A few minutes later, I was down the block in a local bar and burger joint, nursing a tall neck as I waited on a burger. An attractive, willowy blonde came up and sat beside me, and enquired what the score on the rugby game was. I confessed that I was only half watching. “Oi, an American,” she responded. “Of course you’re not interested.”
“No, I like rugby just fine,” I countered. “I even played some in college. I guess I was just kind of zoning out. Still a bit jet lagged and all that.”
“You played?” she said, giving me a bit of an assessing gaze, then reaching over and pinching my bicep through my hoodie. “Well, you just went up a notch in my book, then.”
Thus began a whole conversation about rugby. Charlene, or Charlie to her friends, was obviously more of an expert than I, but we compared its merits to NFL football, and she was quite impressed when I told her I had met Jerrod Hayne, who was a former all-star down under before coming to play for my hometown 49ers. She was a bit tomboyish, with shorter blonde hair and a nose stud, but appealing nonetheless. We chatted all through our burgers, and shared another beer afterward. As I was settling up my check, she asked me to see my phone, and input her number, instructing me that if I wanted to get a drink while I was in town, I should give her a call. While I wasn’t necessarily planning on it, I felt a bit better going back, like I could possibly get back in the swing of single life if I really needed to.
On Monday the conference began, and we started in with introductions about ourselves and our business goals. There were about 60+ attendees from across the globe, and each person got a few minutes, along with a few pointed questions from the panel running the conference. By the end of the morning, I was starting to get burned out and a bit tired, when I heard a very melodic, feminine voice began her pitch as “Mariah Grayson, and I’m the CIO of Graybach software…” As these things are normally 93% men, and most of the women look like my mom, I instinctively swiveled to get a look. My jaw nearly dropped to the floor when I recognized the redhead from the past several days. I looked up at the ceiling in disbelief, and Jim, seemingly reading my mind, leaned over and whispered, “Yep, bud, it even looks like God wants you to hit that.” Even though I’m not particularly religious and hadn’t been to a church in years, I hissed at him to shut up. As she paused to formulate an answer to a question for the panel, I noticed her steal a sideways glance down in my direction and give me a little smirking smile.
Lunch was brought in, and we finished up the afternoon with some relatively boring discussions about markets. Coming out of the conference room, I was chatting with some guy who had been seated next to me, when I heard the same voice say “Hello. Did you enjoy the first day?”
I turned and looked at her, and for a couple precious moments, she stole all my rational thoughts yet again. She was dressed in a decently conservative business skirt, matching jacket, and a pale pink blouse, but still, her curves, and, it seemed, her raw sexuality just oozed through. “Yeah, it was good,” I replied.