No need to worry

June 2003


"Please Juliette, have a seat," Don waved his hand at the chair across from him. I was trying to read his face, was he upset? Why was I here? Karen sat in the empty seat next to me. Now I was getting nervous, why did she need to be here, I didn't do anything. I silently cursed and told myself to shut up, nothing has happened.

"Juliette, you've been here a year now, correct? " Don said, he was neither smiling nor frowning.

"Yes, that's correct, on the 24th." I swolled.

"Well I like to pride myself on staffing the most loyal, honest and hardworking individuals in the company." He paused then and his lips began to curl upward until he flashed that trademark grin. This eased my stomach,  slightly.

"You're probably wondering what I'm talking about, I'll get to the point. I have been very impressed with your work performance this last year. You've managed to juggle work and school and still come out on top with your numbers. I haven't had a customer complaint yet, and this is why I've decided to offer you a position, as assistant manager. This office has been doing very well lately and I was just informed by corporate that I can hire another 2 staff members. With the office growing, there is a need for additional responsibilities."

"Wow thank you, I'm flattered you would think of me for the position." I really was, considering Patrick and Shelly started around the same time last year.

"I can read people well Juliette and I have confidence in you to handle the workload. More importantly I trust you, some of your responsibilities will be submitting a payroll report and training new staff. I would also like for you to take over the employee schedule.  Of course I know this means less time for other tasks, I would like for Shelly to take over the beginning of day reports and Patrick to work on incoming email and voice mail. Depending on the experience the new hires will have, we can always change that." He paused again then asked if I had any questions or concerns.

"I would be working with the schedule, would everyone go through me for time off or would that still go through Karen?"

"You'll have access to everyone's file, you'll be the one who knows how many sick days or vacation days they have. Unless someone has an issue of having no paid time off, then yes, you would handle it."

"You can always come to me too if you have any concerns about it." Karen piped in, speaking for the first time in 15 minutes.

"Ok, I'm sure I may have some questions as I get settled. For now though, I don't." I said with a large grin.

After going over my new salary Don informed me I would be training with him. He would show me the payroll systems and scheduling. I inwardly squealed, definitely wouldn't mind spending some time with him. Hopefully I controlled myself and didn't stare like a school girl the entire time. I must of been beaming because he paused and gave me broad smile before continuing.  He let me know they also wanted me to sit in during the interviewing process. I wouldn't be hiring, however he wanted me to be involved and give my feedback.

"We start interviews next week, I'll put it on your calender."  He leaned back in his chair and asked Karen if there was anything else. Shaking her head she smiled and got up to leave, leaving just Don and I.

"Juliette there's also something I would like to talk to you about." Don leaned forward frowning.  Ok..I can't be in trouble they just promoted me. I felt like a bobblehead as I nodded for him to continue.

"It's come to my attention that there may be some unethical actions going on in my office. I'm not blind and I feel offended that someone thinks low enough of me to think I wouldn't notice. Is there anything you would like to inform me?"  Geez, way to make me feel guilty.  What do I say, Shelly is my friend. I know if I had really found out what's going on, I would have inevitably gone to Don. I guess I was hoping to prolong this. I swolled before telling him what I suspected.  It all came out like word vomit.  I tried to throw in the fact that I don't have any evidence, just speculation. After the client the other week I couldn't help but wonder what's going on.

"Patrick came to me also with a similar situation. He said no matter what he tried he couldn't get the 'free policy' the client was told about."  He exhaled loudly and dragged his palm across his forhead. Even angry Don was sexy. His scrunched up brows and sad expression made me want to hug him and tell him it would be ok. Wait..snap out of it Juliette! I lowered my head in defeat.

"Ok, well I've got what I need,  thank you for letting me know about the client. However in the future, I know she's your friend but even if it's just a suspicion, please don't hesitate to come to me." He raised his brows to emphasize his seriousness. I agreed and thanked him again for the promotion before heading back to my desk.

Passing by Shelly I saw her busy typing away on her phone. Pausing at her desk I considered saying something, my mouth opened with no words following.  Instead I smiled and hurried to my desk.  I was surprised at how relieved I felt. Relief that I wasn't holding anything back from my boss and relief that I wasn't the only one who was on to Shelly's selling practice.  Relief was quickly replaced with guilt when I realized I just threw my friend under a bus. Instead of dwelling on the matter I buried myself in work. As soon as the clock struck five I ran out before anyone could mutter anything other then 'bye'.


Opening my apartment door I scanned the place before seeing a message by the front door. Alicia and Dean went to a work happy hour and she was staying at his place. I stuck my bottom lip out and pouted, I wanted someone to talk to. Pulling my phone out I decided to call Jacob, he always brightened my mood and we actually haven't gotten much of a chance to be alone together. As the phone rang I repeated, "don't be busy, don't be busy, don't..."

"Hey Jujie!" Butterflies instantly danced in my stomach just hearing his voice.

"Wanna come over?" Straight to the point, for some reason I felt out of breath.

"Yeah, I was playing basketball, I'll run home to shower and change. Maybe be there by 7:30?"  I told him I'd make dinner before hanging up to get ready.

Looking through the almost bare cabinets I spotted some pasta and sauce. I frowned, it was better then nothing but kind of hard to show off your culinary skills with spaghetti.  Peeking in the fridge I saw bacon, eggs and heavy whipping cream. I got excited when I saw we still had parmesan cheese, I switched my plan to Penne a la Carbonara. It's one of my favorites, it's like a hyped up homemade mac n cheese, with bacon! I got to work on dinner and ran to change while the pasta boiled.  By the time the dish was just about done I heard a knock at the door. Checking myself in the mirror I fixed my hair a little before opening it.

Jacob stood in my doorway holding a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine. Blushing I thanked him and grabbed the flowers. Inhaling their smell I noticed they were white roses.

"They're beautiful, thanks Jacob."

"You said you always wanted a pure white bouquet of roses when you got married someday, so I figured I'd be safe with white roses." He gave a shy smile before bringing the wine to the kitchen.  I stood for a moment before following,  I do remember mentioning that about my wedding bouquet,  but the last time had to have been years ago, it was something I said as a kid. I also wanted to wear flip flops and have white lights strung Everywhere! I giggled remembering how detailed I was as a kid.

"Mmm it smells heavenly Jujie," Jacob said handing me a glass of wine.

"Well you better be hungry because I made enough for an army."

"Hahaha, sounds like your mom, she always cooked way too much food."

"She had five siblings can you blame her?"

"Wow,  five kids. Most of been a lot on her mom."

"Probably...wait, what's that look for?" I scrunched my face as he started laughing.

"Nothing it's just, I remember when Amanda and I came to stay with you guys, we were like 7 or 8. You told us to watch, then you screamed at the top of your lungs, 'daddy'!" He mimicked my apparent expression and whisper yelled the 'daddy' part.

"Your dad came running, you pouted to him that you couldn't find your shoe. He then hurried around looking for it. Once he found it and left you laughed and said, 'see I got him wrapped around my pinky.' "  Jacob continued to laugh. I was wasn't laughing with him, instead I was embarrassed,  I was always a daddy's girl and I know I abused it at times, but that just made me sound horrible.  Jacob saw my face and stopped smiling.

"Hey, I'm sorry Jujie, I thought it was funny, you mentioned your mom's five siblings then I remembered you as a kid." He grabbed my glass and set it on the counter before he put his arms around me.

"You're one of the nicest human beings I know," he softly kissed my forehead. "A bit of a daddy's princess but.." With that statement I pulled back and swatted his shoulder.  He tightened his grip around my waist and pulled me back. It didn't take long before we were heavily kissing. He slid both hands down and squeezed my butt. I moaned into his mouth as he lifted my thighs up and sat me on the counter. Reaching for his shirt I ripped it off and began kissing his neck. He was in the middle of unbuttoning my blouse when the buzzer went off.

"Breads done," I panted. He reluctantly released me. After turning off the oven and taking out the bread I asked if he'd rather have dessert now or later. His eyes darkened before he wrapped his hands around my thighs again and lifted me up. Somehow I removed my top and bra on the way to my room while he carried me. Dinner was quickly forgotten as we played around in the sheets. It didn't take me long to climax, we've had enough foreplay leading up to this in the past two months. It hit me suddenly and made my toes curl. It's safe to say this was my first one during sex, the first time we slept together was my first time and even though I enjoyed it, 'it' didn't happen. I wasn't surprised, a little nervous though, I remember a family friend who was in her thirties, married, two kids, she told me once that she'd never had one, ever! I remember, besides being weirded out she told me, hoping that would never be me. Luckily tonight my worrying was over.

"Food," Jacob muttered against my neck making me squirm. We got dressed before heading back to the kitchen. I began filling two bowls to reheat when I heard my phone buzz.

Shelly- we need to talk!

Crap...