New Year's With Abigail

Christmas fell on a Wednesday which made for a weird holiday work schedule with many people taking the rest of the week off from work (and some until after New Year's), leaving a skeleton crew at Franklin and Gleason Insurance Company in Miller City.

Braden Burges arrived at the office a little later than usual on a cold cloudy late December morning. Connie the receptionist greeted him with her usual professional cheerfulness, but she and a few associates were the only true dedicated diehards who showed up to work the day.

Braden was surprised to see colleague Abigail Lincoln sitting behind her desk in her glass-walled office. He assumed she would be one of the middle managers who would take advantage of the reduced staffing and work schedule by enjoying the holiday break, but there she was pounding away on the computer keyboard.

He stuck his head into the opened door. "How was your Christmas?" Braden asked pleasantly.

"Oh, very nice," Abigail replied with a smile. "Drove down to Connecticut for the day." She gave him a look. "You?"

He shrugged. "My daughter insisted I spend it with her and her family, so I played the happy Grandpa and did my best."

"What are you doing here?" Abigail wanted to know.

"Same thing as you," he replied. "Staying busy."

"Yeah," she said with understanding.

Braden was approaching sixty and he had been with the agency since Franklin merged with Gleason twenty-five years earlier. His background was accounting and computer science, so he was in charge of IT as well as payroll.

Franklin, Gleason, and the rest of the Staff had been very kind to Braden during his wife's illness and passing and now, two years later, Braden was still trying to find his way back to normalcy as a widower with all the dreams of retirement travel and the other perks meaningless.

The kids were adults now, raising their own families and Braden sold the family home because it was too painful to stay there alone. He'd been living in an apartment not far from work for about a year.

Abigail was 'driving the speed limit' (having just turned 55) and she joined Franklin and Gleason following her divorce three years earlier. Automobile claims was her specialty, mostly as an adjuster. She moved to Miller City for a new start as a divorcee and she was currently living in a small studio apartment, because she liked the idea of 'downsizing'.

"Hey, you want to go to lunch?" Abigail asked.

Franklin and Gleason employees often had lunch together, usually as a group at the nearby diner and occasionally at some of the brand restaurants a few miles away. Abigail and Braden often joined in, but Braden considered Abigail a co-worker and a casual acquaintance.

"Should we invite the others?" Braden asked, glancing around the outer office behind him.

"No, let's do it solo this time," Abigail suggested.

"Oh, okay," Braden agreed.

"Come get me around 12:30," Abigail requested.

Braden nodded and continued to his office near the back of the building, some of it cluttered with various computer equipment and supplies. He had never eaten a meal alone with Abigail before, so this was something new. It had been a lonely holiday season for him despite his kids' efforts to keep him involved, making him feel more like a charity case than an active participant.

At 12:30, Brandon returned to Abigail's office, and they walked to Millie and Moe's Diner just down the street. They were familiar with the popular family owned well run friendly business that was always busy and welcoming.

The waitress was at their booth almost before they took a seat and, because they both knew the menu fairly well, it wasn't hard (and it didn't take long) to order their meals – a crispy chicken salad with a Pepsi for Braden; a bowl of soup and a grilled cheese sandwich with coffee for Abigail.

"This is our first solo lunch together," Braden stated for the record when the waitress left with their order.

"A chance to become better acquainted," Abigail smiled.

"I'm just trying to make it to the New Year," Braden said. "Once the holidays are over, things tend to get back to some sense of normalcy which is easier for me."

"The holidays do tend to lose its magic when you get older," Abigail remarked. "Divorce. Death. They change everything."

"In my more lucid moments, I try to pretend to be who I'm supposed to be," Braden said.

"What do you do to not lose yourself?"

"Read a lot," he replied. "But I have to be careful, or I'll never leave the apartment unless the kids assign me something to do or attend."

"Well, shopping is my vice, so I don't have quite the same problem," she grinned. "Staying in the apartment too much, that is."

"What's in Connecticut?"

"My kids," she replied. "And the grandkids, but I'm not really Granny material and they don't make me pretend."

Braden laughed, although he was self-conscious about being with another woman, really for the first time since Kathy died. It wasn't as if it was a date or anything – but he still felt guilty and out of place.

Abigail must have picked up on his nervous fidgeting.

"You okay?" She asked lightly. "You look like you can hardly breathe."

"I've never done this before," he admitted.

"Had lunch?" Abigail teased.

"Alone. With you. Without the group around," Braden struggled to explain.

"It's okay, Braden," Abigail told him. "We're colleagues. Having lunch."

"Yeah," he agreed.

"You don't have to panic."

"Okay," he said, trying to collect himself.

Abigail smiled while Braden wondered whether he was ready to let loose and enjoy himself, instead of being stuck in the grief morass he had been dealing with for the last few years. But what would his family think if they knew he was having lunch (alone) with an attractive middle-aged woman who wasn't his wife?

They made small talk about office matters and general references to their personal lives and family, and it was a minor miracle when Braden realized that he was relaxed and enjoying himself. Could Abigail be his Savior?

"Well, that was enjoyable," Abigail commented as they walked back to the office from Millie's and Moe's.

"It was," Braden agreed. "Thank you very much for asking me to lunch."

"You're very welcome," Abigail replied before they went back to their own individual offices.