Chapter 1: The Change

The change had come on suddenly. One night Sonya seemed to be a little down when she got home form work and you tend to notice things like that after eight years of marriage. I asked her what the problem was and she just said that she had a stressful day at work. I accepted her answer but suspected that there was more to it then that. Sonya just doesn't let stress at work get her down.

The next several days were the same, Sonya seemed to be depressed when she came home from work and she didn't want to talk about it. She said nothing was wrong and that she was just a little tired. What struck me as being the most curious was that she wouldn't look at me when we were talking. After five days of this Sonya seemed bounce back to her normal upbeat self but I still sensed something was wrong.

Normally when Sonya and I got home from work we fix ourselves a drink and sit down and talk about our day. Sonya always enjoyed telling me about the things that went on in the office where she worked. I enjoyed hearing her stories because I had worked there with her for five years before I left to take a job in mergers and acquisitions for a national bank, so I knew all of the people she talked about either from my time with the company or from the many parties we attended with them.

After that first time Sonya came home seemingly depressed, she didn't talk about work as much. It wasn't that Sonya didn't talk to me at all it is just that her joking about the silly things that went on in the office had stopped. It seemed that Sonya only wanted to talk about what was on the television or issues that we needed to discuss regarding the house or bills that had to be paid. One of the best things about our marriage was that we had always been able to talk and be open with each other but for some reason I could not get her to open up about what ever was bothering her.

Sonya works for Stanley Applications (SA), a software development company in North Carolina and as I mentioned earlier I worked there with Sonya for five years. Sonya was a project executive and I was in sales. Sonya had already been there about a year when I joined SA and I remember that on my first day on the job I saw this tall, very attractive brunette standing at the copier and I remember thinking that I hoped that I would get to meet her.

I didn't actually meet her until I had been there over a month. Mr. Stanley, who started SA, likes his employees to be happy so about four times a year he has a big party for the employees. It was at my first party that I finally met Sonya. I saw her as soon as I arrived at the party but she was talking with a group of friends and I didn't want to approach her in front of them in case she rejected me. I was the new guy and I didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of several other employees. So I made my way to the bar to get loosened up a little and give myself a chance to make sure she didn't have a date with her.

I was working on my second drink when I noticed Sonya standing by herself on the other side of the room. I was staring at her and trying to get my feet to move so I could go over and introduce myself to her when she suddenly turned and looked in my direction and when our eyes met we both turned away quickly. I felt stupid. I should have at least smiled at her and nodded my head.

When I looked again she was talking to Julie, another project executive, and I noticed she tipped her head in my direction as if she were indicating that she wanted Julie to look at me or at least in my direction. Julie did turn toward me and I quickly looked away again and moved toward the bar to get another drink.

When the bartender handed me my drink I turned around to see if I could spot Sonya again and when I did I bumped into Julie, who had suddenly appeared right next to me, and almost knocked her over. I grabbed her arm to keep her from falling and then I noticed that Sonya was standing right behind Julie.

Before I could recover from the shock of almost knocking her over Julie said, "John, I don't think you have met Sonya yet, have you?"

"No. I haven't."

"John, this is Sonya Johnson," Julie said. Sonya works with me in the project department. Sonya, this is John Anderson, he's the new guy who tries to sell the crap we make."

I took Sonya's offered hand and told her how very glad I was to meet her. Then I asked the girls if they would like a drink. Sonya said that she would like a glass of wine and Julie said that she didn't need anything.

When I returned from the bar with the glass of wine for Sonya I saw Julie disappearing into the crowd. As I handed the glass to Sonya I made a mental note to thank Julie for making the introductions for us.

Sonya and I spent the rest to the evening together and when the party broke up I walked her to her car. I held the door open as she got into the car.

"Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow evening?" I asked.

Sonya said, "Tomorrow is Sunday."

"Oh, you have plans then?"

"No. It's just that Sunday isn't the usual night for a dinner date is it?"

"Oh right," I said and then felt really stupid. I was in too big a rush to get a date with her and ended up looking foolish.

"Dinner tomorrow night would be lovely," she said and she opened her hand bag and got a pen and a scrap of paper and wrote down her telephone number.

"Call me tomorrow if you still want to take me to dinner," she said as she handed me the scrap of paper.

I couldn't get the smile off my face as I closed her door and watched her drive away.

That Sunday evening, after dinner we went back to Sonya's apartment and watched some television and talked. Mostly we talked. I just felt so comfortable with her and I felt that she was also comfortable with me.

I got up to go home at eleven o'clock and Sonya walked me to the door. At the door I kissed her and it felt so good I tried to kiss her again but Sonya pushed me away. For a moment I wondered what I had done wrong.

Sonya said, "Down boy. Another couple of kisses like that and I would be in trouble. Save you kisses for next weekend you may need them if you expect to get lucky."