The Lady And The Lake by Diane Collier

Her name was Tiffany Wilson. She was a hard worker, caring, loving and gentle. She had a demure that was subtle and meek. Tiffany was five-foot-six-inches tall with a toned slender body. She had medium-long blonde hair, which sort of had a light red tint to it. She took care of herself, with healthy eating and, of course- exercise. She visited the gym nearly every day after work. Spring had been busy with work as was summer. She was a fashion designer for a global retailer. Though, her dreams were larger in scale, she had to make some mark in the field prior to being mogul of the fashion world. Though fall was encroaching fast, Tiffany was busy with work. This was her favorite time of year. Being in the New England states, Massachusetts to be precise, fall was pretty much everyone’s favorite season of the year. Fall was the time of fall festivals, fairs, and most of all, the foliage of fall. It was the time of year, that mostly everyone spent their last days at their mountain and lake cabins until, maybe, the first of November.
    The week was closing fast as Tiffany made her preparations to go to her parents’ lake cabin for the weekend. Tiffany never dated much as her work and schedule, sort of prohibited it. She just didn’t have the time to actually meet someone, let alone actually date someone properly. This was someone that took her some time in order to accept and deal with and get used to.
                 
    The sun moved across the sky in its parallel line moving east to west. The shadows about her office slowly moved around the room as the sun eclipsed across her office window. Tiffany was excited to get away for the weekend. Work had become intense and hectic as the fall line deadlines approached faster and faster as the days melted into nights. She knew she had a few errands to run after work, and to the market for food for the weekend, and eventually stop by her house to grab her, already packed up, suitcase.
    Tiffany frequently looked at the clock on the wall as time seemed to slow as the day went on. It seemed like it always happened like that. Whenever something was going to happen, like leaving for vacation or such, time seemed to move really, really slowly. Tiffany continued her trimming and sewing as clock-out time hit. She quickly kind of shoved everything aside, grabbed her timecard and punched it into the time-clock. Down the stairs she galloped, heading towards her car. When she opened the exit door at the side of the building, the fresh air blew against her as the door opened. There was a nip to the air that stung her face and tickled her, now hard, nipples. She drove away, and headed towards the supermarket, so she could pick up some things for the weekend. On the top of her list, was coffee, this was a must as she got really, really cranky without her coffee.
    The music of the supermarket was faint and classical. She pushed the mini-cart, gazing up and down at the shelves that were lined with groceries. As Tiffany shopped, she caught the wind of cologne in the air in the middle of the isle where she was. The smell made a dainty smile on her face. She continued her shopping and when she reached the end of the isle, near the cashiers, she rounded the corner, gazing at the end isle shelf; out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a man, wearing a ball cap, a denim jacket with like a wool-lined collar. Granted, Boston was a huge, populated city, the suburb that she lived in, everyone knew everyone and he seemed new, sort of out of place. She brushed off the notion and finished up her shopping.
    It was getting late, when she arrived at her home to quickly, while leaving the car running, bolt in the house and grab her suitcase. She slammed the trunk shut after popping the suitcase inside. She walked to the driver’s side of the car and got in. She closed the door and sat there briefly. “Okay Tiffany, this is your weekend to relax, have fun on the lake”, she thought to herself. Tiffany