Author’s Note: This story is a complete work of fiction from the get go and is intended solely for the readers to enjoy. My thanks to EasySpeak for the work of editing this story so that it makes sense and makes it easier to read and understand.

Author’s Note: This story was inspired by the song “Aubrey”. The song was written by David Gates and recorded by the group “Bread.” Gates was the leader of that group and he was the lead singer of the group for that song. This Author really liked the song and hoped to pay honor to the song, the song writer and to his group that performed it. The song and lyrics are on the internet.

When I went to college, I went through the four year program and I got my degree in Quality Management. I wasn’t at the top of my class but, I was near the top. With such relatively good grades and a high grade point, I interviewed several manufacturing companies and chose one that was located in the relatively large city only about a hundred miles from the little town where I was born and raised.

My parents still lived there in their home in which I had lived and was raised until I left for college. I went to work for a medium sized manufacturing company in the job of Quality Engineer.

My job responsibilities included many things. Several of those responsibilities included internal quality audits, monitoring the quality of incoming purchased materials, tracking quality trends and resolving NCRs if they were within my authority and contacting the person in authority if they weren’t. By contacting the person in authority, I could get the NCR resolved and get the customer’s order moving again through the manufacturing process.

By the way, NCR is shorthand commonly used for “non-conformance report”. An NCR can be written on any part or order that doesn’t conform to the customer’s requirements stopping the progress of the part or even the entire order through the manufacturing system until the problem is resolved. The resolution of the problem may be reworking the part or no action required up to remaking the part altogether.

Also included is the quality of product being processed through the shop floor for non-conforming parts necessary for the completion of the customer’s order. If a shop order is held up for quality problems the NCR is used to keep track of those problems to make sure that it didn’t adversely affect the delivery status of the customer’s order. Often times I have to visit with the Design Engineer or the Metallurgical Engineer to seek their resolution of non-conforming materials, parts, assemblies or the final product.

Many times I have found that the engineer who was responsible for the NCR had it sitting on their desk waiting for resolution but, he or she had not had the time to attend to it. (Yes boys and girls there are many women that have become Design Engineers and Metallurgists or Materials Engineers. And there are even some who have become Quality Engineers, too.)

Engineering has long since ceased to be the sole domain of the testosterone community. My boss, the Manager of QA had gone over the list of unresolved NCRs and he asked me to track down and get the oldest ones resolved as quickly as possible. We were under the gun to resolve those NCRs and get the part and the order moving to complete the order.

The following Monday I was sitting at my desk and I was going over the list of NCRs that required my attention. I was looking at the oldest NCRs and who they were assigned to for resolution.

I was preparing my list of who I should contact on the list when I heard a visitor come into the office. As was my usual habit, since I really didn’t have the time to find out who the visitor was that came into the office, I just ignored their arrival in the office.

I heard a feminine voice talking to our department clerk but, I didn’t pay any attention to what was happening or what was being said. Within a few moments a person in a hard hat, safety glasses and hard toed shoes, the required safety equipment for being on the shop floor, walked into my cubicle. When I looked up I saw a very shapely person who was wearing tight jeans, a very pretty and a very feminine blouse. She also had an almost angelic looking face, too.

It sure didn’t take Sherlock Holms to conclude that this was a young woman who was standing at my desk wanting to talk to me. As I looked at her she pulled off her safety glasses followed by her hard hat revealing her beautiful wavy, long flowing, chestnut color hair. Then she looked at me with her eyes that matched the color of her hair and she asked me, “Are you Danny Ryan?”

“Yes, I’m Danny Ryan. What can I do for you Miss?

“Well, Danny, I’m Aubrey Moreau and I work in Production Planning. My boss has assigned me the task to determine the hold up on an NCR that’s preventing the completion and shipment of the customer’s order.

It seems that the order is past due and the customer is screaming for us to get them their finished product out and shipped to them immediately. I need your help in resolving this NCR so we can get their order shipped to them very soon, Danny.

I stood up and looked at her pretty face and into her beautiful chestnut color eyes. Then I said, “I’m happy to meet you Miss Moreau.” as I extended my hand to shake hers. She had a very pretty face but, her pensive sparkling brown eyes seemed to look like she was deep in thought as she reached out to shake my hand. Her hand was very soft like she had velvet gloves on but, her hand shake was very warm and very firm.

Aubrey shook my hand and very sweetly and softly replied, “You can call me Aubrey and I’m happy to meet you, too, Danny.” I thought, her name of Aubrey wasn’t an ordinary name and I liked her name since it was unique and unusual.

I just had to wonder if her name was a reflection and a description of a unique and an unusual girl. She didn’t appear to be an ordinary girl or in her case she was a very sweet and pretty young woman.

“Do you have the NCR number, Aubrey?”

She took a look at the paper she had in her hand and recited the NCR number for me as I scribbled it down on my notes. I looked at the list of NCRs I had been working on and that NCR was one of those NCRs that was on the oldest bunch on my list.

I grabbed my hard hat and glasses, got up and said, “Aubrey, since you have your safety equipment with you, let’s take a walk out into the shop and have a look and see this part before we go up to Engineering to talk about it with them.”

She put her hard hat and safety glasses back on and said, “Ok, Danny. I’m ready to go if you are.” She looked just as cute in her hard hat and safety glasses as she did without them.

She really couldn’t be an ordinary girl when she looked so cute even in her safety equipment. Most girls in safety equipment look kind of like men with a feminine walk. I decided there was no way Aubrey could be mistaken for a man no matter what safety equipment she had on.

As we walked out to the shop I asked her, “With a last name of Moreau that sounds like it is French. You don’t seem to have a French accent but, do you have French ancestry, Aubrey?”

“My parents moved here from Belgium long before I was born and I was born here in this country. I was born and raised to be a proud American girl, too, even though I have French ancestry. However, I do have French ancestors from way back some generations ago.

Mom and Dad have told me that our ancestors migrated to Belgium from France. As you may know, Belgium and France have a common border and back generations ago the French migrated back and forth across that border.

It was easy for people back then to migrate across the border from France into Belgium and vice versa. They tell me there is a very sizable population of French speaking, French heritage people who have been in Belgium for generations.

They mostly live in French communities called Walloons in the southern part of Belgium. And there is a very large concentration of Walloons in the capital city of Brussels as well. You may know that French is the national language of Belgium.”

“Do you speak French as well as English, Aubrey?”

“Yes, my parents and my two older brothers taught me to speak French and I’m glad they did. We speak French as well as English around our home. We live in a bi-lingual home but, English is the language we use predominately.

Of course, it is not unusual for us to mix the two languages when we talk among ourselves at home. It turns out to be a kind of mix of English and French. Some people even go so far as to call it Frenglish.”

By that time we reached the NCR holding area and I began looking for the NCR tag that identified the material. I told her, “Aubrey, I wanted to come out here and lay an eye ball on the material because I knew that the engineer in charge of that part would probably want to do the same thing.” as I lapsed into using the normal non-profane shop vernacular. I didn’t think she would particularly like me to use the profane shop vernacular and I wanted to respect her sensitivity to the shop vernacular.

Aubrey just looked at the part and said, “It just looks like a big old piece of shiny rust splotched machined steel to me, Danny.”

“Yeah, it is but, every contour on the inside and outside of that part has a specified print dimension with tolerances. And if the measurements made by the inspector don’t comply with the print dimensions and tolerances then it has to be looked at by the Design Engineer.

The Engineer has to resolve the out of tolerance issue. If the out of tolerance dimension doesn’t hinder fit, form or function of the part then he or she can accept it or it may have to be re-machined to be brought into compliance with print dimensions and tolerances.”

“This part is only a few thousandths out of tolerance and it should be acceptable without any rework. If this dimension is a little over tolerance the Design Engineer may very well accept it without any additional work justifying the discrepancy as it is acceptable to meet fit, form and function.”

Having looked at the part, we turned to walk up to Engineering and talk to the Design Engineer in charge of that part. My notes showed me it was Jack Craig so we headed to his office to talk to him about the NCR.

We walked out of the shop and across the shop lot to the main office building where the Engineering offices were located. I couldn’t help but admire Aubrey as I allowed her to walk ahead of me in some of the very narrow shop aisles and through the building’s man doors as well.

She had a very pleasing shape and a very natural walk. There was no exaggerated forced sway to her hips as she walked as though she was trying to lure a man. Just watching her, she sure didn’t seem to be the ordinary girl especially since she didn’t exaggerate the swing of her hips as she walked. That alone was enough to lure me into watching her and wanting to get to know her better.

I knew Jack Craig and had worked with him several times in the past. Jack was a good Design Engineer with many years of experience and I knew that he could probably dispose of this NCR very easily. When we walked into his office, Jack looked up at me briefly saying, “Hi, Danny. What can I do for you today?”

I stepped over to the side a little and Aubrey stepped up beside me as I told Jack, “This is Aubrey Moreau, Jack. Aubrey works in Production Planning and she is trying to shake loose one of your pending NCRs so that the customer’s order can finish processing and get shipped to them and complete their order. She tells me that the customer is screaming about us getting it shipped to them on time.

Briefly glancing at her, Jack said, “Hi Aubrey. I know I have seen you in the halls from time to time.” as he reached over to his inbox and took out several NCRs to start looking through them barely looking at Aubrey.

As he did that he asked, “What is the NCR number, Danny?” I told him the number and when he found the NCR he said, “Oh, yeah, I remember this one. It has an OD dimension that doesn’t meet print tolerance doesn’t it, Danny?”

“Yeah, Jack it does, Aubrey and I have just come from the NCR holding area out in the shop and we have laid our eyeballs on it. One of the outside dimensions is a little over print tolerance. But, I thought you would think it was probably Ok since that dimension should not hinder fit, form or function of the part.”

“I normally walk out there and have a look at these parts before I dispose of them but, we are shorthanded and I have been so busy I really haven’t had the time to go out there and look at the parts, Danny.

If you have been out there and seen it I can sign off on it now and put this one to bed and get this order moving again.” He signed off on the NCR saying it meets “Fit, Form and Function, Danny, and is acceptable for use.” Jack signed and dated the acceptance on the NCR. Aubrey and I both thanked him and we left his office.

Aubrey started back toward her office and I told her, “Aubrey, I have to go down to your offices to see one of the inside sales people so I’ll just walk along with you.”

Aubrey said, “Gee, Danny that was easy to do. It was just knowing where the part was and the person to see. It was just time consuming wasn’t it?”

“I have a page and a half of these old NCRs to get resolved, Aubrey. My boss has just given me the job of getting these resolved if I can. It’s going to take me a little time to get these all done and a whole lot of leg work, too.”

It was a great pleasure walking with Aubrey and talking with her. She is such a pleasant and intelligent person to be with and talk to. And she is sure pleasant to look at and easy to admire too.

When we got to the combined offices of inside sales and production planning, Aubrey turned to go to her desk but, just before she did she turned, looked me in my eyes and said, “Thank you for your help, Danny. I really appreciate it. Without your help it would have taken me a lot longer to get just that one NCR resolved. I don’t envy you the work you’ll have to do to resolve a whole page and a half of those NCRs.”

“I’ll be happy to be able to help you again, Aubrey, and if you need help like that again you know where I am. Maybe we can get together for lunch sometime when you are free. I’d like to get to know you better and hear a little more about your parents and when they lived in Belgium.” Standing face to face I realized that she was even prettier than I had originally thought and I really wanted to put my arms around her and kiss her very tenderly.

“Sure, Danny, I’d love to go to lunch with you. Just give me a call and if I’m free we can go out to grab something to eat somewhere.”

Over the next several months I got really busy resolving NCRs that were over a week old and tracking incoming material quality and writing reports and doing internal quality audits, as well. I was just really busy and I think I more than earned my pay.

Most days I didn’t take time for a lunch and those days that I had the time I had completely forgotten about going out to lunch with Aubrey. Although, I really don’t know just how the hell I could forget about her and going out to lunch with her. I guess that is one of the hazards of being preoccupied with your work.

During that time the company’s business took a downturn and I know there were some layoffs but, the layoffs didn’t affect me or anyone in my department. So I didn’t know of anyone who was laid off during the down turn in business.

One day I found that there was a problem with a shop order that production planning was responsible for. I walked up to the main office building to the production planning offices. I stopped and talked to the first planner and asked him, “Do you know who wrote up this shop order?

He told me, “I’m not the planner that drew up that shop order, Man.”

I continued and asked him, “Who did draw it up then. Do you know? I need to talk to them about it.”

He looked at the shop order again and pointed out to me the initials in the “drawn by” box and said, “See these initials here? They are AM and that tells us that Aubrey Moreau was the planner who had drawn it up.”

“Well, where is her desk? I’d like to talk to her about it but, I don’t see her here anywhere.”

“You can’t talk to her at least not right now. Just before the last layoff she left the company. I was told that she took a voluntary layoff saving one of the other of us planners from being laid off.”

“Well, where did she go? I would have liked to have seen and talked with her before she left.”

“I don’t know but, maybe Darlene over in inside sales might know. Those two were good friends while Aubrey worked here. You might step over there and ask her what she knows about Aubrey and where she is now.”

I had worked a little with Darlene in the past. So I walked over to Darlene’s desk and said, “Hi, Darlene. I was told that you may know where Aubrey went after her voluntary lay off.”

“I really don’t know much, Danny. She told me she was going to take a voluntary lay off. When I asked her why she told me that her parents were retiring and they were going to sell their home and move to a retirement community out of state.

Then she told me that she didn’t think she could support herself on what she was making here so she was going to go with her Mom and Dad, live with them and look for a job there in the community they moved to.”

“Do you have a phone number for her, Darlene?”

“I do but, every time I call that number, it goes to a message saying that this phone number is no longer in service. I’ll give it to you and you can try it but, I don’t think it will do you any good, Danny.” I punched Aubrey’s number into my cell and figured I’d try it later after I got home that evening.

When I got home that evening I got busy with other things and forgot to try Aubrey’s number. I didn’t think of it for a couple of weeks and finally on a weekend I tried calling Aubrey’s phone number. I had the same success that Darlene had with a message saying that, “this phone number was no longer in service”.

I was pretty disappointed that I couldn’t contact her and I just figured I’d never see her again. I felt like the words in the song “Aubrey” said:

But, God, I missed the girl.

Wish that I had found the way

And the reasons that would make her stay’.

I guess I could have found her if I had wanted to hire a private investigator but, I knew that would have cost a lot more money than I could afford or even wanted to spend at that time.

A couple of lines of that song, “Aubrey”, kept running through my mind.

And Aubrey was her name

I never knew her

but I loved her just the same

I loved her name.’

Since I couldn’t talk to Aubrey, I just put my memory of her in the archives of my pleasant past and decided to go on with my life thinking I’d really love to see her again. I was really sad that I didn’t get the chance to see her and say good bye to her before she left.

A year went by then two then four years. At the end of four years I was promoted to Manager of the Quality Assurance Department. That’s when my daily work load really got busy. I hadn’t thought about Aubrey in a very long time.

Not too long after I got my promotion I got a phone call from Darlene. She said, “Danny, did you ever get in contact with Aubrey?”

“No, Darlene, I called that number you gave me multiple times but, each time I called it I got the same result you did and I never tried it again. I just figured it was a lost cause to continue to get that ‘out of service message’ when I tried to call her. I may not be all that bright but, I do know enough to quit chasing a lost cause.”

“Well, she called me earlier today and she has come back to town. She asked me about you and I told her you’re still here working in the QA department and you have been promoted to the Department Manager. Are you interested in seeing her, Danny?”

“Yes, I am, Darlene, very much so. I’d like to see her and take her out to lunch or even out to have supper while she is still here in town. As you may recall I didn’t get the chance to see or talk to her just before she left here after her voluntary layoff.”

“Ok, she and I are going to meet at a restaurant to eat this evening and I’ll tell her that. I suspect she’ll probably give you a call and you two can work out whatever you plan to do when you two agree to get together.”

“Do you have my cell number, Darlene?”

“No, I don’t, Danny. Will you give it to me, please?”

I gave her my cell and I told her, “If Aubrey wants to call me, tell her to call my cell number anytime, please, Darlene. And thanks for calling me to let me know that Aubrey has come back to town. You two have a good time when you meet for supper tonight.”

“Ok. We’ll do that, Danny.”

Darlene was a real sweetheart but, she just didn’t turn me on. I kind of thought I might hear from Aubrey that afternoon or the following morning but, nothing of that order came about. I’d had several phone calls but, none of them were from Aubrey.

After lunch that day I had a meeting with the people of my department. During the meeting my cell phone rang and when I answered it the feminine voice asked, “Is this Danny Ryan?”

“Yes, this is Danny. Who’s calling, please?”

“Danny, this is Aubrey. Can we talk for a bit?”

“I’m in a meeting with my department people right now. Can I call you back in about an hour after our meeting, Aubrey?”

“Ok, Danny. I’ll be looking for your call then.”

“But, first you need to give me your phone number so I can call you back.” She gave me her phone number as I scribbled it down on a sheet of paper and then we said good bye.

I thought her phone number looked kind of familiar. Later, when I went to punch her phone number into my cell memory I realized that it was nearly identical with the number I already had in my cell for Aubrey.

I think that when Darlene gave me her number she reversed a couple of the digits in the number. I thought it was a damn shame I nearly had her number all of the time in the first place. If I had gotten her phone number accurately, I could have contacted her all along in the past.

After the meeting with my department, I called Aubrey and when she picked up the phone and said hello, I said, “Hello, Aubrey. This is Danny, how are you?”

“I’m fine Danny. It’s been a really long time since I have seen you or talked to you and I was wondering how you are.”

“Yeah, Darlene told me you called her yesterday and you were asking about me. She then asked me if I was interested in seeing you and I told her yes, I was. I’d like to take you out to lunch or out to eat supper with you.

Did Darlene tell you what I said? We never did get the chance to go to lunch while you were still here and I’d still like to take you out to eat this evening if you’re not busy, Aubrey.”

“Yes, she did, Danny. And I’d love to go out to supper with you this evening.”

“Where can I pick you up this evening, Aubrey? I’ll pick you up and you can pick the restaurant where you’d like for us to go eat.”

“Danny, there is a nice restaurant near downtown that is pretty good.” as she gave me the name and location of the restaurant. “Ok, Danny, how about if we meet there at six o’clock this evening if that’s convenient for you?”

“Sure, Aubrey. I’m looking forward to seeing you again very much and I’ll meet you there at six then.” I had been to that restaurant a couple of times in the past and she was right.

They did serve good food and I was not only looking forward very much to seeing Aubrey, I was also looking forward to the food that the restaurant served. In addition, the diners could order wine by the glass or by the bottle with their meal, too. I was very excited to see Aubrey again, as well.

I left work a little early and went home to freshen up before I met Aubrey for our meal that evening. I dressed in business casual and left my home in time to meet her there at the restaurant at the agreed upon time. I kind of figured that I would be there before Aubrey got there and I’d have to wait for her to arrive.

When I got to the restaurant Aubrey was already there waiting for me to arrive. As I walked in the door she got to her feet and her face and eyes lit up like someone had just turned a bright light onto her. She was in a very pretty dress that showed off her fabulous figure very well.

She was just as pretty as I remembered her from several years ago before she left the company. She said, “Hi, Danny. It’s so good to see you again. I’m so happy to see you this evening.”

“Hello, Aubrey. I can’t tell you how good it is for me to see you again, too. I have been anticipating seeing you ever since Darlene called me and told me you had come back to town.

I hope you haven’t been waiting long.” At that time the hostess motioned that our table was ready and we followed her to our table. Once we were seated at our table the hostess handed each of us a menu and said your waitress will be with you shortly.

The waitress arrived very quickly and told us she would take our order. She asked us if we wanted something to drink with our meal. Aubrey said, “I’ll have a glass of wine, and I would like for you to put this on separate checks, too, please.” The waitress looked at me with a questioning look in her eyes.

I looked back at the waitress and said, “Put both of our orders on one check and bring it to me, please, Miss. And instead of a glass of wine just bring us a chilled bottle with chilled glasses, too, please.”

The waitress nodded her approval to me with a wink of her eye and said “I’ll get your wine while you and your lady choose your meals, sir.”

With that, the waitress hurried off to get the wine. While she was gone to get the wine we both chose the meal we wanted and when the waitress returned with the wine she asked if we were ready to order.

I allowed Aubrey to place her order with the waitress for what she wanted and then she took my order. She said our meals would be out shortly and she scurried off to get our meal orders into the kitchen.

As we were waiting for our meals to arrive at our table, I told her, “Aubrey, I was very surprised and really pleased and elated when Darlene called me the other day and she told me that you were back in town. What brings you back to town after all of this time?”

“Oh, Danny, this last year or so has been a real nightmare for me. Both my parents have passed away. They had made me the executor of their estate in their will and I have had to dispose of their possessions and their estate.

And what I couldn’t sell I put into storage. After disposing of their estate and splitting the proceeds with my brothers I had some money left but, it wasn’t enough for me to live on for very long.

I needed to find a job so I came back here thinking maybe I could get my old job back or another one like it in inside sales or in production planning. I called Darlene and asked her if there were any jobs available here.

Darlene said she didn’t know if there was anything available but, she would check and see if there was. Then Darlene suggested that I talk to you to see if you needed someone in your department.”

“Aubrey, I just hired a Quality Engineer for my department about six months ago and my department is fully staffed. I’m not allowed to hire any more people.” Aubrey looked down at the table, kind of dejectedly and when she looked up at me I could see that her eyes began to look watery. I asked her, “What’s the matter, Aubrey? Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m alright, Danny. It’s just that I don’t have enough money to pay the rent on my room at the end of the week. I don’t know what I’m going to do then. If I can’t find a job really quickly I’ll be down to living out of my car and I really don’t want to be doing that, especially not in the city.”

“No, Aubrey, it certainly is not safe for a young woman alone like you to be living out of your car. Where are you living now and how much is your room rent, Aubrey?”

She told me and I thought that her room was overpriced and it wasn’t in the best location either. In fact it certainly wasn’t in an area that was suitable for a young woman alone at all.

“You need to get out of that room, Aubrey. It’s not safe for you to live there. It’s really not safe for a pretty young woman like you to be living there, especially since you are living alone.”

“I can’t go anywhere else, Danny. I don’t have the money to pay the first month’s rent or the security deposit either. That’s why I moved into that room I’m in now in the first place.”

“Aubrey, I have a spare room at my house and I’d like for you to move in with me. You can live with me for as long as you like or at least until you find a job and can support yourself and until you decide to move out to a room in a better safer part of town.”

“But, Danny, I have some problems with that. I can’t pay you for your letting me live with you. And what about your wife and family, they certainly won’t go for that? I don’t want you to get yourself in trouble with your family, Danny.”