Tales of a Single Girl....

Chapter thirty one: The Further Tales of a Single Girl

I re-read the letter in my hand before finally deciding to put it in the envelope. Even the most casual cursory glance could easily detect an error. Finally feeling satisfied that the letter I had spent all morning typing was as perfect as perfect could be, I slipped it into the envelope, carefully addressing and attaching the all important postage stamp. For some reason, every small detail felt like a big deal.

Judy stuck her head in the office. "Hey, are you ready to head off to lunch soon?"

"Uh huh," I replied distractedly, as I threw the envelope in the tray for outgoing mail.

"Hello, earth to Eva," Judy snapped irritated. "Are you ready to go or not? There's a two for one deal at Café Deluxe and I don't want to miss it but you have to be there before one o'clock!"

"Okay, okay, give me a minute," I replied as I re-applied my lip gloss. A ditzy action, which I knew probably made me come across as a total bimbo but one that made me feel totally girly, none the less. The struggles of a post modern feminist. Or something like that.

I quickly grabbed my things and headed to reception to wait at the lifts for Judy, who despite her complaining, ended up being the one who was late. She finally made it, puffing and panting.

"Sorry," she said, chagrined.

"Okay, I forgive you," I replied with a grin. "Hey where's Kate?" She was supposed to join us.

"Oh it turns out she had an appointment with her obstetrician," Judy replied. "So she had to leave work early."

"Nothing wrong, I hope?" I asked anxiously.

"No she's fine," Judy said and patted my shoulder. "Just a check up. I think she just forgot about her appointment, that's all."

We said nothing as we got in the lift and went down to the ground floor, then continued on our way outside the building and down the street.

"She doesn't have long to go now, does she?" I said thoughtfully after a while.

Judy nodded her head.

The last six months, I thought to myself, had been pretty busy.

Kate was really big by now. She was only a few weeks away from giving birth and was due to go on maternity leave at the end of the week. Judy and I as well as the rest of the girls from work had organised a surprise farewell slash baby shower for her. We figured she was most likely going to get the biggest shock of her life when she would finally see what we had done with the board room.

That wasn't the only development, either.

After I had got my text message from the mysterious Mr. Kerns, I was considering not bothering to go to the interview. I had no intention of going back to that office, with my tail between my legs. I wanted to be proud and dignified and show those jerks that I didn't need their stupid job.

But there was also that part of me that was curious. After all, could it really hurt to find out what they could possibly want with me?

Of course, there was the small matter of what had been done to Archibald but surprisingly, I wasn't nervous at all. I figured if the matter led to litigation, then bring it on. I was pretty much broke, so if they wanted to sue me, they would have a hell of a time squeezing any money out of me.

So I went and met Mr. Kerns. He was a pleasant man in his fifities who greeted me warmly and led me to what was once Archibald's office. Now it was his office. I went in, feeling slightly uncomfortable as I remembered the last time I had been there, with Archibald. It wasn't exactly my favourite memory.

I was shocked though at how different everything looked. It was as if Archibald had never been there, as if his entire personality had been erased from the office. I smiled and maintained eye contact the entire time Mr. Kerns spoke to me. I found it amusing that everyone I knew had greeted me as warmly as possible when I entered the building, as though I were a prodigal daughter returning.