I was tired. It was late, near midnight. It had been a long day of meetings and conference calls and more meetings. Dinner was even more business. Business travel was never fun and all it ever did was leave me worn out and often the only reward was a cold and a list of "honey-do's" once I came back home. I sighed and leaned my head against the cold marble wall between the two elevator banks of my hotel, sighing, waiting for the elevator to ding it's arrival. At least it was a nice hotel, the company sparing just a little expense to make sure it's executives had appropriate accommodations during trips. I closed my eyes and almost let my mind wander.
Then I heard a loud shout, something like the word asshole, then a crash and a clattering across the floor. I turned my head slightly to the right, towards the deserted lobby of the hotel and watched a small silver cell phone skitter across the floor to end up against my foot. I pulled my head from the wall and glanced around. Where the hell had it come from? I bent down and retrieved the phone and jiggled it in my hand. It started to ring, making me jump about three feet. The elevator dinged it's arrival. I glanced back at the open doors then back towards the lobby, the phone ringing in my hand. "Hello?" I called out, taking a step towards the lobby, then back to the elevator, then back at the lobby. I contemplated dropping the phone into the bush near the elevator bank and heading for my room. Whoever owned had thrown it so they must not care about the call right? But my conscience got the better of me. I adjusted my attaché case and suit jacket in my other hand and walked to the lobby, my elevator car closing it's doors and leaving me.
I went into the lobby and heard a small sniffle. I looked around and thought I saw someone in the far corner, their back to me. Then I realized it was a woman. The phone kept ringing in my hand. Christ, did this thing have voice mail? I walked closer to the slumped figure. "Excuse me? Miss? I have your cell phone and it's ringing. Would you.."
"Want it back?" She snapped, her back still to me. "Hell no. I know who's calling and he can go to hell for all I care the cheating, lying bastard!"
Great. What had I got myself in the middle of. Should have left the damn phone and went to my room. I stared at the small silver phone, ringing in my hand and thought about answering it. A small voice said drop it and run, while another voice was both curious and concerned. Maybe I could help right?
I flipped the phone open. "Hello?"
"Jessica! Huh? Wait, you're not Jessica. Who the hell are you? Put my wife on the phone asshole." It was a mans voice. A very angry mans voice.
"Uhmm, she's not here at the moment. I found this phone on the floor and it started ringing. I thought maybe the owner had lost it and was calling the number to see if someone answered. I figured I would be able to return it." My reply was smooth and even toned. Hell maybe this guy would calm down and I could give his wife the phone back.
At my speaking the woman on the chair turned and listened to me speak. I took only a casual glance at her and then went back to my phone conversation, listening to the reply. "Where'd you find the phone?" His voice still had an edge to it but it was lessening.
"Uhmmm in the lobby of my hotel, the Saint Francis in San Francisco." I glanced back up a the woman and she was turned slightly. Her long blond hair was pulled back into a pony-tail and the corner of her left eye had a small smear of mascara. Obviously she had been crying.
"Listen pal, thanks for being a good Samaritan. My wife just happens to be staying in that same hotel. Why don't you do us a huge favor and just drop the phone at the front desk. I'll call them later and make sure she gets it. Okay?"
I rolled my eyes knowing fully well what else he was probably going to make sure she got for chucking her phone away mid argument with him but hey who was I but a weary business man, thousands of miles from home. "Sure, sure. I'll drop it at the.." At that moment the woman turned to me and shook her head in an emphatic no. It was the first time I really noticed her. Damn she was beautiful behind the puffy mascara stained eyes. She looked familiar too but I couldn't put my finger on it "...front desk." At the same time I acknowledged her by nodding. "I'm hanging up now," I said into the phone and then closed it up, ending the conversation.
I walked the few steps towards her and extended the phone for her to take. "Listen I'm sorry I got involved. It wasn't my place too..."
"No it's alright. I never should have thrown the phone it's just that..." She sobbed then and sniffled and fought back tears, turning her face into a mask of anger. "That son of a bitch is such a liar. He's cheating on me I know it. My friends told me so. He's in L.A. fucking that slut! How could he!"
I swallowed hard. I had no intention of getting involved in a lovers quarrel at one o'clock in the morning in some hotel lobby. I had a mid morning flight to catch. I still held the phone out.
She took a deep breath, the intake of air broken by a couple of small sobs. She took the phone. "I hope everything works out for you. I'm sorry about your situation." I said in a reassuring tone.
She sniffled again and looked up at me and for the first time I saw all of her face. It then hit me like a ton of bricks. The woman I was talking to was none other than pop sensation Jessica Simpson. I knew that from the posters hanging on my kids' walls, and CD's and MTV. Holy shit! I thought to myself again, I got involved in something that was too unbelievable to be real.
She smiled. "No, thank you for being a sweetheart. Most people would have just bailed on something like that." She took the phone from my hand, our skin brushing slightly together. I didn't react overtly. I have always been the kind of person that did not hold celebrities in awe. They were people just like you and me. It just so happened that their job was to sing in front of thousands or make a movie.
"It was nothing," I said and smiled back at her. "I hope you have a better rest of your night and things work out." I turned to leave and a hand grabbed the sleeve of my shirt.
"Don't go. Would you mind just sitting and talking?" She lowered her eyes then looked back up at me. "I'm all alone here and, well, I could use someone to talk to. You seem nice and, well, could you?" She batted her eyes in a move that probably had hundreds fall for her whims. Hell she was gorgeous and that move would have worked famous or not.
"Sure. You want to sit here or maybe get a cup of coffee...?" I let the question hang out there. Here I was, a nearly forty year old man asking out some twenty something starlet for a cup of coffee. What was I thinking?
"To be honest, I really don't want to go out of the hotel." She glanced out towards the main doors off the lobby and the street that lay beyond. I got her drift. There were paparazzi everywhere in her world. It was fortunate one hadn't jumped out of the fireplace in the corner yet but it was pretty late on a weeknight and the staff at this particular hotel was pretty good. Jesus, now I was worried about paparazzi. What the hell is going on. Someone pinch me. "How about my suite? We could call in room service?" She said innocently.
Did I just hear her right? This beautiful woman just invited me to her room? Now I may be pushing forty but I'm no ugly duckling. Eating right, almost daily workouts and playing recreational sports had kept me fairly fit and trim. Daily battles at the office and the boardroom kept my mind sharp. "Sure. Why not." I replied with a smile. I offered my hand and helped her from the couch.
Her heels clicked along on the marble floor to the elevator bank. She pushed the up button and this time there was no wait. An elevator opened for us. We went in and she pushed one of the topmost buttons on the panel. The suite floor in the Tower. I had a feeling this would be the awkward moment, the silence as the elevator lifted us towards her floor. Strangely it wasn't.
"Here on business?" She asked, pointing to my attaché case that held all my meeting materials and laptop.
I raised it up and glanced at it as if I needed to stare at it to confirm her question. It also pulled my eyes from her beauty. "Yep. Had a busy day. A tiring day."
"What is it you do?" she asked innocently.
"I'm a supply chain analyst slash logistics director."
She nodded knowingly. "Sounds interesting."
"It can be," I replied. "I'm responsible for the product flow through seven regional DC's out to over one hundred retail stores." I sighed. "It can be demanding but rewarding."
"So you must have to travel a lot right? To visit all those distribution centers?"