“Morning, Ms. Henderson.  Mr. Peterson the CFO of Maxwell Enterprise just called.  He wanted to know when he could expect the financial sheets and the quarterly financial report on his desk by.  The directors’ meeting is next week Monday.  And he said to tell you that they found a few more expense reports the executives forgot to turn in and also, they sold some real estate last quarter and forgot to include the sales slips and also, the depreciation report for the other real estate holdings.”

                    “Call him and let him know that I’ll have it done by Thursday or Friday morning the latest.  And make sure I get faxed copies of the other reports ASAP.”

                    “Ok, I’ll go get on it.”

                    “Thanks, Meg.”

                    Erika rubbed the side of her head, feeling a headache developing.  Deadlines were so stressful, but it was all part of her job she knew.  Hence the extra pay and the fancy office, but was it worth it?   Today was the first day that she wondered if she could do this for the next thirty years.   There’s got to be more in life than corporate accounting but first she needed to find out what made her happy.  That was no small task considering that she grew up thinking that if she could be independent, successful in her career and known in her community that was what success was all about.  Is that all wrong?

                     The workday was almost over but Rick had not called.  She called her answering machine at home to check the messages, but no message from him there either.  In the note he had promised to call.  Oh, my god, why am I being so clingy and needy?  For goodness sake, it was just a fling.  Chill out Erika.

                     Maybe he was just being polite.  I don’t want him; she reasoned with herself, I just want to know what went wrong.

                     The day went by incredibly slow.  She couldn’t wait till the clock ticked at five.  Today was Monday and on M, T, Sat at 7pm she had strength training and kick boxing classes at 24 Hour Fitness.  She couldn’t wait to arrive at her gym class, never more eager to get rid of the stress and tension in her body.  The weights weren’t fun but the kickboxing was energizing and she loved it.

                      Her body was tired and totally spent the tense muscles in her back and shoulders had disappeared.

                      She swung by the local grocery store after gym class to grab a few supplies.  When she picked up a Plain Soy Milk and started walking towards the low-fat yogurt was the moment she spotted him. A Rick-lookalike. She could have sworn his face looked almost like Rick’s but his hair was two shades lighter, and stubble on his chin.  Was her mind playing tricks on her?  He strode right pass her like he was in a hurry.

                      Sleep.  Sleep was good, she thought as she collapsed on her bed a few hours later.

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