Ketchup Popsicle - 17

Sandra got up Monday morning, fed Daniel a banana, toast, and a side of Cheerio’s then showered and dressed for her first day of work. Mike was playing with Daniel when she came down in black pants and a dark pink pleated dress shirt.
"You look - nice," he said. "I didn't notice before, but you've really got your figure back and then some."
Sandra actually blushed. "Thanks."

Marta arrived and Mike drove Sandra to the train station. He gave her a quick kissed good-bye and to her surprise pulled her in for a longer more meaningful kiss. "See you later." He said, cool as a cucumber.
That was the Mike she used to know. Confident and aggressive. So different from the distant, cold, and boring Mike she had been living with for the last two years. She practically skipped to the train.
Once at the office building, however, her mood changed from light and carefree to nervous and scared stiff. In the elevator she looked herself over again and pulled on the black dress jacket that went with her pants.
"Good morning Indira." She said smiling as she walked over to the desk. "Is Mr. Neason in?"

"No, he's at a meeting this morning. But his assistant is here." She held up a finger as she picked up the phone pressing in an extension. "Jennifer, hi. Sandra is here. Yep - thanks."
"She'll be right out. Welcome, by the way." Something in her tone made Sandra feel like she wasn't very welcome there at all.
A tall slender blonde woman immerged, "Hello Sandra." She extender her arm and they shook hands. "I'm Jennifer. Come on back and I'll show you around." Jennifer seemed nice enough. She had big blue eyes and a round face that reminded Sandra of a doll she had when she was young. The doll whose eyes closed when you laid her down and who peed when you gave her water from the little pink bottle.

The entire morning passed without a sign of Mr. Neason. Jennifer showed Sandra the lay of the land and introduced her to the other employees who were mostly account executives. There was an older man in his fifties with a fake tan and suspicious English accent named Geoffrey who was particularly amusing.
"You’re the new girl then," he said stating the obvious. "Welcome aboard and hang on tight cause it gets a crazy around here." He laughed at his own joke, hiked up his pants and shuffled off toward the kitchen area.
"Guess it's lunchtime," Jennifer said looking at her watch. That's the only time that Geoffrey comes out of his office. Jennifer took Sandra to a nearby Japanese restaurant called Fumi for lunch. "I’m sorry to do this to you," she said "but I’m going to miss this place so much that I have vowed to eat here every day this week."
"Are you moving away?" Sandra asked.

"No, no. We’re going to Europe for a few months, my husband and I. It’s sort of like a second honeymoon before we start having children." Jennifer was beaming and Sandra forced a smile for her benefit.
Getting married and then having children. What a novel idea, Sandra thought to herself begrudgingly. "How long have you been married?" She asked.
"Coming up on a year now." Jennifer gloated.
Sandra proceeded to shove a piece of deep fried broccoli in her mouth. "So what’s your husband’s name?" Sandra asked.

"Robert," Jennifer replied. "He’s Mr. Neason’s son," she added casually. A bullet struck Sandra in the chest, forced its way through her rib cage and lodged itself into her heart. The bullet was wrapped in Jennifer’s words. Too stunned to speak, Sandra waived over the waitress and demanded that something full of sugar be placed in front of her immediately. All they had was green tea ice cream and she tapped her foot looking around to avoid Jennifer’s eyes until it arrived. "Should we be getting back?" She asked. "Lot’s to learn in just a week." Her heart sank - urgh, this beautiful blonde was leaving for Europe with her Bobby in just one week’s time. Sandra felt the ice cream coming back up.

Sandra kept quiet for the rest of the day, observing Jennifer. But not because Jennifer was teaching her how to enter the rate cards for billboard marketing into the system, but because she was sizing her up. So this is the type of woman that Bobby goes and marries, she thought as Jennifer went over Faxing 101. Blonde and perky. As nice as she was, Sandra couldn’t help thinking that there was something a little ‘off’ about Jennifer, but she figured it was just her jealousy looking for faults and coming up short. What right did she have to be jealous anyway, she and Bobby didn’t even know each other anymore; they couldn’t even be called friends.

Sandra especially had to keep her mouth shut while Jennifer went on and on about the trip she was planning for her and her hubby and how she planned to stay at home and rear their little tykes soon after. It would have been kind of Mr. Neason to mention that Bobby was married and his wife would be training her! She was almost angry enough to quit. But that would mean really never seeing Bobby again. At least if she stayed, maybe she would see him eventually.