I'm thirty-two years old and vice president of a medium sized company. I'm vice president of product marketing, reporting to the vice president of marketing who reports to the Chief Operating Officer of the company. It sounds like the American dream but the journey hasn't been easy.
The last two years have had more downs than ups. Two years ago, my wife of seven years, the love of my life, my soul mate, the future mother of my children, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died within six weeks. In six weeks, my entire life plan was gone. I became depressed. My boss, while sympathetic, explained that if I continued to ignore my responsibilities there would be consequences.
A close friend suggested a local therapist. I sought her out and made an appointment. Six months later I was less depressed and out of a job. With my therapist's help, I realized I needed to stop obsessing about what could have been and begin a new plan. I needed to start a new life and that required I move to a new location, find a new job and, eventually, find new love. It took a while, but I finally landed a position as vice president of product marketing for a small eastern Connecticut manufacturer focused on national security products for the US government. My organization is small; just eight employees throughout the country, but my responsibilities include support for field demonstrations and product press releases. It took just over three months for me to get the appropriate security clearances during which time I familiarized myself with my new company's products, services and customer base. I also began building a personal network within the corporation.
Next week, in Washington DC, the security industry is holding one of its larger trade shows. Ordinarily, the new vice president of product marketing would not attend such a conference. However, everyone thought I was prepared and the show offered an opportunity for me to "get my feet wet," so I planned to attend.
Since most of the display material and equipment for this show was shipping from the Connecticut home office, I offered to take one of the company vans and drive both some of the more sensitive show material and myself to Washington. I planned to leave on Saturday morning and arrive that same afternoon. The show didn't start until Monday, and I would use Sunday to set up our show booth with the help of four of my subordinates who were due to arrive late Saturday and early Sunday. If everything went well, I would return either the following Friday or Saturday.
Friday afternoon, the day before I was to leave, I was in the staging area of our Connecticut office, double checking that everything we were going to need was present. I also verified that the van was in good shape and fully fueled. While I was there, Jason Snyder, the president of the company, stopped by to check the status and to boost my confidence. He also suggested, since Charly was also planning to drive down, but on Sunday, that we could drive together and save some costs. I agreed. Jason asked what time I was planning to leave. I told him by nine am and he offered to tell Charly to be there before then.
After Jason left, I wondered who Charlie was. I'd only been with the company just shy of five months but I thought I had met just about everyone. But, I couldn't recall anyone named Charlie, or even Charles. The more I thought about it the fewer answers I had. I resolved to wait until the morning to meet Charlie.
Saturday morning I arrived at the office just after seven am. I used the time to organize and load the van. I was just about done when Charlene walked up to the van and poked her head inside. Charlene was Jason's administrative assistant. Her presence on this Saturday morning was unusual. I'd worked several Saturdays and had never seen her on those days. When I saw her I registered my surprise and said, "Hi, Charlene. What brings you here this morning? I hope it's nothing serious. I'm just about to leave for Washington."
"Hi, Frank. Jason told me to meet you here. I'm supposed to ride with you."
"Jason told me to expect to meet Charlie. You're Charlie?"
"Oh. Jason calls me Charly all the time. He's the only one who does. He's done it so long I just go along with it. However, just so I don't seem too easy I make him spell it 'C H A R L Y.'"
"I get it. You can understand my confusion. I was expecting a male coworker but I couldn't remember a single individual with the name Charlie. Hop in. I'm just about ready to leave."
Charly was a better choice for a traveling companion than any of the male employees. She is well put together and quite attractive. However, her choice of traveling apparel seemed unusual. She was wearing a gray pencil skirt that came to just above her knees. Her blouse was pure white, buttoned up the front and tucked neatly into her skirt's waistband. A wide black belt and low black heels accented the outfit.
Charly tossed her suitcase into the back of the van next to mine and climbed into the passenger side of the van and buckled up. I closed and locked the rear doors and climbed into the driver's side and buckled up as well. I'm not sure how old the van was but its narrow and has a single bench seat in front. It's an automatic with the selector lever on the steering column and a flat floor.
I pulled out of the office parking lot and drove carefully for the first several blocks while I got a feel for the way the van drove. Twenty minutes later, we were cruising down I95 south along Long Island Sound toward the Bronx. About an hour later, we crossed the George Washington Bridge and got on the New Jersey Turnpike south.
As I settled into the drive, I absent-mindedly placed my right hand on Charly's thigh. After about five seconds I realized what I had done and removed my hand as if her thigh was on fire.
"Oh my God. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that."
"Do what?"
"Put my hand on you that way."
"What way?
"You know. On your leg. It's not right. I hardly know you. It's not appropriate. I shouldn't have done it."
"Then why did you?"
"I don't know. Maybe, just force of habit."