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“But I look so good in high lace collars and bustles,” Jinny deadpanned before her expression settled into a frown again. “Seriously though, am I rushing things? Maybe I need to spend some time alone, get over Stuart a little before I jump back into the dating pool?”
It was a valid point, but knowing Jinny, “spending time alone” was liable to turn into “taking Stuart back.” Rebounding as quickly as possible seemed like the safer course. She could always spend time alone after Jonathan had helped her get Stuart out of her system.
“Do you feel like you need to get over Stuart more?” Esther asked. “I mean, if you don’t want to go on the date, that’s one thing…but I thought you were excited about it.”
“I am.” Jinny twisted her lips to the side. “I was. I think I’m starting to have second thoughts.”
“About Jonathan specifically? Or about going out with someone who’s not Stuart?” Esther hadn’t cooked up the Jonathan plan to push Jinny into a relationship she didn’t want. If she genuinely didn’t want to go out with him, that was one thing. But if she was using her attachment to Stuart as an excuse not to move on, that was something else entirely. Something she needed help getting past.
Jinny thought about it. “The second one. I’m pretty sure.”
Esther nodded. “I think you should trust your first instinct, then. You don’t owe Stuart anything. If you want to go out with Jonathan, go out with Jonathan.”
Jinny broke into a smile. “You’re right. A cute guy asked me out. I should enjoy it. Screw Stuart. He shouldn’t have let all this go,” she said, gesturing at herself.
“Exactly. Screw Stuart.” Only not literally, Esther thought. Please, stop screwing Stuart.
“Hello,” Yemi said, coming back to his desk.
Jinny turned. “Hi!”
Yemi stared at her. “You, um…” He reached up and adjusted his glasses. “You look very nice. Very…beautiful.”
Jinny’s smile got even brighter. “Thank you.” She turned back to Esther. “That’s two yays for the dress. I guess I’m wearing it Friday night.”
“What’s Friday night?” Yemi asked, dropping into his chair.
“Jinny has a date,” Esther said.
He looked at Jinny, frowning. “I thought you and your boyfriend broke up?”
“Not with him,” Jinny said. “With someone new. One of Esther’s neighbors asked me out. A very cute neighbor.”
“Oh.” Yemi nodded and cleared his throat. “So…apparently the CEO is in the building.”
Jinny groaned. “Fantastic.”
Their company CEO was a woman named Angelica Sauer, and she was terrifying. She’d once stormed into a team leadership meeting, informed everyone they were incompetent, and had their catered lunches sent away because they “didn’t deserve to eat” until they’d presented something worth her time.
As luck would have it, the El Segundo campus was the closest production facility to corporate headquarters in Glendale, so the CEO and other assorted executives graced them with semi-frequent unscheduled appearances. Whenever Angelica Sauer was on site, it made all the managers and team leads nervous. And when they got nervous, they made everyone else nervous.
Yemi nodded again. “Anil saw her at the security desk thirty minutes ago.”
“Maybe she’s gotten nicer since she got married,” Jinny said. “Maybe she was only mean because she was sad.”
Angelica Sauer had become CEO after her first husband, who had founded the company, died of pancreatic cancer a few years ago. But she’d just recently remarried—to the company’s CFO. The Sauers apparently liked to keep the business in the family.
“I don’t know,” Esther said. “I think it might be her management style. That’s probably how you have to be to run a company. CEOs aren’t usually known for being warm and cuddly.”
“Well, I better change and get back to my desk,” Jinny said. “Got to look busy in case the big boss wanders by.”
“So you’re definitely still going out with Jonathan Friday?” Esther asked.
Jinny nodded. “Might as well, right?”
Good. Jinny wouldn’t get back together with Stuart as long as she had a date with Jonathan on the horizon. At the very least, it would buy a few days.
Hopefully more.
