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I put on my shoes at the door, pushing away the cat pouncing at my feet. Maybe pouncing is an overstatement...the kitten was reared back, frozen with her paw up as if to say, "Remember, I attack." I couldn't help but smile at the ball of cuteness, a smile made brittle by the burst of cold air as I opened the apartment door. The air outside was 20 degrees under brisk, and I hunkered down into my coat as I descended the flight of stairs from to the ice-slicked parking lot. The ground wasn't really frozen, so I knew the roads and sidewalks would be fine by mid-morning. Here in the pre-dawn, though, it was like nature's own insurance nightmare. I moved cautiously, and slowly made my way through the parking lot. At least my office would be warmer.
It was a slow morning, organizing email and receiving out-of-office responses on nearly everything I dealt with. At some point in my career, I had moved into a skill set of management where the product no longer particularly mattered to my higher-ups. I now run a Systems department within a corporation, and am good at my job. Given time, I figure I'll move up into an office in this company, and a larger office beyond that, onward and upward. So far, it's been a good place. Promotions seem at least mostly based on merit and profitability, and that was a game I could play to win. I had never been particularly adept at social climbing, so at least a rising career star helped round out my cat/apartment cosmology. I had long since put my energies toward academics and relegated sexual urges to fantasies and scheduled alone time. It wasn't that I didn't like sex, quite the contrary. In fact, I had been feeling a little lonely in the chill of the holidays, and had found myself turning to my little vibrating "rabbit" more and more.
The week between Christmas and New Years was always like this - skeleton crew and quiet phones. Quiet emails too. I sat back from checking Facebook for the thousandth time in the past hour and got up to go to the breakroom for lunch. Just a small salad and a Diet Coke. It was nothing too fancy, but the dressing was good and I was looking forward to it when it occurred to me that the office was empty. Completely empty. Of the 3 or so people actually physically present at work today, I was all that remained. Jamie had gone home for lunch and emailed that she wouldn't be back. That was fine, I was planning to lock it up at 4 anyway (and I was even thinking maybe a bit earlier, provided the phone and email chatter remained silent) but then Susan's kid had popped at flat at the mall, and now with both of them out I was the only one here. And then, as if in some horror flick, the buzzer for the outside office door went off. I am willing to admit I jumped and made a small squealing sound I'm not proud of.
I walked quickly to the front of the office, heart racing, and stopped short of the holiday-cheerful but unmanned front desk. As I looked around the last cubicle wall I let out a sigh of relief. Our regular FPS Delivery man, Frank, was standing in the cold holding a package for delivery. I smiled and reached under the front desk to the button that released the door's magnetic lock. Frank was kind of the office hottie, and package deliveries frequently caused conversations to trail off into fawning awkwardness at the front desk. I myself had thought fondly of Frank now and again, his strong body taking me from my bed and straight to orgasm, Priority Overnight please. I forced the smile off my face and composed myself as Frank rushed inside. He put the package down on the desk and rubbed his hands together in front of his mouth.
"You holding down the fort?" Frank asked as he flexed life back into his thick fingers and looked around at the empty array of cubicles.
"Yeah, I stayed in town for the holidays and it's dead here this week, so there were only three of us in the office today anyway. I sent Jamie home at lunch, and then Susan's kid called with a flat tire. I'm it until I shut it down, I guess. Your rounds getting easier now that Santa-time is done?"
"Thank God. Actually, it's my last day on this route."
"Oh no! We'll miss you around here. Changing jobs?"
"No, just shifting routes. It's a promotion, in a way. Still, I was glad to see the delivery for y'all today on my list. Gives me a chance to say 'bye."
"Well, lemme buy you a going-away drink, then, sailor." I grinned at my bad joke and Frank chuckled as we started to walk to the break room. I dropped two quarters from my coin purse into the honor jar and took a couple of Cokes out of the mini-fridge. Frank popped the top on his and I took a second to look him over one last time. It was no secret that Frank was a main attraction around the office. He was big and handsome in a rugged way, nothing you'd put on the cover of GQ, more like a guy who could help you fix your car. He was almost fireman-calendar hot. Dark, thick brown hair that hung a little low into his forehead on sweaty summer days and his deep green eyes were the most romantic aspects of Frank, but they weren't all there was. The rest of him was calloused and rough, all sinew and muscle under a plain khaki uniform. The only real strike against him was the few months of the year when his delivery uniform changed to shorts, making Frank look like he was some schoolboy with a pituitary disorder. The rest of the seasons? Nothing but yummy.
I think I had been lost in reverie for a moment too long. Frank cleared his throat and took a swig of soda.
"Well, here's to new opportunities, right?" I toasted a little late, catching Frank as he lowered his can. "Wish the rest of the office were around to see you off."
