Cascade; A Spicy Novella

Settling In

“I can’t believe how green it is here! There are trees everywhere!” I said, looking out the window. I’ve never been to Seattle and was really surprised by how green it was.

“I know right?!” Let’s go get settled into my place and then we can hit a bar and you can get my caught up on everything!” Jen said.

Jen lived in West Seattle, just over the bridge. It was cute, with little stores and shops and only a few minutes from downtown Seattle. She had a two bedroom apartment on the second floor of a brand new building. It was gorgeous with hardwood floors, tall ceilings and all new appliances and furniture.

We dropped my bags off and then walked down to a little restaurant.

There were no problems in the world that some chips, salsa and margaritas can’t fix.

“Well, well, well, look at you all single! How does it feel?” Jen asked taking a sip of her margarita.

“Weird” I said “and exciting, and sad, and relieving, it’s just a weird mix of emotions.” I said.

“Yea, when Craig and I got divorced I felt the same at first. But he was such a d**k, it was easy to get over that real quick. I’m sorry this is hard. How are the girls handling everything?” Jen asked as she was munching on her chips and salsa.

I finished my margarita and the waiter came to ask if I wanted another.

“No, just water please” I said.

“f**k that, she will have another” said Jen, laughing like water wasn’t even an option. I just laughed at her.

“The girls are great, they are settled in to their apartment. I stopped and checked on them before I left and they seemed super happy. They are both working at the hospital until the fall semester starts. They love it so far. They don’t seem upset or surprised by the divorce. A little sad maybe but that’s it.” I said, realizing I hadn't thought about how much the divorce might be bothering them, but if they had any issues, they haven't shown it.

“Those girls are gonna do big things. They are already so grown up.” Jen said.

“I’ll drink to that!” I said, taking a big drink of my second margarita.

After dinner we walked back to Jen’s apartment, it was a little chilly out, but the fresh air felt good on my skin. I always felt so dry and dehydrated after flying.

“Tomorrow we have a party for a big tech company, I’m going to have you shadow me and you can see what each position is doing and you can see what you might be interested in doing. Once the party gets started everyone is going at full speed so it’s a good time to see everyone in action. You just have to follow me around and watch.”

She made it sound like it was going to be easy, but I had a feeling it was going to be a lot of work.

“Ok, that sounds great!” I was nervous about working an event. I’ve never done anything like this before outside of helping prep birthday parties for friends.

We decided to get a bottle of wine on the way back to Jen’s house and stopped at a little shop.

Jen had given me a heads up of what I would need to wear for work so I made sure I packed a few outfits that I thought would work. We opened the wine and opened my suitcase to find something that might work. Jen is such a boss and she dresses like one too. She helped me pick out some high waisted dress pants and a light pink dress shirt with a long gold necklace and black heels. This outfit hugged my curves and made me look taller than I am.

I am 5’2” and 175 pounds so I’ll take any height I can get. I wasn’t eating a lot the last few months with the divorce and I had lost about 20 pounds. It was the healthiest way to do it but I hadn’t been this thin in a while and I actually felt confident in my body. I intended to go to the gym and eat right to help lose the rest and feel healthy.

After our fashion show, we had both changed into sweats and t-shirts, put on some documentary on Netflix and sat on the couch. It felt so nice to finally sit down somewhere comfortable.

“So tell me about all this f*****g you’ve been doing” I said to Jen.

She started to laugh.

“Ha! Turns out when you’re the boss and in a room full of people ordering them around it really turns some guys on” she smirked.

“Oh, so these are work relationships? Should I know anyone in particular to avoid drama tomorrow?”

“No! No one I directly work with. That would get messy and I’m not into messy. But if a hot guest at the party takes me back into a stock room for 15 minutes you mind your business and cover for me, or join us” she winked.

“You’re joking right? That s**t doesn’t actually happen in real life?” I said, honestly thinking that she was joking.

“Oh it does, and no I’m not joking. I have had some flings but nothing has stuck. Ever since Craig I just haven’t had any interested in anything long term. I did meet a guy a few weeks ago and we really hit it off, I went to his place after an event and he f****d my silly all weekend but I left and didn’t leave my number. I probably should have, but I really liked him and I don't feel like getting hurt. Easier to have fun and leave ya know?" She said sipping her Moscato.

"That's fair, but I think you should give yourself a chance, Craig was an ass, but don't let him ruin love for you for forever, you deserve to be loved too." I said.

"I'll make a deal with you, I will try to give a guy my number and you try to get some d**k while you're here." she said holding out her hand.

I gulped what was left in my glass, "alright, deal" I said and shook Jen's hand.