Page 97 of September

Juliet turned from where she’d just sat down to see her HR rep, Stacey, standing there.

“Hi, Juliet,” she said, trying not to look awkward and failing.

“Hey,” she replied when Stacey sat down next to her in the other guest chair.

“So, we need to talk about something we heard from a participant in your class this week.”

“Something you heard? Okay,” she said, still confused.

“You were staying in a room by the conference room.”

“Yes,” she confirmed.

“And did you know that a participant was in the room next to yours?” her boss asked.

“I did, yes,” she replied. “Well, not at first, but yeah.”

“Look, Juliet, this is awkward for all of us,” her boss began. “But that participant heard some things coming from your room, and in light of what happened with Jordana and Andrew, too, we have to be really careful.”

“What–” she started. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Did one of the participants offer to take you out to dinner last night?” Stacey asked her.

“A few of them did. Why? It happens all the time. I always turn them down.”

“But they offered?”

“Yes. What is this about?” she asked, getting nervous now.

“One of the participants said he thought another participant and you were gettingclose, and we have to talk about that, okay?”

“What are you talking about?” she asked. “Participants ask trainers to dinner all the time. It’s a group thing, but I still always say no. Yes, one of the male participants was a little more insistent, but I told him no and went back to my room. I packed and checked out right after that.”

Stacey nodded before asking her, “What about the night before?”

“What about–” Then, it hit Juliet. “The night before… the sounds…” Her cheeks flushed instantly. “The other participant heard… things and thought I was with–”

“Yes,” her boss confirmed.

Juliet shook her head and said, “First of all, I’m gay, so there’s that. But second of all, no, I didn’t sleep with a participant in one of my classes. My girlfriend came to visit and stayed the night.” She cleared her throat. “Not that I should have to explain this to you or anyone else, but I was with her, not some participant, okay?”

“Oh, thank God!” her boss replied and let out a deep sigh of relief.

“I’m sorry, Juliet. We had a complaint, so we needed to see if there would have to be an investigation, especially because of Jordana,” Stacey explained.

“I’m not Jordana.”

‘In more ways than one,’she thought to herself.

“I’m sorry,” her boss added. “I wanted to talk to you because I know you know the rules, and that didn’t exactly seem like you. I also wanted to make sure that you were okay, Juliet. If someone was inappropriate with you or made you feel like you had to–” He shook his head. “We’d take care of it. We’d take care of you.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“Was he inappropriate, the more insistent one? If you want to talk alone, we can,” Stacey told her.

“It happens in just about every class, honestly.”

“Itdoes?” her boss asked.