“Walter!”
“Excuse
me, ma’am?”
Rita
shook her head, “I’m so sorry. It’s Rita.”
The young man behind the register
at Three Bean Coffee gave her one more odd glance before handing her the
receipt and her change. Coffee, a meeting,
and a conference call. Those were her
tasks today. Simple. Straightforward. Something she could normally do without
thinking about it much at all.
Damn
this cold and that noxious concoction.
Rita collected her coffee and set
up shop at a table in the corner of the busy shop. As she flipped open her laptop, a flitting
shadow caught her eye. Glancing up, her
heart almost stopped. Then the man kept
going. Jerking her attention back to her
table, Rita knocked her coffee over. She
snatched up her laptop cursing to herself.
“Let me help.”
“Laura. Thank the gods you’re here.”
“I can see this is not your
morning.”
By this time Laura had the spilled
java mopped up with several napkins, had rescued the paperwork from the doom of
brown stain, and had her bag propped neatly in the spare chair across from
Rita.
“That’s one way to put it,” Rita
flopped back into her chair.
Laura returned in a few minutes
with a new cup of coffee for Rita and a fancier drink Rita didn’t recognize for
herself.
“Now, Rita. What’s got you so flustered? The conference call starts in ten minutes and
we really need to be on this.”
“I know. Part of it is this stupid cold I just can’t
seem to shake.”
“And?”
Rita hesitated.
“You dreamed again last night, didn’t
you?”
Silence.
“Rita! You know what happens!”
“Laura. I know.
But what else could I do? That’s
the only option I had to try to take care of this cold once and for all.”
“It didn’t work.”
“I’ve noticed.”
The women were interrupted by Rita’s
cell phone chirping. Their contact was
calling. Time for business.
