“Well, it’s good that we met. I’m the Claims Processing Director in Dover, so we’ll probably be talking a lot.”
“Cool. I can put at least one name to a face.” No longer worried about navigating this labyrinth, she enjoyed watching the way he moved, which always told her a lot more about a man than just a static glance. His fluid gait was powerful and had a cadence, like he was marching in time to an unheard beat.
Katie noticed something else. He constantly moved to keep some distance between them. If she angled slightly closer to him, he maneuvered away, like his personal space was inviolable. Most guys would make themselves available for a brush of the arm or some other incidental touch, probably hoping she was interested in them. Not this guy. He maintained a very specific distance, like he was wary of danger. That was almost funny. He had to be six inches taller and 100 pounds heavier than her.
The more she observed, the more he piqued her curiosity. She cast a line out to see how he would react. “Thanks for rescuing this damsel in distress,” she offered, giving him her best fetching look, complete with a sultry smile.
Carson snickered and raised his eyebrows a bit. “I’m sure you would have found your way out eventually. Like by Friday. Plus, we can’t have all the lost visitors wandering around down here forever. Gets too crowded.”
“Still, I feel like I owe you one.”
He waved her off. “Nah, don’t worry about it. It’s not like I went out of my way.”
One final push. “If the roles had been reversed, wouldn’t you want to express your gratitude?”
He conceded the point. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Well, then, I’m buying you lunch today, and don’t say ‘no’ because I don’t want to hear it.” She maintained her smile to show that her statement, despite the harsh tone, was playful.
Carson gave her a look. “OK, I know when I’m outmaneuvered. Lunch it is. And here’s the elevator.” They traded small talk during the quick ride up, entering the training room with five minutes to spare. She waited for him to sit down before finding a seat behind him, choosing her location so she would have to look past Carson to see the instructor and his PowerPoint presentation. Katie couldn’t tell if he had any interest in her at all, but maybe it was just his nature to be a little shy and distant. She would get more insight during lunch.
When the teacher called the class to order, Carson looked up obediently, and Katie watched him. He divided his time looking between his monitor and the instructor, appearing none too interested in either of them. She made certain she heard and understood the majority of what the instructor said, but spent most of the morning with her eyes on Carson. He was much more fun to watch.
Who said this class would be boring?
***
Carson sighed. I knew this class would be boring. He easily completed the practice exercises well ahead of the rest of the class or even the instructor. As he expected, nothing had changed from the last time he worked with this system, and there was nothing he was going to learn.
At least not about the software. As he kept one ear on the presentation to ensure he kept up with or ahead of the class, he was surprised to find the rest of his mind occupied by thoughts of Katie. He’d spotted her brilliant mane of red hair from a distance while she was reading the map, and the closer he got, the prettier she looked. She was curvy in all the right places. He’d taken note of her lightly-tanned complexion and her inquisitive, expressive eyes that were a brilliantly dark cobalt blue. Even as he looked at her, he’d noticed she was assessing him as well, and hoped he was coming across in the same, positive light.
Katie displayed decent conversational skills during their short walk together, even though their exchange had been superficial – at least until the end. He’d caught her subtle come-on, and a tiny part of the man he used to be was flattered. Hell, that guy would have jumped on an opportunity like this at the first chance. But he was long gone, and Carson didn’t expect him to return.
“Carson?”
He was a little startled at being addressed by the instructor, but tried not to react. “Yes?”
“You’re fully familiar with the process for setting payment amounts to dependents, right?”
Carson had already done that step, as well as the next five. “Yeah, no problems.”
“Would you mind going about the room and helping anyone who’s having difficulty following the study sheet?”
That was more interesting than staring at the screen he’d already completed. “Sure.” He got up and walked a slow, meandering path about the room, looking over shoulders and pointing out mistakes in the process of being made.
He wasn’t surprised to see a petite hand shoot up in the air, especially because it belonged to Katie, who waved her fingers playfully. Her smile showed off those deliciously red lips – not only did they appear as soft as a ruby cloud, they had a cupid’s-bow shape which were the visual equivalent of a siren’s song.
“Yes?” He purposefully showed little emotion.
“Hi!” Her enthusiasm reminded Carson of a little girl who was just as happy as she could be because she had her favorite toy.
“Hi. What’s your question?”
Her voice grew more serious – slightly. “Well, I can’t pick the type of dependent from the list, and I can’t save the screen without that.” He followed her crimson nail to the screen where the list of dependents was grayed-out.
“Let me see,” he mumbled. It took him only a moment to spot the problem. “You didn’t enter the dependent age,” he pointed out. “The system won’t permit certain dependent types based on the age of the member and the age you enter for the dependent.”
“Really? Why?”
“Well, suppose I’m 42. If I put my
