Lisa Reisert was turning twenty-five. She had five more years to go before she had to start worrying about wrinkles, but she still felt the burden of the two-and-a-half decades that rested upon her small shoulders. Nevertheless, her lips were set in a brilliant smile.
Charles Keefe had just called her cell phone, wishing her a happy birthday from him and his family. Lisa Reisert had become good friends with the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security over the last few years. He had even offered her a job proposition to work under him, but Lisa had politely refused it. She was happy with her position as manager of Lux Atlantic; people pleaser twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Four years ago, after her near death experience with Jackson Rippner and his escape that ensued, Lisa hadn't been able to function properly. She had been scared, of course, and she had good reason to be. A powerful man like Jackson who had promised her that they would meet again was not something Lisa put off to the side lightly.
As days turned into weeks and the weeks slowly formed one month, Lisa finally scolded herself for her behavior. She couldn't let herself fall to ruin because of something in the past. She had, after all, survived. Not only had she survived her encounter with Jackson, but she had survived the rape that had taken place a few months before the flight.
Lisa recalled the day she had decided to stop being afraid and to stop dwelling in past events. It had been one month since the flight and she had been sitting in front of the television at four in the morning with her empty plate of what had once been scrambled eggs. The TiVo she had recently bought allowed her to watch her favorite reruns of Sex and the City that she had recorded.
It dawned on her all of a sudden that she was really wasting her life away. She was watching Sex and the City when she should be sleeping. She was afraid of something that hadn't come yet. She was wallowing in the past. She was ruining her life. There were so many things that she was doing wrong that she couldn't even bring herself cry because even that wouldn't help.
That morning, Lisa got serious. She went out shopping with Cynthia, seeing how it was a Sunday and many people were attending church. After their shopping trip, Lisa and Cynthia headed off to a classy bar and drank the night away. Lisa even ordered a Seabreeze to celebrate her success of getting over everything and getting her life back on track. She even confessed (in her drunken state) to her dearest friend that if Jackson Rippner ever did stop by, she wouldn't even hate him. He was, after all, just doing his job even if he had tried to kill her, but, hey! She was living in the present now. Besides, Lisa reminded herself, he hadn't come back since, so why should he now?
And so time passed and the years went by.
Cynthia was fortunate enough to have met a nice man named Robert Norway. He had recently moved from Australia. After two years of dating and, as Cynthia confessed, the greatest sex she had ever experienced, Robert proposed and Cynthia accepted his offer.
Two nights before the wedding, Lisa and Cynthia went to a bar, got drunk, and somehow ended up back at Lisa's place. When they woke up on the day before the wedding, the two girls were both naked and extremely hung over in the same bed. One look at each other and both girls knew never to talk of the moment again.
So the wedding came and went and Lisa tossed the disgustingly ugly bridesmaid dress into her closet, hoping she would never have to see the thing again. It had been the one downside to the beautiful wedding. While Cynthia had worn a beautiful wedding gown, the rest of the bridesmaids were stuck with frilly pink dresses that had completed Cynthia's ideal dream wedding.
It was obvious that marriage wasn't for her, but she was okay with that. She thought kids were cute, but she had never even considered herself one for the family life. Even if the kids were adorable, she could never handle one by herself. If she wanted something cute to look at, she'd get a poster with a basket of puppies on it.
Cynthia was already seven months pregnant and expecting a baby girl in July. She was walking proof that childbearing was something Lisa was surely never going to undergo.
Lisa looked up at the sound of the glass doors opening to see Cynthia struggling her way through with a large plastic bag in one hand and two Starbuck drinks held in place by a cardboard cup-holder in her other hand.
Definitely never having kids, Lisa concluded as she examined her pregnant friend. She quickly made her way over to the entrance and helped the pregnant blonde through the door.
Lisa held the door open for her friend and allowed the woman to waddle through before swooping up to pick up both drinks and then snatching the bag from Cynthia's grasp.
"I'm never letting Robert touch me without a condom," Cynthia growled as she patted down her hair.
Lisa laughed and guided the blonde towards the front desk.
"So how's my goddaughter?" Lisa asked as they settled themselves on the two computer chairs behind the front desk.
"I still don't know if she's trying to say 'happy birthday' or if she's trying to break my uterus in half," Cynthia said with a sip from her Green Tea Latte.
Lisa rolled her eyes and patted Cynthia's stomach sympathetically while cooing, "Don't worry sweetie, you can stay at my house when mommy and daddy are -"
"Don't you even dare consider giving Chelsea sex education talk before she's forty," Cynthia replied with a grin.
Lisa stuck out her tongue and then took a sip of her Vanilla Bean Frappuccino. Yum!
"So I met this cute guy at Starbucks this morning," Cynthia started, "he had those most beautiful eyes; really polite, too."
"Oh?" Lisa said, clearly uninterested.
"Oh yeah, forgot who I was talking to for a moment," Cynthia winked slyly at the brunette, "Although I didn't have to go out of my way to get you these cookies from that bakery you love."
Lisa's face instantly brightened and she gazed at the box Cynthia had withdrawn from the bag she had been carrying earlier.
"Ah, Cynthia, I am so buying you a Cosmo after my goddaughter is born."
Cynthia grinned at the mention of her favorite drink.
"Happy birthday, Lisa," Cynthia said.
"Thank you, mommy," Lisa teased.
