I had just noticed my fiftieth birthday had passed a week ago. I was a loner and no one knew it was my birthday; hell I didn't either, so I was neither surprised nor disappointed that no one had wished me a happy birthday but wondered if anyone in the office had that same experience.
I was not about to ask of course, I just wondered.
Over the next few weeks I continued to wonder then asked myself if there had been anyone in the office whose birthday we had not celebrated in the office. I thought of three.
I thought about several ruses to find out when their birthdays were but settled on asking if they had worn glasses on their driver's license photos. Like me all three wore glasses at work.
The two guys had not and showed me the license to prove it. One was born Christmas Eve and the other on New Years Eve. Neither would have been at work on their birthday.
My third suspect was a woman named Danielle. No one called her Danny and I did not know if that was by her preference or not.
She was as reserved as I was and no one knew anything about her other than she was a widow, her husband's funeral had been ten years before.
She was better than OK looking and had a sense of humor but you would not know that unless you said something that made her smile. She did not laugh out loud.
She did wear her glasses on her license and showed it to me. It was a bad picture.
"Why do you carry Phyllis Dillers' license?" I asked.
She smiled and snatched it back but not before I noted her fiftieth birthday had been the month before mine was.
She asked to see mine and after I did she asked me, "Are you a vampire?"
I took my license back and smiled and gave her a small bow.
As I returned to my desk I suddenly found myself thinking of her as a woman. I very much doubted she fucked but it crossed my mind she might be good company to the symphony or the opera or the musical theater.
My last such companion had decided our dates were duds and had moved on, that was three years ago.
I somehow always bought two partial season tickets each year to all three. I also attended rock concerts and baseball games but those were bought as individual tickets.
I grinned when I sat at my desk knowing I would never have the nerve to ask her out. She was slim with fine although smallish tits. She was also very intelligent, she oversaw the entire foreign market and even if that part of the company was small she had to cope with tariffs, restrictions and taxes the rest of us did not.
I had heard her speak four languages.
I was a somewhat tall slightly longish haired dude that could have used another ten pounds on my frame.
She did not seem to have anyone in the building that could be called a personal friend but then again neither did I.
I had pretty much forgotten about that trend of thought when the next morning I found a card on my desk. I was a birthday card with a ticket to a private museum exhibit of works by Salvador Dali. The card was not signed and I wondered if someone had placed it on the wrong desk.
I spent the day looking around me for a celebration of some kind but by the end of the day I had seen none. It was a Friday and by then most had gone to a nearby tavern before going home. Whoever was the right recipient was unaware of it and I suspected that anyone that would go to an art exhibit was unlikely to be at happy hour.
I knew that was not true but I talked myself into believing it.
The exhibit was that following Saturday night. I spent the day thinking I would not go but eventually found myself being ushered into a closed wing of the museum and I quickly had a brandy in my hand.
I was mesmerized by the paintings and ended up lagging behind our guide.
"You get to stay after the tour to gaze at them and you are missing the stories behind them."
The woman speaking to me was Danielle. She looked fabulous.
I kissed her cheek and said thanks for my present then we hurried to catch up with the group.
I was happy she had come back to get me, our tour guide knew stories and there were many very interesting stories on Dali.
We ended up being led back to the bar and I got another brandy and Danielle got some Port wine. We wandered around the exhibit and discussed the paintings.
She introduced me to the museum curator and the agent for the paintings. They obviously knew her but seemed to be stunned by the fact that she had a companion. She had introduced me as a co-worker but apparently they were skeptical of that.
We stayed together for over two hours and as the museum was closing I walked her out to her car.
"I was thinking I would like a pastrami sandwich from the big deli, would you like to join me?" I asked.
"No, don't like pastrami. A Reuben would be nice though. I'll drive."
I immediately realized the woman was impulsive and carried a knife in her vocabulary but after I opened her car door for her I got in the passenger seat.
The deli was at that perfect part of the evening, the symphony people had left and the opera people were not yet there. We found a table easily.
"Great timing," she said and I agreed.
We talked about the museum and work.
She asked me if I was gay.
I chuckled and said, "No, I'm too ugly and have no mustache. Did any one say I was?"
"Yes, Darma and Lindy. Both flirted with you and got nothing back so that was their guess."
"They flirted with me? Really? I never saw that."
"That was what I told them, that you are oblivious."
