Wonderful story. It felt fuller than the average vignette.
By the way, in the original story the blinds were closed in the conference room, so you don't have to worry about anyone else seeing what they shouldn't have. Besides, at that moment do you think Clark actually cared being overseen?
Oh, "a mess of" something is an undefined amount of items numbering between three and infinity, usually used in the South in casual conversation.
I'm not from the South, but I use that term to mean a whole heck of a lot. In fact, I was talking about making up a mess of spaghetti for dinner when someone corrected me to say that they just use smocks on their children.
Elisabeth
