Mitch walked through the office. With a glance to the left, he saw John talking on the phone. He continued to his own office, throwing his luggage on the floor and sizing up the pile of paperwork that had amassed in his absence. Mitch ignored it, reaching for the phone. He called Charlotte and got her voice mail.
Great! He left a message, hung up and began to log into his computer. John appeared at the door.
“Mitch!”
“Hey, John!” Mitch’s phone began to ring. “Sorry, won’t be a minute, I’ll just get this.”
“Mitchell Parker,” he answered.
“Charlotte Curtis” he heard her voice and smiled. His eyes flickered to John and he reddened.
“Uh, just a minute …” Mitch stammered.
“Come and see me later,” John pre-empted him as he reached to close Mitch’s door.
He nodded and waited until he heard the door click close.
“Hey, Charlie.”
“Hello, when did you get back?”
“An hour ago.”
“And you went straight to the office? That’s keen.”
“To tie up loose ends.”
“So, how are you, Mitch?”
“I’m great. How about you?”
“I’m totally distracted and unable to concentrate; otherwise I’m well.”
“That sounds terrible. Is there anything you can take for that?” he teased her, lowering his voice, despite the closed office door.
“Did you ring up for any particular purpose or just to embarrass me?”
“I rang to hear your voice. I need to see you,” Mitch sighed.
There was a silence on the line.
“Are you there?” Mitch asked.
“Yes, sorry. I think that’s such a lovely thing to say, you surprised me.”
“By being honest?”
“By being open.”
“See, I am capable of it!”
Charlotte laughed. “Touché. By the way, Mitch, you never did tell me what happened to library girl. I hope you haven’t broken her heart.”
Mitch stopped to think.
“Ah, library girl. No, her heart’s still intact, I imagine. That seems like a lifetime ago.”
“It was two weeks ago. So, it wasn’t a successful date?”
“To be perfectly honest, it was going pretty well until I called her Charlie.”
“Oh, my God,” Charlotte laughed, “that’s terrible”.
“Yes, you sound so sincere. Naturally, that was the end of the date, so I paid the bill and we called it a night.”
Mitch could hear Charlotte laughing.
“Anyway,” Mitch continued, “I thought I’d try out my dating technique again. I rang to ask if you might be available for a date tomorrow night? I should be awake by then.”
“Let me see,” Charlotte said. He heard her rustle the pages in her diary. “As luck would have it, I have an opening.”
Mitch laughed. “Great. Well, shall I pick you up at say, seven-thirty, at your room?”
“That would be fine. What do I wear?”
“Something dressy,” he assured her.
“OK.”
That sat in silence for a few seconds.
“Well, I’ll be seeing you,” Mitch said.
“Tonight?”
“Tonight, for sure,” he confirmed.
Mitch hung up and sat back in his chair. He had an idea. With a smile on his face, he leaned forward and dialed a number. Giving his pilot registration number, Mitch booked a light plane for the next evening.
This is one night we are not going to forget!
THE END