Katra Willows decides to try an on-line dating site to find her perfect match. She connects with a woman named Lily who captures her attention, but she soon becomes discouraged when months later Lily still refuses to meet in person. Exasperated, she decides to end the on-line relationship unless Lily agrees to meet. When Lily finally shows up on her doorstep one night Katra is shocked to find out her real identity.
Katra Willows walked briskly into the sandwich shop located on the first floor of the building she worked in. “Pick up for Lambrant,” she said.
Once her order was retrieved, she signed for it, then carefully carried the cardboard tray filled with six cups of hot beverages and several sandwiches to the elevator, balancing the tray as she pressed the up button. The elevator stopped and the doors slowly opened. She stepped in and pressed floor six. There were several others in the elevator. No one spoke. They never did. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own world as their eyes watched their cell phone screens while their fingers busily tapped the keypads. As the elevator stopped at each floor, she watched several get off and just as many enter. Finally, the elevator arrived at the sixth floor and Katra stepped out. She walked quickly to the conference room, rapped softly on the door, and after receiving permission to enter, walked inside and set the cardboard tray on one end of the table, then quickly made her exit and headed back down the hall.
“Hey, Katra, how’s it going?” a friendly voice greeted her.
“Not too bad.” Katra flashed a smile at Alison James, who was walking toward her with a stack of folders cradled in one arm.
She’d met Alison, an attractive, friendly brunette, her first day on the job at Lambrant Advertising Agency a year ago when she’d stopped at Alison’s office to drop off the mail. Alison was an assistant to an executive’s private secretary.
“How about you?” Katra asked, noting Alison’s professional business attire. She was wearing a pale green business suit, black pumps, and her hair was perfectly coiffed, just reaching her shoulders. In contrast, Katra’s job only required her to wear dress slacks and a blouse or appropriate shirt, just so it wasn’t jeans or a tee shirt. She wore her black hair short. Her appearance was feminine, but she was never comfortable with primping as so many of her friends were and only wore a minimal amount of makeup. She never strove for a higher position in the company, even though she was qualified to do much more. She was happy to do without the stress that Alison was often under. And it hadn’t hurt that her grandmother had left her a sizable trust fund to draw on when the need arose. But Katra wasn’t materialistic, never had been, and was happy with the simple comforts of life.
“I think it’s going to be another late night for me.” She rolled her eyes. “But I shouldn’t complain. The overtime pay is good.”
“Well, the weekend is almost here,” Katra said.
Alison nodded. “I’m looking forward to it. I think I’ll sleep the entire weekend.”
Katra laughed. “Maybe you should.”
Alison screwed up her face. “I don’t even know if I’ll have time for a break this afternoon.”
“I’ll miss you,” Katra said. She’d been pleasantly surprised when Alison had sought her out in the break room at lunch time her first day on the job instead of going out to a restaurant with the rest of the assistants. Alison had explained that she didn’t feel comfortable in their snobbish circle.
She shifted the stack of folders. “I’d better get back to the office with these.”
“Okay, catch you later.” She watched Alison rush down the corridor, thankful again for her stress-free job.
Katra made her rounds of the offices checking to see if there was any outgoing mail to be taken downstairs to the mailroom, then headed back to her office, which consisted of a petite desk in a very small room located at the end of the hall near the supply room.
She sat down at her desk and leaned back in her chair. She yawned and closed her eyes. Her thoughts took her to a woman, Lily, she’d met some time ago on line. The relationship had never got beyond Katra sharing almost every detail of her life and Lily offering none. Katra had only decided to give online dating a try because she’d grown tired of the bar scene. She’d never met anyone she was even remotely interested in spending any length of time with except for a quick hookup. Sometimes she wondered what kind of woman she was really looking for. She wasn’t afraid of commitment, but she was afraid of two types of women. Clingy weak women who demanded her full attention turned her off as much as controlling manipulative women.
She’d set up profiles on a couple of online dating sites and in almost no time she’d gotten several hits. It hadn’t taken her long to realize she most likely wouldn’t have much luck with these sites either, since most of the women lived too far away to even bother trying to begin a relationship or they were the types of women she wasn’t attracted to. A couple of months ago she’d made the decision to close the accounts. She was ready to press the delete button on the final account when she noticed a new message. She’d debated clicking on it, assuming it would only lead to another disappointment, but her curiosity got the better of her.
