Ella:
“Stoppp Joe!!! I can’t do this!” I pushed him away with my arms.
“Owwww, Ella, what’s wrong with you?” He frowned looking upon me.
“I can’t do this, not over here Joe!” I gasped frantically pulling and straightening my skirt back to my knees.
“Oh c’mon where is your sense of adventure Ella?” he threw his hands up in the air exasperated.
“This is my place of work, I can’t afford to lose this job Joe” Although this might not have been the reason I pushed him away from me. I needed to know if he sees me walking down the aisle with him in the future. I did not want him to propose right away but a promise ring would assure me that this was who I was looking out for.
“Forget it!” he turned his back on me and started walking away towards the door.
“Wait, please stop Joe! Let’s talk this out!” I ran towards him wanting to have a conversation. I swung him around, held both of his arms with my hands and looked him in the eye; “ I'm sorry Joe for being such a spoilsport, I really love you but I want you to make love to me when you’re ready to commit to me in the long term” I raise my left hand and move my fourth finger hinting at a “ring”
“Oh baby, of course, you know I love you!, in fact I fell in love with you the moment you walked into the office wearing that tight white shirt and black skirt showing your long legs” he replied as he ran his fingers through my long curly hair, completely ignoring my hints.
Although that was not the answer I was looking out for, I pressed further, “So, where do you see us in the next five years?”
“Well, lets see, I am sleeping on his huge bed at our villa in the Bahamas, and my wife enters the bedroom with a tray of fresh croissants, fruits and cream. Dressed in black lingerie, she looks at me as she pops a strawberry in her mouth,” his mouth curled into a sly smile as he looks at my lips and kisses me deeply. Now, do you have any more questions?
His kiss reassured me that I was with the right person and maybe I was acting like a prude.
I blushed and replied in the negative continuing, “Now let’s get back to work before Jen finds out we are missing”
Jennifer, my manager was a tough cookie who cracked the whip ever so often. This year with businesses suffering due to a rough economy, being employed was a blessing.
We gathered in the boardroom every morning at sharp 9 am for “the huddle”- a cool terminology used instead of “daily meeting” to bring us up to speed and probably humiliate a colleague who might have not performed the previous day. It was quite a cut-throat corporate environment where people resigned every week.
“Where were you Missy?” Helen, my colleague/best friend/pain the ass looked at me through the spectacles resting on the bridge of her nose.
Ella:“Nowhere, just went to the washroom for a bit,” lying because I did not want another lecture.
Ella:I pop a kiss to Joe and headover to Trader Joe’s for a grocery trip before going back home. The rest of the team was heading over to a nearby bar for a few drinks. I couldn't go because I did not have a life besides work.
Ella:“No, I am not!” I looked up facing all the three of them, all calm and confident but deep down I was shocked and scared. Why was she asking me this question all of a sudden!?
Ella:I learnt from Helen that the conference was a huge success. Everybody on our team got significant leads to give them the required headstart for December, the last month in this quarter as well as the new year.
Ella:Time seemed to be flying with just under a week left for Christmas. I had started tidying the house up since advent. The curtains and bedsheets were changed with fresh linen, carpets vacuumed till every speck of dirt had vanished. Today after dinner, I would sta
Ella:As the clock struck 12 on Christmas Eve, I made a wish asking God to send me my saviour and bless my parent’s souls. After attending the midnight mass, we come out of the church to be welcomed by tiny little flakes of snow colouring the whole landscape of
Ella:As soon as I get up, I flip my phone out and call Joe, “ Baby how are you doing?”
Ella:I was counting days until the 31st of December, absolutely nothing was affecting me, neither work nor Mary’s jibes nor Bridget’s obsession with being Mrs.Holt.