I want to thank those who have been requesting new stories. Your loyalty is humbling. I also want to thank Mostera1 for his help. He always makes my stories better.
*****
"Hey Lees,"...
Alicia looked up from her computer screen. Sylvia, one of her co-workers, had a big grin on her face indicating she was definitely excited about something. "What's up?" Alicia asked with a smile.
"Wendy's wedding is coming up in a few weeks and some of the girls are talking about giving her a bachelorette party. Vanessa's husband is going out of town next week so she volunteered to have the party at her place. Her parents are going to watch the kids. It would be a week from Saturday; are you in?"
"Ah, well..."
"Oh come on," nagged Sylvia, "don't be a stick-in-the-mud."
Even though Alicia Samuelson was relatively new to the firm she was the oldest of all the secretaries, but only by a few years. Still...somehow she seemed to have developed a reputation for being an old fuddy-duddy. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy having a good time, she just didn't have that much in common with the others. Still, the group always seemed to have so much fun when they were together. It would be nice to be invited out for lunch once in a while. Suddenly she realized that this was an opportunity to show them that she could party as hard as they could.
"I was just going to check with my husband to make sure we weren't already booked but I can't think of anything off-hand; yeah, count me in," she replied enthusiastically.
"Great," Sylvia responded with a hidden agenda. Earlier, the girls had decided to hire a male stripper. It was going to cost a hundred and seventy-five bucks. The more girls they got to pitch in, the cheaper the cost per-person. She was hoping Alicia wouldn't back out when she told her she'd have to come up with some cash.
"Now, Wendy knows about the party but what she doesn't know is we're hiring a male stripper. She already had a wedding shower with her bridesmaids and her personal friends but this is going to be a private affair...just us girls, so It's going to cost each of us thirty bucks. I have to give them a credit card number to insure payment but I can't let them charge my card. My husband would see that and have ten conniption fits. I just talked to the agency and we're going to pay the stripper in cash when he gets there. We'll get a receipt of course but that way the charge won't show up on my card. I'd kind of like to have the cash by the end of the week. That way nobody has to worry about forgetting it the night of the party. Is that okay with you?"
"Sure, no problem," Alicia responded, determined not be a wet blanket.
"Great. Oh, and you should bring a little extra to stick in his G-string, too. You know what I mean?" Sylvia asked with an evil grin.
Playing along, Alicia responded with a naughty sounding, "Ah ha," and her own devilish smile.
"Oh...Vanessa volunteered to make the snacks but it's BYOB as far as the booze is considered," Sylvia added as an afterthought.
"No problem."
As Sylvia walked away, Alicia couldn't help but be a little excited. She knew dang well that the only reason she was even asked was so she could contribute to the entertainment but still... As long as she'd worked there she was never able to penetrate the clique of the other secretaries. She was sure that would change after the party. Hell, she was as friendly and fun-loving as anyone.
Later Alicia was surprised to see her husband's SUV in the drive as she pulled in. He owned a photography studio and was rarely home before seven or seven-thirty...but it was Wednesday. She was sure that was the day he had a big location shoot somewhere out of state. He had been preparing for it for days. He left the house around three in the morning and she wasn't expecting him home until late that night.
Dexter was just going through the mail as she walked in.
"Hi, honey," she said putting her arms around his neck and kissing his smiling face. "How come you're home so early? Don't tell me something went wrong at the shoot?" she asked, now looking into his blue eyes.
"Nope. In fact everything went like clockwork. Cindy did a great job getting things organized. I can't thank you enough for recommending her as my new assistant. She was the one who suggested we shoot in Michigan. At first I didn't want to drive that far but she convinced me it would be worth it. She was right, too. It's sure a lot easier to work there than in than Illinois. We had a good portion of the beach blocked off and we didn't even need any permits. Then we were just starting to set up and the cops showed up. At first I thought damn, I knew things were going too smoothly, but unlike Chicago's finest, they didn't come over to hassle us or ogle the models; these guys said they heard we would be in the area and wanted to know if there was anything they could do to help."
"Really," replied a surprised Alicia. She couldn't count the number of times she had to calm down an irate hubby because of bureaucratic BS he'd run into on a job.
"Yup! Cindy even got both the make-up artist and the hair stylist to show up on time. I couldn't believe it, that never happens. Everything went off without a hitch. After only four hours of shooting the guy from the ad agency said we had more than enough for the campaign he was working on and called it a wrap. Who am I to argue with a client," he joked.
"I'm so glad Cindy is working out. I was a little scared to vouch for her but I figured if she was anything like her mother she'd be conscientious and a good worker. I've known Laura since we were kids. She was always the older sister I never had and when she called and told me her daughter just graduated college and was interested in photography - well you had just lost your other assistant and..."
"And I thank you very much," he said picking up where his wife left off.
"Listen, I came straight home. I didn't even drop my equipment off at the studio. It's still in the car so we'll have to lock it up in the garage and take yours," he informed his confused wife.
"Where are we going?"
"I thought I'd take you out tonight so I made reservations at Plato's.
It was turning out to be quite a day for Alicia. First she gets invited to a party with her co-workers, then her husband surprises her by coming home early, and now they're going out to her favorite restaurant. No doubt there will also be some nooky at bedtime. Damn, she thought, it doesn't get much better than this.
A big smile stretched across her lovely face just before thanking her wonderful husband with a passionate kiss.
"Oh," she said quickly pulling their lips apart. "What time are the reservations?"
"Seven," he informed her.
"I've got to hurry and get in the shower," she said, pulling from his embrace.
"Me too," replied Dex. "I'll scrub your back if you'll scrub mine."
Now his smile was even wider than hers. They used to have a lot of fun in the shower together all the time but lately their schedules had been so far apart they hadn't done their duty to conserve water in ages.
"Last one in is a rotten egg," Alicia yelled as she took off, developing a good lead.
