The security man, hoping my offer would excuse him from further responsibility, backed away.
'Hmph. I'll give Office Services a few problems if they're not careful. If you think you can do something to get them moving...'
'I'll certainly try.'
The contractors, a firm called Ferns and Foliage, were easily traced on the firm's database. Elaborating the truth a little I told Office Services that Peter was so annoyed about the dead tree he had asked me to deal with the issue personally. Then I rang Ferns and Foliage, who, being told that one of the senior partners had complained that the plant was making a bad impression on important clients, said they would supply a replacement the next day.
When their man arrived I was called down to sign for it. He was attractive, very much my type, a strong thirty year old with dark curly hair. We had seen each other before, when he had been tending the firm's plants and had caught me looking at him. He had been standing on a small portable step ladder, leaning forward above a big container to clip excess growth from the top of some climbing plants. Suddenly he had turned his head and looked straight at me, as though he sensed my gaze. Blushing, I had tried to pretend to be searching for some papers in a side drawer.
I walked diffidently up to reception where he stood holding a clipboard. 'You need a signature?'
'One replacement tree,' he said, holding the clipboard out towards me without any hint of recognition.
I signed a docket with the words One Ficus benjamina (large) scrawled on it and asked, 'I wonder what finished off the old one?'
'Someone's probably tipped the dregs of tea or coffee or the remains of a carton of milk into the pot. Milk will kill any plant, it sours the soil. That one all right for you, gov?' he said, looking towards the replacement.
I disliked him using the term 'gov', but his deep, warm, working-class voice excited me. To extend the conversation with the security guard looking on and passers by on their way in and out of the building was impossible; lots of straight men wore well fitting jeans, and there was nothing about him to suggest that he was gay. 'Thanks, it's fine,' I said, risking a smile of appreciation. Grasping the main stem of the dead plant in his right hand he lifted it up as though it weighed almost nothing and strode out into the street. We had met. If I saw him again I would definitely say hello.