"Son of a bitch!"
I was sitting up in bed, suddenly wide-awake as those words left my mouth. The lights were out. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear my heart beating loudly in my chest.
"That old bastard!" I said with a shake of my head. I reached over to the phone by the side of my bed and started dialing. The numbers were lit and the brightness actually hurt my eyes until they adjusted. The phone rang three times before it was picked up.
"Hello?" I heard Bethany ask. She sounded more than a little groggy, but there was also a hint of fear. I quickly looked over at my alarm clock and saw that it was four o'clock in the morning. I silently cursed myself for my stupidity.
"Bethany, I'm so sorry I called this early!" I said as I reached for the light on the night table next to my bed.
"Joe?" she asked tentatively, but then continued before I could answer. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I quickly replied. "Or at least nothing major. I didn't realize the time. I should have waited until the morning to call you."
"Well, I'm up now," Bethany said after a slight pause. "You might as well tell me what's on your mind. I probably won't be able to go back to sleep anyway."
"I really am sorry," I said, pausing a moment longer before explaining the reason for my call. "I was just so angry when I realized that we'd been set up. My first thought was to call you and let you know."
"Pardon?" Bethany asked in confusion.
"Brad set us up," I explained. "He knows exactly what's going on! We've both been so busy with the craziness at work, that we bought into the whole silly thing." I expected to have to explain further, but instead I heard Bethany groan over the line.
"You're right," she said slowly as the truth sunk in. "I accepted at face value that us quitting and his fight with Karl were enough to make Brad go on vacation for two weeks, but that would be so unlike him. It just sounded so plausible coming from Cherie."
"She has to be in on it," I said with a shake of my head.
"Her? What about Bradley junior and Judy? You know that they have to be part of this as well!" Bethany snorted. "Damn! The whole company probably knows and is laughing themselves silly."
"No, I doubt anyone at the company other than Bradley and Judy are involved," I said. "Although some of them might suspect." I suddenly caught myself smiling. The whole thing was asinine, but I couldn't help myself.
"What are we going to do?" Bethany asked, still sounding annoyed.
"I was thinking about toilet papering Brad's front yard and soaping their windows," I joked. "It's been years since I've done that to someone."
"Joe..." Bethany said, but I cut her off.
"Oh come on, Bethany. There really is nothing we can do," I laughed. "Unless of course you want to quit again?"
"No," Bethany quickly replied, and the added more slowly, "On the positive side, at least it looks like we both won't be looking for work next week."
"Yeah," I said in agreement. "But it still burns me that we got taken."
"Me too," Bethany said. "But there's not a lot we can do about it."
"We could get married and retire to Hawaii?" I offered. "That would show them!" I could almost see Bethany rolling her eyes on the other side of the line.
"Retirement?" Bethany said in disbelief. "We'd be climbing the walls in a matter of days." I noticed that she didn't comment on the getting married part. I decided to let it go for now.
"Please," I laughed. "I quit Monday morning and by Tuesday I was ready to pull my hair out!"
"Hey!" Bethany put in, laughing now too. "I was the one who came up with the ridiculous 'hostile take over of our old jobs' idea!"
I got out of bed and stretched as we talked. It was Sunday morning and that was normally the one day a week I let myself sleep in, but it wasn't happening today. I went to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee as we spoke for a couple more minutes. We spent most of that time joking.
"So, are you planning on going to the office later?" Bethany eventually asked.
"Nope, it looks like it's going to be a nasty, rainy day," I sighed. "I'll probably just go back to bed and mellow out. Maybe watch a good movie."
"Oh," Bethany said, sounding hesitant. "I was going to suggest we get together later, but I can understand if you want to..."
"I'll be there in twenty minutes!" I interjected. "You pick a good movie."
"Slow down sailor!" Bethany stalled, trying together her thoughts. "How do you know I just don't want to talk about work?"
"I know you," I replied. "You wouldn't have hesitated if it was work you wanted to discuss."
"You're right," Bethany admitted, and then sighed and added pointedly, "Actually, I really don't want to talk about anything right now."
"Oh baby!" I crowed, taking her hint about not wanting to discuss our relationship and twisting it something else entirely.
Bethany laughed despite herself, but then ignored my comment and continued, "I thought we might just spend some time together." I was tempted to joke again, but I caught myself. This obviously wasn't easy for Bethany.
"That sounds wonderful," I said seriously. "What time is good for you?"
"I'm up now, so why not come over?" she said. "Maybe we can watch that movie you mentioned from the comfort of my couch. It really is a nasty day."
"Okay," I agreed. It was a start. "I'll bring a couple of my favorite DVDs, just in case we decide to be couch potatoes all day today."
"That sounds perfect," Bethany sighed. "I'll throw some breakfast on for us."
"I'll see you in a little bit," I said, hanging up.
I took a shower, shaved and brushed my teeth as quickly as possible. Afterward, I threw on some comfortable clothes and jumped into my car. I thought about stopping to pick up something, but I decided against it because Bethany had promised breakfast and I wanted to eat it before it became cold. I was hoping for another of her omelets!
It turned out to be a good decision on my part because I had forgotten the time. It would have been all but impossible to find a store open at five o'clock in the morning. The roads were pretty empty. I only passed a handful of cars on my way to Bethany's.
"Hello again!" I smiled as she opened the door.
"Good morning," Bethany said, leaning forward and giving me a kiss. I hugged her until she broke the kiss and added, "Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." She was freshly showered and smelled wonderful! It was a fight to make myself let go.
A couple of hours later we lay side by side on the couch watching the credits from one of my favorite movies.
