Rob Williams could not believe he was going back to Canary Wharf after all this time. It must be at least 25 years since he was last there and it was still very much in its' infancy when he was last there. He had not long been married to his late wife and their only child together, a daughter named Connie, had only just been born.
He was on a Docklands Light Railway train heading towards Canary Wharf station and it was all coming back to him, especially coming up the rise before it turned right into West India Quay first, then across the dock and the cathedral-esque glass structure over the DLR station for Canary Wharf with the eponymous 50 story tower on the left where he had once worked in previously.
That was the first phase of the development, but now the area was completely transformed and almost unrecognisable! As he got out of the DLR train and headed to the escalator down onto the concourse below the station, the flashbacks were coming thick and fast. The shops he remembered, many had changed but a number remained and the Mall style layout was still in vogue.
There would be time to have a good look later after work, so for now he made his way to where he was going to be working this week in a much smaller building than the Canary Wharf Tower. He went to the ground floor Security desk and, after signing in, was instructed to take the lift to the third floor where he would be met by a member of staff. Exiting the lift on the third floor, he looked left then turned right to the office reception desk.
"Good morning, I'm Rob Williams, the freelancer for Martin James," he announced himself.
"Good morning Sir," the lady on the desk replied, "Please take a seat and I will let him know your here!".
Rob smiled and said thank you to her and went over to the sofas, sitting down on one of them and took in the view out the window looking over the dock on the other side towards Heron Quay. With a sense of how the area was now to when he worked here all those years ago, he lost himself in his memories to the time when his daughter came into this world.
"Rob Williams?" came a voice behind him, bringing him back to reality.
"Good morning!" he replied as he got up to face the velvet voice behind him, offering his hand out.
"I'm Cynthia Latham, the Office Manager, nice to meet you!" she said accepting his hand and shaking it.
Stood before him was an absolutely stunning, long haired lady of Caribbean heritage with beautiful brown eyes and a lovely smile!
"Let me take you to over to Martin and introduce you to him. Would you follow me please!" she continued.
Without a shadow of doubt Rob said to himself, walking slightly behind her enjoying her slender look, accentuated by her incredible outfit, hugging her curves. This woman was dressed in a knee length pencil dress, tights (or stockings), high heels showing off her lovely calfs and petite ankles all topped off in a dark honey silky blouse and jacket. The aroma of her perfume had an essence of citrus which he had always liked as his late wife wore a similar smelling perfume too.
Once they reached Martin's office she introduced the two men to each other and made to leave the room but stopped at Rob laying her left hand on his arm, exposing the recent removal of her wedding ring and the very noticeable indent as to where it had been!
"Once you have finished speaking with Martin and settled in, I will be back with your security pass and entry fob! I know where your desk will be for the duration of your contract, so will come and find you in about an hour," she said before leaving the two of them to discuss the project Rob will be supporting on.
Martin went through the project with Rob, detailing who the rest of the team were and where they would be sitting. The designer just needed to finish up on his files before giving them to Rob for artworking up so Martin took him on a guided tour of their area and more importantly showed him where the kitchen area was for the all important coffee that Rob was ready for.
Taking his coffee back to his desk, Rob started getting his computer setup to the way he liked working and awaited the files he was going to be working on. After about 30 minutes he was aware of someone beside him, finding it was Cynthia, without her jacket but still with her citrus aroma following her. Once again she delivered the security pass and fob with her right hand but stooping down to place them on his desk he felt the lovely firm flesh of her left breast on his right shoulder and her long black hair fell over and caress his face as it did so.
Once again her velvet tones spoke to him "You should find everything working fine but if there is any problem or you just need me, you will find my office to the right of the security desk where we met earlier."
Taking in her perfume one last time, for now, Rob felt the warm breast leave his shoulder and thanked her for the pass and fob, returning her smile as she left him to get on with his setting-up. Rob was always too slow to notice subtle hints until it was too late, but on this occasion he had the feeling she was interested in him, but in such a short time.
Before long, Rob was aware that it was lunch time and delved into his backpack for his sandwich box. Almost until her passing, Rob's wife always surrised him with his sandwiches as part of a little game and he was never disappointed. Now, he would go shopping at the weekend or on his way home from work to find fillings for his lunch but the surprise he enjoyed was now severly missing as he made them himself.
Walking towards the security desk for the lifts he noticed Cynthia coming out of her office and waited to speak to her. As she came closer she looked up and smiled at him. Once again Rob took in the beautiful vision before him and when she reached him he spoke.
"I'm off down to Island Gardens to eat my sandwiches, would you care to join me?", he nervously enquired.
"I'm afraid I cannot," she answered.
"Oh, I see! Sorry!" Rob responded.
Cynthia quickly replied "Oh God no, I apologise! Not like that, its just I do not have anything for lunch and have to run some errands".
"Perhaps another day this week? I will internally message you," she continued.
"That would be nice, I look forward to your message then," Rob replied.