“Show me what to do.”
“It’s quite simple, all you have to do is plug it in.” Bending down, he picked up the dangling plug and plugged it into the socket. Immediately, the fan came to life. A minute later the temperature of the breeze dropped noticeably.
“There are no speed settings, this fan is either on or off. I can install a wall switch and if you’d like I can make it a variable speed dimmer switch.”
“By the way how was the movie?”
“Kind of boring actually, now I know why it’s been a long time since I went to the movies. At one point I was actually nodding off. Thank you again for doing this for me. Make sure you have a bill for me when you come for coffee on Monday,” she said changing the subject quickly. If you don’t mind, I still have a lot of paperwork to do tonight.”
“Sure, no problem. I’ll see you Monday morning. Here’s the set of keys for the new door, put one on your key ring with your car key. Be careful, that lock stays in the locked position even when you twist the doorknob, so always check that you have your keys with you before you close it behind you. We wouldn’t want you to get locked out without your keys.”
“I’ll make sure I have my keys whenever I leave here for any reason.”
“One more thing, make sure you lock the door when you are in here. It’s much better to have the bad guys on the outside trying to get in, than to have them just come through an unlocked door.”
Having said all he could think of saying, Rick turned the locking button to the locked position, opened the door, walked out, and pulled the door closed behind him, testing the knob one last time to be sure it was locked.
Sasha, leaned against the door and smiled, thinking that it was so sweet that he cared so much about her safety. With a sigh, she retreated to her office, removed the seat cushion from the leather couch behind her desk, unfolded her bed, and removed her quilted blanket from the bottom drawer of her lateral file cabinet.
She spent the next twenty minutes, making sure the studio was clean and ready for her morning classes. Her nightly ritual was almost complete. Sasha walked back to her office, striped out of her clothes, and shut the office light. When her eyes became adjusted to the darkness, she walked out into the large room, and did a half hour of stretching and advanced yoga exercises. She had always found that this last half hour of exercise, put both her body and mind at peace and ready to sleep. Naked, she stood and walked quietly back to her office and climbed into bed.
________________
Bright and early Monday morning Rick arrived bringing breakfast. The table was set, she already had the coffee made. Sasha kissed him on the cheek and said good morning. It was a good morning, the temperature was in the low seventies, it was one of those rare mornings when the evening temperature prevailed, at least for a few hours, in its daily battle against the Arizona sun.
“Rick, did you bring me a bill, I’d like to pay you today.”
“I was thinking Sasha, why don’t you pay me in kind?”
At first, she was almost insulted by what she thought he was inferring.
“What do you mean by ‘in kind’?”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about starting an exercise program. I’d like to tone up my body. I haven’t been getting a lot of exercise lately and when I look in the mirror, I don’t really like what I see. I was in much better shape when I was still in college.”
Sasha visibly relaxed when she realized that she had misunderstood what he was asking. He didn’t seem like that kind of guy, unlike her last boyfriend.
“Sure Rick, I think that’s very commendable of you. Although from what I see you don’t look too out of shape to me; but I have to ask the students in my beginner’s classes about having a male join our group. You would be the first male to ever join us.”
“If it is going to cause a problem, then I’ll just have to think of something else.”
“No, let me talk to them first. I’m sure we can work something out.”
Two days later she flagged him down as he was driving through the parking lot.
“Rick, I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting the responses I received from my students. Basically, they didn’t want to feel that they were being leered at. When I told them that you were not that type of guy, they basically insisted that all guys were the same.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll try something else.”
“Wait, what would you think about individual lessons. They can be pretty expensive, usually I charge fifty-five dollars per lesson, but for you I’ll cut that in half.”
“No, that’s fine with me, besides, I have already paid for three of those lessons with the work I’ve done. When can I start?”
“Is Tuesday night at 7:00 good for you?”
“That works out very well for me. How should I dress?”
“Normally all my students wear leggings and a short sleaved tee shirt over a sports bra. You can skip the sports bra and the leggings. Just a tee shirt and a pair of gym shorts, but not too short. You will be doing a lot of bending over and stretching, we wouldn’t want you to be overexposed now would we? Also, white gym socks will be fine.”
“Sounds good, I’ll see you Tuesday evening.”
____________
Although he didn’t want to appear to be overanxious to see her again, Rick walked through the front door at a quarter to seven. The door to the main room was closed. There was a sign on the door.
‘If this door is closed, the class is still in progress, please take a seat, the class will be done by ten minutes to the hour.’
Like clockwork, the door to the waiting room opened at ten minutes to seven and the first of the students came out, towels draped over their shoulders, an exercise mat rolled up under their arm. Rick counted about eight women as they rather nosily left the main room and filed out into the evening air. He was almost ready to get up out of his seat, when the final two women came out; he heard a voice that sounded familiar.
“Great class Sasha, see you next week.”
The last woman came into view, stuck her hand out to keep the door from closing on her and turned towards him. He knew her, quite well as a matter of fact. It was Debbie, his administrative assistant. Quickly he held a finger up to his lips and when he saw that she understood, he mouthed, ‘I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’
Debbie just nodded and smiled a conspiratorial smile. As if to say, ‘Oh you bet you will, boss of mine.’
Debbie was in her early fifties but looked at least ten years younger. Now Rick knew the reason why. She had been his father’s assistant from the day she graduated high school and had come to work for the company. When his father had died and Rick took over the reins of the company, there was no hesitation in asking her to stay on board. She knew everything there was to know about the company and the people that now worked for him. She also knew where all the skeletons were buried. She had proved invaluable during his short tenure as president.
“Hi Rick, come on in, take your sneakers off, I’ll be with you in a few minutes.”