Short Story #2. - One Summer Day

It was another Saturday morning and Adrian said at the kitchen table lazily sipping the last of her coffee as she contemplated the events of the previous day.

Could you imagine she thought! Who would've ever figured it? Here she was a brunette with long brown hair, legs a model would kill for (or so she'd been told) and she had to wait until she was 24 years old to meet her ideal mate! And to top it all off, she didn't feel that she had made a very good "first impression" on him.

Let me see now, she thought as she slowly played the previous day back through her mind. She had gotten up early and dressed in her favorite hunter green suit which brought out the her hazel eyes beautifully. She looked at her watch and realized she had to meet Mr. Adkins at the restaurant by 11:30 AM sharp to meet with a potential client.

Adrian had taken a day of vacation but her boss, Mr. Adkins, called her the night before begging her to help him with this particular client at lunch that next day.

Adrian worked at one of the top advertising agencies in Houston. It was really a cream of the crop advertising job and with her 3.9 grade average at Texas University and luckily her father's good reputation as one of Houston's finest lawyers, she had learned about the opening.

- - - - -

It had been three years of tough work climbing the corporate ladder but she had finally established a name for herself and since Adrian had never lacked for creativity or enthusiasm for a challenge, advertising had been the perfect field for her.

The traffic was backed up as usual as her taxi weaved it's way downtown to Tony's, an elegant restaurant in Houston.

Mr. Adkins sure knew how to impress a client, she thought! Mr. Akin's had told Adrian that this particular client had money to burn and it was his intention to land the account for the firm.

It would be a real feather in their hat If they could pull this off and the last thing she wanted was to show up late! At 11:45 AM the taxi pulled up to the curb in front of the restaurant.

Frantically, Adrian started to hop out and ripped her hose on a snag on the torn seat in the process. Unaware that she was being watched, she lifted her skirt to view the torn stocking. When she looked back up she saw Mr. Adkins and a rather good looking man enjoying the view.

Embarrassed would have been an understatement for how she felt! Not only was she late, but she was making a spectacle of herself as well.

She quickly jumped out of the cab and began her apologizes For being late when the cab driver rudely honked his horn and said "If you don't mind lady, I would appreciate getting paid so I couldn't leave."

The good looking stranger immediately handed the tax account driver a bill which from the look on the cabbie's face left him with a sizable tip.

Mr. Adkins, who always came across as the suave mature, all together person, was looking a little flushed himself. He quickly introduced Adrian to Bill Haddocks.

Bill, though smiling pleasantly enough, gave Adrian the first impression from the odd look on his face that he wasn't sure he wanted, what appeared to be a frazzled woman handling the majority of his advertising.

Bill Haddocks owned a major department store chain which had stores is strung out all along the gulf coast. This particular chain was well known as being one of the better department stores.

Bill also owned his own television station and was known to have quite a bit of North Carolina's prime real estate, not to mention stock in one of the major oil companies in the States, located in Houston.

It was true Bill took over the department chain when his father passed away but he quickly built his wealth into an empire of varied interests.

After seeing the look on Bill Haddocks' face, Adrian thought, we may not have gotten off to a good start but I'll have you eating out of my hand before this meal is over!

Needless to say, Adrian did regain her composure and went forward with a presentation that would have knocked the socks off most clients but Bill Haddocks posed some pretty searching questions and from what Adrian could tell, he was definitely not new to the advertising game. He even threw in some pretty good ideas of his own which Adrian added up to be not bad, not bad at all!

Still, with all her charm and confidence, she could not get a real feel for what he was thinking. However, the sensual side of Adrian began doing some thinking of its own. The whole time she was talking Abcock Advertising, she was thinking...dark, almost black hair, beautiful blue "bedroom" eyes with a 6'2" tall frame, any woman would consider herself lucky to get to know him. Adrian thought he must be the athletic type, since his body definitely showed signs of daily workouts.

No ring, I wonder if he's... oh well, better keep my mind on business for now.

After Adrian's presentation and a delectable lunch, Mr. Adkins and Bill walked Adrian to her taxi and all three shook hands as Bill Haddocks promised them a decision in the next two weeks and left in a cab himself for yet another meeting.

As Mr. Adkins helped Adrian into her taxi, he touched her hand and said "Don't worry Adrian, we've got this account in the bag! Why are you charmed him right off his feet!

Adrian, however, was not quite as confident as Mr. Adkins,still they will know in two weeks either way.

How she hated to wait on those major accounts! She knew the partners of the firm were counting on them to bring this account to Abcock. Oh well, we'll just have to wait and see, she thought as a taxi pulled up in front of her house.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Nov. 2, 2020

I have been out sick with Covid but will be finishing this story by the end of the Thanksgiving weekend.