by Nancy Adams
Ten minutes later I heard the door open, and quickly got myself situated; I was behind the desk, going over the final reports from the day before, when Nate opened the office door and started to enter.
It couldn't have been better. New clothes? Six hundred dollars. New shoes? Two hundred. The look on Nate's face as he stood frozen in the doorway, staring at me?
Priceless!
“Hi,” I said casually, and went back to looking at the computer display.
“Hi, there,” he said in reply, and I swear I heard him swallow a couple of times. “You look great today. Something special going on?”
He'd never commented on my appearance before. I calmly shook my head, still watching the monitor. “Nope. Just went shopping yesterday. I figured I'm making all this overtime, I might as well spend it on something. Got some new outfits and had my hair done.”
It was so hard to act nonchalant, when I wanted to scream out, “Special? Yeah, there's something special going on! I'm going to rock your world, Baby, if you'll just open your eyes and see what's in front of you!”
He stepped inside and shut the door behind him, taking the chair across the desk from me. “Well, I have to say it's a whole new look. I didn't even recognize you, at first. Thought someone had broken in and was trying to steal your job.” He chuckled as he said it.
I raised my eyes to look up at him, feigning worry. “Oh, no! You wouldn't let her, would you?”
He gave me his biggest smile, then. “No way. Nobody replaces my Katelynn!”
His Katelynn? Oh my… I think the look on my face must have been about as priceless as his had been, because he suddenly cleared his throat and looked away. I went back to the monitor, hoping I hadn’t made him too uncomfortable as I'd sat there staring at him.
It was Monday, so I had to get the next week's schedule done; we always posted it a week in advance, so that everyone had time to let me know if they had a conflict, or needed to switch a day with someone else. It took me about fifteen minutes to finish that job, and then I faxed off the dailies to the home office, and got ready to open. The rest of the day shift crew had arrived by then, so we went into the break room and had a cup of coffee with them. This was my own idea, a sort of morning meeting to let the employees know they could talk to me about anything. Nate always went with me, but let me handle anything that came up.
On this particular morning, one of the girls waited until we'd gotten our coffee and taken seats at one of the tables before clearing her throat.
“Katelynn,” she began, “I hate to start the day off with something bad, but I'm going to have to give my two weeks' notice. My husband is being transferred to North Carolina, and the pay increase is too good to pass up.”
“Okay,” I said, “We hate to lose you already, but I can understand. Thanks for letting me know so soon.”
Wow, we hadn't replaced Brenda yet, so that meant I had to hire two people instead of one. I made a mental note to tell Corie to come and put in her application right away.
We talked with several others about different things; one of the ladies asked about her schedule, because I had forgotten that she had asked to have a particular day off that week, and I jotted down a note to correct that for her, while another wanted to know how soon her benefits would kick in. I explained that benefits were not given until an employee had been on the job for ninety days, and she thanked me. These little morning meetings gave everyone the chance to talk about things that might concern them, and everyone else got to learn from the answers we gave.
When it was over, Nate and I went back to the office to work on the day's reports, and he had me call the local newspaper to place two job ads. I didn't want to call Corie right in front of him, so I waited until he left the office for a few minutes.
“Hey, girl,” I said. “Get up, get dressed and get down here! There are two openings I just posted ads for, so come in and say you just stopped in at random! And don't let on we're besties!”
She giggled. “I'll be there in an hour! Do I ask for you?”
“No, silly— I just told you, you don't know me! Just ask for the manager and they'll call me up front.”
She promised to get there as soon as possible, and I put my phone away just as I heard Nate coming back. He walked in, and I could tell he was looking me over again. I could get used to this, I thought.
We went out into the store to hang some new sale signs that had come in that morning. Nate wouldn't let me climb the ladder, so I held it while he went up and hooked them onto the framework of the dropped ceiling. Once that was done, I went up front to relieve one of the cashiers for her morning break, and I was still there when Corie came in.
She played it cool, asking me if she could speak to the manager, and I said that I was she. I had her wait a few moments until my cashier on break came back, and then went and got her an application. She filled it out while she was there, and when I mentioned to him that I had gone to school with her, Nate suggested I go ahead and do the interview. He sat in on it, so I was a little nervous that he might realize we actually knew each other better than I'd let on, but he seemed fine. When the interview was over, I started to tell Corie I'd call her, but Nate spoke up.
“Katelynn, I'd say you might want to go ahead and give her a shot. She seems quite capable, and we're already short-handed. What do you think?”
I looked at Corie. “I'd agree,” I said. “Could you start tomorrow? You'll be on a cash register, and I can have Donna show you the ropes.”
She agreed, of course, since she was out of work anyway, and I told her to be there at six in the morning. She was so excited I thought she might hug me, but I'd also noticed her peeking at Nate out of the corner of her eye, and I hoped this wasn't going to be a mistake. If she got it in her head that she wanted him, I'd be short one former best friend in a hurry!
But Corie wouldn't do that. Even in high school, when she'd been “Miss Popular,” she'd never been any kind of threat when a boy did notice me, and if I liked one, he couldn’t get a date with her to save his life. No, Corie was loyal, and besides, the whole “Operation Nate and KK” thing had been her idea.
It suddenly hit me that she would be even more of an ally in that mission, now that she'd be working here. I could just imagine her getting Nate alone in the break room for a minute, and regaling him with all the wonderful things she'd noticed about me. This could be good, but it might also blow up in my face. I'd have to keep a bit of an eye on her.
By the time we finished with Corie, it was getting close to lunch, and I was about to ask Nate what he wanted. We'd been taking turns going to the burger shop to grab our usuals, and it was my turn, but he surprised me when he said, “Let's just go out for lunch. Put one of your people in charge while we're gone, and it'll be my treat.”
This was the first time he'd ever suggested we go out for lunch, so he didn't have to ask twice. I told Donna we were leaving and to hold down the fort, and followed Nate out to his car. As he always did, he opened my door and held it for me, but this time he leaned close as I got in.
“Is that a new perfume, too? It's nice,” he said.
“Oh,” I said, “yes, I bought it yesterday when I was shopping. I'd heard about it, and thought I'd give it a try.”
“Well, it's very nice. And it fits you, a beautiful fragrance on a beautiful lady.”
I was flabbergasted! Nate had never said anything like that to me before, never uttered a word that might actually signify any interest in me as anything other than an employee. I looked over at him as he climbed in behind the wheel.
“Um—thank you,” I said, and I'm sure I blushed a bit.
He smiled. “Just because I haven't been flirting with you doesn't mean I haven't noticed what a lovely woman you are, Katelynn. I've got to confess that I've entertained thoughts of asking you out, but between our long hours and the fact that we have a business relationship that has to come first, I didn't think you'd take it too kindly.” He put the car in gear and we drov
e out of the parking lot.
“Well,” I said, but he held up a hand and I waited.
“So, this morning, when I came in and saw you dressed to kill, wearing new perfume that might as well be a pheromone, I thought to myself that maybe, just maybe, you might not object if I said I’d love to spend some time with you outside of work. Am I reading you right on that?”
Once again, he looked at me, and I turned bright red. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out so I closed it. A moment later I opened it again.
“I can be honest enough to say I've kind of hoped you might feel that way, but I didn't want to say it. I guess that's why I did the shopping trip, yesterday, to see if you'd notice.” I could feel the heat radiating from my face as I spoke.
He kept smiling. “Oh, I noticed. I noticed you the first day I met you, and every single day since then. Can I be blunt?” I nodded. “Katelynn, I've spent the past few years working my tail off for the company, and before that I was in the Corps and that took up all my time. I've dated off and on, but never anything serious; just never found anyone I really connected with.”
I felt myself relaxing, even though the subject at hand was one that was a little nerve-wracking. “I know what you mean,” I said. “Until a few months ago, I was buried in college, and I could count the dates I've had on my fingers.”
“But nothing serious for you, either?”
“No, never. I guess I'm like you, just haven't met the right one.”
He drove along for a moment in silence and pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant we had only been to once before, for dinner. It was one of the nicer places in the city, and I really liked it. He parked and got out, then came around to open my door again, but this time he actually took my hand as I stepped out of the car.
My heart fluttered, and I almost stumbled, but caught myself. He grinned, and a part of me wanted to kick him in the shins, but I just grinned back. He continued to hold onto my hand as we walked into the restaurant; it wasn't quite what I'd consider “hand-holding,” more like just giving me something to hold onto for security, but hey, I wasn't going to look any gift horse in the mouth!
We were seated by a hostess who made a point of noticing our hands, and smiled at us. I thought for a moment that he'd let go at that point, but when she led us toward our table, he just stepped forward and held onto it as though he were leading me.
It was kind of nice.
We sat down and the hostess gave us menus, and we each studied them for a moment. I was still nervous, not knowing if he was working up to asking for a date, or if maybe he thought this was a date. I didn't know quite what to think about anything at that moment, and I had to look the menu over three times before I could focus enough to choose the roast turkey with dressing.
Nate laid his menu down before I did, and when the waitress approached to take our orders, he was ready. I listened as he ordered duck with orange sauce, then managed to give her my own order, as well.
And then we were alone. I felt the nervousness begin to increase, again, and picked up my water glass to cover it up.
“So,” Nate said, and I almost sprayed water across the table. “Are you going to keep me sweating over here, or should I just give up?”
“Give up?” I asked. “On what?”
He chuckled at the look on my face, which I'm sure must have looked a lot like a scared rabbit's at that point.
“Katelynn, I am trying to ask if you would be willing to consider letting me take you out on a date. I was thinking that perhaps we could take an evening off this Friday and have dinner together as a man and a woman, rather than as Trainer and Trainee. Maybe we could even take in a movie, if you'd like that.”
I was speechless! I cleared my throat and said, “I—I'd actually really like that.”
I'd seen Nate smile a thousand times, already, but I had never seen the smile that flowed across his face at that moment. It was so brilliant that I almost had to squint, and the thought went through my thoroughly muddled mind that I wanted to see that smile again and again!
“Terrific!” he said, and I was startled when he reached across the table and touched my hand. “Maybe we can make it a regular thing.”
We made it through lunch, which was quite an accomplishment for me; my head was swimming with thoughts of possible futures, and if I'd had a pen, I might have been doodling hearts all over the place mat, or writing “Katelynn Simmons” over and over! A part of me knew I was acting childish, but another part was praying that there might actually be hope. Imagine me, ending up married to a millionaire! Who would have ever thought such a thing might actually be possible?
Wait a minute, that sounds awful. I don't mean to imply that Nate's wealth had anything to do with my attraction to him. Trust me, he's the kind of man that would get my attention even if he were dirt poor and looking for work. Tall and strong, and just reeking of maleness! No, money might make life easier, but I'd be willing to take Nate even without it!
When we got back to the store, we both acted as though nothing had happened. I checked through my employee manual to see if there were any policies against dating other employees, and found that it wasn't prohibited at all, and that made me feel a little better; I would have hated to get attached and then have someone from upstairs tell us we couldn't see each other anymore. That just wouldn't be fair!
The rest of the day was long and boring, for the most part, although I did get a few little thrills as I saw Nate watching me as I worked. Knowing that he'd noticed me even before my Sunday Shopping Makeover was comforting; it meant that the clothes and hairstyle had only enhanced what he already liked, rather than making him notice me for the first time. That was a great feeling!
Of course, every time I'd started to think things were going my way, something would go wrong. I don't know why I thought this time would be any different!
Chapter 5
A Night To Remember
* * * * *
Corie went absolutely bonkers that night when I told her how well our little plans had worked out, and that I would be going on my first date with Nate (wow, that rhymes) that coming Friday night.
“See?” she said, “I knew he couldn't resist you in those outfits!”
“Actually, I think it was more the hair and perfume that got him,” I replied. “He made a bit of a fuss about the clothes, but he kept looking at my hair and sniffing whenever he got close enough.”
“Whatever! It's like fishing, if you've got enough bait out there, you're bound to get a nibble.”
Mom was also excited for me. Her fondest wish as I was growing up was that I'd end up married to a doctor or lawyer or some other professional type, and I'm sure she could already see visions of grandchildren dancing around her living room at Christmastime and other holidays.
The next few days went by like molasses in January, as my Dad liked to say; he'd grown up poor in the country, and had picked up a lot of old sayings like that from his grandparents, who lived with his family when he was a child. Normally, I ignored those old adages, but every now and then they just seemed to fit. This was one of those times.
Work was going great, and I was delighted to have Corie working there with me, but we didn't get a lot of time to spend together. She was learning from Donna how to run the cash register (Nate and I were in agreement that Donna would be promoted to my assistant manager when he left, but we hadn't even hinted to her about it yet), and I was still getting in lots of practice in running the place. Nate kept me busy with work, so I didn't have time to worry about what our date would be like until I got off work each evening.
And then my brain would go nuts! Try as I might, I could not go to sleep without lying there an hour with daydreams and fantasies playing through my head, wondering what I should wear, should I get my hair done again (as if I had any time when I possibly could) and a dozen other things that I hadn't done since I was in the eighth grade. Danny Milton had claimed to want me to go steady with him, and I was in Dreamy-
Land for a week, waiting to meet him at the movie theater! Of course, that time turned out to be a practical joke, because he and some of his buddies wanted to humiliate me for showing them up in class. I cried for a week afterward.
This time, I promised myself, would be nothing like that. I'd seen enough of Nate to know that he wasn't the kind of guy to play games with someone, especially with someone's heart and feelings. I think he knew, or at least suspected, that I was seriously interested in what the future might hold, so I couldn't imagine that he'd be stringing me along.
The week did pass, finally, and as we'd agreed, we both left work at four p.m. I headed home to get ready, and he went to his hotel; he had chosen one of those residence hotels that rent small apartments to visiting executives and such. I'd never been there, of course, but I'd heard they were pretty nice.
I rushed in the door at home, and Mom was waiting. She already had my chosen dress laid out, and followed me right into the bathroom to make sure there were clean towels ready for me. I shooed her out and was in the shower in no time flat.
I wanted to enjoy the shower, but I was in too much of a hurry. I had to get clean, then dry and style my hair, put on makeup and get dressed. Nate was planning to pick me up in less than two hours, so I had to rush myself. Normally I'm one of those girls who will take three hours to get ready for a date, but tonight I just couldn't spare the time.
I didn't have a clue where we were going for dinner, or what movie we were going to see. I'd left those choices to Nate, and worried more about how I was going to make the best impression on him. I wanted this first date to be just that, the first! I wanted more dates with him, and then more, and eventually a big wedding and a happily ever after! The only way those dreams were likely to ever come true was if I showed him that I really was the girl for him!