The first thing anyone notices about Suzanne are her eyes. They are the palest blue eyes I have ever seen - like the sky on a lazy summer day. Her jet black hair and milky white complexion heightens their beauty. She is rather petite - about 5'2" but with a nice figure. She has what I describe as aristocratic features - high cheekbones, thin nose, a somewhat haughty appearance.
I met her on a plane. I was 51, recently divorced and travelled extensively for business. Due to my elite frequent flyer status I was usually in first class. I was in an aisle seat on a flight to Boston waiting for boarding to finish and get us off the ground so I could work on my laptop. I spotted her walking towards me dragging a carry-on and was excited about the idea that this gorgeous woman might be sitting next to me. Sure enough, she stopped in front of my seat and smiled apologetically saying, "I'm in 3A." She was having a bit of difficulty stowing her carry-on, I took it from her and put it in the overhead.
After she took her seat, we began to chat. Suzanne was a marketing executive on her way to a conference in Boston. I oversaw some consulting teams that were working with some tech companies in the Boston suburbs. I have to confess that I never did manage to work on my laptop that flight. Suzanne was quite charming and very friendly. We talked during the entire flight. As fate would have it, we were both recently divorced and career oriented. I thoroughly enjoyed her company but I had no expectation that I would ever see her again.
We went our separate ways after deplaning. I picked up my rental car and headed to client meetings. Things were not going well with some of our engagements and I had a lot of damage control to manage.
After two days of whirlwind meetings where I managed to mollify angry clients I headed to Boston where I would spend the night before my morning flight home. I checked into a hotel in the financial district and after showering I decided to visit the hotel bar. To my great delight I saw Suzanne sitting alone at a table. I ordered a drink and walked over to say hello. She smiled at me and asked me to join her.
Suzanne said that her conference was one of the most boring and useless events she had ever attended. I related my frustrations about clients with unrealistic expectations. We laughed about each other's situations and moved on to more interesting topics. It seemed like we talked for only a few minutes before I realized that an hour had gone by. I said I was hungry and invited her to dinner with me.
There was a nice seafood restaurant not far from the hotel and we were able to get there by foot in 10 minutes. Being in Boston, we had to have Maine lobster which we washed down with a bottle of chardonnay - in fact we ordered a second bottle and nearly finished that.
Suzanne talked about how she coped with her divorce. Her ex was extremely jealous and resented her frequent business travels. He would accuse her of cheating after most trips but it turned out that he was the one cheating. Suzanne returned early from a business trip and found him in bed with his secretary. "What a clichΓ©, but instead of anger I was relieved. I realized then that I had been a fool to stay in the marriage as long as I did - 10 years." I made some sympathetic noises and told her my divorce came as a relief as well.
Suzanne had a little more wine than usual and, although she was far from drunk, it did loosen her tongue a bit. "That bitch was blonde, 10 years younger than me and she had enormous boobs! I couldn't compete with that!"