Stop and Stare

4

Mahony fumed when he went back to the office. For the first time he was at a loss where to focus his energy on. In an unprecedented move, he shut down his computer, packed his bag and headed for home. He didn't know what bothered him more, that Brad and Lisa warned him not to be an office gossip or that he hadn't already gossiped. It annoyed Mahony to no end that not only had he already forgotten what he had thought he saw that night but had also decided that night that even if he did see what he thought he saw, he wouldn't have blabbed about it. The look Lisa gave him and the accusatory looks from both Brad and Lisa made him question his own incongruent sense of morals when compared to the current trend.

When he finally sat down in the train and was rocking ever steadily towards home, he wondered what would've happened if he disclosed to his co-workers what he had seen in the conference room that night. Would it reach Leland eventually or perhaps would others come out and disclosed their own encounter stories? Mahony was sure that what he had witnessed that night wasn't Brad and Lisa's first tryst at the office after hours.

The reflection on the train window was the look of disgust that surfaced on Mahony's face. The reflection surprised him, he didn't like what he had seen in it. He shut his eyes and willed himself to let the annoyance that was still bubbling inside of him go. Mahony let out a long breath, as a new thought surfaced in his head. What Brad and Lisa had done tonight had effectively refreshed Mahony's memory and confirmed a suspicion that otherwise was already forgotten. If only they had done absolutely nothing, they would've gotten away with it. And now? And now, Mahony had no intention of doing anything about it either, he still felt that whatever was happening was between Brad and Lisa and their respective spouses.

The train stop was only eight minutes from his home by car. Mahony drove straight home from the little stop. He didn't have anything to eat all evening but wasn't feeling hungry since the sour taste from earlier was still there. He took a hot shower and felt better afterwards, still swathed in the bath towel, Mahony looked himself in the mirror and saw that the look of disgust had faded, what was there was a man in his mid-thirties and a body that he had maintained with discipline. He may not look it in his usual office attire but he was fairly buff with muscles in all the right places. As much as he had thought about settling down with a partner, he was also equally averse to the idea. The work that's needed to maintain a relationship require more energy than he was willing give right now.

Mahony allowed himself to do as little as possible over the weekend. Determined to release the store of annoyances and frustrations that had built-up over the past months. By the end of the weekend, he actually felt renewed and ready to face the craziness that he's sure would crop up sooner or later.

However, that bliss he had built up over the weekend proved to be short lived. "Good morning, Mahony," Lisa said as soon as she walked in and spotted Mahony at his desk, her smile was definitely pasted on. Without waiting for a response from Mahony she went on, "We need to talk." She dropped her purse in the bottom drawer in her usual graceless manner.

Mahony let out a sigh, "Ok, let's talk."

"Not here, let's go to the small conference room," Lisa offered.

Lisa quickly shut the conference room door and turned towards Mahony as soon as they went in. "Look, I hope there were no hard feelings the other day but I really need to know if you had told anyone about what you had seen."

"Lisa, look, first of all, I didn't see anything other than Brad that night. Second of all, I don't gossip and I don't ever plan to start gossiping, not about you and Brad and not about anything else. Alright?" Mahony said feeling the return of all of the frustrations and annoyances that he thought he had worked out over the weekend.