“Just spit it out already. If you didn’t sign a non-disclosure, you’re good. And I’m not looking to harm Connecting Hearts. They’re not in the same business sphere as us. I didn’t even know who they were before I looked into you.”
I had no more excuses. But it still felt strange to confess all this to a virtual stranger who held my future career in his hands. I hadn’t told my brothers, my parents, friends, co-workers. Anyone. I had only planned to tell Jenny. But it looked like I’d get a trial run. “Last year, a woman in H.R. called me into her office. She asked me if I’d be willing to help them get rid of a sexual harassment problem. She knew I was friendly with some of the women in the department in question. And she also knew this particular man causing problems was a bit of a control-freak.”
Gordon motioned for me to keep going, even as his eyes got wider.
“There had been no official complaints made. Just observations by other people that he was being too touchy and making female employees uncomfortable. So, their suggestion to me was to flirt with these women, in front of him, until he threatened me in some way.”
“Then the official complaint would come from you,” Gordon prompted.
“Correct.”
“And that way, they could keep it quiet. Fire him. Send you off to the California branch and tie it all up with a bow.”
“Correct.”
“And it worked?”
“It did. But it took a while. You see, I didn’t do anything overt. Just enough to make him jealous and want me out of the picture. But in the process, I ruined one of the friendships I had with a woman in his office. My behavior confused her, and she stopped trusting me.”
“Rightly so.”
I sighed. “Yep.”
“She’s the one you now want to date? The one in your carpool group?”
“Yeah.”
Gordon chuckled, but he didn’t sound amused so much as amazed. “And how’s that going?”
“I haven’t told her.”
“You haven’t told her? How loyal are you trying to be to that company?”
His words stung. Because I had been loyal. Outrageously loyal. They were the only company on my resume that mattered, because I’d been hired on fresh out of college. And my loyalty hadn’t helped me one bit. Not in moving on in my career, and not with Jenny.
Gordon laced his fingers together and leaned forward on his desk. “I understand now why you haven’t told anyone. You do realize these women, once they find out, could sue Connecting Hearts for sexual harassment.Youcould sue them for sexual harassment. They were using you. What H.R. asked you to do, that’s not… how things are done. It’s not what we do here.” His eyes were like steel.
“I know. I never should have gone along with it. I only did because I saw how he treated my friend, and I wanted better for her.” I wished I could say I had succeeded, that her promotion was worth the cost of losing our friendship. But I had a feeling she wouldn’t see it that way.
Gordon had a lot more questions for me, and although his intent was to get to know me and see if I was a good fit for him, I couldn’t help feeling more and more like his management style was a good fit forme. The honesty thing wasn’t a hammer he planned to bludgeon his employees with. It was who he was. He was the most opened-minded executive I’d ever talked to. By the time I left his office, it was past time to meet Jenny at the café. I took the stairs down at double speed, hoping she wouldn’t mind getting our food to go. I had a lot to talk to her about.
Chapter 20 – Jenny
I was almost to the front of the line when Noah found me. He curled several bills around my fingers and closed them, letting his hand linger against mine. “I thought we could eat outside. Will you get me a turkey club? Don’t worry about a drink. I have my water bottle.”
Before I could hand back the money, he had disappeared through the crowd. The people here did not like line-cutters. No doubt, we would have gotten some evil stares if Noah had stayed next to me and ordered for himself. But I knew this was really about getting me back the forty dollars I’d so carefully tucked into his back pocket after the move.
Except instead of the two twenty dollar bills I’d been expecting, there were three in my hand. Sixty dollars? He was making sure to pay for both our food today plus the forty I’d given him. Stubborn man.
I ordered our food and glanced around. My plan to have us sit inside so we wouldn’t be alone together was not going to happen. Not unless we wanted to sit separately at two different tables with a bunch of strangers.
As it was, it seemed no matter where I stood, I was in someone’s way. I spotted Noah standing outside watching for me, and when our eyes met, he quickly made his way back inside and over to me. He immediately blocked me from all the jostling with his body, and glared at the guy who had just bumped into my shoulder. A couple squeezed past us to get their order, and Noah stepped even closer and put his arms around me.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered in my ear. “I should have been here earlier. I can stay and wait for our order if you want to step outside.”
I should’ve taken him up on that. But I didn’t want to move. I liked being in Noah’s arms. I liked the natural way we seemed to fit together as if we stood like this all the time—as if touch was just an extension of the way we communicated.
“You gave me too much money,” I growled, afraid of what he was doing to my heart. I couldn’t take anything he did at face value, as something real, and yet my feet wouldn’t carry me away from him.
