“No, no!” he was quick to say. “He’s a great boss. I can’t believe how much I’ve learned while working under him. When I first started at Dionysius Corporation, I was one of those fresh out of college know it alls. Over the past ten years, I’ve really learned a great deal and it’s all because of Mr. Dionysius’ patience and ability to translate his vision to the people who work for him, get us all behind what he’s trying to accomplish.”
That wasn’t what Helen needed to hear right about now. She was pulling out the pictures of the sunset, the ones she’d taken the first night she’d met Alec and she needed to think of him as an awful person. Someone she could never respect and would never get along with. “Well, I’m sure he’s been a hard driving person. You probably work about eighteen hour days, don’t you?” she asked, hoping he would give her more reason to not like him.
“Only sometimes,” he laughed. “And that’s only when I’ve screwed up and need to fix something. I don’t want Mr. Dionysius to know how badly I’ve messed up sometimes.”
Ugh! More bonus points for Alec! “I’m sure he’s made many mistakes in the past, Jim. You shouldn’t have to put in the extra hours just to keep up with him.”
Jim was silent for a long moment. “I think you have the wrong impression of him. He really doesn’t work twenty-four-seven. He’s a big advocate of work-life balance.”
“Hmm…” was all Helen would say. She’d witnessed differently but she wasn’t going to argue with him. “So what’s up? Why the surprise call?”
Jim chuckled a moment. “Well, I was wondering if you might be interested in a party this Friday night. I’ve been invited to something spectacular and was hoping you might be free.” He was silent for another moment. Then he added, “As a kind of a date. That is…” he started off awkwardly, “I mean…if you don’t have any other plans, that is. If you’re busy, I completely understand and this would be really bad timing, especially in light of the way you think of Mr. Dionysius. It might not be the best…”
“I’d love to go. What time?” she asked, interrupting any possible defense of the man she was trying very hard to hate. Or even better, just not think about.
She heard his sigh of relief and was charmed by his nervousness at asking her out. “Would it be okay if I picked you up at seven o’clock?” he asked. “The party starts at seven thirty. And it’s cocktail dress. I’ll be wearing a dark suit,” he explained.
“Seven o’clock on Friday night sounds wonderful under one condition.”
She heard his gulp. “What’s that?”
“You have to wear another one of your great ties.”
Jim laughed, obviously relieved that the stipulation was an easy one. “I think I can manage that since it will be after hours. I don’t think Mr. Dionysius will mind too much.”
Helen had no idea why the man would worry about his employer’s tie preferences when the man was out on a date at a party, but she kept her opinions to herself. If he liked working for a man who monitored after hours attire, then he had a lot more to learn about the work place and life in general. And she was just the woman to teach him, she thought. A project! What a better way to get one man out of her mind? Start dating a new one! Someone who was more along her mental lines – and any man who wore bunnies to work had to have a rebel underneath all that work ethic, she thought. She just needed to bring it out a little more. Helen was always up for a challenge!
“Great. I’ll see you on Friday night.”
“Fantastic!” he said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
When Friday night came around, Helen was actually exhausted. She’d been working long hours just to keep her mind too worn out to think but no matter how much she tried, she ended up dreaming of making love with Alec. She considered calling up Jim and begging off the evening but then remembered how nervous he’d been about calling her in the first place. She could just explain that she had an early shoot in the morning and would need to be in early. She could make it up to him by asking him out for a pizza night next week. She would surely be over this silly infatuation with the tall dark and devastatingly handsome Alec by then. She would make sure of it.
Jim arrived at seven o’clock, on the dot. She was just pulling her hair up into a loose knot on her head when he rang so she had several pins in her mouth as she answered the door with one hand while pinning up her mass of curls into a slightly more respectable twist with the other.
She opened the door and stepped back, mumbling, “Come on in Jim. It’s good to see you again,” she said, extending her hand as a greeting as he walked into her tiny apartment.
Jim looked at her appearance and whistled. “Great dress!” he exclaimed as he tried to find a space in her miniscule family room that wasn’t covered with pictures or camera equipment.
She couldn’t smile without losing her bobby pins so she winked at him instead. “Thanks. There’s a bottle of wine in the fridge. Help yourself while I finish getting ready,” she said. Helen walked back into her bedroom, glad she’d chosen the dress now after seeing his reaction. She’d found an antique silk sarong that she’d wrapped low around her waist and matched it with a matching red, silk tank top with sparkles at the neckline. When she’d gotten it home and tried it on, she realized that the silk top was just a little too small, so she’d added a gold belt with small dangling coins to her waist to fill in the gap. So whenever she moved, her gold chain would peek out. She felt pretty and sexy and the admiration in Jim’s eyes told her she’d hit the right mood for the night.
Her apartment was tiny with only the family room and galley kitchen in the front with the bedroom and a miniscule bathroom off to the side. Two people couldn’t fit into the bathroom at one time and she’d made it even worse since she used it as her dark room. Right now, she had about fifty photos hanging from the ceiling as they dried from the processing chemicals. She watched in the mirror as Jim poured both of them a glass of wine.
He was handsome in a clean cut, nice guy kind of way. He was about four inches taller than she was in her red heels and he had blond hair and blue eyes, looking very sweet. If she’d seen him on the street, she wouldn’t have looked at him twice but since he’d been one of the first people to join in the group of singers last week eager to participate in the impromptu birthday celebration for Edna, she’d been impressed and had smiled at him, remembering him as he sang loudly along with everyone else.