Louise reached into a white purse and pulled out her badge. The hostess glanced at it quickly, smiled, and said, "Thank you!" A second hostess with red and black hair extended her arm toward the main room.
It was a dark space, but conspicuously shiny in places, with brass trim and an abundance of mirrors on the perimeter. Alternating red and blue lights illuminated the bottles behind the bar. Electronic music pulsed lightly in the background, overwhelmed by human voices.
A thought occurred to Louise: "Some of the new college hires must have chosen this place."
Antonio stood near the bar. His height, trimmed beard, and flowing hair made him hard to miss. Beth and two women that Louise didn't know listened and laughed as Antonio recounted some tale or another. "Well, at least he's not on the dance floor," Louise thought to herself. "Yet."
"Hey, Louise! You made it!"
"Oh, hi, Geoff. How are you?"
"Are you looking for Antonio?"
"He seems to be occupied at the moment," Louise commented dryly.
"I'm so glad that you two will be working together again!" Geoff reported enthusiastically.
"Well, I..."
"I'm going to set up a meeting on Monday to discuss roles and responsibilities for the new project."
"Yeah, I have a lot going on with my other projects," Louise said. How did Geoff get the idea that she was free to work with Antonio?
"Oh, I talked to Sharon," Geoff continued. "She said that she can free you up for a month or two. You guys worked so well together last year. We want to leverage that chemistry again."
"Sharon..." Louise thought to herself. "How did that airhead ever become a manager? She spends half of her day on the phone with the nanny and the other half making one bad decision after another. I told her specifically that I didn't want to work with that team again. She must have forgotten."
Louise smiled back at Geoff: "Well, as long as Sharon says that it's okay!"
"Great! Can I get you something to drink?"
"Oh no, that's okay," Louise assured him. "I have to leave soon."
"Where are you going?" - It was Antonio.
"Hey, Antonio!" Geoff had beer on his breath.
"Geoff! How are you doing, man?"
"I was just letting Louise know that we'll all be working together starting next week!"
"Oh, that's terrific!" Antonio exclaimed while raising a bottle of micro-brewed stout. "Oh, Louise, you don't have a drink."
"That's okay, I was just on my way out," Louise insisted.
"Geoff! Get Louise a beer, would you?"
Geoff chuckled and flashed Antonio a wink. "Coming right up!"
"No, really! I..."
"Louise! You can't just stop by for five minutes and not even have a drink," Antonio said. "Everyone will think that you're anti-social."
"I'm sorry!" she said. "Things to do!"
"But we haven't had a chance to talk."
"Oh, I think we had plenty of chances to talk," Louise argued. "We just didn't seem to get around to it."
"Luisa! Is that what this is about?" he asked. "I'm sorry that we lost touch."
"More like you fell off of the face of the earth," Louise said crossly.
"I'm so sorry. I meant to call more, but some things were happening with my family."
"No worries!" Louise said. "It's ancient history."
"Not that ancient," Antonio countered.
"Dead and buried," Louise said. "But hey, we can always look on the bright side!"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, look! You have the girls from Accounting eating out of your hand."
"Louisa..."
"You could do one a month while you're here. Or just go all in and do three of them in the same night."
"Louisa, that isn't funny!"
"I wasn't trying to be funny."
"I wanted to call you. I wanted to talk, so much."
"But you didn't, Antonio. You called me twice after you left."
"Three times."
"Oh! Three fucking times! In a YEAR!" Louise said. "Jesus! You just proved my point!"
Antonio was beginning to feel agitated but couldn't think of an appropriate response.
"See you in the office, I guess," Louise offered. "I've got to go."
"Louise, you can't just leave things like this."
"No. YOU left things like this," she argued. "And I have a life to get back to."
"A life?" His tone revealed traces of anger and contempt.
"Yes!" Louise responded. "A life."
"Is this the same life that you were willing to cheat on?"
Louise felt anger rush up through her chest and into her face, but she said nothing. She stared back at him for a few seconds. How could he dare take such liberties? Such a cheap shot? She pushed through the crowd and walked swiftly toward the exit.
'The Horse Farm'
Copyright © 2015 Daniel R. South
All Rights Reserved
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