These long days were killing her. Dealing with the clientele that could not understand the most basic instructions was bad enough, but being surrounded with coworkers that did not have a much higher intelligence level was just as bad. Combine the two and the word "aggravating" just did not quite describe it.
Driving home, she wished silently to herself that someone else could take over this job. The meager pay was not enough to warrant the amount of bullshit that she had to endure, from both in front and behind the counter. When she finally pulled into her cluttered garage she noticed the state of her unmoved lawn, making mental notes of both. She would have to find time to clean them before her parents came to visit next week. She was not an untidy person, but the long hours and little sleep of the past few days had left her little time to clean or organize her house.
As she locked her front door behind her, she tossed her keys and purse on the table, not particularly caring where they landed. The sound of her heels falling to the ground echoed in her empty house. In a practiced routine, she turned on the shower and stripped off her dressy work clothes. Standing in front of the mirror, she removed her earrings and hair adornments. By the time she finished, a neat pile of jewelry and bobby pins sat on the counter and the shower began to steam.
She stepped into the warm water and let the steam ease her tense muscles. As the hot water ran down her naked body, she reminisced about when she was younger. No responsibilities. No stresses. Just go to school, then go home. Back then there was no need to juggle this fragile control of everything - go to work, pay the rent, mow the lawn, check the car, go back to work, try to sleep at some point... She missed the simplicity of life. Her friends from high school had long since married, and their lives had taken them far away from hers. Maybe if she could find someone, at least then she could share some of the stress. But she had never found the right guy, only a lot of wrong guys.
She stepped out of the shower and pulled a towel from the closet, drying herself off. When she walked out of the bathroom, the cool air chilled her skin, causing her to wrap the towel around her. When she walked into the kitchen, she was shocked to find a man sitting at her dining room table, his face shadowed from the light.
"You shouldn't be alarmed," he said calmly, "I was not sent to harm you."
Shakily, she gripped the towel tighter around her body, "Then why ARE you here? How did you get in?"
"This matters not," he told her and stood up. The light illuminated him better and she was able to see his sleek hair framing a rugged yet handsome face. He wore a solid black suit that fit his muscular body perfectly. On the table lay a silver briefcase.