Both Cynthia and Todd were out of the office the next morning. Cynthia called at eight on the dot to confirm that Jennifer wasn't. She let her assistant know that she planned on being there that afternoon to help Selena write up Blanche's granddaughter, Ellie. Jennifer wrote down the information to give to Selena. She knew that this was her chance to cross all her Ts along with dotting her Is to show Cynthia that she was ready. She missed the morning meeting, while on the phone with Cynthia, but wasn't surprised to see Selena show up at her door afterward.
"There you are," Jennifer said standing up, relieved to see her friend. Her relief instantly faded when she saw Selina's face. Her friend looked tired and not just sick. She looked almost devastated.
"What's wrong? Is it the boys?"
"No, it's not my boys," Selena said coming in and closing the door. She was stiff as I hugged her and led her over to the chairs. She sat down and I sat in the chair right next to her. "I wasn't sick yesterday; I just couldn't bring myself to come in."
"Oh, no. What happened?" Jennifer said her mind racing to Selena's violent ex-husband.
"I made out with Todd," Selena said with absolutely no emotion.
"Oh, my God," Jennifer said unsure of what to say. She knew she shouldn't have left her friend there. She knew she shouldn't have gone home with Austin and not worried about her best friend for an entire day. "Is that why you didn't come in yesterday? You didn't want to see him? It's not your fault. He is the boss. He's the one who should have put a stop to things."
"It wasn't like that," Selena said looking down at her hands. "If I wanted to sleep with Todd, I would have just done it. I'm not ashamed of who I am or what I want or my body. But it wasn't like that."
"Then what was it like," Jennifer said the pit in her stomach so large that she thought she might throw up. She could feel the back of her throat tightening at the thought of what had happened to her friend. She wanted Selena to tell her that nothing had happened and that everything was okay and that she really was just sick, but she knew that's not where this was going. She put a hand on her friend's knee and let her take her time.
"I was thanking him for the ride home. He kissed me and I told him to stop. He said I should sleep with him, or he could turn me into loss prevention," Selena explained, and I gasped. "He said that the samples that I have been getting from vendors for years were deemed unlawful transactions by the federal government and that I could be charged with a felony."
"He did not," Jennifer said having no idea if it was true.
"Yeah, so I told him that that was not okay because I have two sons and that as far as I had known, my director said that it was fine," Selena said as her voice started to shake. She sounded so much younger than her years and part of Jennifer wanted to pull her friend into her arms and hold her like her mother would do for her when she was upset. "He said it didn't have to be that way. That we could just have fun and that was all he wanted."
"So, did you?" Jennifer couldn't bring herself to say it. Fun was such a fucking slap in the face. What Selena had been through had obviously not been fun. She swallowed and looked her friend right in the eye. "So, did you have sex with him?"
"No," Selena said shivering a little bit. "I pushed him away and he said I would regret it. He said he would also tell everyone what a slut I was."
"What a fucking asshole!" Jennifer was surprised that she wasn't more relieved that Selena hadn't had sex with him.
"He called me a bitch as I climbed out of the car," Selena said tears springing to her eyes. "I thought he was my friend, not just my boss. But to him, I was just something he could use for a good time."
"That bastard," Jennifer said, fighting the urge to stand up and stomp through the store telling everyone what he had done. Drive to his house, kick in the door, and scream in his face. She knew that was what her friend needed right now. She knew that her friend needed her to listen. "Selena, I'm so sorry. I never should've left you there."
"No, it's nothing you did wrong," Selena said holding her gaze and letting the tears roll down her cheeks.
"It's nothing you did wrong either," Jennifer said squeezing her hand.
"I know," Selena said looking down. "But my boys. I just can't let them know. I can't let anyone know. I need this job more than anything."
"You're not going to lose your job," Jennifer said firmly. "Todd is. We have to go to Cynthia."
"No, we can't go to Cynthia," Selena said snatching her hands back. "She'll never believe me. She thinks I'm a party girl. She didn't believe me when I told her about my ex-husband. She won't believe me about Todd either. No one can ever know."
"That's why you hate her so much?" Jennifer asked, it clicking in her brain. "She didn't believe you about your ex?"
"No, I went to her and told her that I was trying to get away from him and she still wouldn't give me the promotion I needed to move away," Selena said the tears spilling out of our eyes again. "And I'm not going through that humiliation again."
"It's not humiliating," Jennifer said even though she would never know exactly how Selena felt. "We have to stop him. We can't let him do this to you. You are too amazing to let something like this stop you."
"It's not stopping me," Selena said shaking her head. "I'm still going to work here. I'm still going to get promoted. I'm still going to kick ass. I'm not letting him take that from me. I'm just going to stay the fuck away from him."
"You know Todd's not like that. He's not going to give up. If he thinks there's any chance, he can get that out of you, he's going to try again. Or turn you into loss prevention," Jennifer said feeling powerless but trying to be strong for her friend. "If you don't want to go to Cynthia, let's go to her boss, Valerie. People have to know that he's doing this."
"People don't have to know what he did to me," Selena said looking like she was shutting down. "I don't have to do anything, Jenny. So please don't think you can make me."
"I'm so sorry, Selena," Jennifer said. She had already pushed too hard. In her zealousness to avenge her friend, she had forgotten that she needed to let her friend have time to process, time to deal with her pain, and eventually hopefully time to heal. A man that she respected, and thought was her friend, just treated her like a piece of trash he could just throw away. "I won't say anything. But I really think that you need to do something about this in the future."
"I'm here as your friend, Jenny," Selena said getting frustrated. "I'm not expecting you to be an HR manager. No one is going to believe me. I'm not doing this."
Selena stood up to go. I looked up at her.
"I am sorry," Jennifer said again hoping that it would sink in. "I am here if you need me for anything."
"I know that, honey," Selena said smiling at her weakly. "Just please don't tell anyone. Not even Austin."
Jennifer nodded her consent even though she knew it would be hard to keep from him.
"Cynthia wants you to write up Ellie with her today," Jennifer said knowing that her friend wouldn't want to deal with it. "But I can make up an excuse for you if you want."
"No, that's okay," Selena said. "I need to move on. I need to work. I will be back when Cynthia is here."
After her friend left, Jennifer tore around the office in frustration. She had never felt so helpless in her entire life. Determined to find a way to get Todd, she knew that this was why she wanted to be an HR manager. She wanted to stop this type of thing from happening. This time it happened to her friend but new but who knew how many times it had happened to other girls in this store or any store he had been to? She had always thought that he was just overly friendly and a flirt. Like he had said. But he was a predator. He had to be stopped. And she was going to figure out a way to do it.