Love of a Lifetime

The fire alarms blared throughout the building. For a moment I just stood there, confused to be hearing alarms. Is this real or did I miss a memo? Everyone around me was threading their way towards the exit stairs. Someone brushed past me, jostling me back to my senses. I followed the others, still unsure what exactly the situation was.

We waited in a parking lot across the street. Imagine hundreds of people milling around bored and you'd have a good picture of what we looked like.

"They better let us back in soon," a woman to my left said. "I have five reports to finish by the end of today."

A few grumblings around us echoed her sentiment. Someone turned to her. "I think it was a real fire," he said hesitantly. "I've been searching through my email and I can't find anything about a fire drill scheduled for today."

Groans and phone chirrups rippled out from us as more and more people checked their email and began messaging managers.

"Maybe it was a false alarm," the woman next to me said. "Or, like, a small kitchen fire or something."

I grinned. "Yeah, I'm sure that's it. A nice little kitchen fire. That's gonna make you work from home."

She groaned. "My dogs never let me work!"

"Or is it you let the dogs distract you?"

She smiled. "Okay, so it's a bit of both."

A firetruck pulled up in front of the office and we exchanged a glance. Not good. The woman next to me groaned.

"Hey," I said, giving her a slight elbow nudge. "Just think of it as having a free pass on finishing those reports."

"They're saved on my home's work-computer, too," she said with a tired grin.

"Oh. Then yeah I can't help you."

Just then, our phones pinged as a new email came in, informing everyone that there was indeed a fire and that due to this unforeseen setback, all affected workers would be given paid time off while the appropriate renovations are made. It ended with: "Anyone who is currently active in a project may come to message their managers and they will help to reassign it to another office who actually has an office."

Laughter came from scattered throughout the crowd. I turned to the woman with a huge smile. "Oh yes I can help you!"

She laughed. "Excuse me while I secure myself more doggy-appreciation time." She began rapidly typing out a response to the email.

"Hey, I don't think I ever caught your name."

She straightened her back and lifted her chin up haughtily. "That may be, my dear sir," she said in a faux posh accent, "because it was never thrown." Returning to her regular demeaner, she said, "My name's Kate. What about you?"

"Javier. Now that we know each other, would you mind if I bought you a coffee? So long as it doesn't cut into your dog time, of course."

She glanced at her wrist, conspicuously watch-less, and flashed me a smile. "My dogs expect me to be gone for the next six hours still. So I guess I can spare thirty minutes."

"So," Kate said as we took a seat in the café. "Tell me something about yourself."

"I'm a menace in the kitchen."