My office is located on the top floor of a ten story building. The engineering company I own occupies approximately half of the floor. The other half was empty until about 6 months ago, when the accounting department for a national retailer moved in. Despite my initial apprehension, it turned out to be a rather pleasant adjustment since there were now many young, attractive women on our floor. This was a great morale boost to my hard working engineers.
One of the young women in particular had caught my eye. I didn't know her name, obviously, but her details quickly became etched in my mind. She was about 5'6", fit, very pretty, with short brunette hair and sexy green eyes. I estimated she was about 27 or 28. She had great taste in clothes and always looked amazing.
Over the next couple weeks I found myself paying her more attention each time our paths crossed, either in the hallway, the elevator or the café on the first floor. After a few of these encounters I noticed that she had seen me watching. She would often flash me a quick smile before moving on her way.
One Saturday I had been doing some things at the office while my wife was at a charity event. A little after lunch I got ready to leave and walked out to the lobby. I was reading emails on my phone while waiting for the elevator to arrive. When it did I was greeted with a pile of falling books and boxes from an overloaded hand cart. I saw the short haired brunette standing there in shock.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry. I guess I didn't have those stacked very well."
I quickly knelt to start picking up things for her. She managed to push the cart out of the elevator and quickly joined me. One of the first things I picked up was a photo of her in a bikini along with some guy at the beach. She looked breathtaking with a deep, dark tan. The smile on her face was priceless.
I realized I was staring at the photo and quickly put it in one of the boxes. I snuck a quick glance at her to see if she had seen me. Naturally, she had. I saw her grin slightly. Thinking quickly, I decided to try to make light of the situation.
"What I wouldn't give to be on that beach, right now."
"Oh, I know. It was so beautiful. That was my honeymoon trip to Fiji." She smiled briefly at me and returned to picking up the mess. We soon had everything picked up and loaded back on the cart.
"Thank you so much for your help." She extended her hand to me.
"You're very welcome, uh..."
"Callie."
"Callie? That's a pretty name. I'm Rob."
"Thanks for your help, Rob."
"It was no problem. Is this all you have to bring in?"
"No, I have some other stuff."
"Do you need a hand?"
"No, you don't have to."
"I wouldn't mind."
She looked at me closely then she flashed me an impish grin. "I do have a couple big boxes of books in my SUV. I probably shouldn't be lifting them. I strained my back at the gym Thursday." I nodded knowingly. I had guessed that she spent a lot of time in the gym.
"I don't mind helping. Let's get this stuff unloaded and we can get the other boxes."
"Ok, thanks."
"Hey, don't mention it."
As she turned to pull the hand cart to her suite door, I noticed that she was dressed really nicely for a day off. A simple, tan cotton dress hugged her figure delightfully close. She was wearing strappy wedge sandals that made her calves look delicious. My eyes roamed over her as I walked behind her.
We unloaded the cart in her office and then took the elevator down to get the other boxes. We were walking back into the building and I was learning a little more about her.
"What were you doing when you hurt your back?"
"Clean and jerks." My jaw practically hit the sidewalk.
"No kidding? How did you get in to that style of training?"
"I train at the Crossfit gym downtown."
"Really? That's great."
"It's obvious you lift you too. Where do you go?"
"My buddies and I have a private powerlifting gym down on the south side."
"Really? That's awesome." She flashed me a big smile.
We were riding the elevator back up and our conversation continued.
"So, where's your husband today? He should be helping you if you've got a bad back." I smiled at her.
She turned towards me with a little smile and said, "Playing golf with some of his clients." She then turned back to stare straight ahead. The smile faded from her face. It was replaced by a really sad look. I looked at her in curiosity. What was that all about?
The elevator door opened and we were soon in her suite again unloading the boxes.
"Thank you so much, Rob."
"Don't mention it, Callie." I stuck my hand out again. She took it and I watched her eyes wonder down to the gold band on my left hand. She nodded slightly before our eyes met again.
"I hope you have a good rest of the weekend."
"You too, Callie. Bye."
I walked out the door towards the elevator. I thought back to her looking for my wedding ring. That had been interesting. It was definitely good for the old ego since, as far as looks go, I have more in common with a gorilla than I do with Brad Pitt. Not to mention she had to be almost half my age.
The next week I was walking to the café downstairs when I saw her walk out of the ladies room. She was wearing a very pretty black dress with sexy, sling back heels. As usual, she looked amazing.
"Hi, Rob."
"Hey, Callie. How's your back?"
"Better, thanks. Can I buy you a cup of coffee for helping me?"
"You don't have to do that."
"I know I don't, but I want to, okay?"
"All right, then. Say, that's a very pretty dress. I've never seen you in it before." I nodded in approval.
"I just got it this weekend. These shoes too. You noticed, huh?"
I smiled, "Yeah, I'll admit I always like to see you. You have great taste."
"Thanks." She gave me that cute little smile again.
We got our coffee and then went to a table and sat down. I had brought my iPad to make some notes for a presentation I had to give, but I just sat it on the table. We both took a quick sip of our coffee.
"You won't believe what happened after you left Saturday," she started.
"What?"
"I went back downstairs to get a few other things out of my SUV and I got locked out of the building! I stood outside for 45 minutes until someone came out. I had my phone, but my husband didn't answer and I didn't know who else to call."
"They put that new magnetic lock on about a year ago and people always forget their key cards. I don't know how many times I've had to come up here to let my people in. Look, if that happens again, you can call me. I just live a couple blocks away." I reached for my wallet and gave her a business card. "Just don't call too late." I smiled.
"I'll try not to. I wouldn't want to be standing outside the building after dark."
"No, it can get a little scary after dark around here."
We sipped our coffee and talked a little more.
"So, you're married too, right?"
"Yep, almost 25 years."
"No way! 25 years? I didn't think you were THAT old."
"Ha, thanks. How old do you think I am?"
"I thought you were like 35."
"Callie, I wish. You're off by a decade and then some. I'll be 48 in a few months."
"REALLY?"
"Yeah. I have a son that's graduating from college next month."
"You don't look it."
"I try to take care of myself."
"You do. How old do you think I am?"
"27."
"26 actually. Close enough though. What does your wife do?"
"She's a neurosurgeon."
"Wow, that's really impressive."
"Yeah. If you ever need your brain worked on, Brandi can fix it for you."
"I'll remember that!" She smiled, and then glanced at her watch. "Oh, I'd better go. I've got a conference call in 5 minutes."
"Okay, have fun with that. Thanks for the coffee." I gave her a big smile as she got up from the table.
"You're welcome." Our eyes met for a brief moment and I saw a different look on her face. It made me stir in my chair. It was a very sultry look. "See you later." She turned and walked out with my eyes trailing after her. God to be her age and both of us single! I shook my head and took another sip of my coffee. When she got to the door, she glanced back over her shoulder as she walked out. I smiled and waved at her before I picked my iPad up and began working.
-----
We met for coffee nearly every day over the next few months. We quickly established a friendship. I enjoyed talking with her. She told me about her job and her volunteer work with kids. She was eager to learn about the work my company did. We also talked a lot about our training. I was curious what the youngsters were doing with this Crossfit stuff. She was interested in learning more about our gym and the training routines we used.
Her gym closed for renovations, so I invited her to train with us for a few weeks. She gladly accepted. She turned out to be a real trooper in the gym. My training partners and I always push one another really hard. We have a good crew that ranges in age from 20 to 55. It can get a little scary at times when we yell and scream at one another. It's all part of encouraging each other to push the boundaries and test our limits. At first, she was little intimidated, but after a few days she fit right in. She ended up staying even after her gym opened back up.
We flirted quite a bit, but I never thought anything of it, since she was practically my son's age. She was undeniably attractive, but I always thought of her almost like I would one of my son's friends. I enjoyed complimenting her on a new outfit, or when she did something different with her hair. She always seemed flattered. She always paid me little compliments as well.
She told me a lot about her background. Her mom and dad had separated when she was still pretty young. Her mom was a senior HR manager for a large manufacturing company. Her dad worked as an oil and gas consultant and had traveled all over the world. He hadn't really been in her life until she was 18, when he had retired. They had reestablished a relationship, but unfortunately he had been killed in a motorcycle accident during her second year of college. I could relate to her, having lost my dad early in life as well. I tried to get her to talk more about him. She would usually get upset and I didn't press matters.
One thing that did strike me as very odd during all of our conversations was that she hardly ever talked about her husband. When she did, it was usually like she had mentioned him in passing. They couldn't have been married for more than a couple years. That was hardly enough time for the newness to have worn off. She always asked about my wife and my son, but rarely mentioned him. Finally, one day while we were having coffee downstairs, I asked.
"Callie, we've been talking to one another for a while now. I know a lot about you, but I don't even know what your husband's name is."
