New Day...

I woke up to the sound of the alarm going off early this morning.  The days had become shorter, so the daylight wasn’t creeping in through the curtains today.  I reached over to the nightstand and was feeling around to silence that horrible buzzing that woke me each and every morning.  I felt his arms tighten around my waist as I stretched and he groaned “5 more minutes....”  I yawned to myself and wished I could take those 5 minutes in his arms, but I knew I would not get up in time for work if I did. 

“Baby come on we have to go to work” I said as I tried to unwrap myself from him.  He smiled in his sleep as he tightened his hold on me.  I was giggling as I struggled against him “Luke come on! Get your butt in gear.”  Lucas groaned and shifted away from me as I got up out of bed.  I looked over my shoulder at the man whom had claimed my heart entirely.  It was rather surprising how we met, but nonetheless I was happier than I had ever been.

As I stepped into the shower I let my mind drift to the events that had past.  All the travelling I did, cutting almost all of my friends out of my life, starting fresh, building a new better me, and finally meeting Luke...I felt complete. I was no longer that weak little girl who relied on everyone, or cared what people thought.  I was finally doing me.  I stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around me and walked straight to the closet in search of my outfit for work.  When I turned around there was Luke with a cup of tea in hand for me and a coffee for him as he winked, kissed me on the cheek and walked into the bathroom.  I bit my lip as I watched him walk, I still couldn’t get enough of him. 

I was putting on my make up as he came out of the shower and I had the chance to watch his 6’ frame walk into our bedroom in the mirror.  His blue eyes sparkled as he saw me checking him out and he teased me by dropping his towel and walking slowly over to me.  I turned quickly and put my hands up to stop him, I was already dressed, hair dried and almost ready to walk out the door.  “No no no!! I am already dressed Luke!!”  I said to him half giggling half serious, when he bypassed me slightly, slapped my hip a bit to move and grabbed some underwear. 

I moved quickly to finish up in the mirror and got out of his way so he could get dressed.  He came down shortly after I did looking handsome in his slacks and dress shirt, and I pulled together what we called ‘breakfast on the run’.  We kissed each other goodbye before we got into our cars and pulled away to our respective jobs.  I was in a good mood when I had walked into the office, but noticed one person missing at her desk...Rhian. I walked over to my cubical and fired up my computer and quickly got to work on my emails.  I am working at a travel agency’s head office, and I was responsible for fielding the inquiries sent through their websites, compliments and complaints and then forwarding them off to the flagship stores for further details as required.  It wasn’t much but I enjoyed it...at least for now.

By midday Rhian still wasn’t in, and when I took a good look over at her desk I noticed that her picture frame was missing.  I knew that travel was taking a hard hit right now, but I didn’t think they would start downsizing this early, but what did I know.  I got up to stretch and make myself a cup of tea, and ran into Amanda in the break room.  Amanda was a gossip, so I figured if anyone would’ve heard anything, she must’ve.  Plus she’s been around for a while and people tend to trust her with information she shouldn’t know.  “Well its better than Rhian’s, I will say that much” she said as she reached for the coffee.  “What do you mean?” I asked kind of surprised by her statement.  “I heard from a source that she was getting laid off.  And she’s not the only one on the block; there are a bunch of people who are also on the chopping block...”  She eyed me and that instantly got me worried.  I hadn’t been there much longer than Rhian, but I was also not an assistant. Not that it mattered in anyway, but I figured that since I was the last to start I might be the first to go.   I made my tea quickly and returned to my desk and started diligently working away on my correspondence. 

I was nearing the end of my day, and the seemingly endless emails when my desk phone rang.  I looked at the caller ID and saw “Shelia Coberson” on the screen, she was an HR generalist.  “Thank you for calling, this is Isabella how can I help you?”  “Hi Isabella, this is Shelia can you please come downstairs to HR as soon as you can?”

**Are any of you interested in hearing more about Rhian?  Monroe?  Duane?  Leave a request in the comments**