Check the message

I take the pink slip and read it. “A. Gippers at the front desk to see Miss Karley.”

Awww.... So Alex is taking me up on my invitation to come and have lunch with me. I look at the clock and see that he is nearly four hours early. He must really want that “dessert” I promised him.

“Someone you know?” asks Eric.

“It’s my boyfriend. He’s a little jealous about me working at a place like this, so I told him he could come over and have lunch with me. Since he’s this early, I’m guessing he just needs some reassurance that I haven’t started personally auditioning the new recruits.”

It may be my imagination, but when I say the word boyfriend, Eric seems to be disappointed. I must be imagining it; Eric is several years older than me, and although he had a thing for me back then, I’m sure he’s moved on. Anyway, if there is an issue, he gets over it pretty quickly, because he says, “Yeah... You won’t be doing any auditioning until 2:00 at the earliest.”

I laugh, grateful that Eric’s humor confirms that I was imagining his reaction. Oddly, Eric doesn’t join in laughing for a few awkward seconds. Hmm... Either he is jealous that I am seeing someone or he wasn’t joking about me auditioning wanna-be porn stars. Getting used to working here at the family business is going to be more difficult to navigate than I thought!

Returning my attention to the pink slip in my hand, I decide on a plan.

“You know, Alex probably just needs some reassurance that everything is going to be ok. We need a chance to talk things through a bit. Is there a place around here where he and I can talk privately?”

Eric considers my question and says, “Well, since your family owns this place, I guess anyplace you want to use is fine. We have several rooms that are not in use this morning. Of course, there’s also your mother’s private office; I don’t suppose she’d mind if you use that.”