She promised not to leave me alone and that I would not have to carry on “cocktail small talk” all by myself with people I did not know. The party...was being hosted by three housemates. The one Sarah knew was Maggie O’Hara, a divorced, late 20’s, early 30’s lady from her photography group, who, while not a professional photographer, had sold and published some of her photographs. Having sold art work to a real publication was important to Sarah, and she spoke of “Maggie” with a bit of awe and. .. I saw it... I he...heard it.” He was trying to hold back, though a few tears still managed to break free. “Kellie...” Jack fell against my chest, wrapping his arms around my middle. I hugged his head, the only part of him in a position for me to hug. For the longest time, we just sat that way. Eventually I started to run my fingers through his hair, enjoying the softness as well as Jack's closeness. After a few moments, he spoke again. “Kellie, I don't want you to think that I'm... I was. I was starting to exert myself with her in little ways as I became more and more familiar with her. In her own way she had me hooked, although I don’t think she realized it but as I got to know her tastes, I would suggest going to clubs, movies etc. that I knew she liked as well. The weird shifts I worked as a waitress made it awkward to find the time to go shopping, but when we did on occasion I started taking her by the arm, not that meant anything to strangers, as far as they were concerned. One of them looks pretty good, but I don’t want to be too obvious about checking him out. Plenty of time for that once I start work again. I’ll let him approach me later if he’s interested. I knock on the office door and Rick yells that it’s open. When I step in, he looks up from his paperwork in surprise and smiles a huge smile. “Well, hello beautiful! Welcome back!” he stands up and moves to the side of the desk, gesturing for me to give him a hug. This might be totally inappropriate.