Thursday evening, after working late, Don decided to stop at the Blue Boar for a pint on his way home. The small, crowded parking lot was packed, but he finally found a space at the far end. As he walked inside, he realized why the lot was so full: the main room was bustling with people, and there wasn’t a single seat open at the bar.
Don walked up to the bar and caught Rita’s eye. Just as she came over to take his order, a couple emerged from the back room. Don glanced past them and saw that a small table in the back corner was now free.
“I’ll have a pint of Double Diamond, Rita,” he said. “Could you bring it to that back table for me?”
“Sure, Don. It’ll be just a few minutes,” she replied.
Don sat down at the two-person table and watched the crowded bar. As Rita served his ale, he noticed the most beautiful head of coppery red hair he’d ever seen. He stared at the woman’s back until she finally turned around. She was very pretty, in her late twenties or early thirties, he guessed. She noticed him, or perhaps the empty seat, and came over to his table. She was about 5′ 8″ and weighed around 130 pounds, a very nice figure. Her U-necked top revealed just the right amount of cleavage, and her skirt ended just above her knees, showing off her slim, attractive legs.
“Is this seat taken?” she asked.
“No, please sit,” he answered. “I’m Don Crawford.”
“Thank you,” she replied as she sat down. “I’m Colleen Kennedy.” She gestured to his glass. “Is that Double Diamond?”
“Yes, it is,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve seen you in here before. Do you come in often?”
“No, this is only the second time,” she explained. “I’m in town on business, and thanks to a bitch of a secretary, I’m stuck here until Sunday. My colleagues left this afternoon for Vancouver, and all the flights are booked.”
Colleen caught Rita’s attention as the waitress served another table. “Two pints of Double Diamond, please,” Colleen requested. “You don’t mind if I buy you a drink, do you?”
“No, I appreciate the offer,” Don replied. “So, what exactly happened? I can’t believe all the flights to Vancouver are booked; there must be at least four or five a day.”
“I work for a Canadian firm, and we have to fly Air Canada if possible,” Colleen explained. “Also, I’ve got to go through Montreal to pick up my briefcase and file a complaint. I should have known this would be a bad trip when my briefcase was stolen while we laid over in the Air Canada VIP lounge, no less. There’s only one flight a day unless I want to spend all day in Montreal.”
“The police recovered your briefcase?” Don asked.
“Yes, I had a call waiting for me when we arrived,” she said. “They insist I return to identify it and the creep who stole it before I can get it back. At least I didn’t have any necessary papers in it. Tom had duplicates of everything. You can’t trust the airlines, not even Air Canada.”
Colleen continued, “You see, there were supposed to be four of us on the specification team: Tom, Dave, Connie, and me. On the way to the airport, Connie somehow managed to sprain her ankle badly enough to go to the hospital, and our secretary canceled our reservations. Connie’s and my reservations were together since we were supposed to share a room. When we got to the Holiday Inn near Motorola, they only had a room for Tom and Dave. No room for me at all! The hotel was hosting a convention, and all the rooms were booked, so they put me up at a Holiday Inn on the beach. A lot of good that does me with my complexion. Of course, with only one car, I had to pick up my co-workers each morning.”
“I’m sorry you’ve had so many problems,” Don said. “I hope things have gotten better.”
“The meetings went fine; we signed the contract with Motorola this morning, but that leaves me with nothing to do until Sunday,” Colleen replied. “I suppose I should be grateful that the police located my briefcase. My boss was livid when he found out I couldn’t get back until Monday. He threatened to take my extra expenses out of that stupid secretary’s salary. Can you imagine? She canceled the reservation without consulting anyone.”
“Well, at least you have a car. You could go sightseeing,” Don suggested. “Maybe you could drive up to Orlando and see Disney World or another attraction up there. It’s only about a three-hour drive one way. If you left early in the morning, you’d have plenty of time.”
“Hmm, I’ll have to consider that,” she said. “In the meantime, dinner is on me, or really, on my company. I hope it comes out of that bitch’s salary.”
Rita brought a pint of ale for each of them, and they both ordered the steak and mushroom pie.
“So, how did you find this place? It’s not exactly a tourist attraction,” Don asked.
“Jim, one of the Motorola people, brought us here for lunch yesterday,” she said. “I like pubs, and with nothing else to do tonight, I felt like a good drink. After dropping the others off at the airport, I really needed one. Do you come here often, Don?”
“Oh, I come in a couple of times a month for a drink or two, and every month or so for dinner,” he replied. “I work down in Boca for IBM, so this is too far to come for lunch. I live in Lantana.”
“Would you like to move to Vancouver and work for KSD Industries Ltd.?” she asked.
“No, I like South Florida. Why do you ask?”
“I just tried to recruit you, so this was officially a business meeting.”
“Okay, I’ll remember that if anyone asks,” he said, laughing.
Don gazed at Colleen’s alabaster skin and gorgeous coppery-red hair as they sipped their drinks. Her hair came down a couple of inches below her nicely shaped breasts, which were shown off to advantage by her brilliant kelly green U-neck top. She was obviously wearing a push-up bra, designed to make them appear fuller than they actually were; Don guessed they were a B-cup. Colleen was aware of Don’s observations but was careful not to let him notice her observing his speculations.
