HE had just walked into Bistro Café and Bar on Middle Street with a few friends. Alisa didn’t look his way, hoping he wouldn’t notice her, but halfway through their cocktails, as they chatted quietly, the bartender brought three cocktails to their table. Tricia stopped him, saying in a pleasant tone, “We didn’t order any more.”
The bartender just smiled a little and said, “Compliments of the gentleman at the bar.”
The three girls turned to look, and Alisa’s boss, Sebastian, raised his glass with a pleasant smile; he had noticed her.
“Gosh,” Alisa groaned slightly. “Is that a good thing?”
“Yes, it is,” Sandy assured her. “He’s not a stranger.”
Tricia glanced at him and gushed, “Boy, he is handsome!”
“And rich,” Sandy added.
“Okay, you guys stop that now,” Alisa said with a little stern tone.
“We’re just having a little fun,” they both laughed.

Alisa noticed that almost every woman in the café was glancing at him, and when she turned to look, his eyes met hers, and that new feeling surged through her again.
“Okay, this is crazy,” she said to herself, “It won’t be a good thing for me.”
They finished their drinks and left, with little smiles of ‘thanks’ to him for the round of drinks.
On Monday morning, Alisa had to leave for work an hour earlier to make a trip up the Linden Highway in the G-Wagon. She was enthusiastic and ready to go, and he looked at her with a little smile that said, ‘Good morning.’
It was a long but good day, for she got to see places she had never visited before and met some wonderful people. She won hearts among the younger and older women for being a female driver.
“There’s nothing a woman can’t do, is there?” an older woman stated.
And so the commendations continued everywhere she drove him, and he asked her one day, “So how do you feel now, about your job?”
“Great,” she replied, “I am comfortable with the way things are.”
“Glad to hear, and I must say you’re doing a really good job.”
Her father’s health had improved to the point where he was becoming self-sufficient, and her mother was now stress-free.
“You have made a great sacrifice for us, child,” her father said to her, “You can now reapply for a managerial job or start your business.”
“I have decided I will go into business,” she informed them, “but not just yet. This is a good, payable job, and I will work and save until I’m ready for that venture.”
Somehow, when she looked back, she felt like she had grown so much over the past months into a more confident and vibrant woman, and that, to herself, was quite amazing.
Now, the dream and ambition she had put on hold, she could now breathe new life into, but where to start?
She had become comfortable with her job as Sebastian’s personal driver, accustomed to his warm smile and smooth voice, and she also enjoyed getting to drive all the luxury vehicles owned by the wealthy family.
She especially liked the Porsche and was surprised when he offered her the use of it for a day to go to a wedding on the West Coast with her two friends.
“So, we’re rolling up like rich girls,” Tricia had exulted.
The girls were quite thrilled to be riding in the Porsche, and Alisa herself was quite happy. She had returned the car that night and was walking to her car when Sebastian pulled in with the Bugatti. She was looking quite exquisite in her Indian-wear outfit, and he expressed, “Beautiful, wouldn’t have known it was you if I had seen you somewhere else.”
She had smiled, that happy look still on her face, and said, “Thank you.”
And as she was about to go into her car, he said, “Leave your car, I’ll take you home, and one of the drivers can pick you up for work in the morning.”
That took her by surprise, but before she could say anything, he had already driven up with the Bugatti. On the way home, she had thought to herself, “Wow, a day out with a Porsche and now going home with a Bugatti driven by a most handsome man. I never really dreamt of this.”
He had looked at her and asked, “What are you thinking?”
She had smiled and shook her head, “Nothing.”
Now that she was thinking of realising her ambition to be a businesswoman, she wasn’t sure how she would leave her job.
The week started off normal, and for two days she was just in and around town, but on the third day, there was a trip to Berbice.
Just before they left, Sebastian had called her into his office and said with a serious tone, “You have to be very alert today, to avoid any interception on the way.”
“Yes, sir.”
He didn’t say it, but she knew he would be taking up valuables worth millions. On the way, everything seemed well, no suspicious vehicle following them, but Alisa had noticed something strange about a black Toyota with heavy dark tint that had overtaken her, then driven into a side street. Two villages away, it suddenly appeared back from another side street, stayed behind the car for a while, then turned into another street. But then she noticed, in the rear-view mirror, another black Toyota following at an average speed.
“Sir,” she alerted Sebastian, who was on his phone, “Something is suspicious about these black Toyotas.”
The next moment she noticed the black Toyota coming at a fast pace two streets away and the one behind her had increased its speed. She saw the trap and shouted to Sebastian, “Hold tight, they’re trying to ambush us.”
She pressed the accelerator to its maximum so she could pass the street before the Toyota exited, leaving the other vehicle way behind. But a second too late, the Toyota just clipped the back fender of the Mercedes, sending it into a spin because of the speed she was going. She wrestled to stabilise the steering wheel to keep the vehicle from flipping, as other vehicles on the road pulled down into the corners.
She managed to steady the car but the danger was not gone, for the other Toyota was coming at a breakneck speed.
“Oh damn, is anyone on their way to help us, sir?!” she shouted.
“Yes,” Sebastian answered, “But I hope not too late.”
Alisa put the car into overdrive again, chased by the black Toyota. She looked left and right for a way to elude it, and, seeing an opportunity, she took the risk. Slowing down a little so it could gain on her, and as it came closer, she swung into a dirt road next to a culvert. The Toyota couldn’t brake fast enough and hit the culvert, flying into the air. Alisa couldn’t brake sharply on the uneven dirt road, and the speed sent the car flying over the narrow trench into an abandoned field, flipping twice before coming to a stop.
Two days later, she recovered in a private hospital from a deep gash on her forehead and other bodily injuries that were not serious.
The first person she asked for was her boss, “Is he okay?”
“Yes,” the doctor told her, “No serious injuries.”
“Thank God,” she breathed with relief.
Her mother and father, Tricia and Sandy, came to see her, then Sebastian’s family. His father said to her, “I never knew my son had a female driver; he was always the one to do things differently, and I want to thank you from the depths of my heart for saving his life. When I read the police report, it astounded me how you managed to drive away from that ambush.”
Later, when her friends came back, Tricia said, unable to control her emotions, “Girl, you’re all over the news. A heroine, an impressive female driver.”
Sebastian came to see her two days later and kissed her hand, at a loss for words.
“What can I say?”
It was the first time she saw him show any deep emotions.
“I was doing my job,” she said, trying not to show any emotion, but her voice broke a little.
“You saved my life,” he said, “so you’re not leaving me, you’re staying with me.”
“But I want to be a businesswoman,” she told him.
“Oh yes, that you will be,” he stated, “my business partner,” and he kissed her hand again.
Alisa couldn’t believe it — that a dream she never had had found her.