Ali
I couldn’t askfor my first day at HR to go any better than it does.
Jen shows me how to contact the temp agency to find a replacement hire for the position I left this morning. I luck out, and by noon, they send over a girl named Maggie, who is more than qualified and seems quite happy to have a job.
“Oh, yeah this is way better than the coffee shop I was working at,” she tells me, a big smile on her face when she arrives. “My old boss there was nuts and used to tell us all stories about how he and his wife used to swing. It was disgusting!”
“Swing!?” I repeat.
“Yeah, you do know what swinging is, right?” she asks.
“I sure do,” Brian, one of Zander’s gravel guys chuckles, swiping his employee ID card before heading upstairs. We both give him semi-awkward looks as he grins and wait until he’s gone before continuing the conversation.
“Yeah,” Maggie whispers. “You know, like an open relationship? They’d bring people to bed with them all the time. It turned them both on to see their partner having sex with someone else.”
“You’re kidding!” I gasp.
Maggie shakes her head, laughing. “Can you imagine?”
“I…how would that even work?”
“Well, the husband would pick a guy he’d want to see with his wife, and—”
“Shut up!” I am in disbelief.
Maggie nods. “And the wife would pick a girl she’d like to see with her husband, and then they’d all get it on together.”
I feel like all the air has been taken out of my lungs and take a seat on the desk as Maggie looks at me, laughing.
“How could two people who love each other…do something like that?” I say, sort of to Maggie but really to myself.
Zander and I haven’t had “the talk” about being an exclusive couple or anything, but I think it’s pretty safe to say he and I are together at this point, and just the thought of him even flirting with another girl in front of me is already sending tinges of anger and jealousy through me, just like I’m sure it would him.
I hope…
“Right?” Maggie giggles. “Some people are just built different, I guess.”
“I guess so…”
“Hey, would you like a coffee?” Maggie asks. “I’m going to go grab one from the breakroom upstairs.”
“That’s all right.” I smile. “I’ll grab one. I have to go upstairs anyway.”
“You sure?” she asks.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it. I’ll be back down in a few minutes.”
Swinging. Wow…
That could never happen with Zander and me.
Never.
I know it’s very early on in our relationship, and different strokes for different folks and all that, but there’s just no way I would ever be able to share him with another woman. And after Zander put me downstairs just to keep me away from the eyes of his men, there’s definitely no way he’d ever be able to share me with another man.
I make my way upstairs to the breakroom, still kind of stunned by the whole conversation I just had with Maggie, and grab two cups from the cabinet and begin pouring coffee into the first one.
“Quite the conversation you two were having down there.” Brian’s voice behind me causes me to jump and nearly spill all over myself. I close my eyes and take a breath before turning.