âYes of course!!! Iâd love to come to dinner!!!â
There, Iâd done it. Didnât know if I could. The thought gave me fits last night when my wife, home from her âGarden Club Meetingâ, suggested that we have Melissa to our home. Why what huhâŠ?? My first reaction, of course, was Nuh-uh no way. Not a good idea.
But thenâŠthe old saying came into my headâŠâhe who doth protest too muchâ
Iâd realized almost  immediately that I really had no argument. Weâd had Jeannette, my previous manager, over a bunch of times. It was a kind of common nicety, my wife and I, entertaining our manager. âItâll be good to meet her,â Sheryl said, âmake her feel like part of the familyâŠâ She was being auspicious, welcoming to Melissa, proactiveâŠ
Sheryl was doing it, insisting on this invite, to get under my skin. At best, teasingly, at worstâŠas punishment. Either way, I knew the night would be torture - my wife and Melissa in the same room? What would we talk about? How would Melissa behave? What might she say? What would she wear??? My skin crawled just thinking of it all through last evening, and it was made no better waking up and knowing that not only would I actually have to go ahead with it, invite herâŠbut that Melissaâs friend Randi was starting at our scheduling desk today, too. Staffâs gonna love thatâŠ
All stressful, and - I realize, of course - all a torment of my own making. But the discomfort was ameliorated perhaps in the slightest by Melissaâs reaction to the invite: she was overjoyed. âOh my god Iâm so excited! So what can I bring??â The pride and accomplishment lit up her face; she glowed with a vigorous enthusiasm as I laughed and shrugged. Good god sheâs gorgeous, I canât help thinking, in times like this. I tried to stay on task but it mollified my angst, my stress and tension, seeing her happy. WellâŠthat and her perfumeâŠand the fit of her sweaterâŠand the short skirt sheâd chosen for the dayâŠ
She leaned towards me, standing as we were against the wall in the back corridor, alone. More perfume.
But the anxiety and fear returned - redoubled and retripled upon itself when I pulled out my phone, with her looking on, ready to add the date into my calendar. Iâd just gotten a text, a few moments ago, from an unknown number but marked urgent. I swiped into it andâŠ
Oh shit!! What is THis???
It took a moment to recover from my shock, my eyes likely bulging, but I pulled the phone away.
âS-s-s-sorryâŠ.â I scrambled, swiping the text window away, âfrom a, uhâŠa message from one of the staffâŠâ Had she seen anything?!?
It had been a photo of her, obviously from some type of modelling shoot, or glamour pose or something. But most disturbing - and I couldnât be sure, Iâd only seen it for a second - she seemed to have been wearing the exact same sweater she had on right now!! Who sent this???
âFrom one of the staff??â she retorted, confused a bit by my over-reaction but brows furrowing with seriousness, âIf they have a problem they should come to me first, they shouldnât be disturbing youâŠhere, let me see itâŠâ She reached for my phone and-
He who doth protest too muchâŠ
âNOâŠ.!â I exclaimed, too loudly, as - in a spastic moment of panic, hands fumbling away -
As if in slow motion my phone - complete with bosomy photo of Melissa filling the screen - spastically slipped from my hands, turned in the air and .began to fall to the floor. We both lunged for my phone trying to catch it. Instead we collided into each other.
We bumped - my face into her left shoulder and - god help me! - left boob. My left hand sought to grab her right thigh for support. Her left hand went to my right arm, steadying me as the phone clattered to the ground and my only thought-
She laughed, as I quickly grabbed it, and helped me to my feet.
âAre you okay??â she giggled, eyes sparkling into mine as she held me, now, one hand on each of my shoulders.
âHeh heh, y-y-yeahâ I chuckled, in a nervous recovery, attempting a deep breath, âsorry, itâs nothingâŠâ I slid the phone away, into my pocket.
I smiled, brows sweating, knowing I should say something.
âSo, for dinner, Saturday. How abo-â
She stopped me with a giggle.
âWhat should I wear???â
<to be continued/part two on its way>
Thanks to @carouselbegins for the fumbled phone image and his help with the copy.
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