There are rules in life that are undeniably black and white, and many of these are enshrined in the laws of society. Murder is bad, and saving a life is good. Adultery is bad, and faithfulness is good. Stealing is bad, and giving is good. Lies are bad, the truth is good. The list goes on.
While some would try to add filters, caveats, or exceptions to a lot of black and white truths to make them more "gray", Blair Andrews was not one of these people. He saw black and white truths as gospel and expected others to do the same.
Blair was more tolerant of the true gray areas in life. Why should gambling by playing the lottery be bad, but gambling by investing in the stock market okay? Why should any consumption of alcohol be bad just because some people become addicted? Why is it wrong to celebrate Christmas or Easter with idols associated with them such as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny?
No, Blair saw the gray areas in life as choices of conscience; that inner feeling or voice viewed as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior. He endeavored to treat people as they wanted to be treated rather than how he might want to be treated himself. This mitigated any instincts to judge others and kept his moral compass pointing in a direction that he could accept.
The betrayal that he had encountered with the announcement from his fiancée and his supposed best friend tested Blair's tolerance more than anything he had ever anticipated. They had discovered that they were true soulmates and were moving to Florida together.
His friend, Craig, had introduced Blair to the new girl at his work, Scarlet. She had been hired at Disneyland to play the character of Snow White to Craig's Prince Charming. Since Craig had been in an exclusive relationship at that time with another girl, he thought that Blair and Scarlet should try each other out. Eighteen months later, and two weeks before their scheduled wedding, Blair was finally told that the two "characters" had been secretly falling in love with each other. Craig was being offered a supervisor position in Orlando, and Scarlet felt compelled to accompany him.
Sitting in the living room of the house that he shared with his older sister, Blair had listened calmly to the confession of the two before saying, "Now it's my turn to speak." Once he saw that he had their attention, he continued. "First, the heartbreak I face is a minor inconvenience compared to the betrayal from both of you."
Craig started to speak but Blair cut him off with a glare, "I'll get to you in a minute." To Scarlet, he said, "Your betrayal is the worst. You allowed this. Soulmates don't just 'happen'. Two people invest the time and effort to learn about each other, to share intimacies, experiences, and private moments. Behaviors and thoughts that should have been devoted to our relationship were given freely by you to another. Times that you should have been available for me were instead shared with someone else. You can claim all day long that you never intended for this to happen, but that is exactly what your actions did intend, and they were successful. Now you need to convince Craig that what you did to me won't also happen to him. After all, once a cheater always a cheater, as the saying goes."
Scarlet quietly sat with tears falling from her eyes as she held Craig's hand. She had no response to Blair's comments because, in her heart, she knew that he was right. She had consciously put time and effort into getting to know Craig outside of their jobs. The same physical characteristics that made him perfect to play the role of Prince Charming at Disneyland made him someone that she enjoyed being seen with. The more she got to know him, the more she wanted to know and the more she wanted to share with him about herself, her hopes, and her dreams. Things that she should have been sharing only with Blair.
She listened as Blair then began to address Craig, "If you had been some stranger that was unaware of mine and Scarlet's relationship, that would be one thing, but you knew. Real men don't do what you have done. She might be too enthralled with her soulmate right now to notice, but someday in the future, it will become very clear to her that even though you play a character, you possess none of your own. Your reptilian morals will begin to shine through in your behavior and actions, becoming more and more obvious to Scarlet and everyone else."
Blair paused for a second to watch the two soulmates studying each other before continuing, "I don't know. Maybe you will both find Jesus and through him find redemption enough to begin living a more principled life. I'll give you an example of that life by forgiving you both and wishing you a happy life together."
He stood and walked to the front door. He opened it for them and waited silently as his guests took their leave from his house and his life.
[Two years later...]
"You went to Cal Poly?"
Riley looked at the coffee mug in her hand before glancing at the opening of her cubicle to see who had asked the question. Holding the cup so that the logo was more evident, she said, "Most people take me as a Denver Broncos fan when they see this."
The tall man smiled down at Riley and said, "I don't know how anyone could confuse Billy Bronco with that sad horse head used by Denver on their helmets. They look nothing alike. Hi, I'm Blair Andrews and you must be Riley Haberman."
"Yes, I am," Riley said as she stood to shake Blair's outstretched hand. "How are you so familiar with Cal Poly's mascot? Did you go there?"
Rolling an extra chair into Riley's cubicle, Blair said, "I was a Mustang. I graduated three years ago."
Riley sat down and scooted her chair back to allow more room for Blair to fit his chair into her tight cubicle. His mention of having been a Mustang made them almost kindred alumni since they both had graduated from the California Polytechnic University system; him from the San Luis Obispo campus and her from the Pomona campus.
"I graduated in June," Riley informed him. She then continued to get things arranged on her desk as Blair opened up his laptop and arranged it on his thighs. He spent a few minutes reviewing the information on his new team member as she continued to arrange things.
"Okay," Blair finally said, "I haven't sat through a new employee orientation for over a year, so why don't we start by having you tell me what they covered with you so I can fill in the appropriate blanks."
"Can I ask who you are?"
Blair's eyes darted up from his computer screen to meet Riley's. He said, "Well, there's a blank that I certainly need to fill in. I lead the program management team that you are joining. I'll need to have a chat with HR about not letting employees know who they report to during their orientation."
Riley's face reddened as her embarrassment grew. She had to search for a voice to explain, "No, I was told your name but it didn't register when you introduced yourself." She stared at her feet as she said, "I was expecting to meet a woman."
Blair chuckled softly and said, "That is not an unusual occurrence when all you do is hear the name spoken rather than see how it is spelled. While Blair a gender-neutral name regardless of how it is spelled, without the 'e' such as my spelling is traditionally considered the masculine version and ending with the 'e' as the feminine spelling."
Riley looked back up and saw a smile on Blair's face, which eased her concerns over her gaff considerably. She didn't make a habit of checking guys out; she was a married woman after all, but she figured that she should study the person that she reported to so that she could become familiar with his mannerisms, expressions, and body language. He didn't appear to be much older than her, but that could be attributed to his hairstyle and his casual clothing. His blonde wavy hair was worn longer than most men that Riley knew, falling over the collar of his XES logoed polo shirt and resting on his shoulders. The partition around her cubicle was six feet tall, and Blair had towered over the top of that by at least three inches when he had first introduced himself. Riley didn't typically assess a man's attractiveness, but she would have certainly rated her new boss as pleasant on the eyes.
He asked, "What else did you cover in your orientation? Did they mention anything about business travel?"
