ChapterTwo
“Happy Birthday!”
Ansley’s high-pitched squeal of excitement was considerably more enthusiastic than Beth was herself. It was also decidedly out of place for the classy, upmarket restaurant she’d just walked into. Still, while the other patrons might look down their noses at her friend’s cheerful outburst, the staff just looked on in tolerant amusement. Ansley was pretty infectious. She also had very deep pockets.
Beth hadn’t really wanted to come, but this was Ansley’s birthday treat, so it would have been rude to turn her down, even if she would rather sweep this particular birthday under the carpet.
The big three-oh. Thirty. What was there to celebrate apart from getting older?
What did she have to show for all those years?
She had a decent job, but it was nothing special. She had a decent apartment, in a decent neighborhood, with decent furniture; again, nothing special. It was all just…okay.
And she worked her ass off for it. She was all too aware that everything could change in the blink of an eye. She was a tiny cog in a huge machine. If she got sick or sloppy, she was easily replaceable. If that happened or the company she worked for decided to downsize and she was made redundant, everything she currently had, everything she’d worked for - continued to work for - would be gone. Her work situation wasn’t so lucrative that she’d managed to save very much. Living in New York City was damned expensive, although what she had was in good, solid investments for her future.
But sometimes - at times like these - she couldn’t help wondering what that future might hold. Was this all there was ever going to be in her life?
Her job held no real upward prospects now that she’d made accounts supervisor and been allocated a minuscule office, instead of an impersonal cubby. She had no romantic interest in her life. The clock was ticking on her chance to have children. That door hadn’t quite closed… yet. But without a man in her life, it was a moot point anyway.
Most of the time she just felt like she was treading water.
Not that she wasn’t grateful for what she did have; she just couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t something more.
She struggled just to find the time and the money to visit her favorite BDSM club three or four times a year; her one indulgence and a closely guarded secret. She travelled out of state for the brief visits, so she didn’t bump into anyone she knew, and she kept her activities strictly non-sexual. As much as she’d like to indulge a little more than she did, a little bondage and impact play was all she’d allow so close to home.
And it seemed like every birthday which came around brought a bigger reminder of all those things.
Ansley wasn’t going to allow Beth to brood for long though. She’d pulled out all the stops.
“Champagne?” The posh waiter in his penguin suit offered it as soon as he’d shown her to her seat and held the chair for her. But it wasn’t really a question since he was already pouring.
She glanced at the label. It was a brand which cost more, per bottle, than Beth earned for an entire day of work and even though Beth wasn’t feeling it, it would be churlish to refuse.
Ansley had wanted to throw a party for her, but Beth had already nixed that idea, pointing out it would still just be the two of them, and maybe her parents, since her work environment wasn’t one that encouraged fraternity. Preferring to keep their staff on their toes by pitting them against each other didn’t make for workplace friendships and if anyone did make that kind of overture it was generally met with suspicion and the kind of thoughts that led you to wonder exactly when you were going to get thrown under the bus.
There was Lisa, the two of them were cordial, but not so close as to give and receive any kind of invitation.
And although she loved her parents dearly, and didn’t see them nearly often enough, she’d already endured her mother bemoaning Beth’s single status and lack of children, which essentially just poured salt on her wounds. Especially hot on the tail of the news that her brother, two years her junior, was about to indulge their parents with their fifth grandchild. A reminder that her older sister already had three children by the time she was Beth’s age.
You’d think with her siblings having provided so many, she’d be off the hook. But apparently it just shone a light on her single, childless status.
Like she needed the reminder.
Ansley raised her champagne flute as soon as the waiter finished pouring and fluttered her hand in a ‘come along’ motion for Beth to do the same.
Then, much to Beth’s dismay, she stood up and announced her advancing years to the entire clientele.
“Happy thirtieth birthday, Bethy. I hope this is the year when all your dreams come true.”
Right now, the only thing Beth was dreaming about was the chance that the floor would open up and swallow her, as everyone looked her way. And while there were a few indulgent smiles and nods, there were just as many cross looks and a little bit of tut-tutting, which her friend seemed to be oblivious to. Especially when, the next moment, an adjoining door opened and three scantily clad hunks, with well-oiled muscles, came strutting and hip thrusting towards her singing ‘happy birthday.’
This was so not the place.
It was probably a good job that none of the people she worked with could afford to frequent this establishment because this was the type of spectacle which would, without a doubt, lead to her getting a disciplinary and maybe even losing her job for ‘bringing the image of the company into disrepute.’
Beth’s eyes widened as the three of them surrounded her, still with the hip thrusting which was now dangerously close to her face, and she tried not to look at how the other patrons were reacting to the kind of show that would be more suited to a bar or a nightclub. Though Ansley had undoubtedly paid a premium to get the restaurant to agree to this, she could be kind of impetuous and often didn’t think things through before she did them.
Right now felt like one of those times.