A Taboo Rendezvous

Ch 1: Yes, Mr. Bowen?

To say Nini was nervous was an understatement.

She had been running as fast as she could in her black pumps, eyeing her wrist watch every few seconds. Today could be either the start of a new life for her or a total bust. Only time could tell.

Last week, Nini had applied for a job at a major firm called Bowen's Boombox, which she only wishes she could remember what the company did. She had applied for so many jobs in the Salt Lake City region that she had forgotten which one did what.

She had recently moved from a small town in the middle of Utah that close to no one has ever heard of. She had been working as a florist in a quiet little town of less than 1,000 people. Though the people were kind and her manager tried their best to meet her financial expectations, it wasn't paying the bills.

And if she were being honest, the town was boring and had nothing to offer her. So she had called up her childhood friend Kourtney and asked if she could stay in her two bedroom apartment with her since she knew there was a vacancy.

Of course Kourtney had said yes. She had been bugging Nini for two years to move to Salt Lake so she can show her true colors and leave that rusty old town of theirs. Nini wasn't a fan of change, but for some reason she felt it was time for a new setting.

She had packed her things in less than a week and drove an hour and a half to her capital city to start her new life without a second thought. But that was the problem.

She occasionally had an issue with making decisions without thinking it through such as not checking for job offers before uprooting herself to a whole different county.

The second she had realized that mistake, she got on her laptop and began searching for jobs within the city. One of the perks of urban areas is that there are always jobs open, but she found that most of the jobs weren't well suited for her. That is until she found a job offer to be a secretary for some major corporation.

If she were being honest, she took one look at the hefty paycheck and the employee benefits and didn't think twice to apply. She'd never seen that many zeros at the end of a number in her life for any job in her hometown.

Knowing that she wasn't the only one who had definitely been thinking the same thing as her, she had to make sure she made a great first impression.

She did a vague scan over the company as she ran to the ginormous transparent front doors to the building. She quickly walked up to the front desk. The ginger woman gave her a large and friendly grin.

"Hi, welcome to Bowen's Boombox. I'm Ashlyn; how may I help you?"

"I'm Nina Salazar-Roberts. I'm here for my interview with Mr. Bowen at 9:30. Can you direct me to his office please?"

The ginger woman scrunches her brows as she types something on her computer. Nini did not like the anxious feeling she got from this woman's unsure expression.

"You said 9:30?"

Nini nodded. "Yes, I'm sure of it."

"I'm sorry, but my computer says he's only scheduled for a 9:15 interview."

Nini felt her heart drop. No, this can't be happening right now. "Are you sure? Surely there's some mistake! I called the other day and checked like a dozen times asking if my time was right!"

Ashlyn gave her a sympathetic look. "I don't know what to say. You can check the computer screen if you'd like." The ginger woman turns her monitor to her to prove she isn't lying, making Nini want to rip her hair out.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

Ashlyn awkwardly bites the inside of her cheek at her swearing. "You know, I think if you head up there now, you might still have a shot."