Head Over Heels

Part 2 | Kicking Herself

Every minute Angie spent on her feet felt like an hour. Ms. Morris was so anxious about the upcoming meeting that she seemed to have a new request for Angie every five minutes.

"Angela, could you call Bill Tang and make sure he brings the stats on Masterson's loans?"

"Do we have enough waters, Angela?"

"Could you double check and make sure that our lunch is being set in the big room?"

Back and forth she went. If Angie did manage to find a moment to sit at her desk and rest her throbbing heels, it was only for a few minutes before she had to stand back up again and try running down the slick slabs of stone that made up the long hallway from Angie's desk to Ms. Morris's office. She lost track of how many times she came close to sliding all the way down the hall on that imitation marble flooring. She was certain that she had twisted her ankle at one point, but was relieved to find that after a good two-minute rub on her ankle and calf, the pain subsided from the abrupt twist.

It was 11:45 in the morning. Over three hours on her feet and Angie finally had a moment to breathe. She hadn't had any more requests from Ms. Morris for the last fifteen minutes, and she honestly could not think of anything else that could possibly be needed for the meeting. Unless her boss decided to move the meeting to Europe or hire a string quartet to play in the background, Angie figured she had a few moments of down-time.

She sighed as she browsed through her e-mails and answered a few phone calls. Letting her feet throb as she sat down was a treat compared to the stabbing pain she felt while walking and standing.

Just as Angie was beginning to forget about her feet, she heard Neil coming down the stairs, whistling. As he approached her desk, Angie jumped from her chair to meet him face to face. Her near shriek was muted to a tiny whimper as she smiled into Neil's big green eyes.

"How's your day been going?" Neil smiled.

Like my feet have been walking through the fires of hell, Angie thought.

"Not too bad, just really busy" she said aloud.

Neil smiled with a half-open mouth. His eyes drifted to the top of the desk as he said, "Well, like I was trying to ask earlier this morning, I was wondering if you would like to join me for dinner, tonight?"

Angie momentarily forgot about her scorching heels and gave a genuine smile. "Where were you thinking of going?" she asked, flipping her head to one side to give her hair a flirtatious fling.

Through smiling teeth, Neil asked, "You like Italian or Thai?"

"Both, actually," Angie batted her eyes in answer. "Though I would like to become more familiar with Thai food. I've had it once or twice, but would love to get to know it better."

Neil knocked on the desk as he said, "Thai it is. I've been meaning to go to that new restaurant downtown. If you want, we can go to Murphy's for a drink first, it's next door to the restaurant. What time is good for you?"

Angie began to open her mouth when she heard, Ms. Morris's voice.

"Angela! Could I talk to you for a minute?"

Angie rolled her eyes and whispered to herself in a sing song voice, "Be right there."

Turning to Neil she said, "I'll let you know how the day goes and then we can figure on an exact time."

"Sounds good," Neil replied and backed away smiling. He picked up his old tune he was whistling before as he hopped back upstairs. Angie smiled and headed down the hall to Ms. Morris's office.