Aubreys Playground

:Two:

"And along with all of this amazing space, you have this amazing view of Mrs. Liberty!" Lori motioned her arm for her clients to look out the wide loft windows. The perfect view of a portion of New York's Hudson River. She guided her clients through the spacious living room, tall ceilings and metal beams gave it an industrial, rustic look. She had done it, again and again, delivering something more to her clients that them themselves hadn't thought of. She took their wishes, concerns, deal makers and breakers to serve up the perfect living space. "I'll give you both some time to walk around and talk amongst yourselves." She stepped outside into the cold December weather. Lori tightened the collar of her pea coat to keep the wind from hitting her neck and ears, the closer you got to the water the colder it got, she wasn't quite sure why anyone would want to live this close to the water especially during winter, but she didn't debate it their wishes. "I think I did it!" She sounded overwhelmingly confident as she spoke to Janet through the phone.

"You did not close the Hudson Loft!?"

"If anybody can! You know I can!"

"Shut up! We were trying to make a deal on that for months now!"

"Well, I finally got a couple to bite... I think... I got to go. I'll call you back."

The couple opened the door with a smile. "We're going to make a deal!"

"Excellent!"

"So! Did they make an offer!?" Janet asked before she completely stepped out of her office. Lori pulled her coat from her body and calmly tossed it over her arm, she casually stood there with a smirk for a long drawn out pause making Janet grow impatient for a response. "Well!"

"THEY MADE AN OFFER!" She finally belted out in excitement, she grabbed ahold of Janet's hand jumping up and down in her six-inch Louis Vuitton pumps.

"OH MY GOSH! b***h!..." Janet caught herself looking around the office, in a moment of excitement she had completely forgotten she was still surrounded by White Collar Americans who sure as hell didn't understand the multiple uses of the single word "b***h" how it could go from being a threat to a term of endearment all in the same sentence. She lowered her voice. "I mean.. Girl! Hello, congratulations! Do you know how big of a deal this is!?"

"Yes! WE did this! How big of a deal this is for US! We are celebrating! TONIGHT!"

"You know I'm always down for a night out! Oh, by the way, there's a package on your desk." Janet informed her, calming herself down she paced behind Lori to her office.

"Oh! Yes! They're the new business cards I ordered!" More excitement filled Lori's voice as she pushed the doors of her office open.

"Oh? You got new ones!?"

"Yes! Girl, you are going to love these!" She walked around her desk looking up and pointing at Janet.

"That's great and all, but I don't think it's business cards in that box girl!" Janet mentioned as she sat down on the other side of the desk looking down at the box.

Lori paused and frowned at the comment she too looked down at the box. "I don't either." She said. Lori reached for the flat square shiny pearl box, reflections of soft pinks, purples, and blues bounced off the surface when the light hit it, a black silky bow to bind it all together. It was subtle and elegant but dramatic all at the same time. The thin box was extremely light, definitely not filled with hundreds of business cards, she wasn't sure if anything was even in it until she cautiously shook it, the inside shuffled like loose paper. Lori chewed at the inside of her cheek then put the box back on her desk pulling at the wide black ribbon, she carefully lifted the lid of the box. "Oh... oh my God." She softly said overwhelmed as she pulled white tissue paper from the gift.

"What is it!?" Janet stood to her feet and leaned over to get a better view of the gift, her perfect eyebrows raised, she too shocked at the gift.

"It's a blouse... it's the same one... brand new." She picked up the bright white silky fabric letting it completely fall open, she held it up in front of her allowing Janet the perfect view. Lori looked at the tag, two black C's overlapping one another the letter M under it to indicate its size. "Oh my God... he got my size!"

"Girl..." Janet was speechless for the first time. She was left to muster up one word.

Lori placed the shirt back down in the box and picked up the small card, her name hand-written in cursive so neat that she swore a computer printed it, she flipped open the envelope flap and pulled the little palm-sized card out.

I know you rejected my dry cleaning offer, but you did not reject me replacing the blouse completely. Please accept this gift as well as my apology... again.

With Love,

Aubrey Graham

Janet pulled the card from Lori's hand to read it. She shook her head still in disbelief. "Girl, you better marry this man tonight! Matter of fact I'll propose to him for you." She said with a serious expression before sitting back down. "How did he even know where you worked?"

"Well.. he walked me back..."

"Wait, what? You leaving out key ingredients to this cake!"

Lori huffed, rolling her eyes. "He bumped into me, he offered to pay for the dry cleaning but I told him no. So he asked if he could at least pay for another set of drinks, I told him yes, he did then walked me back to work. That was it."

"Hmmm well it looks like you got an admirer now, because don't no man just buy a $300 dollar blouse for a random woman, whether he spilled something on it or not," Janet said placing the card back inside the box. Lori nodded in agreement, she wasn't necessarily sold on the admirer comment, for a man like Aubrey she was sure $300 dollars was less than what he spent in an hour.