Chapter 5
783 Words
Regina woke the next morning and picked up her cell that doubled as an alarm clock. Usually Regina rose at the first alarm--rarely did she push the snooze button, but this morning she failed to hear the alarm. After realizing that she was now late for work, Regina hurriedly got dressed for work and quickly made some toast with butter.
Afterwards, Regina grabbed her bag and jetted out the front door and into her Bug. Hastily turning on the ignition and backing out of her parking place, Regina failed to see the car behind her and ran into the side of the car that was passing by.
"I'm sorry, sir." Regina apologized as she dug into her bag to pull out her cell to the driver's information for her insurance.
"Well, you should look where you're going!" the driver berated Regina.
"Should I call the police?";
"Oh, heavens no!" the driver said b
"Okay. How can I take care of this matter?"
"Don't worry about it." the driver said, "It's already been reported."
"Huh?" Regina asked.
"I'm a cop and I took down your license plate with the police station." the driver explained.
"A cop?" Regina said under her breath. "Just my luck to run into a cop with an unmarked car."
"I'm an undercover cop."
"Oh." Regina quipped.
"Well, just go about your day and the PD will contact your insurance company."
"But you do..." Regina began to say, but the driver was back in his car and already taken off.
Without questioning the guy, Regina drove to work, pulled into a parking spot and hurriedly walked into the office and to her desk just as her supervisor had stepped out of his office.
"Oh, good Regina, you're finally here. I need you in the conference room taking notes in 5 minutes."
"Yes, sir, I'm on it." Regina said, frantically looking for a pen and notebook to take notes.
As Regina was about to leave, she noticed the strawberry wine sitting at her desk with no note attached.
"Another one? I wonder who is sending these?" Regina said to herself, but didn't have time to think about it due to the meeting, but she vowed to find out later when she got off work.
When Regina got back to her desk after the meeting, her supervisor demanded the meeting's notes, so Regina promptly began transcribing them when she saw the text on her cell from Jaden:
"Had a gr8 time talking yesterday."
"Me 2!" Regina text back.
"Can I C U later?"
"What time?"
"After work?"
"OK, I get off @ 4:30."
"Gr8. Meet me @ R fave spot."
"K. I have 2 get back 2 work now. TTYL." Regina text back before putting her cell away and getting back to work on the notes.
While working on the meeting's notes for her supervisor, thoughts went to her boyfriend, Parker, who was away. It was alright to hang with a friend who just happened to be a guy? Regina wondered. After all, her and Jaden were just friends? There was nothing romantic between them?
After finishing up at work, Regina met Jaden at their favorite spot on the beach. Jaden was already there with blanket spread out and a picnic lunch waiting. It was a good thing too, because Regina suddenly realized she was famished, having had nothing but buttered toast for the day.
"How was work?" Jaden asked as he helped her with her blouse revealing the bikini underneath.
"Tiring." Regina said, "But I'm glad to be here!"
"Well, sit down and dig into my mother's chicken and potato salad." Jaden said, pointing to the blanket.
Regina picked up a chicken leg and bit into it and bit into something hard. When she spit out the meat, she noticed she had chipped a tooth, "Ouch!"
"What's wrong?" Jaden asked when Regina showed him her tooth.
"Looks like I'll need to see a dentist?"
"Here," Jaden said as he handed her a cleansing wipe.
"Wow, you sure come prepared?!" Regina remarked, thinking to herself how thoughtful Jaden was.
The moment was ripe for a kiss when Jaden leaned over to wipe some blood Regina missed on the side of her mouth, but Regina resisted pulling back as she remembered Parker.
"I'm sorry," I didn't mean to impose?" Jaden apologized.
"No, it's okay. I'm just not ready for that right now " Regina lied, feeling guilty.
Spending the rest of the day with Jaden, thoughts of Parker lingered in Regina's mind. As Regina watched Jaden get into his car, she was unaware of Jaden's plans to win her heart.
And Jaden was in the dark about Regina having a boyfriend out of town.
- Writer
