The Beauty Queen Called Twice by Elizabeth Andre

Author:Elizabeth Andre [Andre, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B01BO5LPR6
Goodreads: 29342790
Publisher: Tulabella Ruby Press
Published: 2016-02-26T03:00:00+00:00

***

The next day I could still smell Charlenae. Even though I’d showered, her scent was there at the tip of my nose and the edge of my consciousness. I had just turned in my story about her, outlining her business plans and leaving out everything that happened on her beautiful desk, when again the receptionist showed up at my cubicle. This time she handed me a brown teddy bear wearing a red ribbon. I sat him next to the beautiful bouquet of roses that was still on my desk.

Jodi poked her head above my cube wall but didn’t say anything. She just smiled and winked as I picked up the phone. It was time to take a chance and make that call. Charlenae’s personal assistant put me right through.

“Well, hello,” said Charlenae. “So happy you called.”

“Thank you for the roses and the teddy bear. They’re beautiful.”

“Mm, mm, yes, they are. So are you.” Then she waited. She had made the first move yesterday. She had sent me roses. She had sent me a teddy bear. It was clearly my turn to take some action.

“Would you like to have dinner tonight? I know a great place, a European steakhouse on Kinzie Street near the old railway station. We could talk, get to know each other better.”

“It’s a date. You’re on!”

We made our plans. I would see her again in just a few hours. I just had to churn out some more text this afternoon and get some more clicks until I could see her again. It was probably a mistake to have left the flowers at work, but I didn’t have a good way to get them home. Maybe I should have hidden the teddy bear.

Next thing I knew Tim was standing at the entrance to my cubicle. At that moment, you could tell he didn’t just want newspapers to be back the way they were twenty years ago. He wanted a newsroom more like the ones from fifty years ago, full of smoke and noise. He was chomping his teeth like he really wanted to hold a cigar between them, and he was blowing at me like he wanted to make smoke rings.

“You know it’s against the rules to accept gifts from sources.” He paused, probably for effect.

“I don’t care if you sleep with elephants as long as you’re not covering the circus.” Another pause.

I was a little embarrassed, but I was also trying not to laugh out loud. I knew Tim was loving this. It had most likely been a long time since he got to do his “curmudgeonly, hard-nosed editor” schtick, so I didn’t want to spoil it for him by giggling.

“Get my drift? That story better be good.” He strode away, whistling. He might have even been smiling, but he walked away too fast for me to be sure.

I felt heat rising in my cheeks, which meant that I was turning beet red again.

Jodi popped her head over the cubicle wall. “It’s a really cute teddy bear.”

I petted its soft fur.

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