The Friday Column - A Lesson In Love

A work of fiction - A Lesson in Love


Callie gritted her teeth as he patted her bottom and grinned. She knew it was wrong and he could lose his job but so would she when they had found out what she had done. Callie decided this was worth putting up with briefly as what she had planned for Mike her boss would be far worse.

Mike asked her to arrange a lunchtime reservation at a nice restaurant as he was meeting Pamela. Pamela, the mistress was confident, glamorous and rich. Callie had no idea what she saw in Mike the greasy middle manager but it wasn’t her place to second guess. Pamela waltzed into the office every so often, brazen as hell. The nerve of her Callie would think, what would Maggie say if she knew.

Maggie was Mike’s poor downtrodden wife. She would have been glamorous once Callie thought, before the toll of being Mike’s slave had taken hold. Mike often laughed with contempt at his silly little wife. Callie would listen to Mike lying to her about how he had to work late that night or had to work away, all the while running off with Pamela. Callie hated having to be part of Mike’s lies as Maggie was warm and friendly and didn’t deserve this.

Callie called the restaurant and made the reservation for 1.30pm. As she ended the call, she could see Maggie was calling. This time she wouldn’t lie. ‘Mike is free today for lunch Maggie’ Callie could hear herself saying. For a brief moment she thought she detected a smile in Maggie’s voice as Maggie replied ‘wonderful news,  as I have something to tell him ’ She passed on the details and put the phone down.

At 1.30pm Mike and Pamela were sat at the table waiting for the red wine to be poured, just like teenagers in love they were playing footsy under the table. Giggly and caressing each other, Mike wished he had asked Callie to book a hotel room. At that moment Maggie walked through the door with a tall, handsome man on her arm. Mike stood up and with genuine remorse said ‘Maggie, this is not what it looks like!’ Maggie smiled, she finally had the proof to get rid of her miserable excuse for a husband ‘And this Mike is exactly what it looks like’.

Returning to the office a furious Mike yells out for Callie. ‘Callie, what the hell were you thinking?’ The office was silent, the sun shone in on the white walls and a light breeze rustled the papers. Callie was long gone and with her the contents of the safe.

An original work of fiction - all rights reserved