“Damn it.”

Kaylee looked at the figures before her for at least the 10th time silently begging them to add up. She hated numbers. They never came together right for her. It was so infuriating. What she would spend hours with spreadsheets, formulas and sums trying to figure out, another person could waltz in with scribbles on a piece of scratch paper and, waving a $5 calculator like a wand, conjure up the correct answer.

“It’s 7pm in KC and it looks like it’s going to be another steamy night, “ the radio announcer droned. Kaylee glared at the boom box next to her computer monitor. “Thanks for the reminder.” she intoned sarcastically.

Steamy seemed too positive a word for such a humid, sticky existence she was being forced to endure – thanks to an increasingly deteriorating building and cheap property management. With a sigh, Kaylee tossed aside the sheets of paper that had become the bane of her existence and leaned as far back as she dared in her black leather office chair stretching her legs in front of her to rest her petite sandaled feet on her desk top. Staring at the ceiling, she allowed her mind to wander, chewing on various thoughts as though tasting them and then setting them to the side as unsatisfactory. Sitting up a little, her gaze followed the length of her legs until coming to rest where they ended at her feet.

“I like this color.” She stated to no one in particular regarding the cherry red polish adorning her pedicured toes. “I like these shoes, too.” She again verbalized, turning her feet one way and then the other, admiring her newest acquisition: strappy black sandals sporting various colors of stitching and a 3” heel. Kaylee signed and lowered her feet to the ground, then stood from her chair to walk over to the fan in an attempt to cool her body and distract her tired brain.

She closed her eyes as the warm air blew over her damp skin and reached up to unbutton the top button of her white cotton blouse, pulling the fabric to each side in an attempt to expose more skin to the only relief from the heat.