"Hi!"
"Are you busy?"
"I'm just trying to figure something out on a spreadsheet," Louise explained.
"That sounds painful!"
"You wouldn't know if there's a function to convert international date formats, would you?"
"Oh my God! Too complicated!"
"I got this file from our office in Hong Kong. All of the dates have the day first, then the month, and then the year. I want to convert them to month/day/year, but I can't seem to find an easy way to do it."
"Yeah, well, you do know that tech isn't my strong suit."
"That's OK - I'll figure something out."
"Why don't you ask Walter?"
"Oh, he's on a plane."
"Where's he going now?"
"Colorado, for three days."
"What's out there?"
"One of their engineering and design teams," Louise explained. "He has to meet with them once a month."
"Oh, so you're free this evening!" Terri noted cheerfully.
"Yeah, it looks that way."
"I was wondering if you might want to meet up."
"Sure!" Louise agreed. "Is everything okay?"
"Well," Terri began, "there's sort of been another ex-wife sighting."
"Get out! She's back?"
"He's going to meet her tonight. Family conference with the kid about college."
"Oh, so you didn't actually run into her?"
"No, thank God!"
"Did he tell you that she was coming, or did you have to pry it out of him?"
"No, he told me," Terri clarified. "He was really sweet about it."
"Well, that's good!"
"Yeah, I guess!"
"But it's still kind of a crappy feeling, right?"
"Yeah," Terri said. "I just don't feel right when she's around."
"That's funny," Louise observed. "I feel the same way about Jo."
"Oh my God!"
"And yet, she's one of my best friends. So how screwed up is MY life?"
"I'm so sorry, Lou! I hadn't thought of it that way."
"It's okay," Louise assured her. "Things happen."
"Yeah, really shitty things!" Terri said angrily. "I still can't believe the courage that it must have taken to forgive her. Not to mention Walter."
"Oh, I haven't forgiven him yet," Louise said firmly.
"Nevertheless, you're a saint."
"Oh, yeah! Saint Get Shit On By Your Friend And Your Boyfriend At The Same Time. The most pathetic saint ever!"
"Oh my God, you're hilarious!" Terri exclaimed, unable to choke back an embarrassed laugh.
"Does having a sense of humor qualify for sainthood, too?"
"Look, we don't have to do anything tonight," Terri said.
"No! No! We're both alone. We might as well drown our sorrows and wallow in tales of woe."
"You do have a point," Terri noted. "What do you think? Angelos?"
"Yeah, that's fine. It's easy to park there."
"Seven-ish?"
"Let's go earlier," Louise suggested. "I'm really not in the mood to work late."
"OK, I probably can get there around 6:15 - 6:30 at the latest."
"That's perfect."
"Okay, I'll see you then!"
"Thanks!"
"And good luck on your spreadsheet!"
"I need it."
Louise put her phone in her purse and realized suddenly that Beth had been standing a few feet away. "Oh, sorry!"
"That's OK!" Beth said gleefully. Her face beamed as though she couldn't wait to tell Louise something exciting. "Are you busy?"
"Kind of," answered Louise with a hint of annoyance in her tone. "What's up?"
Beth bent down and whispered in Louise's ear. "Antonio asked me to go dancing with him on Friday."
Louise pulled back a few inches and stared Beth in the eyes. "That's great!" she said in a low, breathy voice.
"You don't mind, right?" Beth asked.
"No! Not at all!"
"I mean, you guys aren't...?"
"No! No!" Louise said emphatically while shaking her head.
"Are you sure?" asked Beth.
"Positive," Louise confirmed. She did her best to force a smile. "Go out! Have a good time!"
"OK, thanks!"
"OK," whispered Louise.
Beth darted away with so much enthusiasm that she appeared to gallop. Her face still beaming when she smiled back from Louise's office door.
"Dancing!" Louise muttered under her breath. "Isn't that nice?"
'The Horse Farm'
Copyright © 2015 Daniel R. South
All Rights Reserved
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