed at me, abruptly jerking me out of my cup half empty moment, with a call from the reception area. Huh? Did I have a visitor? Probably just a sale person looking to get a meeting with anyone in the IT department, wonder if it was too late to hide? I answered the phone anyway.
"This is Garret"
"There is someone here to see you sweetie!" our overly cheerful receptionist and general busy body informed me. Candice was sweet, but with her around, there were no secrets. She was THE information pipeline here at work, gossip extraordinaire.
"Who did they say they were if I might ask?" I inquired as nicely as I could.
"She did not say who she was, just that she would like to speak with you if at all possible. She looks to be around your daughters age." She said in a disapproving tone.
What did I do to deserve that attitude? And since when did I have young women visiting me at work. Huh.
I stood, made sure everything was tucked in, and prepared to head to the reception area. I wondered if I would have to suck my stomach in...that was kinda juvenile of me to even think of. Old habits die hard.
Okay, off I go...
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Upon entering the reception area I didn't see anyone waiting for me. I looked questioningly at Candice, who simply pointed a finger out the front doors towards a woman sitting with her back turned towards are building. All I could see was long black hair and what looked like colorful hospital scrubs.
"Did she say who she was or what she wanted?"
"No, she seemed very antsy and nervous, like she would up and bolt at any moment. She's a pretty young thing, but that skittishness is not an attractive trait in my opinion"
"Okay then, guess I will head out and see what she wants?" That question was more for myself as I wondered who this woman was. Is this a paternity suite in the making and this is a long lost daughter? Maybe the government finally needed my skills as a computer nerd in some top secret assignment to save the world! Ya, right.
I pushed the door open and walked towards her, scuffing my feet a couple of times so she could hear me coming.
"Uh...hi?" Wow I am smooth, so smooth.
As she turned, the first thing to strike me were her eyes, a green so startlingly brilliant it was hard to imagine they were real. They seemed to peer right through you and into your own deepest, most personal thoughts...whoa, I hope not or I am gonna be real embarrassed. They were framed in a beautiful dark skinned face surrounded by black, gently curled hair that spilled over her shoulders. She was currently chewing on a strand nervously as she turned towards me. I was looking at a modern day gypsy, straight out of the hunchback of Notre Dame, or some caravan in Romania, a fortuneteller's hot daughter.
And wow, even with scrubs on, she was mouth wateringly gorgeous. It was then that she smiled, which lit up her face as she recognized me.
"Garret, been a long time, still playing ball?" She looked at me questioningly.
Holy crap, I knew this Goddess?!? "Anna? I did not recognize you with your hair down like that, it was always in a braid"
"Ya, that is how I wear it normally, especially at work because it gets in the way, but I let it down as soon as I leave."
"Well, what brings you by? Looking for a tour of the place? Or are you looking for a player for a tourney? I might be able to brush some of the rust off, but I have to warn you, I am semi retired"
Her face fell at that point, returning to the earlier look of nervousness, eyes glistening with the beginnings of tears.
"I need your help. Is there some place we could go to talk in private?" she asked, voice quivering slightly. Whatever it was was really chewing her up inside.
I glanced at my watch. It was late in the day, another couple of hours and I would be heading home anyway.
"Give me a few minutes" I said as I turned to head back inside. "You want to come in with me?"
"No, that's okay, I'll wait here."
I hurried back into the office, ignoring Candice's questioning, and non approving, look as I turned the corner towards my work space. I let the other guys know I was leaving early, but would check back in later. I told them I had a "code blue", which means I needed to go help someone with a computer issue that did not work here. Management did not approve of that kind of thing, nor did I want my wife to know I was spending time with a pretty lady, so this was a bro-code alert to cover all my bases.
I closed everything down, texted my wife that I had a work issue to deal with and that I would be home late, then grabbed my things and headed out the back entrance. I caught Anna's attention so that she would come around and meet me...less prying eyes to see us as well. Once she got over there, I recommended a small Italian place in town a few miles away. The place had small booths with old fashioned wood wings that provided a nice amount of privacy, plus with all the white noise in the place, . It was out of the way in a darker, seedier side of town that nobody I knew frequented. I liked to go there for a drink so I could read and be alone from time to time.
She thought that was an excellent suggestion, and that she would follow me there. I was careful on the drive over that I did not lose her in traffic, so it took us a bit to get there. Once we arrived, I requested a booth in the back from an older waitress that raised her eyebrow at me after checking us out, but otherwise made no other comment. Once we were safely ensconced in the booth, which was quite private, Anna seemed to relax a bit. Her smile, somewhat shy, now had returned, though she still looked on the verge of tears. It was hard for me to see her like this, my previous memories of her were very different...
...Anna had joined the coed softball team I played for about 4 years previously, where I was nicknamed "Dad"...little bastards. Anyway, she was a looker, not burly or beefy like a lot of female softball players are, but definitely curvy. She was almost comic book curvy...almost. She was a great athlete, very aggressive and spirited, and of course very fun to watch for a lecher like me. Even then she had had a gypsy wildness quality to her when she played and I am sure I was not the only one distracted by her.
One game in particular, she showed up just before game time and was hurrying to get ready. I had already warmed up, so was sitting on the bench chatting with team members, just shooting the breeze. I glanced over to my left and saw her standing there. She had pulled her shorts up, showing a considerable amount of shapely thigh, then bent over at the waist to begin applying mosquito lotion to her legs. I was frozen, staring at her hands as she applied the lotion to her legs, watching as her hands moved up to the bottom of her ass on one leg, before bending over again to apply lotion to the leg closest to me. About half way up on the second leg, her hands stopped, so I looked up at her face and realized that she was staring at me. Busted. She grinned at me with a wry little smile, winked, then finished applying the lotion. I proceeded to pick up my jaw and wipe the drool off of my face. It took me a year to get that image out of my head, if I ever really had.
Okay, back to reality.
"Garret, I got your number from our coach. I remembered that you were into the computer thing and I hope you can, or will, help me." She was wringing her hands and not quite meeting my eyes. "I am being blackmailed" She blurted.
"What?!? Seriously?"
"Yes, started a month back with an anonymous email to me and the guy I was sorta seeing at the time. They threatened to release some pictures if we did not meet their demands"
"So I take it these pictures are sensitive in nature?"
"Ya, particularly because he is a married man and a doctor where I work" she said miserably.
Okay, that made this pretty clear for me. Married guy, huh.
