I hate shopping for insurance.
That's how I felt that warm June day. I had been shopping around for a new insurance company for a few weeks, and felt I was going crazy with terms like: Non-Guaranteed Life, Universal Life, Whole Life and Ordinary Life making my head swim.
It was 4 P.M., and I was on my way to my last appointment for the day, a small independent insurance company recommended to me by a co-worker. I had called a few days before, and was told by the receptionist that I would be talking with Julie, the junior partner of the company. Even though I was getting tired of the whole deal, the thought of consulting with a female felt like a welcome relief. So far, I has been dealing with males: young, aggressive guys just starting out , or middle aged guys just going through the motions. Hopefully this "Julie" would be a pleasant change.
After parking my car, I walked into the office and was greeted by the receptionist. She showed me to a small conference room and told me Julie would be right with me.
I sat in a chair facing away from the door, and settled in for the wait. It was only a few minutes later, when I heard the door open behind me, and heard a pleasant, somewhat familiar voice call my name.
"Ray Carlson?" she said. "I was hoping it would be you!"
I turned around to see a familiar face to go with the voice.
"Julie Parker? Now this is a pleasant surprise!" I said.
The last time I had seen Julie Parker, some ten years ago, she was a fresh faced teenager working in the fast food joint I managed. She was only about 5'4", and 16 years old at the time, and looked as if she hadn't grown an inch since then. But, her body had gone through some changes. Gone was the baby fat and chubby cheeks. She had never been what I would call overweight, but she never had what would be called a hard body, either. Now, however, she had gone through quite a metamorphous . Like I said, the baby fat was gone, and it appeared that some of it had gone to her chest. She had a nice pair of breasts from what I could see, not huge, but definatly more than a mouthful. She had a slim waist, and a nicely rounded butt that I checked out while she walked around to the other side of the table. Topped off with a beautiful head of curly, shoulder length blonde hair, she was and absolute angel!
"It's good to see you," she said, taking a chair across the table from me. "When they told me that a "Ray Carlson" was coming in to talk with us, I hoped it would be you. It's been a long time, how are you?"
"I'm doing pretty good," I replied. "Not as good as you though, you're looking great, I'm just looking older!"
"Now stop that, you'll make me blush and I'm trying to remain professional," she joked. "You're not looking older, the gray in your hair makes you look distinguished, and even a little sexy. I love it."
Now it was my turn to blush. My hair was getting grayer, it happens when you reach your 40's, and while I try to keep in shape, I had started to develop a little paunch in the stomach area.
"Well, I'll take that as a compliment," I said. "It's not every day a guy like me gets to hear that from a beautiful young lady."
"Well, I mean it," she said with a warm smile. "Now tell me, what brings you here today."
I told Julie that I was unhappy with my current insurance situation, and was looking to change companies. I told her what I was looking for, and before too long, we had hammered out a possible portfolio that I would be comfortable with. By the time we got to that point, it was after 5 p.m., well past closing time for the office. We had been enjoying each others company though, catching up on some old times while talking business, that we both lost track of the time.
"I'll tell you, Julie, I've never had so much fun talking insurance," I said. "I'm really disappointed that we're done here."
"Me too," Julie said. "I'm usually in such a hurry to get out of the office, but I don't feel that way tonite. I really don't want to go home yet to an empty apartment."
Now I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I saw an opening there, and I jumped at it.
"Let me buy you dinner then. To celebrate our new business relationship," I said.
"I was hoping you would take the hint," she said smiling.
We discussed where to eat, and a place was soon settled on. A nice quite restaurant not too far away. I followed Julie there, both of us driving our respective cars. I held the door for Julie as we entered the restaurant, and soon we were escorted to a nice quiet table lit by candles. The waitress soon appeared to take our order, and brought us a very nice wine while we waited for our food.
"By the way, thank you for holding the door for me when we came in, that was very nice of you," she said.
"You don't need to thank me for that," I replied. "That's the way I was brought up: always be a gentleman when escorting a lady."
"Well, you'd be surprised how many guys were not brought up that way, believe me," she said. "I think I've dated most of them!"
"That's shame," I said. "I would never dream of acting like that."
It wasn't too long before our meal arrived, and we continued chatting while eating and drinking more wine.
"So, how did you get in the insurance business?" I asked.
"Well, I went to college to get a degree in accounting," she said. "But afterwards, I realized it wasn't something I really wanted to do. My folks really pushed me into it. One of my first jobs was working for an insurance agency, helping keep track of their accounts and stuff. After a while, I really started getting interested in the insurance game, and they encouraged me to study and pass the exams. So I did, and here I am!"
"So you're happy with your professional life," I said. "How about your personal life? You mentioned an empty apartment, and I noticed you don't have a ring on your finger."
"Well, there have been a few serious boyfriends," she replied. "But not serious enough to get married. They felt they were too young to get tied down yet. So I decided to just concentrate on business for now. This is the first time I've been out with a guy in about 2 months."
"Really!" I said. "I feel honored that you chose me to end your sabbatical with."
Julie just giggled and gave me a smile that melted my heart.
I reached across the table and took her hands in mine.
