French Roses and Silk Kisses [Discontinued]

Sweet Potato Fries

"Can you bring me some post it notes? I ordered a new pack, they should be in storage." Zaria smiled at her assistant before pressing unmute on her desk phone.

"Sorry about that, Mr. Kirk. Go ahead with the second line." She muttered as she continued to input the man's information into the system. The mailroom had been closed for the last week so Zaria offered to input client's information directly instead of waiting for the mail to be delivered.

Before she knew it, it was almost 2pm and she still hadn't been on break. There was a new bakery up the block that she desperately wanted to visit but they closed at 3pm.

"Ms. Hopkins, the new sets of info sheets will be coming in at 4pm as the fax machine is being serviced right now. You also have multiple messages from a Max Belcourt on line 3." Zaria turned away from her monitor at the voice of her assistant. She had been so caught up with work she had the woman streamline all non-appointment related calls to a separate line.

"Thank you. Place me on break until 3:30pm then." She quickly grabbed her purse from her bottom drawer and powered off her monitor. When she made it to the elevator, she finally pulled her cellphone out to call Max back.

"Hello?" A feminine voice answered the line and Zaria felt her eyebrows shoot to her hairline.

"May I speak to Max please?" She kept her tone level as she realized her assistant often answered her phone as well. It would be inconsiderate to jump to conclusions.

"Yes ma'am. One moment." The line went silent and Zaria felt herself relax. Walking from the building, she pulled her jacket closer to her body to shield her from the wind. Bodies piled along the sidewalk and she often found herself bumping into someone as they migrated down the block.

"Hello?" Max's voice met her ears and subsequently caused a smile to grace her lips.

"Hi. My assistant said you tried to reach me earlier?" Zaria side stepped as a man came hustling from the opposite direction. Relief filled her as she finally spotted the bakery's baby blue sign with a brown croissant print.

"Why yes I did, Ms. Hopkins. Should I have scheduled an appointment?" He sassed causing her to giggle. Zaria realized how business ready she sounded as the statement came out of her mouth but it was something she couldn't help.

"Well, Mr. Belcourt that would have surely moved you to the front of the line, no?" Stepping into the bakery, the smell of warm bread and coffee assaulted her senses. There was quiet jazz playing from the speaker that mixed well with the quite muttering of patrons. The juxtaposition of the loud city street to the quite bakery ambiance made a chill run across her skin.

"Ahh, I see how this works now, Ms. Hopkins. Please forgive me for not making an appointment to speak to my girlfriend. I'll be sure to call in next time, what are your office hours?" He chuckled deeply into her ear before the sound of traffic picked up on the other end. Zaria almost wanted to hang up as she tried to push out the sound.

Walking up to the counter, she eyed the menu for what she'd be having for lunch. There were a number of muffins, donuts, and cakes that called her name but she knew she'd need something more filling to sustain her for the rest of the day.

"My office hours range from 8am to 8pm. After hour appointments are available though." She chirped into the line before settling on her meal.

"Hi, can I get the chicken melody wrap with a large sweet tea and the sweet potato fries?" Passing the young girl a $20 bill, Zaria also pulled out another to place into the tip jar.

"You're on lunch?" Max called after she'd thanked the cashier and began searching for a spot to sit.

"Yup, finally caught a break so I ran while I could." She chuckled before sliding into a booth near the window. Placing her purse on her left side, she slumped into the soft leather and took a sip of her tea.

"Never thought I'd see the day when Zaria Hopkins actually gets a lunch break. And she calls me on top of it all? Wow, what a day." He spoke animatedly. It was no secret that Zaria was a workaholic which lead to little time to actually enjoy things like speaking to Max or exploring local restaurants.

"Right? Don't get too used to it. The mailroom's still out for another two weeks plus we're already behind on appointments so I'll be working overtime for the next month." She sighed as she realized just how busy they were.

"Why's the mailroom out? Can't you guys just hire some more people to run it?"

"By the time we screened everyone and got them trained it'd be time for the original team to come back. We're better off sticking it out until they get back." She shrugged even though he couldn't see the action. Due to the closeness of their operations, all the mailroom operators caught the flu with some being hospitalized. Mrs. Snow quickly shut the mailroom down and got a cleaning crew to come and quarantine the area.

"You guys are tough cookies. That actually helps me see I need to begin hiring a backup team." Max muttered before the sound of traffic and people yelling entered the speaker again.

"No offense but your business would have little impact if your mailroom went down. Most of our business travels through our mailroom, yours is through physical meetings and the internet." Zaria spoke as she got up to grab her food from the counter. She smiled politely at the man as she passed him the ticket number to receive her plate.

"That's also true, but our mailroom is still important for internal messages. We don't have as many clients who use physical mail but we use the mailroom to keep a trail of all our personal ventures. If we lost that we'd probably be unable to function with one another." Zaria nodded in understanding as she grabbed her plate.

"What are you wearing?" He questioned causing her to nearly drop her phone from her hand.

"Max, you dirty rascal. I'm in public." She muttered although she had a big smile on her face.

"Not like that," he chuckled, "I think I see you. Red pants, black shirt?"

At the description, she turned to eye the bakery looking for Max's large form. Setting her plate on her table, she switched her phone from the left to the right side- her eyes still scanning the room. Butterflies erupted in her stomach when their eyes finally met. He stood in an all black ensemble with a shiny watch that glinted in the afternoon sunlight. His hair was beginning to fall from his styled push back and he held a bright smile as he eyed her.

"Mmm, I don't know but a real stud just walked in. He looks rich too." She teased through the phone as she watched him navigate through the room towards her.

"Oh really? Ask him for some money so we can take a vacation."

"Alright hold on." She fake whispered in the line as he finally stepped in front of her. Immediately his arms wrapped around her waist to pull her into a hug. Zaria breathed in his cologne as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Pulling away slightly she smiled up at him.

"Hello, gorgeous." He muttered before dipping down to press his lips to hers. Zaria eagerly kissed back, her hands playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Hey, do you think you could give me some money so my boyfriend and I could go on vacation?" His fingers tickled her sides and she pulled away chuckling. It felt nice to simply be a goofball with him. They both slid into the booth and Max wasted no time in picking fries from her plate.

"Hey! Get your own." She lightly smacked his reaching hands.

"Come on, one more won't hurt." Max managed to grab both of her hands in one of his while his other grabbed a handful of fries.

"That's a lot more than one." She pouted unable to do anything as she watched him eat the fries, his laugh taunting her. Standing from the seat once he was done eating most of her fries, he bent down to peck her lips.

"I'll buy you more."
———