It started off just like any other day at the office, meetings, files, lunch, more meetings, paperwork, etc… It was nearing 5pm and I was looking forward to getting out of the office and hitting happy hour with some friends. Friday nights were time for relaxation, good friends and good beer. I had one more meeting to go and it was an internal meeting with a co-worker so it wouldn’t be bad at all.
Brenda had been working with us for the past 6 months. A great worker, she was still a bit rough around the edges and we often had short meetings that had more to do with training her in details of the business than actual work. Just the way to finish a Friday. Before heading towards her office I grabbed my notebook in case I needed it for anything.
Walking in and closing the door behind me, I sat in the seat opposite her desk. While I was happy in my own relationship with my girlfriend, I can acknowledge that Brenda was a beautiful girl. She was in her mid 20s, long brown hair, a fabulous figure (thin without being too thin… enough curves to catch your eye) and she had a beautiful face that showed off her Spanish heritage. The dark rimmed glasses brought attention toward her eyes which carried a glimmer of warmth regardless of how her day was going.
“So, what’s going on today? Having problems with the balance sheets?” I asked.
“Not exactly, but I did want to talk to you about something,” she replied. Something in her tone should have put me on guard, but only in hindsight could I recognize that fact. “Remember when I needed to use your computer to run some of those calculations for the Findler projections on Tuesday?”
“Yeah, you didn’t seem to have any problems at all and I saw the projections. They looked great.”
“Thank you. I don’t want you to think I was snooping or anything but when I was looking for some of the documents to run them, I ran into some files,” she started to explained.
“Yeah.” I had no idea where she was going with this.
“Well, I just wanted to let you know… I know about the creampie stories on your computer,” she said matter of factly.
My draw nearly dropped to the floor. In all the world, I never would have thought I’d be sitting across from her hearing those words come from her mouth. My mind began racing… I knew not to visit the story sites from work. I knew not to download the stories. I should have known better than to leave them somewhere accessible. I tried to remember here they were?
She must have sensed the train running through my brain. “I don’t mean to get you on edge. And don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone.”
Immediately a sense of relief washed over me.
“I just wanted you to know I found them. That you aren’t covering your tracks as well as you think you are. I don’t care what you do at work. But I know Mr. Bender would think different if he ever came across anything like that.”
Mr. Bender, our boss, surely would think different. I’d be out the door and on my ass, and this wasn’t the kind of economy I wanted to be jobless in.
“Well, thanks Brenda. I, uhhh, really appreciate it,” I confessed. “You don’t know how much I appreciate your attitude about this.” I was still embarrassed, and I’m sure my cheeks were beet red. But, knowing she was going to keep this between us helped to settle my mind down a little bit.
“I must admit,” Brenda stated. “I never would have guessed you’d be into something like that. Does Jennifer know?”
My girlfriend Jennifer knew for years and while it wasn’t her favorite sexual activity, it was certainly one she could appreciate from time to time. Thank god for that. “Ummm, yeah. Actually, she loves it.” I was stretching the truth, but what the hell.
“Well, I just wanted to warn you. That’s all.”
“Again, thanks, Brenda.”
And that was that. I left her office and cleaned up and made ready to meet the guys at the bar. I knew I’d need a drink that night, but it was for far more than the typical relaxation. Walking out of work I passed Brenda on the way to the door. She didn’t say anything but simply returned a look and smiled as I headed to my car. My stomach was in my chest the rest of the evening at how close I was and how stupid I must have been to leave that stuff so accessible on my computer.
A week passed and I was soon back to my normal self not thinking anything more about my meeting with Brenda the week before. When Friday rolled around I was ready for the my weekend to begin. I got into the office, went over the day’s schedule and was relieved to find that nothing was really going on that day. A day to get caught up on my computer and perhaps have some time to just unwind on company time.