"Woah! Jeez, Kris." said Mary Anne Spier as she yanked the phone away from her now ringing left ear. She switched sides just in time to hear Kristy say in a lowered voice, "I'm so sorry..but please check!" "Alright, hold on a sec," said Mary Anne as she minimized Kristy's call on her cell and opened up her gmail. As soon as she saw Cokie Mason's name and then the subject line, she knew that was what got Kristy in a tizzy.
"Wow..how about that? 10 years already?" sighed Mary Anne as she read through the entire email and questionnaire with a silent Kristy on the other line before finally saying, "You know, I've been so preoccupied with our engagement and then all the wedding planning, then the honeymoon and now with this house project, the fact that it's been 10 years? Honestly, Kris, it hasn't even crossed my mind."
"Seriously," laughed Kristy. "Me neither, up until 5 minutes ago."
"Sooo..I take it you want to go?" said Mary Anne, with a smirk on her face that she wished Kristy could see.
"Well of course I do!" exclaimed Kristy, not catching Mary Anne's sarcastic tone. "How about you?"
Mary Anne replied, "Oh yeah, for sure! I mean, The S Hotel is only 15 minutes away from my place and what? About 2 from yours?!"
"Ehh, more like 3," Kristy jokingly interrupted before Mary Anne continued on, "it really would be great to see everyone again! It seems like everyone in our class besides us left Stoneybrook, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. You, Me..and Cokie. Ugh. I can't believe she moved back here" replied Kristy in a nasty tone, recalling the incident about 6 months ago of bumping into Cokie, literally, in her office lobby one morning, causing Kristy to drop the two sandwich platters and tray of cupcakes she was taking up to her office for the "new hire orientation lunch" she holds once every 3 months. "Be nice" said Mary Anne. "You know she had nowhere else to go."
Kristy always marveled at her her best friend's kindness towards others, especially right now towards a girl who tormented the BSC for years and ended up finally stealing her boyfriend, Logan in the 9th grade. Kristy quickly shoved Cokie's sob story to the back of her mind before she could feel sorry for her and said "Alright then. So what about our California girls? You think they'll want to come?"
"I really don't know," replied Mary Anne. "They both have so much going on right now but it would be so nice to see them again. I mean, if they are able to, I don't see why they wouldn't want to come. Oh my gosh, remember how much fun we had together in California at Dawn's wedding?!"
"Oh yes" lamented Kristy. "We really could use another BSC reunion, this time east coast style. It's been way too long." At that moment, Kristy's office phone rang. "Hang on," she quickly said to Mary Anne and picked up the desk phone. "Kristin Thomas speaking." "Good morning Miss Thomas!" Kim, the receptionist answered back. "Your 9:00 appointment is here." "Oh yes! Thank you. Go ahead and send her in" replied Kristy before returning to Mary Anne's call. "Hey, I have an interview coming in right now and gotta get back to work so I'm going to let you go. I'll go ahead and contact Stacey and Claudia later today." "Ok, sounds good" said Mary Anne and she added, "I'll talk to you later and don't forget you're coming over Saturday to help us paint the downstairs bathroom!" "Yes I remember," replied Kristy. "I'll head over there after my softball game. Talk to you later. Bye!" and hung up the phone just as she received a knock at her door. "Come in!" said Kristy. A young looking blonde lady in a suit walked in as Kristy stood up, arm extended for a handshake as she said "Hi, you must be Leslie" as she shook her hand and added, "I'm Kristin. I'm the human resources manager and I'll be conducting your interview today. It's nice to meet you." "You too" her interviewee quietly replied. Kristy gestured to the armchair on the opposite side of her desk before adding, "Please have a seat." As this young lady got comfortable, Kristy asked her "Before we get started, can I get you some coffee? Or maybe some water?" Slightly surprised, Leslie replied, "Umm, yeah. Yeah, sure. Some water would be nice, thank you." "Ok, I'll be right back" responded Kristy and she hurriedly went to the break room. Getting an interviewee coffee or water was not something that Kristy normally did but she couldn't focus on her interview without taking care of one little thing and quickly pulled out her phone and scrolled to Stacey's number. She stopped on her name, pausing for a quick second looking at the contact picture of her blonde curly haired friend with her then 1 year old daughter that she took of them when they were last together in California. She typed out "Good morning, Miss McGill! How are you?" before hitting send. Not having the time to text Claudia, she grabbed the water and got back to her interview, promising herself she would contact her later that afternoon.