Jennifer felt dazed and flushed as she got onto the escalator. She was relieved that no one seemed to be looking for her or making eye contact as she made her way through the store.
"There you are!" Blanche said, stepping in front of her as she reached the office. The buzz of Austin immediately wore off as Jennifer was instantly terrified that Cynthia needed her because she had heard something bad from Ralph.
"Yes?" she said, wanting to shake Blanche and tell her to get on with it. Jennifer could picture her little old lady bifocals flying off her head.
"Your new hire's here," Blanche said rolling her eyes and stopping behind her desk. "Cynthia didn't know where you were, and I didn't know what to do with him."
"He could always get started on his paperwork that's sitting right here in the managers' office," Jennifer said a little more spiritedly than she normally talked to Blanche. The admin looked up at her strangely but then back at her work, obviously not caring enough to say anything. Jennifer immediately felt guilty as she waved the new hire into the office and got started on the packet. Cynthia's door was still closed, and Jennifer had no idea what Ralph was in there telling her.
About half an hour later the door opened, and Ralph emerged looking somewhat satisfied with himself. Jennifer was done with the new hire and ready to get back into the office but didn't want to see Cynthia. She forced herself to march down there and get to work.
"Aren't you going to say something?" Cynthia asked sounding a little testy.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't want to interrupt your train of thought," Jennifer said never knowing how to make the Dragon Lady happy. "I finished the new hire I just want to get this paperwork done before orientation."
"Okay, I will take off and get out of here so you can get ready for orientation," Cynthia said looking like her normal self again. Whatever it was she had talked about with Ralph may have had nothing to do with Jennifer and Austin. A girl could only hope.
Cynthia left without much other conversation which Jennifer had to guess was a good thing. Cynthia wasn't the type to not address an issue as soon as she knew about it. She didn't have a problem facing conflict head-on.
Jennifer found a sea of shining new faces in the training room. For the first time in a long while, she didn't feel like she would be lying to them. Sucking them in and making them think that retail could be fun. And even letting them think that Peterson's might actually care about them. That still might not be true but in the last week and a half, Jennifer decided that maybe retail could be fun. The people certainly were. At least most of them. Jennifer finished orientation and headed home to her cats. She laid out her perfect date outfit, one that she already owned, and made sure to snuggle Zack and Kelly before going to bed. She was relieved that Zack had not coughed all evening.