Catering Girl Ch. 02

"And what'd you do if they did?" As we pulled up to a red light, Whit looked my way. Dang, she looked good. It was all I could do to not grab her and plant my lips on hers.

"Would telling them 'my girlfriend wouldn't like it if I saw someone else' be an appropriate answer?"

"I like that answer."

"So, does that mean we're like, official? Sorry, I haven't done this dating thing since high school."

"We can be official if you like. Let's just say I'd be very disappointed if I saw you holding hands or kissing someone else."

"Same. My brain is adjusting to the idea of dating in general and, furthermore, dating a woman. A few days ago, the idea of kissing or dating a woman just never crossed my mind. Before I would observe an attractive woman, just like I would an attractive man and think, 'oh, nice.' This morning on the bus I saw a woman going to some office job and my heart did a flip. Later it was weird, but I noticed the models on the covers of some magazines left in the break room. Stuff I just never really saw before. Yeah, definitely going to take some adjusting, in a good way." I looked over at Whit and saw a smile on her face. She placed her hand on my thigh and gave it a squeeze.

"You know what's not weird, Whit?"

"What's that?"

"That I'm with you. Being with you feels like the most normal thing in the world." This got me a double squeeze.

Whitney pulled into the parking lot and we both went in to get Madison. She was picking up some stuffies with Dijon when we walked in.

"Mommy! Miss Whitney!" She came running over to us, but I noticed she gave Whit a hug first. Her teacher came over with her backpack and coat.

"She was excellent again today. You must be her new friend Whitney. All she could talk about was mommy's new friend and that she has a kitty named Skipper."

"Yep, Skipper was cranky today, no one around to scratch her ears."

"Okay, pumpkin, time to say goodbye to Miss Emily and your friends."

She waved, and we headed to Whitney's for dinner and the evening. Madi smiled, a hand being held by each of her favorite adults.

The next day was a hectic morning on the phone. It was later than I wanted, but I pulled out my lunch and had a couple bites of my Peanut Butter and Jelly. I was about to text Whit when Ginny joined me.

"Hey Jennifer, how is it going?"

"Good, phones were going off the hook earlier like crazy."

"Yeah, there was some mixup in dispatch. The wrong tugs in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some people will not be happy." She shook her head. She had that look of an HR and Office Manager that knew someone's job might be in jeopardy. "So, I saw you got a ride home last night."

"Yeah, my friend surprised me last night. Helped me pick up Madison and then we went to her place for dinner."

"That's cool. I don't mean to pry, but that Jeep looked familiar."

"Well, my girlfriend Whitney had mentioned that she'd done the corporate taxes here for a few years, so I figured that is how she knew where this was."

"Whitney, as in Whitney Mitchell?"

"Yeah?" Why was I suddenly nervous? I had to wipe my hands with a napkin to get the sudden clamminess off of them.

"Jennifer, do you know why this company is called Whitney Maritime?"

"I think I saw it was named after the founder Silas Whitney in the late 1800s." I was proud of myself. I had seen it on their website when I was applying for the position.

"Correct. He founded the company, followed by his son, then later his grandson Nathan. Nathan had three children, Silas is the President of ESR Holdings, which owns us, the shipyard and the fueling company. Plus, a bunch of real estate and other things. His younger brother Ruben is the CFO. His older sister, Edith, is chairperson of the board. She is married to Ben Mitchell, a local prominent accountant, and the managing partner of the firm Mitchell & Lombardi."

I set my sandwich down and just stared at her. My mouth hung open as I realized who my girlfriend was.

She continued, "And they have a single child, a daughter, Whitney."

"So, you're telling me my new girlfriend is the daughter of my boss's boss?"

"Something like that. Maybe a couple more layers in there but yes. You really didn't know? Yikes, sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, I'm glad you did. Sucks that I have to find out this way. In fact, it kinda makes me mad."

"I didn't mean to cause problems, Jennifer. Sorry, I thought you knew."

"Well, we've only known each other a couple of weeks now. At least I know I got the job on my own merit, as I hadn't met her yet when you offered me the job."

Why was I getting so agitated by this? Did she not trust me to know who she was? Didn't think the poor single mom could deal with the facts? I looked at my simple PB&J and decided I wasn't hungry anymore. I put my leftovers back in my lunch sack and pushed away from the table. Glancing at the clock, I saw I had twenty minutes left on my break.

"Ginny, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to take a little walk." Heading outside, I walked down the street and sat on a bench by the shipyard.

I didn't get it. Why was she withholding that? In fact, why did she lie about it? She should have told me the other day, but just said she did their taxes. Which was probably true? However, I've told Madison that not telling me something important was just like lying to me.

Not going to lie here, the afternoon was tough. I did my best to be professional. I don't think Fredina noticed anything, but Ginny stopped by a few times and checked on me. As the end of the day approached, I realized I didn't want to get a ride or go over to Whit's tonight. Not sure if she would be waiting out front, I slipped out the side door and cut through the shipyard parking lot and over to the bus stop. I was nearing the church when I got a text from Whitney.

I looked at my phone; she was in the parking lot waiting for me, wondering where I was. Not like she had said she would meet me. We had no formal plans. She had just assumed the poor girl needed help. Well, I didn't. After the fourth text, I figured I had better say something or she would keep pestering me.

Me: On the bus, almost to the preschool.

Whitney: Oh, I thought I was going to give you and Madi a ride home.

Me: That's ok, we can walk home. It's not raining tonight.

Whitney: Did you want to come over for dinner tonight?

Not really, I thought to myself. I pulled the cord to request the bus to stop at the next corner. Little Miss was disappointed that we were walking home tonight. My phone buzzed again with another text from Whitney. I ignored it.

Which of course was probably not the best decision I could have made. Madison and I rounded the corner and there in front of my apartment was a certain dark green Jeep.

We were walking up to our door when I heard the car door close.

"Are you mad at me or something? Are you going to talk to me?"

Unlocking the door, I got Madison inside and told her I'd be with her in a moment.

"You lied to me Whitney Mitchell." Grumpy mommy mode was fully engaged now. Whitney jumped at my tone.

"Lied to you? About what?"

"You knew who I was working for, and not by just doing their taxes, daughter of Edith Whitney Mitchell. Sometimes a lie can be what is unsaid when it should be said."

I saw her gulp and get rather red in the face.

"Jenn."

"Don't Jenn me right now, Whitney." I might have emphasized the last syllable of her name more than I probably should have. "Madison needs me right now." I turned and went inside and left her standing out there.

Whitney

I probably stood out there for two minutes, watching her door to see if she would come back out. It gets dark here early this time of year, and since today is the winter solstice, sunset was two hours ago. So, standing on a poorly lit sidewalk was not the best choice to make. I got back in my Jeep and after another minute of indecision, started it up and headed home.

Skipper was rather confused when I walked in by myself. She expected to see her new friend, just like I did. The thought of dinner was no longer appealing. There was the chicken I was going to prepare for dinner that night sitting in the fridge that I pushed to one side to get to the bottle of white wine.

Oh god, what the fuck have I done? Why didn't I just tell her earlier? What was I afraid of?

Sitting in my chair, I watched the flames flicker in the fireplace. Wine is more enjoyable with a fire, but it was not doing it for me tonight. I needed something stronger, but I don't like to partake of that alone. So, I did what I often did on nights like this, I called Molly.

"Hey girl, what's up? How is that new girlfriend of yours?"

"Not good. You able to come over? I think I need some of the hard stuff tonight."

"Uh oh, that bad?"

"I think I fucked up big time."

"Chocolate Peanut Butter Split fuck up or New York Super Fudge Chunk fuck up?"

"Brownie Batter Core level of fuck up." I could see Molly facepalming herself right now in my mind. It had started in college, but we had rated our levels of fucking things up beyond all recognition by flavors of Ben and Jerry's. The ones with the gooey core in the middle were reserved for the highest level of fuckupery.

Molly sighed, "Whit. What am I going to do with you? Okay, I'll be over soon. You're going to owe me big time. Dylan and I were going to discuss redecorating my bedroom."

"La la la, don't want to hear about that right now Molls. Just come over when you're done, okay? And don't think I want to hear the details when you get here either."

Now I could hear Dylan in the background. Part of me felt bad for invoking the code of Ben and Jerry's, but that marker had been placed and I needed it paid up tonight.

Two glasses of wine later, I heard my doorbell ring.

"They were out of Brownie Batter Core, so I got you the Peanut Butter Fudge one." My bestie flipped me a pint of creamy therapy. I had the spoons at the ready.

"Thanks Molls." We curled up on opposite ends of the sofa and opened our pints.

"Cookie Dough, oh so good." I watched her savor a bite of her fav. "So, what did you do?"

"More like what didn't I do. And how she found out. I sort of didn't tell her what mom does. And either she figured it out today or someone told her." In my shame I kept my eyes on my next bite.

"You didn't tell her she was taking a job at your family's company?"

"No." I set my spoon back in my pint and considered what I had inadvertently done.

"You didn't tell her she was working for your mother?" The exasperation in Molly's voice was evident.

"It's not like she's going to really ever interact with her at work. Mom's office is in another building and there are several layers of managers in between them."

"But it's still your mother's company and will be yours someday. And you're going to be working there next month."

"In the corporate office." I cringed at how stupid I was sounding.

"Yeah, miss boss lady. How is she going to feel when she finds out that her girlfriend is also her boss?"

"I won't be her boss."

"Are you sure she'll see it that way?"

"I don't know." Molly ate another bite of her ice cream. My tub of peanut butter fudgy goodness sat on the coffee table tempting me. "How can I have been so stupid, Molly?"

"Have you told her you were sorry?"

"Didn't get the chance." My lip curled and scrunched up my face.

"Uh, Whit, what is that on the table?"

"My phone," Duh!

"Yeah, use it. Just send her a text to start. Then call her. Just be careful about it, ok? Don't just try to woo her back like you attempted to do with Britney ok?"

Closing my eys, I exhaled as I recalled the actions of a young and stupid Whitney. I was smitten with this one girl. When we broke up, as most college relationships do, I tried everything to get her back. The fallout of that was legendary, culminating with a stern lecturing from my dad about the improper use of his credit card.

I looked back up at my bestie who just smiled at me.

"Don't worry Whit, I think you'll pull out of this. If you call her and apologize right away that is."

The twinkle in her eye was a lifeline I grabbed and clung to. It was all I had at the moment.

"I need to get going anyhow. Hopefully Dylan has recovered enough for round two."

"La La La, I'm ignoring you Molls." I laughed and covered my face with my hands, glad for some joviality to lift my spirits.

"He's so big... and, um... big." Now she was saying it to make me uncomfortable. She knew how to press my buttons.

"Yuck, don't even make me think about penises on a night like this. Get out of here before you can say anything more. Don't you know that boys have cooties?"

"Just call her, okay? At least try?" With that she walked out the door. I slouched back on the sofa and finished my ice cream. I'm going to need to go on a long run tomorrow to work this off. My phone sat on the table, taunting me.

The spoon made a clattering sound as it landed in the sink. Picking up my phone, my hands were shaking a bit as I typed.

Me: I'm sorry, I should have told you

No reply. I saw the little notice saying the message had been seen.

Me: Can I call you?

Jenn: Not right now

Me: K 🙁

Me: I feel bad cause I was stupid and made you feel bad.

No reply. The phone stayed in my lap, hoping that I would get a reply, but nothing came. I turned on Netflix and found some animal documentary, and had half dozed off when I heard the phone ding.

Jenn: Sorry. Madison isn't feeling well. Was helping her get to sleep.

Me: Oh no! Give my friend hugs.

Jenn: K

Me: We need to talk. Bunch of things I probably should have told you about.

Jenn: K

Ugh, the problem with electronic written communication, I have no clue if that was a pissed off okay, or just a normal nothing is really wrong okay.

Me: Would dinner tomorrow night work? My place?

Jenn: Fine

Me: Do you want me to pick you up?

Jenn: No

Me: K

Me: Again, I'm sorry

Again, I sat there staring at my phone, hoping something magical would happen, but stuff like that only happens in free online erotic stories. As I thought, my phone didn't make another peep that night, other than one late evening text from Molly checking in on me. Sleep didn't come easily, but it came eventually.

The oven timer went off to remind me to check the lasagna I had made for dinner. It was almost done, the cheese was just about the perfect amount of gooey and crispy on top. Looking around, I checked for the umpteenth time that everything else was ready. And none too soon, Jenn would probably be here any minute. I had fretted all day about what I was going to say, how things might go. I hoped, of course, to make things right. But there was that nagging concern that this would be the last time I saw her.

The doorbell rang, and I ran down to open the door.

"Hi Miss Whitney!" The munchkin ran through the door and gave me a big hug. Jenn was a bit more reserved. I got a hug at least. She looked good in a black knee-length skirt, tights and ankle boots.

"Hey," we headed upstairs. "Dinner's just about ready, but if you want to talk first, we can. Maybe we can let Madi watch..."

She cut me off. "I'm not that mad at you, Whit. More disappointed than anything." To prove her point, she gave me a small peck on the cheek. A small sigh of relief escaped my lips. Maybe I wouldn't lose her three days before Christmas. I didn't think I could take another holiday breakup.

A few minutes later, we were sitting at the table where I was regaled by a four-year-old with all the fun things she had done in preschool that day. By the end, Jenn was smiling and laughing at her daughter's antics. After dinner we got Madison distracted with a cooking show and some loving on Skipper while Jenn and I headed back to the kitchen.

"More water?" I had noticed she had passed on the wine tonight.

"Please." I filled her glass.

"So, Jenn, I feel terrible. I'm sorry, I should've told you."

"Why didn't you?" Her eyes narrowed a bit as she took a sip of water.

"Well," I scratched my eyebrow as I gathered my wits about me. "I know that you've been... uncomfortable... with that I have more than you. Helping you out and stuff. I was afraid that if you knew my mom owned the company you were going to work for, you'd get scared off." Wine swirled around in my glass as I waited for her to react.

"Whitney, knowing you have more than me doesn't scare me off. In case you are wondering, it doesn't attract me either, in case you think of me as some gold digger or something. I'm attracted to who you are. You're a caring, smart, funny, wonderful person and you like my daughter."

She reached out and held my hand.

"It hurt to find out something like that from someone other than you."

I reached out and embraced her. "Sorry, you deserve better from me. I like you." The thought of saying the other word crossed my mind, but it was too early for that. Not that I couldn't imagine that word being spoken at some point.

"I like you too Whitney Mitchell. The last few years, I've spent many hours thinking about someday trying to date someone, what it'd be like with Madison around. I talked to a lot of other women in the shelter and elsewhere about what to look for and what not to look out for." There was a smile on her face now. "Frankly, the only thing that surprises me about being with you is that I'm not the only one with boobs."

We stood in each other's arms, absorbing what the other was starting to mean to each of us. I leaned in and kissed her. All my fears of her walking away subsided. I realized how much one day without her had hurt.

"Jennifer, there's more I should tell you." She leaned back with a skeptical look on her face.

"In the new year, we're going to be more than friends. I'm going to be working in the corporate office with my mother and uncles. So, I guess, in a manner of speaking, we're going to be coworkers as well."

Jenn paused thoughtfully, then smiled. "Thanks, I appreciate you telling me. For some reason, that's kinda cool, Whit."

Jenn took a quick glance into the living room and seeing that the coast was clear, pulled my head down to hers. As my lips parted, her tongue slipped into my mouth. It danced around in small light touches against mine. I ran my hand down her back and found her tight cute tushy.

I could feel my breasts rubbing against hers, and I desperately wanted to get us naked. I wanted to feel her breasts in my hands, to hold her tight and just be together. Running my fingers through her hair, her smell turned me on even more.

We made out like teenagers for quite a while until we heard a rustling sound out on the couch. Jenn pulled herself away and straightened her blouse and skirt a moment, then went to check on Madi.

"Whit!" she hissed.

Quietly, I entered the living room and there on the couch was a sacked out four-year-old. We both looked at her and then at each other and giggled.

"You know, Whit, she is probably out for at least an hour." A coquettish smile formed on her face. Those dimples flashed, and my motor kicked up a notch. My hand took hers, and I led her to my bedroom.

We sat down on the bed, and our bodies intertwined. My hand slipped under her blouse and I felt her skin for the first time. So soft, and I wanted to explore more. The lust in her eyes was blazing, but I saw her pause and look at the bedroom door.

"Don't worry, I locked it." With that reassurance, she turned back to me and lay her body down on me. Jenn kissed me, but I could sense her hesitation. She lifted her head and our eyes locked. I watched her eyes scan every inch of my face. My heart was racing at the thought of what we might do.