Sherry would have the final word. She could tell him if his romantic daydreams were morally dubious and give him an excuse to delay or even chicken out entirely.
“I need to know what the process is for someone in the company who might want to start a relationship with someone else at the company,” Craig said.
Sherry leaned back in her chair, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Is this ‘someone’ in a position of power over the other ‘someone?’”
“Yes.”
She smiled. “Is that first someoneyou?”
There were no secrets in HR. Craig knew this, but still. He didn’t like it. “Could be.”
“You know you’re not supposed to officially start a relationship until–”
He cut her off. “I was onlythinkingof asking her – I mean, someone – out. I don’t even know if she’ll say yes.”
Sherry leaned in, her eyes bright. “Who’s the lucky lady?”
Craig crossed his arms. “Is there a form I need to fill out?”
“Come on. Tell me who it is!”
Craig shook his head. “Can’t.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You know, I’m under no obligation to keep this conversation private. I can send an email to the entire female staff and ask who thinks they caught your eye. Might be an interesting experiment to see who responds.”
“Sherry.” He put his hands on her desk. “Can youpleasejust tell me what I have to do?”
She waved a hand. “There’s a form that both parties fill out saying you won’t sue the company if you break up.” She shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”
He stood. “Thank you.”
“Maybe I should start a betting pool with the rest of the office ladies about who you’re going to ask out.”
“Maybe I should be a scarier boss so youdon’tdo that?” Craig said.
Sherry laughed. “Too late for that. Have a good day!” She paused. “Hope it’s a romantic one!”
He shook his head and walked out the door. What a nightmare it was to be nice.
Despite the awkwardness, his spirits were high as he walked back to his office. Sherry had given him much better news than he expected. It actually seemed too easy to date people at the company. How many people were in relationships? How many had broken up? Was there a separate form for that?
Maybe when he was less annoyed with Sherry, he would go back and ask her.
He got back to his desk and saw he had a new email from Phoenix. He said he was ready to meet with the board and make an offer, but he also asked to meet Rose to see if she was “as amazing as foretold.”
Hm. That could be touchy, too. Phoenix may not take his glowing recommendation as seriously when he found out they were dating.
Ifthey ended up dating.There was no way to know what she’d say until he asked her.
If he asked her.
No, he was going to ask her. He was.
He had a plan. He would invite her to a pizza-making class, and at the end, tell her how he felt. Lay it all on the table. He’d considered adding pepperoni in the shape of a heart to his pizza, but decided it was too cheesy.
There didn’t need to be theatrics. All that needed to happen was for him to tell her how wonderful she was, beautiful— not that that was the most important—funny, brilliant…
The truth was, when he looked back over the last few years, the best hours of his life were spent sitting and talking with her.
