I stood at the door of my single-story office building staring out aimlessly as the heavy rains swept sideways down the darkened streets of our tiny little town. The windows rattled and banged as the gales of November blew on. The storm had been raging since the wee hours of the morning; with no end in sight.
As I stood with my hands in the pockets of my black suit pants wearing a white shirt and blue tie, my mind wandered as I thought of the ballad of 'The Edmund Fitzgerald'; an iron ore freighter that sank on Lake Superior in November of 1975. What those sailors must've went through in their final hours on a day very similar to this.
Seconds later, I was jolted back to reality as I heard the radio announcer in the background listing off severe storm and flood warnings for the area, he then read off the list of emergency shelters as well. People were also asked to shelter in place wherever possible. Nothing of this scale has approached this area since the mid 1950's. I can still recount some of the stories my grandfather use to tell me about that storm.
Monica my relatively new receptionist meandered over towards me with her arms crossed, she casually looked out the door and asked in her soft spoken voice, "Should I open the sofa beds and get them ready; it looks like we are stuck here for the night?"
Monica was a medium build women in her mid-40's with shoulder length, curly dark brown hair, sparkling brown eyes.
"I hope it doesn't bother you too much to have to sleep here tonight." I mused.
"Meh, don't bother me at all. At least we're safe and warm in here. Besides, it's always more fun being stranded with another warm body." Monica joked.
"Well, I must agree there, besides, I'd rather look at you in that orange turtleneck and your jeans than be home looking my cat."
Monica turned her head and looked at me with a seductive smile "Ha Ha...Wouldn't you rather look at me naked?"
"Well...yeah, what guy in his right mind wouldn't want to see you naked?"
Hmm...I was getting a bit of a hard on standing here flirting with Monica. I was also a bit nervous to take it too far. "It's almost quitting time. I think we better lock the door and pull the blinds on the windows. I'll check the back door and make sure the generator's good to go."
"Okay and I'll look and see what we have in our emergency food supply. I'll make us something to eat. It's a good thing I stopped off at the grocery store before I came in this morning." Monica smiled as she headed into our little ad hoc kitchen with just a microwave and coffee maker.
"Oh, In that case leave the grocery receipt then and I'll pay you for that later."
After checking everything to make sure we were good to ride the storm out, I wandered into the kitchen "Ooh, that's nice!"
"What's nice? Are you looking at my ass and tits again?" Monica flirted as she kept making the sandwiches.
"Well, I was complementing you on your tuna sandwiches. But yeah, I can't help it if I'm hardwired to look at them."
"Here's your sandwich Dave." as she pushed my plate towards me.
"Ok, thanks, I'll grab an orange juice out of the fridge."
"Oh, grab me a cranberry juice too will you, please,"
Monica purposely rubbed her body up against me as she grabbed her juice. "C'mon, let's go sit out at my desk."
Since Monica joined my office almost three months ago, she's taught me a thing or two about getting too excited about the things we can't control. I can't tell you the influence she's had on me in such a short time. It was Monica who initiated the flirting thing a few days after she came to work for me and since then I must admit I have feelings for her beyond the flirting. I enjoy her stupid, crazy jokes and her antics too. Hopefully, it'll lead to something a whole lot more. I've just been scared to approach her and perhaps lose her altogether.
Monica sat in her chair while I pulled up a client chair; we ate our sandwiches and talked for a little while.
"If you don't mind my asking, how did you get hurt Monica?"
"I don't mind, it's no secret. I knew better, I let my guard down and backed into a slow turning aircraft propeller about seven years ago while I worked at a small regional airport. I was helping a couple paramedics unload a patient from a small plane."
"Ouch, where you in the hospital?"
"I had a couple operations but was in there almost a month before I went to my parents to recuperate. My parents don't live too far from here. I still have the scar," Monica confided. "want to see it?"
"Um...sure." I shrugged.
Monica took off her orange turtleneck and threw it on her desk, wearing just her bra she turned around. There was a fairly large scar down the left side her back, it wasn't ugly really, I didn't think.
