Discounts

Today's a shorter post but I'm hoping to get another one up this weekend if all goes as planned :) thanks for reading 

May 2003


It was another cloudy day in May and I was waiting in line to get coffee at the Starbucks by my work. There's a saying in San Diego that generally holds true, May gray June gloom. It was something I was getting used to, back home I would associate clouds with storms but here, if you lived by the beach you usually had cloud cover until noon around this time of year.

I was going over the conversation from brunch yesterday with Amanda, trying to see if there was any sign she had talked to Jacob about seeing Cal and I last week. The majority of our conversation was unfortunately about her affair with Miles. I was trying to point out the reasons she needed to break it off and I felt a little glimmer of hope when she mentioned I was right to a few things. She didn't bring up her brother once except to say Jacob loved the place we were going to. I think it was meant as an opening for me to talk, however I wasn't really ready to discuss the relationship that may or may not be with her brother. Plus, it's his sister, I doubt she wants to know how good he was in bed. The thought of him in bed perked me up more then the coffee I ordered was going to.

"Grande non fat no whip Carmel macchiato at the counter," I grabbed my drink pausing briefly to flash my best smile at the cute guy grinning at me while waiting for his drink. His eyes scanned over me, my smile instantly dropped when a bright flash of light bounced off his wedding band when he reached for his drink. Before he turned around I hurried out the door as fast as I could heading straight for work.

"Where's Shelly?" I asked Patrick when I noticed she wasn't at her desk.

"She left early, said she wasn't feeling good.  But if you ask me she didn't seem sick  at all this morning." He rolled his eyes before turning back to his computer screen. I had to agree with him she didn't seem ill but maybe it came on suddenly. I hadn't talked to her all weekend and had expected an apology or at least acknowledge the fact that Gavin was a dick at dinner the other night. However she didn't mention it, she acted like nothing happened.

I looked up from my desk when the bell sounded that someone had just walked through the door. I tried to keep my smile when I noticed it was the guy from the coffee shop, did he follow me here?

"Good afternoon can I help you?" I put on my work face and decided I would act like I'd never seen him before.

"Yes, is Shelly here? She was helping me add a car to my policy last week and I wanted to wrap that up."  He smiled. I was trying not to notice his lingering gaze at my chest.

"Shelly is out but I can help you finish it up, please have a seat. I'm Juliette," I introduced myself as I walked back to my seat.

"Thank you Juliette, the policy is under Johnson, Paul Johnson. I think I would have remembered seeing you here last week." He winked at me as he sat in the chair across from my desk.

I gave him a half smile as I pulled up his policies on my screen, Paul and Shawna Johnson. I was going to dodge any flirtatious remarks thrown at me from a married man. I looked in the quote seeing one for a 2003 Honda Accord.

"OK, looks like we've got the Honda as an add on vehicle at $365 per six months. Did you want matching coverage to the civic? "

"Yea, I was going back and forth on whether to have the 500 deductibles or 1000 but I think we will stick with the 500. Shelly also said we could get a free life policy? I want to go ahead with that too."  That was good news but I wasn't sure what he meant by free.

"OK great I do also see a quote in here for a 30 term life policy. Looks like it's...$225 per year. It would be in addition though. "

"No, she showed my the car was originally going to be somewhere over 500 and then she showed me how much I would save getting a life policy and it actually worked out that I'd save to get the life policy." His flirtatious smile was replaced by an annoyed smirk.

"Ok, let me see where we got those numbers." I tried searching for any policy notes but found nothing.  Next I removed the life discount, that only took off 30 dollars. I decided to change the deductibles to see if maybe that would show something closer to the numbers he was giving me. I couldn't get anything to read over 500. Paul asked if I was new, I guess the confusion must have shown across my face. After apologizing I told him I wasn't seeing any quotes over 500. The numbers read how he wanted them, under 500 per six months however he wanted to know exactly how much he was saving and that's where the confusion came in.

"Is Shelly going to be back later today?"

"I don't believe so, she left early because she wasn't feeling well."  I swolled and took a deep breath.  I know he was frustrated I just had to remind myself it wasn't my fault. "You bought the vehicle last week so you still have about a week of automatic coverage,  matching the civic. If you'd prefer I could have Shelly call you when she gets back to finish everything?"

"I guess, listen I'm sorry for getting snappy. I know it wasn't your fault hon. I couldn't help but notice you at Starbucks by the way." Gone was his condescending tone and back was the smooth talking guy who walked in. I stood up and started walking him to the door, wanting to end this quickly. Opening the door I thanked him for coming in and told him I'd have Shelly call as soon as she got in.

Going back the quote I tried a couple changes again but still couldn't figure how he would somehow get a free life policy. All of a sudden I felt nauseous and I knew it wasn't because I caught something like Shelly. I was luckily saved from my dark thoughts when the phone rang. The rest of the afternoon flew by and I didn't have a chance to worry about what Shelly may or may not be doing.