Monday February 14, 2011. 5:51 PM. Verna stared at the screen until the next minute rolled, then set her Blackberry down on the table beside her. What was it that Dean Sheridan had said – five o’clock, five-thirty at the latest? Despite the date, she hadn’t expected their dinner to be anything more than professional – the Dean was a pleasant enough companion for a woman of Verna’s age even if he had ‘gone to seed’ as her...

“Who the fuck does he think he is?” I exclaimed, as Adhi and I pushed through the big front doors of the office tower, out into the cold gloom of Cross St in Manchester. “You’re the best resource he’s got on the project. He’s fucking lucky to have you at all!!” “I know, I know,” Adhi sighed, “I didn’t know what to say." “How can he say that about you?! God, what an Old Fuck Face he is!!” I was really getting wound up, str...

Boredom!! What is the phrase? “The Devil finds work for idle hands?” Or something along these lines. What about idle minds?? I have worked for years, what you could call a high flyer. I pride myself as being at the top of my game, I had broken the glass ceiling. All the other cliches that describe a successful woman. Those descriptions irritate me intensely. Yes, I am a woman, last time I looked, I am me. Why this differe...

Maybe it was only my imagination, but I sensed stares on me and Dennis as we left work later that day. Walking with me toward the elevator, he rested his hand against the small of my back, his touch light but possessive. Even after we were alone, with the elevator doors firmly closed, Dennis maintained that contact. I could easily feel the warmth of his palm through my blouse. His eyes were bright while he chatted about t...

You really hurt my feelings, you know. That first time you invited me over to your mom’s house. It was Christmas time. Real Christmas time, not the endless, unnatural jingle hell that you and I live in every day, working for Winter Wonderland. You’d think after three years of shoveling reindeer shit to a steady soundtrack of Bing Crosby and Mariah Carey, I’d be relieved to go home to an empty apartment and a dinner of fuc...

The next day of classes took forever. Made even worse by not having to go to work afterwards. Which meant no Khole, and no closure. Ben thought about texting her, but didn’t want to seem clingy. After all, Khole did just break up with her boyfriend. At least it was a busy evening. Both Jill and Ben had soccer practice. Unfortunately, Jill was in his last class, making it a little more awkward. Especially when she plopped...

When Ben finally returned to work the following weekend. He took his usual spot back in the storage room, shoulder deep in stacks of boxes. Apparently, the store had gotten way behind with inventory over the past week, and Ben was pretty swamped just playing catch-up. He never made it to the sales floor to see if Khole was even working. But she didn’t come back to see him either. Maybe she wasn’t at work after all. Ben’s...