To set the stage, so to speak, I'll tell you a bit about myself... and a bit about Katherine, the jilted woman in this recounting of times past.
At the time I was an average older male, successful or at least moderately so and single... well, divorced, but defiantly single with no intentions of being otherwise. I'm the Operations Manager for a smaller company and am at an age and mindset of wanting to retire earlier... like before I turn 60.
I'm tallish at 6'1" and have a neat beard and full head of hair... both having turned from a dark brown to being invaded by gray. My eyes are brown and while I'm nothing to write home about, I'm, as my friends have said, easy on the eyes and exude a certain kindness/friendliness -- basically a nice guy who in the love and marriage part of life seems to always finish last. I don't bemoan this; it is what it is and being a good guy suits me just fine.
Katherine is a bit younger than me... no scratch that, she is quite a bit younger than me, like 13 years younger than me. She too is a successful person and is the corporate Controller, who takes home a nice six-figure income.
Physically she is an absolute knockout! Quite petite at 5"1" tall, has an athletic body with amazingly sexy legs, a nice ass and breasts that dreams are made of. How do I know this? Easy, she is on the company baseball team, and I've seen her at practice in gym shorts and a T--shirt -- really a sight to behold. She has light auburn hair that she wears a bit long, green eyes and a smile that lights up the room.
She has a partner; one she has lived with for many years and talks about him like he is the best thing in her life.
We had at the time worked together for 9 years and because of what we do, we spend not a little time together. In those 9 years we had become friends and while I have to admit to having had carnal thoughts involving her, we were work associates and friends -- nothing more. Well, nothing more until...
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It all began when the President and CEO of the company announced a short fused (the meeting date was just a week away) change in the annual company management meeting. Each year it's held in a different place and the original announcement had been for the meeting to be held in New Orleans -- now, it was to be held in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
With the announcement came hurried changes in travel arrangements for the weeklong meeting. Our company is a rather successful one and this management meeting comes with the perk of us being able to pick flights, rental cars and accommodation wherever -- all expenses paid, no questions asked.
The announcement came via intercompany email and came late on a Monday. I decided to wait until the next morning to make the changes in my travel arrangements.
When I came in on Tuesday morning, I went straight to the company break room to grab an early morning coffee... in the break room I found Kat (Katherine) and Marty, Kat's assistant and the company bookkeeper. They had already made the first pot of coffee and were just leaving to go to their offices. Kat saw me, said good morning with her usual killer smile and asked me to come to her office as soon as I got my coffee.
I of course said sure, be right there and before she left, I asked if she had gotten the changes in her travel plan done. Her response was "that's what I want to talk to you about".
Minutes later I was sitting in her office and with her was Marty... "So, what's up?" I asked. For the next few minutes Kat and Marty excitedly told me what they had planned and asked me to join them -- their idea was to rent a really nice Airbnb, a two-story deluxe cabin, to rent cars to make the drive down and back and to make it a full nine-day trip starting with the drive down early this coming Saturday.
I questioned them about the accommodations and found there were two bedrooms upstairs and one down, with a huge family room and kitchen downstairs... each bedroom ahd a private ensuite bathroom and it was just 5 minutes from the meeting room the company had rented. As for the rental cars, Kat suggested we take two cars and split ourselves up among the two cars. Her idea was that Marty had just gotten married and that it would be nice if she and her guy had their own car, which left me in the car with Kat and her partner, Frank.
They were over the top excited about the idea and I just smiled and agreed that it was a great plan... actually I thought it would be fun and who turns down an all-expense paid 9-day trip!
My only reservation was with Frank, Kat's longtime live-in boyfriend/partner. I had always thought he was a jerk and not much more than a freeloader. Still, Kat seemed to think the world of him, and I knew that she and Marty would be fun people to be around... never mind that I always enjoyed being around Kat.
With the plans set I came in a bit late on Friday to find both Marty and Kat absent. In checking around my admin assistant told me the Marty's husband was in the hospital and Marty had called in, and Kat, somewhat mysteriously had called in saying she had last minute arrangements to take care of.
I immediately wondered what was going on with Kat -- she had never called in unless she was deathly ill, and I knew she was OCD about everything... no way she didn't have the travel plans nailed down.
Her not being there bothered me. I mulled it over and ended up texting her asking if she was okay and if there was anything I could do to help.
I didn't get a response and so, an hour later I called her. When she answered I immediately knew something was off -- we as friends had a thing whereby when we called each other I'd always answer her calls (personal ones) with "Hey beautiful" and she would answer mine with "Hey Handsome".
She answered with a very sad sounding "I can't talk right now Mike". Not only did she sound sad, but like she had been... been what? Crying? "I'm not hanging up Kat and don't you dare hang up on me... we are friends, talk to me".
We ended up talking, or more like me listening, for the next 30 minutes. The jerk had packed up his crap and left her. They hadn't been getting along for several months and suddenly, he left. When she'd arrived at home the previous evening he was gone. No note, nothing... all his crap was gone and so was he.