Best Laid Plans

Office

Perrie

I'm going to snoop around my wife's office. I hadn't planned on it, not really. It wasn't a premeditated snoop, it's just that I've found myself across the street from her office.

No, really.

Honestly.

I was minding my own business, walking down the street, camera in hand, intent on taking pictures of whatever caught my interest. I was planning on cutting over to Hyde Park, spending a couple of hours taking shots for Instagram and researching nearby coffee shops, that kind of thing. Except when I got to the intersection where I was going to turn, I looked up and realized that Jade's office was straight ahead. Hardly out of my way. It seemed sort of serendipitous, no? My feet thought so because I didn't make my turn. Instead, I crossed the street and found myself standing in front of a skyscraper with 'Thirlwall' hanging over the entrance in great big letters, 'Incorporated' hanging beneath in letters half the size. I assume they're backlit at night and probably heavy enough to crush a semi if any were to fall off.

Not that they look like they're going to fall. They look secure, permanent. The font screams reliable and trustworthy in slim, stylish uppercase letters.

Did you know a font could do all that? Took me forever to pick the right font for my blog. One that said, 'Take travel recommendations from me, I'm fun but serious.' The wrong font and people expect to read about spring break deals instead of recommendations for a girls' weekend on a low budget or a couples' hideaway in Durham. The wrong typeface and your branding goes to shit.

Two sets of automatic doors flank the entrance and I glide through the one nearest to me with the same ease as I do when I'm stepping into an Amayzin store to pick up toilet paper and a can of soda.

It occurs to me a brief moment later that I'm not walking into a supercenter and I won't be able to find Jade in aisle twelve.

Idiot, I chastise myself as my steps slow to a halt.

I'd turn around and leave but the lobby is smaller than you'd expect it to be. There's a reception desk straight ahead with three employees behind it. One of them is checking someone in, the other two are staring at me expectantly.

I feel like I've been down this path before. I smile briefly in the direction of the receptionist desk then step out of the way and pull out my cell phone.

Me: I'm in the lobby. Are you busy?

Brilliant, Perrie, simply brilliant. Of course she's busy. She's at work. Working. My fingers are hovering over the keypad ready to tell her to forget it but she's already typing. I watch the text bubble.

Wifey McHottie: In a meeting. Someone is on their way down to get you. Don't leave.

Me: Okay.

I pocket my phone and twiddle my thumbs for a few minutes while studiously examining a bunch of old photos on the wall. Company history type of photos. There's an old black-and-white of the first store that opened in 1965. Another photo of the five thousandth store opening in Birmingham two years ago. Jade is in this photo, standing in front of the store with her grandfather beside her. I wonder if she'll expect this baby to work in the family business one day? What if they don't want to? Julia mentioned that she interned here last summer. I wonder if that cousin works here too? The one who insinuated I was a hooker... Wyatt. What if this baby wants to be a lion tamer or a doctor?

"Mrs. Thirlwall?"

I turn, realizing as I do it's the first time anyone has referred to me as Mrs. Thirlwall and I think they had to say it twice because I wasn't responding. Oops. It's a young man, about my age. He introduces himself as Jade's assistant, Ben, and within a few minutes has me to Jade's office. As we approach, the door opens and Jade ushers a small group out then holds out a hand in my direction, beckoning me over.