Back in February 2022 I submitted an entry for the 750 word project. Many readers asked me to expand it beyond that short entry. Reading the original is not necessary for this story, but for the curious you can find it here:
https://literotica.com/s/valentines-day-cupcakes
The characters in this story are flawed, just like you and me. Sometimes they make bad decisions as they struggle to live their lives. Sometimes they make life changing decisions, not always positive. All characters and situations are complete fiction, a product of my fertile imagination. Any similarity to actual people and situations is purely a coincidence. All constructive criticism is welcome.
*****
It was a blustery morning in March. My desk phone rang. The caller ID said it was Joe, my boss.
"Eric, can you come down here. We have a new employee for your group that you need to meet and get onboarded."
"Sure. Be right down."
As I headed for the stairs, a bunch of thoughts ran through my head.
It would have been really nice to be included in the hiring process. Do we really need another person? Well I guess that we do. There's a lot of work to be done. Why does everything need to be so secretive?
I work in the quality control section of our manufacturing company. There are seven of us, well now eight. We cover all quality aspects of our operation - from incoming part inspection to assembly line audits. I work in the field failure investigation area. Essentially, when shit starts breaking after it leaves our factory, I'm the guy who has to figure out why. Now that I thought about it, it did make sense to bring in a new person. I just wish Joe had allowed me some input.
When I got to Joe's office, a petite redhead stood to meet me. She was professionally dressed and very pretty. I was at least a head taller than she was.
Joe remained seated, "Eric, this Erin Reynolds." I shook her hand as Joe continued, "She'll be working with you in field failures. I have a rough plan that it will take you about three months to bring her up to speed. She'll have two evaluations before we formalize her hire, one at three months and one at six. Any questions?"
I was pissed, but I didn't want to let it show, "How long have we known we were bringing Erin onboard?"
"I just found out this morning. Arlene in H.R. recruited her from the university's graduate school."
"Oh." I turned to Erin, "Well, welcome to the team. Let's get you settled in."
We returned to my work area in silence. I wouldn't call it an office. It is more like a lab. I didn't know what to say, but I remembered that a closed mouth gathers no feet.
As we walked in she said, "Sounds like I've been dumped on you, that you don't need me."
I motioned Erin to a chair, "It's okay. You are certainly needed. It's just a little weird having a new co-worker thrust on you. So tell me about yourself."
She thought for a moment, "Well, I'm 31 years old. Been married about a year. Just graduated with a master's in applied statistical analysis. My bachelor's is in mechanical engineering. Spent four years working for one of our competitors. We moved here for my husband's job. Simon is some kind of big wig in his company."
So Erin was ten years younger than I was. I later found out that she had held a pretty important position at one of our competitors. I also found out that her husband was a high powered financial guru, a CFO in fact.
I didn't have much to say, "Well, it sounds like Arlene made a good decision to recruit you. How much do you know about our company?"
She had really done her research. She knew we'd been in business for ten years and we had experienced double digit growth for the past six. She had a very thorough knowledge of our product line. Our benefits were excellent, we received stock options regularly, and our company's stock price was going through the roof. We all hoped to be a lot wealthier in a few years.
For the rest of the morning we rearranged the lab so that Erin had a place to work. I ordered her a desk and a laptop, set her up with our IT people, and began showing her our operation. She caught on very quickly.
When we broke for lunch, I took her to our dining facility. Lunch is free for all employees, we just need to scan our badge. Up until this time, I had always eaten with a couple of the old-timers. For some reason, I didn't feel like subjecting Erin to their crude 'locker room' banter so we grabbed a table across the room from them.
As we began to eat I was struck for the first time by her beautiful green eyes. They were mesmerizing. I found myself holding eye contact with her much longer than I normally would. I also noticed the lovely freckles that adorned her cheeks.
Now that we were out of the professional space of the lab, Erin's vibrant personality took over. She shared with me her joy of hiking and biking in the outdoors, of traveling, of learning new things. It was one of the most enjoyable lunch hours I had spent in a very long time. I was going to like having her around.
That evening I told my wife, Helen, about my new co-worker. I didn't tell her how pretty Erin was or about our 'eye flirting' as I came to think of it.
Helen was less than receptive to the idea of me having a female colleague, "Why did they have to hire a woman?"
I was shocked, "Are you kidding me? Aren't you the woman that sits here and rails against the misogynistic climate in the corporate world? Aren't you always arguing that women need to be given equal opportunity and equal pay?"
"But this is different!"
"How is it different?"
"Because she working with you!"
"So I can only work with men? You're the one being a misogynist. In fact, you're being ridiculous."
*****
Of course Helen knew I would be attracted to a woman like Erin, but I would never act on that attraction. It helped that Erin always dressed modestly. She never wore tight jeans or a shirt that would allow me to fantasize about her body. She was a brilliant, beautiful woman with a cheerful personality. It was nice having her around.
Over the course of the next month I was able to introduce Erin to nearly all aspects of our responsibilities. I found out that she was an expert in using analytical software. She could quickly identify trends before they became a major issue. For example, she identified a possible electrical issue with one of our products based on an increase in the number of replacement inline fuses we were shipping to our customers. The two of us dug into it and with the help of one of our repair technicians quickly found the source. Suddenly, rather being reactive we had become proactive. We initiated an engineering modification to be installed on every repair, thus saving the company a potential $3 million over the course of the next two years. I made sure Joe knew that Erin was responsible for it. He moved up her evaluation date and soon she was a permanent hire.
It was funny to watch the increase in the number of fellow employees who suddenly had business with us. Repair technicians would bring the smallest issue, not to my attention, but to Erin's. Design engineers would stop by and run an idea by her. She thought all the attention was quite funny. In general, all the guys were very nice. She was also popular with our lesbians. On one occasion, one of the senior engineers started coming on too strong. She asked for my help and gave me a look. I took over and ran interference for her.
We got into the habit of eating lunch together every day. During the course of those lunch hours we slowly became good friends. I learned about her past and that she hoped to start a family soon. She shared pictures of the new house that they had purchased. It was a cute 'arts and crafts' house with huge potential for a family. She also got my opinion on some of the ideas she had for remodeling the kitchen.
*****
I wanted to invite Erin and Simon to our house for dinner, but Helen held me off. Finally, after Erin had been working there for about three months, my wife agreed. It was late June and the weather was perfect.
We cooked some steaks on the grill and had a nice dinner on our patio. I noticed that Erin didn't have any alcohol. I knew she preferred IPAs, but she didn't take one when I offered it. Simon on the other hand was not bashful. At a conservative estimate, he drank an entire bottle of merlot himself. Helen matched him glass for glass. By the end of the evening Erin and I were still sober and our spouses were smashed.
When they finally left for the evening, Helen said, "I hope she's feeling better soon. It typically doesn't last more than a month or two."
"What?"
"Silly man! Erin is pregnant. Didn't you notice how often she went to the restroom? She's got morning sickness, or in her case - all day sickness. She barely touched her dinner and she only had water.
"Wow! I would have never guessed."
*****
I never let on that I knew Erin's secret, but I did notice how frequently she excused herself at work. After a couple of weeks I noticed that her appetite had returned and she no longer sprinted for the ladies' room.
About a month after our dinner Erin called in sick two days in a row. When she finally did show up, she was not her vivacious self. I knew something was wrong. She said that she hated her job. That the stress was too much.
