Flirting with the HR Girl

Chapter 25

Jennifer took a long hot shower and shaved absolutely everything. She had no plans of going home with Austin, but she also didn't want him to accidentally get a stray spiky handful that she wasn't planning on. She applied more makeup than she would wear to the store during the day and slid into her new clothes. She felt the most beautiful she had in years. Suddenly, she remembered the last anniversary date she had gone on with her old boyfriend. They hadn't had a lot of money as young college students, but they had gotten dressed up and gone to one of the fanciest restaurants in their college town. Not yet old enough to drink, they ordered mocktails and a fancy dessert and felt like real grownups for the first time in their lives.

Funny that she would think about Eric now after all these years she had spent pushing him from her mind. So far Austin was nothing like Eric. Eric was cocky and confident and knew that most girls thought he was gorgeous. Jennifer had always felt special that he had chosen her. Sometimes she wondered if that was her main draw to Eric. But she knew that couldn't be it because she would have done just about anything for him. And when things had come crashing down and her life was left in ruins, she expected him to do anything for her. But he hadn't.

Pushing those depressing thoughts from her mind, Jennifer started to pace around her apartment as she got nervous. Austin would still not be off for another hour. The good news was since he was always dressed to the nines for work, he didn't have to go home and change.

Kelly eyed her from the back of the couch, while Zack stalked around behind her, still indignant about his visit to the vet and his routine check-up. Jennifer was pulling out a small can of wet cat food to give him an extra treat when she heard her phone. She expected it to be Selena because it was too early for Austin to be texting. Her heart sank when she saw the text.

I can't make it tonight. Todd is making me work overtime.

Crap! Jennifer was so mad and so disappointed all at once she burst into tears. She was relieved that there was no one there besides the cats to see her. She could feel the mascara running down her face as she picked up her phone to text Austin back.

That's OK. I understand.

She set the phone down and went back to pacing her small apartment. She knew it wasn't Austin's fault. He couldn't stand up to Todd; it was his first week on the job. The last thing they needed was Todd knowing what was going on. But disappointment weighed heavily in Jennifer's heart as she finally sat down on the couch and snuggled into Kelly's fur and let out a small sob. Her phone buzzed and she looked down again.

It's not OK but I'm sorry theres nothing I can do. I promise to make it up to you.

Jennifer sighed at the thought of a promise to make it up to her. This seemed like Eric; he had been full of promises trying to make things up to her all the time. Maybe Austin was more like him than she cared to admit. She went to her room and removed her beautiful new clothes and found the tags on the bathroom counter along with her receipt. She folded them up neatly and placed them back in the Peterson's bag. She would return the clothes on Monday. She never should have spent that much on one outfit anyway. Her pet's health had to come first. Maybe someday when she had a degree and a new job, she could have two hundred-dollar jeans.

She slid into her pajamas, grabbed her favorite ice cream out of the fridge, and sat on the couch. The cats swarmed her, waiting to lick the empty container. She stayed up entirely too late watching Golden Girl reruns on Netflix and was rudely awakened to her phone ringing in her face on the couch Sunday morning. She looked down to see that Selena was calling. She didn't pick up. She didn't have it in her to tell her friend that the date was a bust. She also didn't want to deal with Selena offering to go yell at Todd.

Suddenly, Jennifer sat up and realized that she needed to warn Selena about Todd. Dialing her phone, she wandered into the kitchen as she waited for her friend to pick up.

"Girl, you better not be calling from Austin's apartment," Selena said trying to sound stern but there was a giggle in her voice. "Or if you are, I better get all the details right now!"

"No, I'm at home. Alone," she added the last word before Selena could speculate. She sat down on one of the kitchen stools and stared at the plain white tile. "Todd made Austin work overtime last night, so our date was canceled."

"Oh no, he did not!" Selena said sounding as outraged as Jennifer had felt the night before. "I will call his ass right now and tell him that he needs to give Austin the night off and you are going out tonight."

"No, please don't do that." Jennifer stood up so fast the stool fell out from under her and cracked onto the tile floor. Zack yowled and ran out of the kitchen while Kelly clambered under the table. Jennifer set the stool upright and kept talking, "That's why I'm calling. You can't tell Todd anything about Austin and me. I don't even know if there is going to be an Austin and me, but he doesn't need to know."

"Why? Todd's not that bad." Selena said, suddenly sounding defensive. "He's not going to try to stop you guys. He just wants us all to go out together."

"Yeah, it's not that." Jennifer kept her thoughts to herself about why Todd was so excited to go out without his own wife. "Cynthia warned me that I shouldn't get too close to anyone in the store if I want to be an HR manager someday."

"Who cares what the Dragon Lady says," Selena said dismissively.

"I do if she's going to give me a recommendation to be an HR manager," Jennifer said sitting back down and feeling exasperated. She loved Selena and she loved being friends, but she hated that her friend was so outspoken sometimes. It made it very hard when she was trying to keep things professional. "Cynthia told me there may be an opening for an HR manager sooner than we thought so I have to keep professional appearances up."

"Okay, fine, I get it. I know you want your tuition reimbursement," Selena said, the wind out of her sails. "And I won't even mention it to Todd. But once you're a couple officially, it won't matter and then we can all go out and have fun."

"Definitely," Jennifer said hoping that by then whatever was going on between Todd and Selena had fizzled out.

"Alright, girlie, get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow," Selena said, obviously having forgotten that we had our boring sexual harassment training in the morning.

"Thanks, see you tomorrow," Jennifer said hanging up the phone, relieved the conversation had gone better than she thought it would. Selena could be bullheaded, but her friend seemed to respect her wishes to keep things from Todd.