She stood there frozen as she gripped the handle to the door. She could feel the music and the loud voices pulsing from the other side of the door. It was difficult to concentrate as she replayed the events over and over in her head.

“It can’t be what you thinkâ€?, she repeated like a mantra as she willed herself to count slowly to ten.

Several heads looked up as the woman walked into the bar. She immediately looked out of place in her surroundings. Most of the women in the bar were wearing business attire and some were decked out in club wear. She stood there in the doorway with her hair pulled back in a ponytail, dressed in a pink t-shirt and jeans.

She quickly scanned the smoke-filled space. She spotted a table full of people near the back of the bar. She recognized several of the faces, his co-workers. Some of them she had remembered from the company picnic. Then she saw him sitting next to her.