Opening Salvo

It was her first day at her new job. You know how those go; your nervous, you don’t know anyone, your pretty sure you’ll never remember everyone’s name, that sort of thing. It doesn’t help matters that she is young; all of 20 years old.

Her new co-worker and unbeknownst to her soon to be good friend and her went to the cafeteria for lunch that day. This was not your ordinary staff lunch room. This was a cafeteria. It served some of the best pancakes in all of Washington State. A little known fact that only those that worked at Sea-Tac Airport knew.

She stood in line behind a tall dark haired man with gorgeous blue eyes who looked down at her and said, “Hi”

“Hi”

“This must be your first day”.

“Yes”

“Welcome to Host” He said. Turned out that Host International was the company where they both worked. It consisted of an in-flight kitchen (yes, all the nasty airplane food was put on the planes by them. Back, of course, when airlines served food.), duty-free shops and regular shops in the airport terminal.

“Are you working in accounting with Judy?” He asked conversationally.

“Yes, I’m the new payroll clerk”.

“So I need to be nice to you”.

“That would be a pretty good idea”. They both laughed a little at that.

“Would you like to go to a soccer game on Saturday?” He asked.

“Like a date?” Nobody said she was the brightest bulb in the socket.

“Yeah, like a date”. He must have thought she was an idiot.

“I don’t know. Can I bring my husband?”

Those beautiful blue eyes blinked a couple of times; he shifted his feet and flushed a little. It was cute she thought. She had definitely caught him off guard.

“Sure, why not”. He finally said.

“No, I don’t think so but thank you anyway”, she let him off the hook.

They became very good friends, hung out with all their other co-worker friends and generally spent time together. After awhile he would see her through her painful divorce, shepherd her through the process of getting back on her feet, and eventually becoming a vital part of her existence. Twenty nine years later he is still her best friend, the one she wants to hang out with, and a vital part of her existence.

Love,

M