Impulsive (Reach out to Me)

              Kara sighed and tapped the end of the pen on her desk. She loved her job as the secretary to the Vice President of Marketing, but she would be really happy to see this day end. Michelle was going to be waiting, probably impatiently although her friend would never admit it, for her to go dress shopping. Kara was feeling more than a little impatient herself.

              It seemed silly to her that Michelle and Hayes had waited even this long to have the wedding Kara had seen coming a mile away. He had proposed after one date for heaven’s sake! That proposal had come last year, as winter was slowly turning into spring. Now spring had come again and it was clearly going to be one of the warmest, mildest springs they’d seen in a long time. The apple trees in the backyard were in bloom and so were the pretty flower borders around Michelle’s big house.

              It was definitely the perfect time to kick wedding preparations into high gear as far as Kara was concerned. Hayes and Michelle might be able to be laid back, but it was April now and the wedding was in June and she was only just now picking out her dress! Even if Kara was the spontaneous one in the friendship, this last minute dress shopping was cutting it too close for her comfort. Her friend didn’t seem concerned about the possibility that the dress might need to be altered. Of course, she wasn’t as fashion forward as Kara, but still!

              She tossed the pen into the small drawer in the front of her desk when she heard her boss sigh at the sound of the rapid tapping. She moved on to thinking of less stressful things. Hayes was perfect for Michelle. His all American good looks more than complimented her friend’s honeyed loveliness and he was sweet on top of all of that handsome.

              Kara should know. She lived with them. That situation, so perfect six months ago when she had still been raw from the awful breakup with Jeff, was starting to get more than a little awkward. Michelle was much too sweet and thoughtful to ever think of complaining, but Kara felt like she was in the way.

              She frowned as she realized that her less stressful line of thought had not turned out like she had planned. If she had still had the pen it would have been tapping a mile a minute. She frowned again and tried once more to force her thoughts on to happier things. Happier things like finding the perfect wedding dress for Michelle.

              Her friend had promised to give Kara free reign in all the bridal boutiques in a fifty mile radius as long as she ended up with the most beautiful dress in the world for the most beautiful day of her life. Kara smiled as she thought about how dreamy and far-away Michelle always looked when she thought about her upcoming June wedding. They might not have the amount of time Kara wanted to shop but she had been thinking about the kinds of dresses her friend would look good in pretty much ever since Hayes had showed up to work on the McIntosh.

              Of course, some details had already been worked out. For example, the venue had been set for months. The ceremony would take place under the beautiful, now impeccably groomed, McIntosh apple tree. It was too perfect to pass up and Kara would have been more than happy to point it out if the lovebirds had needed the insight. She still remembered the soft look that had danced into Michelle’s hazel eyes when Hayes had mentioned it over their pasta dinner three months ago. It would have been a perfect, romantic moment for the young couple if Kara hadn’t been slurping down vermicelli noodles and marinara right across the table.

              It was definitely time for a new place. There was no way she could ask her friends to continue to host her once they were married. She should have been working on finding an apartment or a house to rent months ago, but she just loved the house so much! There was a cozy comfort in that house that she knew she would miss when she moved into a sterile apartment.

              She would miss the openness and light that the big windows brought into the library she’d slept in since she moved in with Shell. She would miss the orchard and garden in bloom. She would miss the easy camaraderie between her and Michelle and Hayes. Most of all, to her surprise, she would miss Mrs. Turner.

              A girl had to visit someone while her best friend was getting her romance on with an extremely handsome arborist didn’t she? Betsy had seen her wandering the garden forlornly one evening, halfheartedly trying to teach Killer to fetch, and invited her for a walk. After that, it had been an evening ritual that had grown to be very meaningful to Kara.

              That reminded her, she would have to tell Mrs. T all about the dresses. Maybe she should take pictures with her camera phone. Of course, then Mrs. T would say that the screen was too small. It might be a better plan to drop by the house and snag her digital camera. Then she could be one of those people who did weird things like take pictures in a dress shop with a real camera. Kara shrugged and grinned to herself. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing she’d ever done.

              “Ms. Steward?” her boss called from her small office off of the main one that Kara’s desk was in.

              “Yes?” she asked as she bounded to her feet and hoped that she hadn’t been thinking out loud. It was a habit she was working really hard to break.

              “Go,” the woman said, glancing at Kara over the rims of her glasses. “I think I can handle the rest of the day by myself.”

              “Are you sure?” Kara questioned. Ever since the ordeal with Jeff, her boss had been extra nice, but she had never expected permission to leave work three hours early.

              “Of course I’m sure,” Ms. Watson said patiently. “It’s obvious that your mind left hours ago anyway.”

              A smile softened the words and Kara grinned back at her. She dashed over to her desk and tugged open the bottom drawer so she could gather her things.

              “I’ll come in early tomorrow,” she promised quickly. “And the next day, too!”

              “I don’t think you will,” Ms. Watson said dryly.

              “What? “ Kara protested; she assumed that her boss was referring to her chronic lateness. She usually managed to be no more than 5 minutes behind schedule, but Ms. Watson has spoken to her countless times about it. “No, I promise I will! I’ll catch up on that filing and I’ll—“

              “Today is Friday,” her boss reminded her patiently. “You can come in early on Monday if you’d like though.”

              “Oh.” Kara blushed a little and slung her fully stuffed purse over one shoulder as she stepped toward the door. “Right. Sure thing, Ms. Watson! Early Monday morning it is then! You have my word! Thank you so much!”

              Ms. Watson gave her a wave and a small smile, accompanied by a slight shake of her head. Kara grinned and returned the wave before she opened the office door and stepped out.

              She was proud of herself for managing to walk sedately across the office floor, but the minute the door was shut and she knew Ms. Watson couldn’t see her anymore she began to run. She was so excited to have a few extra hours in her day for dress shopping that she didn’t even mind the clatter her heels made on the tiled hall floor or the looks of astonishment from people in other departments. The way she saw it, they should be used to her being a little bit different by now. What was wrong with having a high level of enthusiasm for life anyway?

              She took the stairs at a run and, since she was really excited and not paying even the slightest bit of attention to where she was going, she managed to run head-long into a tall man with a cup of iced coffee. That would have been embarrassing enough, but he’d neglected to put a lid on the drink and she gasped when the coffee tipped and spilled directly down the front of her brand new peach button up and light gray pencil skirt.

              “Oh no!” she wailed as she quickly pulled the freezing cold material away from her skin; she could see that the coffee stain was huge and that it was rapidly spreading.

              “Are you all right?” the man asked.

              He glanced around the stairwell, clearly looking for somewhere to put his black leather briefcase and the newspaper under his arm. He was probably also trying to locate a trashcan for his now empty coffee cup.

              “No, I’m not all right!” Kara said emphatically. “I’m clearly in danger of hypothermia! Oh, I just bought this outfit and now…well, let’s just say I don’t think the Tide stick in my purse will do much for this.” She was also quickly burning through the extra hours she’d been so thrilled to take advantage of just a few short minutes ago. “I’ve got to get home and change!”

              “Can I…” he trailed off as she doubled her speed and pushed the office doors open with a bang. “Help?” he finished to no one.

              Obviously there wasn’t much he could do to assist her. The unknown woman was probably furious with him for spilling his drink down such a pretty outfit. He should probably be upset with her for running like they were still in grade school and ruining the drink he’d brought back.  His intention was to use it to help him feel more awake after a long night of studying for his Master’s degree before a long day at his brand new job, but he couldn’t work up the necessary emotion. Instead, he found himself thinking that she’d looked quite pretty with her cheeks flushed from her jog down the staircase. The way that the coffee had molded her clothes to her slender frame had been attractive, as well.

              He sighed and went on up the stairs. It was an odd encounter for his first day at the office. He shook it off and went into his office. Maybe he’d run into her again. Hopefully not quite so literally this time, but he found that either way would be fine with him.

             
“What are you doing home so early?” Michelle asked happily when Kara barreled through the front door. “And what on earth happened to you?” she continued when she saw the stains down the front of Kara’s new outfit.

              “I had a run in with a cup of iced mocha,” Kara said as she ran into the bathroom to strip away the wet, clinging fabric. “You can see who came out on top. I’m thinking that if I wash it right away I might just have a chance of not ruining my new favorite outfit. Oh, it really did get almost everywhere,” she groaned in disappointment when she held up her button-up to the bright bathroom light.

              “Here,” Michelle said quickly from outside the door. “Hand it out and I’ll put it in the machine right away.”

              “Thank you so much,” Kara replied in relief as she handed the clothes out to her friend. “I can’t believe this had to happen today of all days!”

              “Why? I mean, I’m sorry it happened, but is this why you’re home early? If it is, maybe it’s a blessing in disguise,” Michelle said with a teasing tone in her voice. “You don’t know how many times I’ve checked the clock today to see if it’s time to go!”

              “No,” Kara called with a laugh as she heard Michelle walk down the hall to the washing machine. “Ms. Watson got tired of my fidgeting and actually let me off early so we could go shopping!  Of course, then I had to run into coffee man and get a freezing cold caffeine bath and now I need to shower. If I don’t, I’ll smell like caramel coffee all day long. It’s not bad, but I wouldn’t call it my signature fragrance.”

              “Go ahead,” Michelle said with a smile. “We’ve got plenty of time. Now aren’t you glad I let you take the car this morning? Otherwise you’d have had to sit there dripping coffee until I showed up. By the way, who doused you?”