A Little Scribble #2

    Stacy pushed the desk drawer closed and heaved a great sigh of relief. In the three years she had worked as Jack Keller's receptionist, she'd never had a more stressful day. She was sure of it.

   She had a lot of work ahead of her tomorrow, just to catch up on what she should have done today. She would have loved to stay late and just get it finished but she knew that Mr. Keller would not approve and that even if he would, she still needed to run a few errands tonight before going home. 

   Stacy sat back down and thought over the days happenings. She didn't suppose the day would have ended up being so horrible if only she hadn't been late picking up the usual coffee order this morning. She couldn't justify to herself the frustration she had otherwise. She was normally a very easy-going young woman. But her alarm clock had decided to give up the ghost that morning and she had woken up an half an hour late. Therefore, she had been late to pick up the coffee order and had had to wait ten minutes for two new cups. 

  And if you weren't so stubborn she rolled her eyes and had kept your own coffee, maybe you'd have made it the whole day through without the headache. Things had gone down hill from there. Her boss was never in a good mood after his brother's visits, but today it had seemed worse then normal. Jack seemed anxious, not just annoyed. 

  At that moment Stacy glanced toward Mr. Keller's office. The janitor was emptying a coffee cup into the sink. It appeared nearly full and for a moment Stacy felt smug. Serves him right, not excepting my cup. 

  Shocked at her alarmingly spiteful thoughts, Stacy tried to shake off the feeling and wrap up the last tasks of her day.

Jack sat at his desk, his eyes on something beyond his open door, his focus on something much farther away. He was vaguely aware of the janitor walking around the room. A sudden noise caught his attention. When he looked, he realized the grey haired man had snorted.

   ''It's no wonder you didn't drink this!'' He said, indicating the cold coffee in his right hand. He'd pulled it from the garbage can and opened the lid. Jack realized he must have looked puzzled, for the man explained with a chuckle.

  ''Have to dump it out so the pesky creatures like ants 'n rats don't show up!'' The man chuckled to himself as if he'd told the funniest joke, and moved toward the sink in the kitchenette. Movement in the corner of his eye caused Jack to turn and look out of his door again. He saw his receptionist watching the janitor spill the contents of the cup into the sink. Something flashed across her face, an expression of contempt, if he didn't know better. But it was gone in a flash and in its place was one of shock. And maybe a little shame. 

   She hadn't realized he was still here, so he took the moment to look more closely at the woman who'd worked for him for so long. She wasn't very tall, but she had the appearance of height because of very good posture. She moved to quickly to be called graceful, but there was some grace to her movements or she would have been called abrupt and clumsy. Her hair was light brown, and fell in thick, natural waves down her back. Her mouth was wide and set in a sarcastic smile that would have been called scornful on many other women, but the humor of her eyes softened her expression. It took Jack a few second to realize the humor in her eyes was directed at him. He'd been caught ogling...