Page 9 of Irresistible

“You were daydreaming about him, weren’t you? You were in the process of convincing yourself that he’s staying behind for you,” Jim accurately divined.

“You always figure me out, don’t you?”

“Look, I’m not trying to be a jerk here. You’re an absolute catch for anyone, including someone as distinguished as Richard Grant. But you really need to leave this alone. It’s not just your job that’s on the line here, although that really should be enough to convince you,” Jim said, taking on more of a fatherly tone than a friendly one.

“What do you mean? It’s not like I could get other people fired. If anything, he’d just fire me. Although, I agree that should probably be enough to convince anyone.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple. I’m your manager. Anything you do is a reflection on me. You know how infrequently I pull that card. I’m not trying to make any of this about me, and I’m certainly not trying to do something underhanded just to try to take him for myself. But if he thinks I can’t manage my branch, it looks really bad for me. He might not fire me immediately. But you know how these things can add up.”

Scarlet knew Jim was right. She had been thinking only of herself and her own fantasies. But she would hate for anything bad to happen to Jim because of any inappropriate feelings she had for Richard Grant. Not only would that make her a bad employee, she thought, but it would make her a bad friend.

“I hate to do this, but I need you to promise me that you’re not going to pursue this thing any further. With almost anyone else, I’d be encouraging you to do whatever you think is best. I would be in your corner, one hundred percent. But I just think that it would be best to let this one go. Promise me?” Jim implored.

“I promise,” Scarlet replied without hesitation.

The two said goodbye and hung up the phone. Scarlet knew that this had to be it. She couldn’t date her boss. She couldn’t even express further interest in her boss. There was no way she could do that to Jim. In a way, she owed her career to Jim. The two had been friends for years before Scarlet started working at Local Citizens Bank. Jim told Scarlet that she should apply since it was a solid job with a good organization. She was somewhat down on her luck at the time, so she took him up on his idea and she’d been pretty satisfied ever since. At least, she was as satisfied as someone could be with a nine-to-five job.

With that, she did everything she could to put the thought out of her mind and watch some television. It was back to her usual routine.