Monday was like a new beginning. It was the first time in almost six months that I had a normal schedule. Seven to four, five days a week sounded good, for a while at least. The question was, would it keep me interested and excited?

We even had a good healthy breakfast of fruit, whole grain cereal and orange juice. I was going to stop at the donut shop on the way home and get a dozen bagels and a tub of cream cheese to add a little variety to the breakfast meal.

We left home in a mini convoy: Jen in her state car, the girls in the Ford diesel and me in the Suburban. We had taken Jason’s car back last night. The driveway was just too full. I did do a training course for the diesel. We went to the closed-up mall at the Narrows to give all the potential drivers seat time and parallel parking practice after taking the car back. I had also ordered a fuel card to keep in it. I did emphasize diesel fuel and not gas.

Today was going to be one busy day. The contractor was to be there at eight to get started on the expansion of the Security Department. I had been around different types of construction all over the world and most times they seemed to move at a snails pace. I just didn’t see how they were going to more than double our office space and have it ready to be occupied in less than thirty days. They hadn’t even put up a string line yet.

Then in the afternoon they were to hold the pre-bid information sessions for the bidders on the first stage of the college expansion. The e-mail packet I had downloaded informed me that when construction started on that phase my Security Department was to supply a materials auditor for all material deliveries well as provide twenty four hour security for the contractor’s employees and equipment.

The contractor and his two job foreman showed up at seven thirty. Ken Smith from Building Services department and I set down with them. They gave us a brief overview of the project. They insisted – barring no natural disasters – we would be able to move in less than thirty days and if we hadn’t done so yet we should order the furniture now. At eight his crew was already removing the sod. They were going to pour concrete for the floor at three.

At 9 Shirley Short came from HR and introduced me to my new temporary secretary. Patti Cross was 25, 5 feet 6 inches, about 110 pounds, nice hips, and a heavy 36 c. She was wearing a mid calf mini-dress and a “V” top that was showing the maximum amount of cleavage possible. She still looked professional and very tan. There were no lines anywhere that were visible. She had mid-back length black hair, a killer smile and dancing brown eyes. She also had a very strong hand shake. She just went on and on about how pleased she was to be able to work with me and how she had read everything she could find about me.

Did I say she had a killer ass to match the rest of her and there were no rings? I did notice that she had a tongue piercing, I wonder if some boy had been behind that. The word on the street was that kind of piercing improved blow jobs.

Patti had a business degree but had elected to start as a secretary. She had been doing the payroll and the scheduling for the department for the last two weeks. We reshuffled the main office some and Patti got the desk and computer terminal behind me that had been the general use terminal.

Patti said “I consider myself to be your personal confidential secretary in all matters, even if the job description does not say that.”

“I appreciate that very much, “ I told her. Jenny sent a text that she was coming with lunch and to chat at 11:30.

Jenny was on time. She brought salad and soup from one of the more high-end restaurants down town. I did the introductions with Patti and it was obvious that they were going to hit it off. I told her she could go to lunch.

Jenny and I ate the conference room. In between bites we talked about a variety of things. Tomorrow at 11 there was a major news conference; it was to be the closure to the rape investigations. The college had given permission for Lorrie and Vicky to be on stage if they wanted. I was required to represent the college.

Everyone was going to make a big deal out of this. The Governor’s task force was to be there, the State Police, Sherriff’s Dept, even the FBI was going to be there. Everybody needed their piece of the pie even though in the end it boiled down to two girls defending themselves that caused the destruction and end to the rape ring.

Jenny said, “I heard Lorrie say she was ready yesterday. How are you going to handle that?”

“I don’t know, I kind of thought she was more straight than gay and that she would go back to normal dating,” I said.

“She had dated only lightly and was still a virgin when she was assaulted. She had told me she now has no interest in men any more. She says that she doesn’t want to be alone with one anymore,” Jenny said.

“I think this needs to be handled very carefully, this is not one of those times when you just strip and fuck,” I said. “I am just worried about hurting the feelings of you and the rest of the girls if I do something special for her,” I added.

“We all love Lorrie and want her to be happy and fulfilled. She rarely orgasms when she masturbates. Vicky has commented on that several times, you know how close they are,” Jenny said.

“If you are sure it won’t cause any hard feelings, let’s do a traditional date, then. I told her it would be special and it will. I give you my credit card and you can take her shopping. You need to get her a complete outfit for dinner and dancing. I will go do the same thing the next night,” I said.

“Where are you going to take her dancing that two women aren’t going to cause a problem?” Jenny asked.

“I think the BDC – they keep it reasonably dark in there, if anyone says anything our dates stood us up. And we weren’t going to waste the evening,” I replied.

“Sounds good to me,” Jenny said as she stood up to leave.

I worked the rest of the afternoon with Patti; we had a lot to do. First we had an office to put together for a growing Department at a rapidly expanding college. During relaxed conversations during breaks in the work I learned Patti moved here four weeks ago when she got the job and was living in a seedy motel in the bad part of town. She had also ended a rough relationship with her girl friend.

At 3 I went outside to see what all the extra noise was coming from. They were pouring concrete. They had removed the sod, leveled, put crushed rock down, installed all the pipes, vapor barrier, insulation, rebar and the forms – all in one day. I was impressed.

I left early; I had some things to do. I stopped at the flower shop and picked up three roses, a glowing yellow, a deep dark red, and a pink. Why three? I don’t know but they were beautiful and gave off a wonderful fragrance.

On the way out of town, at the strip mall I stopped at the furniture bedding store. It was time to furnish the fourth bed room. It was going to collect junk if I didn’t do something with it. I bought a beautiful canopy four post king size bed complete with mattresses and springs. I also bought three dressers, two lamps and all the sheets, pillows and quilts. It was expensive – four thousand dollars list -but I got twenty-five percent off and that made it better. They also had to deliver it at six tonight.

I got rid of the junk in the room and vacuumed the carpet. We had just finished supper when the furniture came. The room was beautiful.

After supper while the girls were doing homework in the den. I dug through all my stationery stash looking for something feminine and in my best old English script wrote:
“My dearest Lorrie, with the change in my work I now have time to enjoy life and expand our friendship. It would give me great pleasure if you would accompany me on a Saturday night date. It will be dinner, wine and dancing followed by a private time together. I await your answer. BJ”

I left the box of roses and the envelope on Lorrie’s side of the bed. I had shown the roses to Jenny. As I sat on the couch in the den beside her I winked to Jenny to acknowledge what I had done.

I asked, “Are you sure this is the right way to do this?”

Jenny smiled, “Yes, trust me and you will know for sure in a little while.”

About a half hour later Vicky went into the bedroom but quickly returned. As she started into the den, but out of the sight of the others, she gave me a big smile and the thumbs up. A few minutes later she asked Lorrie to go get her something off her nightstand. As Lorrie exited the door Vicky changed chairs and quieted the other girls.

We heard a loud “Oh, my” then “Yes”.

Lorrie came back into the room carrying the roses and card next to her chest, with a look that I couldn’t tell if she was going to cry or what. She read the card again and this time there was an ear-to-ear smile.

She sat on the couch beside me and said, “The answer is YES.”

“Just you and me” I replied. And again she said “YES.”

Vicky, Ching Lee and Marcy were now sitting at our, all smiles. Lorrie passed them the note and roses and gave me a big hug then settled up next to me.

“You are not going to fill me full of wine to lower my inhibitions, are you?” she asked all serious, and then she giggled a little.

“More to settle my nerves – we are going into uncharted territory here, “ I said as I laughed. The rest of the evening was filled with playful discussion.

Edit by Alfmeister