The Prompt You Say! - 5. Chapter 5

It had been a horrible day and all I wanted was curl up in my bathtub while the world faded away. In one day so many things had gone wrong. When had I allowed things to get so out of hand?

My problems began when I went to get my paper off the driveway this morning. Teresa met me and was apologizing for my paper being destroyed. She was walking her puppy. He seen the paper and immediately did what he had been trained to do. So my daily paper was buried under puppy poop, and I just tried to smile and put it out of mind. Teresa apologized again and I tried to be gracious about it.

I knew when my breakfast burned in the microwave that I should have just called in sick to work. I had put the damn frozen blueberry pancakes in the microwave for forty seconds. I walked over and started to make my coffee in my Kuerig and smelled smoke. I immediately turned back to the microwave and saw flames licking the glass door as the pancakes caught fire. All I can say is I am damn grateful I keep a fire extinguisher in my kitchen.

The whole house smelled of smoke as I carried the microwave out and set it by the trashcan. I barely had time to change into a different set of clothes before I ran out to work. I managed to get there without a problem, but like I said, if I knew how bad the day was going to be I would have just called out of work and stayed in bed all day.

Tony, the office stud, called out on the day his presentation was due. Marie, my darling boss, shook her head and politely told me I had four hours to get Tony’s proposal done for the client this afternoon. Did I mention Tony had none of his notes at the job or the fact he had three weeks to do this proposal? I managed to corner the ass on his phone. I hounded him till he admitted he had all his stuff at home, which was about fifteen minutes from the job.

The only thing I can say is at least he was actually sick, or trust me, when I got to his place I would have made him a eunuch with my bare hands. I took all the notes he had and raced back to the office. I’ve never had to make sense of so much data and get it into shape in so little time. Two things added to my stress – the damn air conditioning at the office decided to quit a half an hour after I was back at the office and was trying to get this proposal done, then the client called and moved it up by a half hour. Sometimes I swear if I didn’t have bad luck I’d have none at all.

Well I got about half way through the proposal and Lisa, our main client, threw up all over me and my notes. The heat in the office got to her, and she nearly passed out. We got her some water and she cleaned herself up. Luckily I saved everything on the computer so was able to send it to her and the rest of her team. I unfortunately wasn’t so lucky with my clothes. I had to go to the office wash room and rinse off what I was wearing. I was barely able to keep down my own lunch just from the smell coming off them. When I finally emerged Marie told me to call it a day and go get changed. I wish I could say I just drove home but I couldn’t take that stuff next to my skin any longer. I drove straight to the local clothing store that was a few blocks away and as I turned onto the street my tire blew. I’ll be honest; I couldn’t remember a crappier day.

At least the tire blew in front of the library and no one was parked there. I called AAA and they sent out a truck to help change the tire. Sitting on the bench in front of the library a damn bird decided I was a statue and crapped on my shirt. So that made barf and shit on my clothing all in one day. I sat there laughing so hard just to keep from crying. The tow truck showed up and luckily he was able to change the tire quickly. Once I paid him I walked to the clothing store where I bought a tee shirt and a pair of sweats. I changed in the changing room and wore them out, putting my office clothes in the bag they gave me.

By the time I pulled into my driveway I was ready for the day to be over. I just wanted to climb in the tub and let the world pass me by. However, I noticed the mailman had left my mailbox open. You know what else birds like to crap on besides me? Well, let me tell you, they like mail left in an open mailbox. Thank God it was all junk mail. I dropped it all into the garbage pail as I dragged it up from the end of my driveway.

I stumbled into my house, walked over to the washer, tossed in what I wore to work, stripped, and added what I purchased as replacements then started it up. Walking nude I went straight to the bathroom and began to fill my huge tub. It was one of those old fashioned clawed bathtubs with enough room for three people. I let the hot water run, poured in some bath salts, and then slowly lowered myself into the steaming water.

I was just getting comfortable when I heard my front door open. Only Darren and my parents had the key to my place, and my parents were on a cruise. That meant Darren had decided to do a surprise stop at my place when I was in the tub. Perfect, could things get much worse?

“Pat, where are you?” His deep voice seemed to rock through my house

“Bathroom?” I knew it was a lost cause.

A moment later the smell of his woodsy cologne drifted into my steamy bathroom and the man himself leaned against the door frame.

“Isn’t it a little early for you to be curled up in the tub.”

I glared him.

“NO! I’ve had a day from hell and I’m treating myself. So either go make me dinner, or go away.”

“I bet I can change your day for you.”

“Unless you are hiding a medium rare steak and a salad behind your back I doubt it.”

You know when you open your mouth ready to spit out another sarcastic remark only to have someone steal your reason? Damn, this man does that to me constantly. He strolled across the foggy room, sat beside the tub and hands me a box.

“What the hell is this?”

“Open it.”

You know how I said this day was the worst? I lied. How upset can you be when you see a wedding ring in a box and a sexy man smiles at you then asks the question you were sure you would never hear from anyone, especially not someone as caring as him.

“Marry me, Pat?”

My only complaint is who wants to be proposed to in a bath tub?