She enjoyed her successes and was now ready to share those triumphs with someone special.
Tawney was a plus size and sensuous beauty, but her social life would have never made the society pages. She did not date often. Most of the men on her job were married, and the single ones were already in committed relationships.
Although there were a few office romances, she did not believe in mixing business with pleasure and would never date a co-worker. For one thing, people on the job had a tendency to chat about which employee was sleeping with whom. Moreover, some were great at kissing and talking about their colossal lovemaking escapades.
There were even rumors that several male workers were keeping score cards on the number of female employees they were doing. Tawney was a very private person and believed in keeping people speculating about her love life or lack of.
People would always ask, "Are you seeing anyone?"
Her answer would always be, "Not at the moment."
If a male associate asked her out on a date, she would always decline.
Her mother would say, "To be involved with a person you work with is a recipe for disaster, and what goes on in the bedroom should always remain there."
Therefore, Tawney never wanted to come over as being easy or the subject of office gossip or dirty jokes.
However, she was about to ignore her mom's words of wisdom and have an office tryst that would leave her with a crushed heart.
Now that Tawney's career was on track, it was time for her to find a dynamic man. She put in a request for a one-year sabbatical, but the company would only give her six months' leave. She was somewhat thrown, because workers who wanted to take a one-year break could if they were with the company for ten or more years. Nevertheless, she went along with management's decision. If she did not accomplish her goals in six months, there were other options.
Friday was Tawney's last day on the job. Before she left, the staff gave her a going away party and introduced her to the person who would be filling in for her. His name was Jamal. He was a computer software consultant and had his own company called Safety Net Now that designed security software for major corporations and financial institutions.
His company had been around for more than twenty years with annual sales of over five million dollars. He had an assistant and two part-time employees. His business was home-based in Uptown Manhattan.
Jamal was a hottie. Many of the female employees could not keep their eyes or hands off him. To say they were not smitten with his looks would have been incorrect. They flocked around him as if he was the last man on earth.