Race to a Happy Ending

Chapter 5

When Kate made it back to her room, she checked the time. The clock read 9:35. "Good," she thought. That gave her plenty of time to get ready for her interview at 2:00. She laid down on the bed and buried her head in the pillow. She wanted to be sad but didn't allow herself to cry. He wasn't hers. He never was. He's just a friend. He's practically a stranger. Don't get your hopes up. Take things slow. It doesn't mean anything. It was just one night. She kept telling herself all those things over and over again in her head. She cuddled up to a pillow and turned to her side, thinking about Cameron and hoping he was getting some rest on the plane.

When she rolled back over in the bed to look at the clock, she jumped up. It was almost noon! How could she have slept this long? She rushed around to get her clothes pressed neatly for the interview. She jumped in the shower and hurried herself in getting ready. She had wanted to leave by 1:00 to allow plenty of time to arrive at her destination and find her way around. She felt like it made an important impression to be early rather than late, or even right on time.

For this interview, she opted for a sophisticated tweed jacket over a cami, along with coordinating black trousers. She put back on the painfully high heels from yesterday and changed back into a black handbag from her grey satchel that she had used last night.

She was out of the hotel room by 1:15. She plugged in the bank address on her car GPS and was flying down the interstate. Thankfully, she didn't run into much traffic (or into any policemen).

She found the parking garage and parked her car, making note of the spot as she exited the vehicle. Once she entered the lobby, she double checked the room number where her interview was, checked the time on her watch and then made a quick stop in the powder room. After a fresh coat of lip gloss, running a brush through her thick hair, and popping a breath mint in her mouth, she felt ready. She walked confindently to the elevator and made her way to her appointment. All thoughts of last night and this morning were long gone, as her mind was focused on the task at hand. She smiled as she entered the office, gave the receptionist her name, then sat down on a sofa to wait. As her name was called, she stood up straight and tall and made her way into what could be her next step to destiny.

The hour long interview went well. And while she felt she answered the questions the best she could, she knew her resume spoke for itself. She had plenty of stellar references from her past employer, but her experience was somewhat lacking for the position she had applied for. The interviewer was very friendly and told her she'd like to see her advance to the next level, but would need to meet with her senior officers to go over all the resumes received and then they would choose from there. And so after all that, Kate was told to wait for a call within the next week.

Kate went back to the hotel and laid back on the bed. Her mind drifted back to Cameron. She had gone the past three hours without even thinking of him. But now that things had quieted down, she wondered what he was doing. She wondered if he was thinking of her, too. She got up and changed into her swimsuit. A relaxing swim in the hotel's indoor pool would do her some good. Being the Florida native that she was, swimming was in her blood and it was something she'd always enjoyed. When her babies were little, Kate and her husband took them to an infant swim class. And as they grew into toddlers, she took them to the local pool as often as she could. They may have lived in the Chicago suburbs, but Kate wasn't going to let her children grow up being afraid of water. After many laps back and forth in the pool, her mind was still spinning and questions were swirling in her head. She focused harder and pushed herself further and faster until her body was completely spent. She would pay for this swim when she woke up, her body would ache, but it was worth it to her, to fight off all the emotions pushing their way up inside her. She had held them down for over a year, she wasn't going to let them ruin the good trip she'd had so far.