PHILIP

My companion for the next twenty-four hours was a young woman; pretty, blonde, wearing a tailored suit that emphasized her curves.  She wasn’t fat; she was what I would call pleasantly plump.  Lush.

She wasn’t overtly sexy, though.  There was a sweetness to her and she had a friendly smile.  We shook hands and waited while Team Five was chosen.  They were another male/female team.

I looked over the other participants.  I decided that I had been extremely lucky.  My companion was lovely, and it would be no hardship to be handcuffed to her for twenty-four hours.  And who knew, if things went well, I might even get a date for Thanksgiving out of it.  I wondered if my mother would like her.

Nilsson Worldwide had no ban against employees dating each other as long as no sexual harassment or coercion was involved.

But I was getting too far ahead of myself.  In the next few hours I might completely change my mind about wanting to get to know Ms. Abbot better.  Over the years I’d found that initial attraction could be fleeting.

The world was full of beautiful women who wanted my attention, or more accurately, wanted my money and my name.

I didn’t blame them.  My fortune was a target on my back.  Why shouldn’t a smart woman want to acquire it?  I acted similarly when I was searching out new locations for Nilsson hotels.  It took me three years to acquire Sunthaym Castle in Bavaria, but in the end, I achieved my goal, and it was very satisfying.

But as in many things, the pursuit was more enjoyable than the acquisition.  I thought briefly of Carly Simon’s song Anticipation.

It was human nature, wanting more.  Not being satisfied with the status quo.

At this point, we were taken to another room to sign waivers and receive our instructions.  I admired my companion’s smooth hair and wondered if she were a natural blonde.  Either that, or she had an excellent hairstylist.  And she smelled faintly of Chanel No. 5, which reminded me of my grandmother Rika.  Chanel No. 5 was her signature scent.

One of the men in the two-men team complained.  “This is not what I expected.  I didn’t expect to get another guy.”

“That’s sexist,” one of the women said.

I said calmly, “If you don’t want to participate, you don’t have to.  But this is just a team building activity, not a dating service.”  I said that for his benefit and as a reminder for myself as well.

My companion said cheerfully, “That’s good.  I wouldn’t want my fiancé to get jealous.”

I looked at her sharply.  “Fiancé?”

She beamed and showed me a miniscule diamond ring on her left hand.  “Yes.  We’re getting married in six weeks.”

One of the other women congratulated her.

Ms. Abbot said, “Thank you.  It’s very exciting and that’s why I want to win the two thousand dollars.  For our honeymoon.”

I didn’t think they would get much of a honeymoon for only two thousand dollars, but I wished them well.  I smiled at her. “Then let’s do it.  Let’s last the entire twenty-four hours.”

She said, “Oh, good!  I am totally on board with this.  But I’m thinking it would be best to take a bathroom break before we start, don’t you agree?”

Suddenly the logistics of the being handcuffed to someone else seemed daunting.  I could imagine us getting all tangled up like people playing Twister.

One of the other women said, “Oh, no. I hadn’t thought of that.”

My companion said, “It’s going to be complicated and awkward, that’s part of the challenge and humor of the situation, but as long as everyone is respectful and willing to close their eyes occasionally, I think it can work out.”

Ms. Abbot was a facilitator, I decided.  She smoothed things over and got things done.

“If you say so,” the other woman said.

“What do you think, Mr. Nilsson?” Ms. Abbot asked as she turned towards me.

She was warm and friendly and off limits.  “Philip, please,” I corrected.  “I do not want to be Mr. Nilsson for twenty-four hours.”

“Okay, Philip.  What do you think of our challenge?  Do you think it can be done?”

At this, everyone in the room looked at me, and I knew that my father would be amused if he could see me now.  As Vice President of Business Development and the most senior representative of Nilsson Worldwide in the room, I represented the company.  I said with more confidence than I felt, “Of course.  It sounds like fun.”

Ms. Abbot smiled her approval at me, and I felt a little zing of pleasure that I quickly dismissed.  Watch it, Philip.  She’s a friendly young woman.  Smiles mean nothing.

While she was in the bathroom, I sent photos of the waiver agreement to my lawyers.  The language of the contract looked straight forward, but I did not sign anything without legal advice.

Within an hour, we were all signed and ready to go.

A young man with handcuffs approached us.  He explained that inside the cuffs there was some sort of a GPS tracking and recording device as well as a timer.  The locks would come undone automatically in 24 hours.  If either one of us wanted to remove the cuffs before that time, we could override the lock by entering a PIN number.

“Very high tech,” Ms. Abbot said, and I could tell from the little quaver in her voice that she was hesitant.

The assistant asked which hands we wanted to use.  “My left,” I said, just as my companion said, “My right.”

She smiled at me.  “That’s convenient.”

“You’re left handed?”

She nodded and within a minute, her right wrist was linked to my left.

I twisted my left arm, automatically lifting her right arm a few inches.  The cuffs were not too tight, but there was no way to remove them without using the PIN.  The cuffs were joined by a thick chain, no more than three inches long.

“Are you comfortable?” I asked.

“Sure.”

“What is your first name, again?” I asked.  Her lanyard was on backwards.  I was usually good at remembering names, but hers was more complicated.  She had two initials.

“W. J.”

“W. J.” I repeated.  “I’m guessing you don’t like your first or middle name.”

“I do,” she said.  “But my first name is a silly one, and no one takes it seriously.  I thought since I have a real job now, I should have a more grown-up sounding name.”

I was amused.  “What do you mean by a real job?”

She smiled.  “Full time.  With a reliable company that gives health benefits.”

“You can’t do better than Nilsson.”  We were a very reliable company and gave our employees excellent health benefits.

“I know.  Believe me, I did my research and I’m thrilled to be on Team Nilsson.  Before, I had a lot of part time or temporary jobs.  But now that I’m getting married, I decided that I needed more stability.  And I want health insurance for when I have children.”

Children.  Of course, she would want children.  It was written all over her face.  I sensed that she would be a good mother, warm and loving.

I asked, “How long have you worked for Nilsson?”

“This is my third week.”

I smiled wryly.  She was very new indeed. I was surprised that she’d been invited to the company mixer.  “What do you do?”

“I’m the second assistant to the banquet coordinator.”

Everyone had to start somewhere.  I asked, “Wilma?”

She was surprised.  “I beg your pardon?”

“Is your first name Wilma?  Like Wilma Flintstone?”

She laughed, and the sound was like a sudden arrow to my heart.  I liked her.  I wanted to get to know her better, but I wasn’t a jerk.  She was happily engaged, and I wasn’t going to do anything to mess that up.

She said, “No, my name isn’t Wilma, but you can keep guessing if you want.  That will give us something to do for the next twenty-four hours.”

I said, “Do you want to go over the instructions and start filming?”  Each team had been given a small backpack with a digital camera and a selfie stick so we could film our adventure.  “We needed to plan for our presentation tomorrow.”

“Sure,” she said brightly.  “Why not?”

I had a feeling that the next twenty-four hours would be the longest day of my life cuffed to a pretty woman I couldn’t pursue.