FRACAS AT THE OFFICE:

Sheila Corday was the boss lady; it's what they called her, many of them to her face. She just smiled, when they used it. It had been her father's business, the work of a lifetime. It had prospered and had grown, and her Dad had been perspicacious enough to begin to set in place a new management presence for the business. She'd been his obvious choice. He'd taught her, groomed her, shared his insights with her and was completely pleased when she began to show a real flare for the business and the possible future of the business.

The only spot of conflict that she ever had with 'Daddy', as she always called him, was her engagement and marriage to Gerald.

Her Dad hadn't liked Gerald. He thought that Gerald was a gold digger and had picked her as his target of choice. She had disagreed and the two of them, as stubborn as each other, had agreed to disagree. Her Dad was kind of content, as long as his 'Sheila Girl', as he called her, was happy.

They had, however, agreed on an iron-clad prenuptial agreement, that Gerald had laughingly consented to, with statements about 'never letting her go', so that the prenup meant nothing to him, or so he said.

Gerald had charmed her and she enjoyed it for at least part of the seven years that they spent together. It was only then that she discovered that Gerald was charming others too.

She'd had a meeting with the firm's lawyer, Matt Vinkus, and it was then that he'd given her proof that Gerald was seeing others, almost right along. It seems that Gerald had a 'thing' for, what Matt called 'bimbo' type women.

"I mean," Matt had said, "No character, no intelligence, no hips, no butts; nothing but long blond hair and attitude!"

Sheila was stung to the quick by what Matt was saying and the evidence that she'd been given.

That had been the previous weekend, and Matt had told Sheila that she needed to simply go about her business and he'd take care of Gerald. He was going to invoke the prenup and have Gerald removed from the house.

Matt had also been as good as his word on the issue. He'd gotten Gerald out of the house and, in a sit down with him, showed him the evidence of his 'dalliances' and invoked the prenuptial agreement. It provided Gerald with a small kind of 'send off' check, and Matt had that ready for Gerald too.

It was Monday, after that terrible weekend. Sheila was sitting in the alcove of her office talking to Gail, her secretary, assistant administrator.

"Oh, sweetie," Gail said, "I'm so sorry!"

"How blind can one person be?" Sheila kind of moaned, holding, just then, her head in her hands and shaking her head, as she groaned.

"I can deal with problems on the floor; I can deal with problems with our distribution; I can deal with problems with our personnel; I can deal with problems with our suppliers!," Sheila complained, "But I'm showing so clearly that I can't deal with fools, and in the process have been one myself."

"I won't hear of that kind of talk," Gail said. "Gerald was that smooth that he could talk a beagle out of its dinner!"

Sheila looked up and smiled: "Thank you, honey," she said earnestly to Gail, "You're so good for my ego, which is pretty low right now."

"No," Gail countered, "We're going to get through this; you'll just see."

"Yes," Sheila said, "I'm just going to concentrate on the business; it'll help get me through this."

For her part, Gail couldn't understand it. From her point of view, at her current age of 41, Sheila Corday was gorgeousness itself. She was petite but so well formed: nice in the breast, gorgeous butt. Gail was saying that out loud to Sheila, and it, as usual, made her giggle, a giggle that was taken up by both of them.

"You're just trying to have your way with me!" Sheila said, a twinkle in her eye.

"Got it in one, Boss Lady!" Gail said, as she got up and went into her office.

"Okay," Sheila said, "Enough malarky! What do we have next?"

"Charlie Strong is supposed to be here in a few to go over the production reports with you," Gail said.

"Good," Sheila replied, "That'll focus my mind on something that I can deal with!"

Gail went out to her office, through which people had to go to get to Sheila, and about as soon as she got there, Charlie Strong came in through the door that led to the production floor.

"Hey, Gail," he said.

"Hey yourself, Charlie!" she answered.

"Is her gorgeousness in?" He asked.

Gail shook her head 'yes' but said: "Let's be careful today; she's having a tough time!"

"You mean Gerald the fool is at it again!" Charlie said, a fact that was known by the members of the company inner circle, since the company, following her father's pattern, operated as much like a family enterprise as anything else.

Gail simply shook her head 'yes' and Charlie held up his hand to show that he understood.

Then the hurricane occurred.

Gail and Charlie both heard the elevator doors in the hallway open and then the office door was positively thrown open and Gerald Winters stormed into the office.

(For business reasons Sheila Corday had kept her own name, after the marriage.)

He was in a furious mood, and initially both Gail and Charlie just stood and watched as he stormed into the office.

"Is she in?" he almost yelled.

"She's not to be disturbed!" Gail said, moving to stand in his way, while Charlie just looked on.

"Oh, yeah!" he said, pushing Gail out of the way, which caused Charlie to move in Gerald's direction initially.

Gerald just looked at Charlie and seemed to not even notice him, as he stormed into Sheila's office.

"BITCH!" he shouted.

"What do you want?" Sheila countered, her anger too showing.

"You know damn well what I want!" he said.

"You can't do this to me with your fuckin' Matt VInkus!" he fairly yelled.

"What?" she countered, "Take away your posh lifestyle on my Daddy's and my money, while you dip into the pool of the blonde and clueless?"

"You bitch!" he said, advancing toward her, while Gail and Charlie just stared at the scene for the moment. "I'll shake you until your teeth rattle and you see some sense! I'm not going to be pushed out with this measly check for $10,000!"

At that point he took the check and tore it up —-which turned out to be a mistake, since Matt Vinkus refused to have another one prepared for him, afterward, until Sheila intervened.

Then he repeated his threat, after the shards of the check went fluttering to the floor. He reached out and grabbed Sheila by the collar of her blouse and began to shake her. Some of the buttons broke away from her blouse with his fury and she put up her hands to ward him off.

"YOU WON'T DO THIS TO ME!" he shrieked and raised his hand to slap her.

It was then that Charlie intervened. Without saying anything to Gail or to the two struggling in the office, he simply moved to the scene, with a quickness that would have made Gerald's head spin, had he actually witnessed it.

Charlie reached out and grabbed Gerald by his outstretched hand, and, having Gerald off balance threw him against the wall, where he landed with a crash.

Gerald, however, was up and moving in Sheila's direction again in a second, and just giving Charlie a contemptuous look.

"Outta my way, boy!" Gerald growled, and then Charlie acted again.

Charlie Strong, 27 years old, had been raised in a family of boys, four of them, counting him. They were the very pride and joy of their Momma and the apple of their Father's eye.

He'd been a wrestler, a fighter and had always enjoyed brawling with his bros on any number of occasions. Their one rule, that all four of them always adhered to was that no one hurt Momma!

It was how he was raised, and he put that rule into action now.

He was into healthy living techniques; he ran and worked out regularly and Gerald Winters was about to discover that.

As Gerald, in his rage, tried to shove past Charlie, after the comment about 'boy', Charlie reached out and grabbed Gerald by the air, bringing him up short.

Gerald let out a kind of combination of a scream and a shout of surprise but Charlie had him so firmly by the hair that he couldn't move. Gerald, not exactly knowing what to do about this new situation, grabbed the front of Charlie's shirt.

Charlie was, however, good at this. Anyone could have asked Andy, Brian, or Timmy, his brothers and they would have admitted as much.

He pulled Gerald around by the hair and clamped his hand firmly in Gerald's groin, grabbing him by the balls.

Gerald squealed as though he were being strung up to be killed.

Sheila had her hand over her mouth, as she gapped at what was happening, and Gail was smiling and clapping her hands in glee.

"Stop, you asshole!" Charlie shouted at Gerald, who did indeed stop dead in his tracks.

Gerald opened his mouth to say or shout something and Charlie simply squeezed harder on his nuts, and pulled on them a bit.

"Not a damn word, until I tell you!" Charlie said, "Do you understand?"

Gerald, in more pain right then than he'd ever known in his life, shook his head 'yes'.

"Good," Charlie said. "Here's what we're going to do! You're going to beg forgiveness from this lovely lady for raising your voice and raising your hand to her!"

He pushed his face closer to Gerald's, which had turned a kind of beet red in the process.

"Do you understand?" Charlie growled.

Then to make his point, Charlie both squeezed Gerald's nuts harder and yelled into his face:

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"Yes!" Gerald said, barely able to talk and then, seeing the look on Charlie's voice, repeated his phrase only this time: "Yes, sir!"

"Good," Charlie said, "Now on your knees and beg her forgiveness, and don't make me have to deal with you again. You won't like what I do next!"

Gerald went to his knees, and did indeed begin to beg Sheila's forgiveness.

As she looked on, she had tears in her eyes, not from what Gerald had done but from the kindness, concern, words and actions of Charlie Strong.

When he'd made his abject apology, Gerald turned to go. He hesitated then, and Charlie said:

"Okay, I don't care, you choose; it's either the elevator or out the window?"

Sheila, at that point said, softly: "Charlie!"

Charlie turned, nodded and said: "Yes, Ma'am."

Then turning to Gerald, and taking him by the arm, he said: "Okay, hero, let's go; you're done here." Charlie walked him out to the elevator and security was there waiting to see him out of the building. Gail had called them.

Gail also put in a call to Matt Vinkus and told him about it. He said that he'd be right there. He was as good as his word, having made, in the process, a call and gotten a writ of protection in the works for Gerald.

(It should be said at this point, that Gerald Winter faded from Sheila's scene, her life and her business. He did ask Matt Vinkus for another check for the $10,000 and only got it because Sheila told Matt to do it, getting the response from him: "Honey, you are not only lovely but you are goodness itself." She said a grateful 'thank you' to that and gave Matt a kiss on the cheek.)

Once the fracas was finished, Sheila sank back into her chair. Gail just stood there for a few seconds and then Charlie came back into the office.

"I'll be down on the production floor!" he said. "Take care of her!"

Gail nodded; she had tears in her eyes and couldn't, at that point, talk and simply gave Charlie a hug and a kiss on the cheek."

Then Gail went into Sheila's office. Sheila looked up and then the tears were coursing down her cheeks.

"I don't believe it!" Sheila said, in a shocked voice.

"Amazing!" was what Gail said.

"Wouldn't have believed it, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," Sheila said then.

Both she and Gail were hugging then, and Gail whispered: "How about that, Boss Lady, front row seats to an actual ass kicking!"

Sheila giggled then, and Gail did also.

"What do you want?" Gail asked. "Water? Coffee? Tea? Whiskey?"

Sheila gave another giggle and said: "Thank you, honey, a cup of coffee might just settle me down. I need to calm down and decide what to do."

Gail got the coffee and, as she was taking it into Sheila, Charlie Strong came back into the office, once again with the production reports.

(After he'd finished his bachelor's degree from a local technical college, Charlie Strong had gone on for a master's degree in business and production. He had been working, during those student years, in the dead man shift at the plant, and during that time had always escaped Sheila Corday's notice. She, however, never escaped Charlie's notice. He simply thought that she was an outstanding beauty, an opinion that he kept to himself.)

Now Charlie stood at the office door, kind of shifting from one foot to the other, feeling ill at ease.

Both Gail and Sheila looked up at the same time. Gail stood in front of Sheila's desk, and Sheila was sitting behind it.

"Ms Corday," Charlie said, blushing at the same time. "I need to apologize to you for my rash actions."

He reddened, while the women looked on and went on to kind of explain himself: "I was always raised to respect women and always think, in situations like that of what I'd do, if it were my Momma, who was being treated badly."

Sheila kind of smiled behind her hand again, and said: "Does this happen often?"

"Oh, no, Ma'am," he said. "This is one of the only times. I'm just so sorry to have acted that way."

Sheila looked at Gail then and Gail kind of knew what Sheila was thinking.

"Front row at an ass kicking!" Gail said.

"My words exactly!" Sheila said, and Charlie was left standing there and blushing.

It was then that Sheila went to him and put her arms around him.

"Thank you, Charlie," she said, "For being there for me! I was getting the worst of that battle! Until you stepped in!"

"And delivered the ass kicking," Gail said, going to Charlie and hugging him herself.

"I have the production reports, Ma'am," Charlie said, making sure that he was being extra specially polite, after his previous 'cave man' actions, as he characterized them.

"I'm still kind of replaying that scene in my mind," Sheila said with a grin.

"I can come back!" Charlie said then.

"Of course you won't," Sheila said, "I'm just foolin' here. Let's look over the reports."

While they were going over the reports, Matt Vinkus arrived.

"Where is she?" he said, a bit out of breath.

"In her office," Gail said, and explained that she was there with the production manager, and also mentioned that Charlie was the one who'd taken care of Gerald.

"I must meet this young man," Matt said, and Gail mentioned on the intercom that Matt Vinkus was there for Sheila.

Sheila turned to Charlie then and asked: "Charlie, can we take a minute here?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he said.

"Oh, no!" she said softly, "It's not Ma'am, not when you are my complete hero! It's Sheila!"

He smiled at her and said: "Yes, Sheila!"

She went to the door and gave Matt Vinkus a hug and cheek kiss, leading him into her office and introducing Matt to Charlie.

"Young man," Matt said, "We are in your debt for taking care of that no-account, who'd attached himself to our girl here."

"It's perfectly alright!" Charlie said, grinning at what Matt had said.

The two of the shook hands and Charlie turned to Sheila and said: "I'll be out here with Gail."

"Thank you, Charlie!" Sheila said, and turned to Matt, as Charlie left her office.

"Have a seat," Gail said, with a smile, as he exited from Shiela's office.

He sat in the chair by her desk and shook his head.

"Talk about a cave man!" he said ruefully.

"Don't say it," Gail warned, "The Boss Lady was entranced by the way that you went to her aid!"

He looked at Gail and said: "Really?"

"Really!" she said, then sensing what was in the air she said to him:

"You like her, don't you, Charlie?"

"Oh," he said, with pain in his voice, "Does it show?"

"Well, to me it does," she answered, "But I think that her nibs is still struggling with the demise of Gerald the sleazy, Gerald the bimbo boinker. It will take her a while to realize it."

"And then?" he said.

"Then, my friend," she said, leaning in his direction. "You have a real chance."

He just gave Gail a huge smile then, and said: "I can be patient."

"That'll help!" she said.

Then Gail, using a voice at a whisper, said: "After work at Kern's Corner. It's where we often go for a drink after work, and talk about our day and all. You could always happen to turn up there and join us. You might just have the Boss Lady on the run by then at least for now, though I know she'll need time to take all of this in."

He laughed and said: "Oh, I love conspiracies!"

"So do I," she agreed.

It was then that Matt Vinkus came out of the inner office with Sheila.

"I'll have that writ taken care of immediately!" he said.

"I'm going to have Charlie move in with me!" Sheila said, a grin on her face, as she looked at both Gail and Charlie. "Then Gerald won't be coming back at all."

She laughed; Matt laughed; Gail laughed but Charlie only blushed.

"Progress!" Gail whispered to Charlie, as Sheila saw Matt out of the office. Before Matt left, he turned to Charlie to thank him again and mentioned that if Charlie ever needed anything, he just had to call.

"Production reports, Charlie," Sheila said, coming back into the office.

"Production reports!" he affirmed and they went into her office to go over the reports.

Later, after the reports had been worked on and Charlie went back to the production floor, Gail and Sheila sat in the alcove of Sheila's office.

"He's gorgeous!" Gail said, as though tuning into Sheila's mind.

"He is," Sheila said, almost unconsciously and then she blushed.

"You blush, girl," Gail said, "I saw you giving him the once over, casting your almost middle aged eye over the swell of his butt cheeks in those jeans."

Sheila just put her hand over her mouth and giggled.

"Got you!" Gail said.

"Stop it!" Sheila said, "it's already been upsetting enough today."

"Yes," Gail said, with mock sincerity, "So upsetting that the boss is drooling over the young production manager's butt!"

"Get him around her more often," Gail said, on a roll at this point, "And I won't have to keep patting your butt myself."

She was laughing by the time she finished the sentence.

"You're terrible!" Sheila said.

"Accurate but terrible," Gail said, and they laughed again.

"But really," Sheila said, "He's stunning!"

"Yes," Gail admitted, "We need to head to Kern's and think about this."

"No, we don't," Sheila said forcefully. "But I know you will anyhow, with your dirty mind!"

"You're only saying that because I get laid all the time and you had that lame shit Gerald!" Gail said smugly.

Sheila didn't deny it; she said, at first: "Oh, Gail, honey, it's been so long since the Gerald paid any attention to me at all."

Sheila laughed then and said: "Well, it's obvious that Gerald isn't part of the picture anymore."

"What a good thing for you," Gail said, and then softly went on: "Sorry to be teasing you, Boss Lady!"

"You always bring me around, love!" Sheila said, leaning forward and kissing Gail's cheek.

"We done here?" Gail asked.

"Think so," Sheila said, "Production reports are really good; we're showing very nice growth."

"Right people in place!" Gail said.

"Yes!" Sheila agreed.

"Especially when we need a bouncer!" Gail said and the two of them laughed again.

"Meet you at Kern's?" Sheila asked.

"Yes," Gail said. "I have time. My sweetie pie won't be home yet."

AT KERN'S:

Gail and Sheila met at Kern's. A number of people nodded to them, as they entered. They came here now and again and were familiar. They both liked the quiet ambiance of Kern's and the fact that they were never hassled, while they were there.

They sat together, each with a glass of wine and, as though they were on the same wavelength, Gail said:

"But wasn't it exciting?"

"Sue was!" Sheila said, "That is, after Gerald stopped his rag doll imitation with me!"

She shook her head then and mumbled: "Can't really believe it. This Gerald thing should have me in the dumps but I feel so ... kind of alive!"

"A good rescue will do that," Gail said. "Just think about it! Pretty Butt Charlie isn't going anywhere!"

They both laughed, and Sheila remarked: "It's so nice to be able to laugh about that." She hesitated a moment and said: "I really owe him a debt of gratitude. What shall I do?"

"Well," Gail said, a twinkle in her eye, "You already said that you were taking him home with you!"

"Don't you dare!" Sheila said, dissolving in the same kind of laughter that was overtaking Gail right then.

"Get him home and get his pants off!" Gail said.

"Bite his lovely ass!" Sheila said, picking up the spirit of their fun.

"Bite him once for me too," Gail said and they both shook with laughter.

"Sounds like someone is having a good time!" a voice said, and both Gail and Sheila turned their heads and noticed Charlie Strong standing there. Sheila clamped her hand over her mouth, trying, vainly to keep her mirth inside.

Sheila cast an accusatory glance at Gail, who simply stuck her tongue out at the Boss Lady.

"Yes," Sheila said, "Join us for a drink, Charlie?"

"Thank you," he said pulling up a chair, and ordering a bottle of Stout from the waitress, who came to get his order.

When he had his drink, Charlie raised it and they had a toast. It was Gail who said: "Here's to successes today!"

"Yes," Sheila said, "Successes today!"

"Successes today!" Charlie said, reddening just a little bit, and as he did, Gail nudged Sheila's foot with her own foot under the table. Sheila tried not to notice.

Sheila then turned the conversation away from that little fracas and began to talk about the production report and what it meant for them. They followed this line of talk for a bit and finally Gail, drained her glass and said: 
"Well, children, I'm out of here. My man will be coming home soon."

Sheila was a little disconcerted and Gail winked at her, as she walked away, after a hug and cheek kiss from Sheila and also a quick hug from Charlie.

It was then that Sheila decided to plunge right in: "Charlie," she said, "You bailed me out today, and I appreciate it!"

"It was nothing," he commented.

"Don't you say that," she said, "It was a major thing and I really appreciate you being there for me, when Gerald was getting all huffy."

"Jerk!" he said.

"Yes," she agreed.

"I mean," he expanded, "Not only for raising a hand to you but for throwing you over in the first place! Don't understand that."

He began to kind of stutter at the end of the sentence and launched into an apology but she put her hand out on his and said that she wouldn't hear of an apology from him, when he'd said something so nice.

Then she found herself talking to Charlie about Gerald and how he was. (She was surprised at how easy Charlie was to talk to and just rambled a bit about Gerald.)

"At first," She said, a kind of rueful tone in her voice, "he was charming, attentive and nice. My Daddy, rest in peace, kept telling me that Gerald was after my money."

She shook her head and said: "And I never believed Daddy, when he was right all along!"

"Yes," Charlie said, "But when you're smitten, you can't really see those things right away."

"How nice of you to say that!" she responded, and put her hand on top of his.

"It feels so free now," Sheila went on with her explanations. "Just free."

"It must!" he said and chuckled.

"Yes?" Sheila remarked. "I'm going to have Matt serve him and I'll get rid of him properly."

"Sounds like a good idea," Charlie said

"Not a lot of experience here with the 'smitten' thing," Charlie said, knowing he was lying where Sheila was concerned. "Been busy working at my goals."

"And how's that going?" she asked.

"Oh, fabulously!" he said, "Got my education; got the job that I really wanted, and that I enjoy."

"Girlfriend?" she asked, and apologized for butting into his affairs.

"No," he said, holding up his hand. "That's fine, after all, I'm going to live with you!"

She put her hand over her mouth and giggled and he laughed also.

"Will you let me buy you dinner?" she asked. "Their kitchen here is really quite good."

"Oh, that's not necessary," he started to say but she interrupted him and said: "Charlie, that's totally necessary."

"Yes, Ma'am, um, Sheila," he said. "Dinner."

"Hard to get used to?" she said, smiling.

"Yes," he answered.

They ordered and enjoyed their dinner, talking now and then about personal issues and also about business things. As they ate, a small combo set up and began to play soft music.

She noticed and smiled. They were having coffee at the time. He saw the look on her face and said: " Dance?"

"Oh, I'd love to!" she said. "Strangely it was one of the things that charming Gerald wasn't good at!"

Then they were on the dance floor and she whispered into his ear: "That and love making. He was a selfish man!"

"Fool!" he said softly back to her and concentrated on the feeling of having Sheila Corday in his arms. He was aware of her, all of her. During the dancing he could feel the pressure of her breasts against his chest, and the softness of her thighs against his. He was both enraptured and, he realized close to exploding in his pants.

For her part, Sheila had made a decision. It wasn't so much a 'Gerald run decision', she told herself but one that was simply based on the moment, based on the moment and how the moment felt. She, if she could, was going to take Charlie Strong home and do what Gail had suggested: she was going to take his pants off and kiss his lovely butt.

They danced a few dances and talked a bit. Charlie was glad for that possibility, since he kept getting an erection, while they danced and didn't want to be scaring Sheila away.

In fact, it was all that she could do not to giggle, when she felt it and she had half a mind to call Gail on the phone right then.

After their third dance, she said: "Charlie, I need to go home and wash the day off of me."

"Yes, sure," he said.

This was her moment, she realized it. They were still standing on the edge of the dance floor and she said, looking up into his eyes: "Charlie come with me? We can have a night cap."

"Oh," he said, blushing but pleased. "Yes, that'll be lovely! Night cap!"

SPARKS AT HOME:

They drove separately and she waited for him a the back door of a lovely, large house.

"This is gorgeous!" he said.

"Well, for Daddy it was the business, and for Momma the house!" she explained. "I got the benefit of both of them."

When she opened the door, with him following, she said: "Now beware of the attack cat!"

As soon as they entered, they were met by a lovely tortoise shell tabby, white mixed cat, who immediately wound herself around first Sheila's ankles and then Charlie's.

"This is my love Louise!" Sheila said.

"Hi, Louise!" he said, giving her scratches behind her ears.

"Charlie," she said, "Can you entertain her majesty, while I go and freshen up?

"Sure," he said, sitting and letting the large cat jump up on his lap. He sat there companionably with Louise talking to her and giving her the kind of attention that cats enjoy so much.

Then he heard Sheila come back. He was scratching Louise at the moment and only then looked up.

His eyes opened as wide as possible and he mumbled an "Oh shit!", immediately apologizing for his language.

There stood Sheila. She had combed her hair —- she had short hair that had some gray coming into it, at her early age, and had it frosted —- she had renewed her lipstick and was wearing a pair of five inch heels —- she called them, when talking to Gail about them, her 'fuck me's' —- and a pair of rose colored panties, nothing more.

She had a glass of brandy for him and one for her.

He stood, then Louise jumped down and he said, almost stuttering: "I apologize for my outburst!"

"It's fine," she said.

He shook his head, as though clearing it, and went on: "I've imagined this any number of times, especially at night, but the imagination is not even faintly close to the reality here. You are simply the most gorgeous woman that I've ever seen!"

She smiled and thanked him.

"So, Charlie," she said next, smiling at what he'd just told her, "You like my outfit?"