Overworked (6)

January 28, 2009 Writer’s Cramp entry
Prompt: An unlucky seven makes you switch places between your current self and your 2002 self. Tell the story of one or the other - going back in time, or getting pushed forward in time - and show how this isn't a good thing.

Overworked

Conrad’s wife Brianna decided to take a vacation without him. Over summer she took their son Brett to Europe for seven weeks. While she discovered Paris, the city of love, without her husband, he worked overtime to make up for her expenses.

The first six days of her absence Conrad only went home to sleep. Luckily his pet, a Doberman, was happy to frolic about the large yard where he had freedom to roam, doze in sunny spots or eat to his heart’s content from the large dish that was put out for him in the morning.

On the evening of the seventh straight workday Conrad drove his assistant Kathy home. A habit he had taken on since a woman was found murdered in her neighborhood. Tonight he not only walked Kathy upstairs, but he gladly accepted her offer to make dinner for him. His big, empty house didn’t attract him at all with the wife and son gone.

Kathy made a simple but hearty pasta dish. With their stomachs filled and drowsy from the late hour they sat down on her sofa.

“How do you like your job at Poseidon?”Conrad asked.

“I like it. It pays my bills.” Kathy answered. Even though Conrad and Kathy worked in the same office, he was gone for most of the day. They had gotten a little closer since he started making the detour every morning to pick her up and at night to drop her off safely at home. But, for people who had worked together for years, they knew precious little about the other.

Conrad stretched his arms high and brought them back down, putting one around Kathy in a move so cheesy, a teenager would have been ashamed of it. He pulled her tight to his side.

Without making a move to get out of his embrace Kathy whispered, “This isn’t good. You are married.”

That comment elicited a chuckle from Conrad. He wrapped his strong arms around Kathy and lifted the petite woman onto his lap. He put a finger under her chin and made her look up to him. “You’ve had a crush on me since 2002.” 

“Just because it’s true doesn’t make it right. I respect your vows.” Kathy tried to get up now.

Conrad held her tight around her waist, “So it is true.”

Kathy’s heart beat all the way in her throat when she complained, “My feelings don’t give you the right to hold me like this. I can keep my inner life and reality apart.”

“You are angry!” Conrad commented amused. He let go of her and she jumped up and put several feet of distance between them.

Standing on the other side of the room she said, breathing heavily, “Please leave now. I will put in for a transfer first thing tomorrow morning. I am not a home wrecker or the mistress type.”

Conrad got off the couch and crossed the room in a few long-legged strides. He grabbed her hair on the back of her head. Just hard enough to bend her neck so she looked up to him. Husky, almost growling from his chest he demanded, “Who kept you when your performance was so dismal I had to do most of the work for you? Who covered for your lack of skills when you were no more than a snotty 19-year old fresh out of school?”

Instantly transported back in time to the first months of 2002, Kathy felt hot shame burn her face up. Conrad could have fired her every single day of her probationary time and let her try time and time again until she got it right. She remembered his disapproving glares, yet infinite patience as he explained the same thing for the seventh time.

She was pulled back into the present by his lips touching hers. His tongue parted her lips and explored her mouth fiercely. Kissing back she put her arms around his neck.

“Rah!” Conrad pushed her off with a primal grunt. He wiped his lips with a hand and quickly went to grab his jacket off the chair by the dining table.

“You are my secretary! There’s no transfer!” He left and slammed her apartment door behind him.

720 words