“Claudia! Come look at what I drew!” cried, the 6-year-old, Samantha, holding a large piece of white paper over her head. “It’s a picture of me and you at the playground, like last week!”

    “Wow, that’s really pretty!” the tall, dark skinned, brunette exclaimed, as she crouched down in front of the little girl at one of the long tables.

    Samantha pointed to the drawing with a stubby finger. “This is me when I fell off the slide, and that’s you when you gave me an ice cream cone to make me feel better. I made it for you,” the freckle faced girl said with grin, holding it out for Claudia to take.

    “For me? Oh thank you! I’ll put it on my fridge right when I get home, so that everyone can see it.” Claudia smiled and ruffled the girl’s strawberry-blond curls, before she ran off to find something else to get herself into.

    “Claude,” came an older voice, “I don’t know why I let you talk me into coming here with you,” Claudia’s friend, Nicole whined as she held onto her aching head.

    “Oh come on, I know deep down, you really love these kids.”

    “Well, I suppose...very deep down,” she joked.

    The two girls in their late twenties were visiting children at the orphanage, as Claudia often did. Claudia loved to volunteer, and loved children. Nicole on the other hand, didn’t adore children the way her friend did, but often volunteered with her at the orphanage anyway.

    “If you really don’t like kids as much as you claim, then why do you continue to come here with me?” Claudia questioned, raising an eyebrow.

    “You drag me here on a guilt trip every time, that’s why!” Nicole ran a hand through her shoulder length, dirty blond hair and sighed. “It’s like babysitting twenty kids at once.”

    A young boy ran across the room and pulled on Nicole’s hand. “Come on, let’s play follow the leader again!” the boy urged, tugging on her hand some more.

    “But we just played follow the leader five times! Aren’t you sick of this by now?”

    “Come on Nicole! Please?” The boy stuck out his lower lip and gave her a sad puppy-dog face.

    Nicole turned back to Claudia. “They know I can’t resist that look. They use it against me every time!”

    Claudia laughed as she watched Nicole allow herself to be dragged across the room by the young boy, who then began crawling under tables and climbing over chairs, with Nicole trudging along behind him.

    Then, a tall, handsome man in a business suit walked in, briefcase in hand. His dark brown eyes scanned the room for someone in particular. When he spotted her, he walked briskly to where she was sitting.

    “Hey, Claude,” the older man called to her.

    “Jacob! What are you doing here? Did you get out of work early?” Claudia asked in surprise as she stood up to kiss her boyfriend on the cheek.

    “Actually, yes…I came to tell you that I have to leave early for an emergency meeting in Chicago,” he told her.

    Claudia’s bright face dimmed slightly at the news, the sparkle fading from her green eyes.
“Chicago? Tonight? What time does your flight leave?”

    The professional looking man checked his gold wristwatch. “In about an hour. I’ve really got to hurry if I want to make it to the airport on time,” he answered, straightening his dark blue tie.

    “But honey, we have dinner reservations for our anniversary tonight,” Claudia reminded him.

    “I know, I’m so sorry, but we’re going to have to cancel.”

    “We’ve been on the waiting list for months to get in to this place!”

    “I’m terribly sorry, but there’s nothing I can do. This meeting is vital. Millions of dollars are riding on this deal.” He looked down at his Rolex again. “I’ve really got to get to the airport.” He kissed her on the cheek one last time, and made his way to the door. “I’ll call you as soon as I get a chance,” he called to her.

    Claudia’s shoulders slumped as he left the building, leaving a trail of his sweet-smelling cologne behind him. Through the window, she watched him climb into his black Mercedes and pull out of the parking lot quickly, squealing his tires as he went.

    “Mr. Businessman cancelled plans again, huh?” Nicole asked, sitting next to her friend at the table. “Where is it this time? Orlando? LA? Phoenix?”

    Claudia shook her head, her eyes still on the window. “Chicago.”

    “Isn’t tonight your anniversary?”

    “Two years,” she answered with a sigh.

    Nicole felt terrible for her friend. It wasn’t unlike Jacob to cancel plans at the last minute. He was a workaholic, and it was hard not to be with his profession. He was an executive in advertising and he was very good at what he did.
His job always came first; before his friends, family, and even before Claudia; his loyal girlfriend of two years, who treated him like king. Nicole hated to have to watch her friend get upset every time Jacob let her down. Sometimes, she didn’t understand why Claudia bothered to stay with a man who was hardly ever around, and didn’t seem to want to give her the time of day.

    “What do you say we go home, order a pizza and watch ‘I Love Lucy’ reruns all night? There’s a marathon on tonight, you know.”

    “I don’t know, I’m not one to mope around and feel sorry for myself, you know that.”

    “It’s not moping, it’s relaxing. You don’t always have to be busy doing something ya know. It’s not a crime to take a night just for yourself,” Nicole advised. “We’ll make it into a girl’s night, facials, manicures-the works. What do you say?”

    “All right, I guess I can give in just this once. How could I say no to Lucy?”

    The two girls giggled and said goodbye to all the children before riding home for a night of solitude.

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