"Cynthia!" Destiny said cheerily, warning Jennifer before she turned around.
"Destiny," Cynthia's voice easily sliced through the din of the cosmetic department. "I couldn't find my assistant and Blanche thought Jennifer might be down in cosmetics."
"Good morning!" Jennifer said as she turned to face her boss.
"My, don't you look fancy this morning, Jennifer," Cynthia said taking in her assistant's new appearance. She was old enough to be Jennifer's mother and was much more glamorous than any HR manager she'd ever met. Cynthia was tall and wore her hair swept up to add to her imposing height. She always had on a rich suit with matching heels that Jennifer would have to save for months to be able to afford on her salary. Cynthia's nails were also impeccable along with her makeup. Jennifer usually felt frumpy next to her but not today. "Imagine my surprise when you weren't in the office, but I didn't expect you were down here getting a makeover."
"It wasn't a makeover exactly," Jennifer said not knowing what to say. The warmth of the cosmetic department was dispelled by the grey cloud Cynthia's displeasure brought. The bag of cosmetics felt heavy in Jennifer's hands.
"It's my fault!" Selena said appearing next to her. Selena had worked with Cynthia the longest of anyone in the Galleria store. They had been on the floor together in women's and Selena counted on that stale camaraderie to get her by with the Dragon Lady a lot. "I asked Jenny to come down because I knew her skin would be perfect for this new line. Plus, her birthday's coming in a couple of months, and I thought she could use a little fun. I'm sorry if I took her away from her work too long, Cynthia."
"Oh, how kind of you, Selena!" Cynthia said smiling broadly at her old friend. "I'm sure Jennifer will make up the time over lunch. Jennifer, are you ready to come back up?"
"Yes, of course," Jennifer said flashing Selena a grateful look while her friend mouthed, "Sorry!"
Cynthia walked away, her heels clicking loudly on the tile floor. Jennifer had to racewalk to keep up in her own heels. She fell in beside Cynthia and felt conscious of employees noticing them clomping by. They headed to the up escalator and Jennifer could see back into men's. Her toes wiggled in excitement when she saw Austin talking to one of his employees. She suddenly became aware of the makeup on her face again. Would he think it was too much? Well, who cares what he thinks? She felt wonderful. Even riding beside her pissed-off boss, waiting for Cynthia to yell at her behind HR's closed door.
Austin suddenly glanced up at the escalator. Jennifer saw recognition come over his face as a broad grin lit up his features. He nodded to her, and she smiled back just before the wall blocked her view. She sailed to the top floor on a cloud just above the escalator.
"Jennifer!" Cynthia said snapping her out of it abruptly. "Hurry up. I still have to head over to the Chesterfield store in an hour. I'm just here to make sure Todd set up the training for Friday as he promised."
"Yes, Cynthia," Jennifer said trailing after her boss through a sea of nightgowns back to the executive offices. She could hear Todd energetically talking on the phone in his office as they passed Blanche, who gave Jennifer an apologetic look before pantomiming that she liked the younger woman's face. Cynthia marched into Todd's office and Jennifer scurried off to the HR office. She quickly reached into her bag and pulled out her new hire paperwork and started preparing for her next appointment. She had her head down when Cynthia returned from Todd's office. Luckily, he pissed her off so much she forgot all about Jennifer's foray into the beauty world.
"Well, Todd did not schedule the training for Friday, so we are doing it on Monday," Cynthia said stomping around to her side of the desk. She grabbed the phone and pounded in the numbers. She picked up some of Jennifer's papers and moved them to make room for her own. "I know you're supposed to have Monday off, but you have to be here for the training."
"Okay," Jennifer said waiting for her boss to offer for her to take another day off. She didn't. Jennifer guessed the overtime would help her afford more medicine for her cats.
"Can you step into the hall?" Cynthia said not looking up from her papers. "I'm calling Valerie."
"Sure," Jennifer said scooping up her own papers. She had been forced to do new hires on the managers' computers before. It sucked but was doable. And listening to Cynthia rant about Todd to her boss, Valerie, was worse. Jennifer also hoped that Cynthia would be gone before her meeting with Austin that afternoon. The more out of Cynthia's way she was, the more likely that was to happen.
"I'll be in the managers' office when my new hire gets here, Blanche," Jennifer said to the assistant as she passed.
"Dragon Lady needed the office?" Blanche asked eyes still on her screen.
"Yep." Jennifer didn't bother correcting her. "But she'll be leaving soon."
"Good," Blanche said but smiled. "I'm sure Todd will be happy, too."
Jennifer chuckled to herself. Todd was an HR disaster. He and Cynthia went round and round about hiring and firing policies, but sexual harassment was their latest issue. Multiple employees had complained about the previous men's manager and Cynthia had insisted Todd fire him. He was the best seller in the store with Selena, so Todd had let it slide far too long. Jennifer wasn't surprised, but she was impressed Cynthia and Valerie finally managed to get that particular good old boy out of there. Now Todd was delaying the sexual harassment training, probably out of spite. He hadn't even told the managers they would have an HR training yet. They would be surprised when Monday came, and they were stuck in the training room with Cynthia and Jennifer all day.
Thankfully, the managers' bullpen was empty when she arrived. She picked a computer with plenty of room next to it and spread out her new hire paperwork. She glanced at the clock, and she still had five minutes before the new hire was scheduled to start. She decided to run to the break room and grab a diet Coke out of the vending machine. She'd just entered the jungle of the nightgowns when she saw Austin coming towards the office doorway. She quickly ducked behind a set of purple negligees and watched him go by. His gait was all confidence with just a touch of swagger. The Boys II Men playing in the speaker over her head only added to his cologne commercial mystique.
"Jenny!" Selena had come up behind her. Jennifer jumped about a foot in the air. "Why are you hiding in the nighties?"
"I'm not hiding in the nighties," Jennifer said walking towards the breakroom. She was grateful Austin was already in the office and didn't hear Selena scaring the crap out of her in women's sleepwear. She got flustered enough around him without the added benefit of lingerie everywhere. "I was just going to get a drink before my new hire gets here."
"Oh, you're not hiding from Austin?" Selena said having to trot to keep up with her. "I saw him up ahead of me and thought maybe he was looking for you."
"Why would he be looking for me?" Jennifer asked not bothering to face Selena.
"Because ..." Selena stopped as they entered the break room. There were a couple of employees, who worked merchandising in the mornings before the store opened, already there taking their morning breaks. Jennifer put her dollar in the vending machine. She pounded on the diet Coke button, but nothing came out. She decided maybe it was a Mountain Dew kind of morning.
"Do you want anything?" Jennifer said holding out an extra dollar for Selena. Her friend looked down as if to consider it before deciding, yes, maybe it was a Mountain Dew kind of morning for her, too. Jennifer slipped the extra dollar in, and she pounded on a button. Selena scooped it up, and they were back out into the women's nightwear.
"I thought that maybe Austin was looking for you because he saw you this morning after you had all your makeup on," Selena said softly to Jennifer as they hustled along the tile floor of the main walk now. "I'm really sorry about the Dragon Lady by the way. I thought she wasn't supposed to be here today."
"She wasn't. She had to come in because Todd's being a pain in the butt," Jennifer said it quietly, but she could tell Blanche overheard her. The older woman's shoulders shook with mirth.
"That's nothing new," Selena said as she winked at Blanche.
"Duh," Jennifer answered and smiled at both of them. "But I have to do my new hire in the bullpen now so please let me do my job."
"Oh, but I want to have fun with you!" Selena said wrapping her arm around Jennifer as they went into the office together.
"Me, too," said Austin who was sitting on another computer across from her workstation. Jennifer stopped in her tracks, but Selena pushed her forward. Not knowing what to do, Jennifer turned to her work.
"Look you two, I don't have time for playing games I'm in the middle of trying to hire up for our busiest season of the year." It came out much sterner than in her head. She sounded like she had a stick up her ass. She was hoping that Austin would think she was fun and flirty with her new makeup style, but her old habits were proving her wrong. "I'm sorry. I just really have a lot of work to do."
"I'm sorry, too. I thought that you might have time to show me what I need to do to fill my openings," Austin said looking apologetic.
"I'll put some time on my calendar this afternoon if that works for you," Jennifer said and saw Selena giving her a thumbs up behind Austin's back.
"That works. I appreciate it," Austin said gathering up his papers. "I guess I better get back out on the floor and make those sales so I can beat you, Selena."
"In your dreams, country boy!" Selena said with relish as Austin went out the door.