chapter 2

2 Months

The weeks flew by as Kerry settled into her new job. Everyone was friendly and she was quickly putting names to the faces of the 55 other employees that worked there. She felt like she fit in well with the laid back and friendly culture of the office and counted herself lucky for stumbling upon the position.

“Morning Cindy!” Kerry greeted her manager as she stepped off the elevator.

“Morning Kerry! You definitely know how to brighten up a lousy Monday.” She replied with a smile.

“Eh its not the worst when you’re working at a place like this.” Kerry laughed.

“Oh you are silly girl, but we are happy to have you. You’ve done a really good job taking over the admin responsibilities and we really appreciate your hard work.” Cindy said more sincerely.

“Oh thank you so much, always nice to be appreciated.” Kerry replied warmly.

“By the way, have you lost weight? You’re looking really good.” Cindy asked her co-worker approvingly.

“Oh I guess I might have a little bit. Settling into a new routine with this job has helped get me back on track with things.” Kerry said feeling accomplished.

“Oh I know what you mean, I fell off the wagon a little bit too when everything shut down. Took me months to get back to my workout classes. Whatever it is you’re doing, it’s working.” Cindy chuckled as she continued to her desk.

Kerry felt pride knowing she was appreciated and the extra compliment on her figure had her feeling over the moon. She had felt lighter on her feet as of late and wondered is she had in fact lost some weight. All the walking around the office to drop of mail and deliveries must be paying off, not to mention John’s meals.

Just then a delivery person strolled out the elevator and dropped a large greasy looking bag on the counter in front of her.

“Thanks.” Kerry replied as she looked to the bag for info. She probably could’ve guessed. While some of the other employees did order food to the office occasionally, the majority of the orders were John’s. In the past couple weeks he’d also added breakfast to his daily order on top of his usual lunch. Long hours had him coming in early and leaving late and she guessed he was saving time by having his meals brought to the office. He had to be spending a fortune on it all, but she assumed with how well the firm paid her as an admin that he could more than afford it as an architect.

She scooped up the bag and walked the now familiar path back to him. As usual he was hunched over his keyboard with a furrowed brow as he looked at something intently on his screen. As she looked him over she noticed some subtle changes since that first day in the elevator. His beard was slightly thicker, a change from the 5 o’clock shadow he used to sport. His shirt also looked less billowy and fit him more naturally. What had once seemed oversized was now just sized. Apparently his bank account wasn’t the only thing to take a hit with all this delivery food.

“John, foods here.” Kerry somewhat whispered to her co-worker.

“Huh? Oh thanks Kerry, been so busy I‘ve been forgetting to come grab my food from you. Really appreciate you brining it all the way back here.” He said thankfully.

“Oh you know it’s not a problem at all. ” She insisted with a smile.

He smiled to her and then turned his attention back to his screen, the smile fading back to a look of concern or maybe confusion.

“Poor guy, hopefully his workload lightens up soon.” Kerry thought as she walked back to her seat.

While John did occasionally make it out to retrieve his food, the instances were becoming less frequent. Kerry didn’t mind at all, but it was a noticeable change from when she had started and he would swiftly meet her at the front desk.