Corinne and I continued working together after the "millennium" came and went, and even when the real millennium came and went. We had gone out to dinner several times, but we never took it any further than goodnight kiss. I think that she sensed that I was really falling for her and was probably afraid of things going wrong and hurting me.
I also believed that she was wholly unaware of the real impact that she had had on me. There was something about the way that she carried herself that made me crave her. A craving is probably the most accurate way to explain it. I was falling in love with her. But I could tell that I was the only one.
I remember early in 2000 about 6 months after our sordid affair, Corinne was still on retainer and we were still working closely together. I will admit that it was very difficult to not want to attack her on a daily basis. She was simply put a stunning creature. I'm sure that from a distance people suspected that I was interested in her. I'm just not that good of an actor. But as far as she was concerned I don't think they suspected a thing. She was cool as the proverbial cucumber.
There was a training seminar offered in New Orleans right before Mardi Gras and attendance for me was mandatory. Management strongly suggested that Corinne attend also, but she said that she had too many things going on and that she would prefer to go in the fall. I tried to talk her into it but my obvious intentions were beaconing out of my eye sockets, and I could see in her face that this would have been exposure overload.
After I made my arrangements I realized that, for her, the thought of being stuck there with me for a week really was just too invasive of her space. I can respect that; I would have intended to invade every one of her spaces repeatedly and as often as possible for a week, so her supposition was absolutely correct.
FUCK! This was going to be so perfect! I could have had her all to myself for a week in the Big Easy. If things went well, we could have kicked around over the next weekend to take in the local festivities. I guess it was just not meant to be. The plane ride was miserable and the thought of wasting a perfectly good opportunity to hang with her for a week really bothered me. But I figured I'd make the best of it. I had been there before and knew several cool spots where I could hang out.
For my money there are few things worse than going out of town alone for more than a day or two. Eating dinner by yourself, traveling single...it's cool for a while but if you travel often enough you will eventually pack a spoon and a bowl so you can eat cereal before you go to bed. I have.
At the morning mixer I struck up conversation with some of the instructors, each of us bantering in appropriate parlance, excruciatingly boring conversation. After the requisite tea and crumpets the day started with one of the course offerings that I selected from their offerings a few weeks prior. I sat in the back of the room while he went on about his credentials and the course goals. He asked us to go around the room and introduce ourselves, give some of our experience and background, and share something personal if we would like.
I love when they say that.
Everyone is going around the room saying the same boring crap about how much they've enjoyed working in blah blah company working on the same whatever project for x number of years. And their personal comment is usually something like "I enjoy reading technical journals." So when they get to me, I usually do something like this: "My name is Jake. I worked for Vandalay Industries for 5 years as a latex salesman, followed by brief forays into architecture and marine biology before becoming a programmer." About 90% of the time no one is paying attention as I am saying this stuff, but that 10% of the time, it's just magic and someone will just laugh out loud.
So I continue: "I do blah programming in whatever..." and say some stuff like that and then I usually say something like, "As for my personal information, I'm a Libra, and my turn-offs are mean people and smoking and my turn-ons are long walks on the beach, the laughter of children, and the warm smell of colitis rising up through the air" or whatever neural firings happen to be activated at that particular nanosecond. What is interesting is that everyone after me has to try to outdo me. It breaks the ice, so mission accomplished as far as I am concerned.
At any rate, after my requisite George Costanza Seinfeld reference I heard this very familiar laugh among the others. Yes, 3 people actually thought it was funny, but because of where I was sitting my view of some of the class was obscured so I couldn't see everyone. The first break came about 45 minutes later, and on my way back into the room there she was in the hallway, 3 men with pocket protectors already zeroed in on her.
I watched her as she talked to them and was laughing about something.
"Here he is! Here's my favorite marine biologist. Rescued any whales lately, Jake?" she laughed.
"Hey, I'm not ashamed that my career journey is besmirched with failure. It has helped me find my way."
"Wow, are you some kind of Zen master now?" she taunted. Manny, Moe and Jack at this point could see that we knew each other so they moved on to other prey.
"How the hell did you avoid me until now! You are really something, girl."
"A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets, Jakey. That lady in Titanic said that, so it must be true", she smirked.
The only deep ocean I could see at that moment were her crystal blue, absolutely stunning eyes, a little greyer today than usual I noticed. I can feel the sinking feeling in my stomach just recalling that moment. It was like the rest of the room stopped for a split second and the only motion in the room was her lips, the only sound the words coming out of her mouth.
"Class is starting" she said, and dashed into the room. I sat fidgeting in my seat the entire day scheming about how I was going to get her back to my room. Dinner, then drinks, then a few more drinks, then back to my room. No, wait, not too many drinks, I don't want to get too tired and I definitely don't want her to get too tired. Class? What class?
When the instructor dismissed us and I made a direct line for her.
"So, uhhhhh.........whacha doin' for dinner sweet thing?" she asked.
"My schedule is open."
We chatted as we walked back towards my hotel. We stopped off at the Nelli Deli to have a sandwich and caught a few drinks along the way.
"Pat O'Brien's is for TOURISTS!!!!", she insisted. I couldn't argue, although I did manage to talk her into two hurricanes on the back patio. The warm air swirled around us as we watched the real tourists come to play. We sat not far from the fountain at the center of the patio which provided excellent white noise against the backdrop of people talking and moving about.
I pulled out a few coins and tossed them in. "Three coins in the fountain, Jakey", she said.
"What? Oh, yeah, three coins in the fountain. We're not in Rome, dearest", I volleyed.
"Rome is where the heart is, sweetie," she laughed.
