The story continues...
Two days before the flight to Savannah, Georgia for the wedding, Abby headed to Ed’s business office to meet him and run some last minute errands. She was getting a bit nervous about going to his family function with him. She hoped that she hadn’t sounded like too much of an idiot when she told Ed on the phone the evening prior that he had to be sure they had separate rooms. He had kind of chuckled at her. Abby sighed upon remembering the sound of Ed’s laugh. Her friend, Cheryl had convinced her to buy some sexy underwear for the wedding events. Abby hadn’t removed any of the price tags yet; although, she knew full well she couldn’t return those kind of things, anyway. That day at the shopping mall, Cheryl had forced the bag into her hands and announced to her, “Five years is a long time, Abby. Even though I am exhausted all the time with two kids and all, I couldn’t go five years without sex.” She shook her head in spite of herself as she pulled into the parking lot of the strip mall. Abby had made up her mind, though; she and Ed and were friends and that was it. At least for now, she thought, slamming the car door.
The entrance to Ed’s electronic business was non obtrusive; Abby had driven past it before but never been inside the office before. Ed was always telling her how he just needed storage for his tools and essentials and Doris to help make appointments and get the mail. He was proud of his business, even if it was small, Abby thought to herself fondly. Doris was his receptionist and Abby had spoken to her on the phone several times, but didn’t know what to expect in person. Abby pulled the door open and saw a petite woman with straight dishwater blond hair to her shoulders and a thin face with happy crinkles near her eyes.
“May I help?” Doris began.
Abby opened to mouth to introduce herself but didn’t have a chance to do so before Doris exclaimed, “It’s Abby, right.”
Abby nodded and the slender little woman crushed her with a warm hug.
Doris finally stepped back and said, “So nice to meet you finally. I’m Doris.”
“Hello, Doris,” Abby said, still a bit surprised by the hug from a stranger.
“Ed talks about you non-stop,” she said, smiling, her cheeks rosy, her laugh lines giving her face a look of warm wisdom.
“Oh,” was all Abby could get out. She tried to steady her nerves and she looked around the office, one central room, what looked like a storage closet and a little bathroom. The central room had been broken up with two desks and there was even a makeshift waiting area with three folding chairs. A heavy duty plastic shelving unit next to one of the desk was littered with wire, lighting fixtures and light switches. A Moab, Utah poster was above what Abby presumed was Ed’s desk and it made her smile. She too, loved the red rocks there.
“He should be back any minute,” Doris said, “Would you like a drink?”
“Only if its not trouble,” Abby said, sitting down at the desk chair facing the Moab poster.
Doris went and retrieved a coke from the mini refrigerator in the corner and handed it to her with another big smile.
Abby took a drink of the coke and read Ed’s post-it note messages. His printing was so perfectly straight, never cursive. Just then, Ed walked through the door. His grin turned into a big smile when you saw her sitting at his desk.
“Hope you didn’t wait long, Abby,” Ed said, setting his toolboxes onto the floor.
She shook her head.
“Ah, Doris. You found her weakness. Coca-Cola,” Ed said, chuckling.
“Her only one it would seem,” Doris said, smiling at Ed.
Abby squeezed her coke can tighter and thought about it. What did Doris mean? How much did Ed talk about her with Doris?
Abby had a puzzled look on her face so Ed gave Abby a lopsided grin and winked at her. He had been overwhelmed with stress that day and seeing Abby was like a breath of fresh air. More and more he had realized how much he looked forward to spending time with her.
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