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“Do you need her to help out now that the CEO has called you in?”
“My thought is you can’t have too much confirmation. It’s true Ms. Prince called me, but I don’t know what the meeting is about. I don’t want to burn any bridges.”
“You’re right. How is that going to work, though? Is she coming for a private tour or...”
“I’m having a grand opening. It will be for the locals and then for Pilar to see how I can be flexible, functional and understand what the people need. I think these are all great attributes of a CFO who approves and denies things that people have to use.”
“Woo hoo, did you notice that you said CFO? It’s like you forgot the interim part or was that just a Freudian slip?” Beth said as she wiggled her brows.
“You’re too much. Let’s go get tablecloths and matching cutlery.”
“With an invite like that, how can I resist?”
Jessica looped her hand into Beth’s and laughed as they went out of the Shell, but Jessica was still feeling like it was too good to be true.
Chapter Eighteen
When a deal took two weeks of intense negotiations, Brian knew it wasn’t done until it was done. Now when Jessica and he seemed to be on the same page, he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. This wasn't his first rodeo. He had been in situations where he thought he had worked out every possible problem that could show up. It never failed when he got this sense of peace and contentment that it was interrupted by something that was so obvious a rookie could have seen it.
He had a meeting with some VPs from Butler in a couple of days. It had already been planned but now he wished he could cancel it. If it weren’t for the fact that two of them were going out of their way to meet him, he would have canceled.
Making breakfast with Jessica and taking walks around Peace was everything he had been looking for. To think she had been working at the same company was just a life irony moment. His joy was Jessica. She was the woman who lit up the room with her caring and understanding. She might not always get the social cues but if you told her what you wanted she would move heaven and earth to get it.
When he left her at night he was like a boy skipping back to his place thinking on how fortunate he was to have found her and that she was open to loving him, despite their current situation. He hadn’t gotten her to say the words yet. Instead, she would say ‘you know I ‘L’ you right?” Brian would nod back and respond, “I love you, too, Jessica.”
He was worried that she hadn’t said it yet, but she told him that things had moved faster than she had ever gone. She needed to be sure that she wasn’t being swept away.
As far as Brian was concerned, he’d give her time. As long as all things moved forward, he was okay. Brian even had Beth’s okay for the relationship. She was still calling him squeaky, but it was in a positive way. There was an elephant in the room that he wouldn’t address. He wanted to know if she really wanted to go to the CEO meeting. She hadn’t said yes or no yet. He knew because his admin had called him to say there was a rumor that Jessica had been given an invitation but hadn’t accepted yet.
Brian was scared for her to accept. What if they offered her the job? It would be a huge opportunity for her. He wouldn’t want her to pass it up, either. Brian knew how much focus it would take and was scared that it would take her away from him.
What would have happened if she was offered the job and it reminded her of all the people who said she couldn’t? What if she decided that being on the CFO track was more important than being with him? Brian would never make her choose but he’d want to be a part of her life.
Brian had the thought if she would just say she loved him and that they could work it out, he’d feel so much better. However, every day she came closer to saying the word, but it never escaped her mouth.
When he didn’t babysit things, they all went south. It had been the truth in all of the big deals that he had done in his career. Now it wasn’t that he couldn’t come in at the last minute and fix it, but he didn’t want to chance Jessica.
Brian’s thoughts were plagued by maybes and what ifs.
It was the day before his trip, and he was outside of After Hours.
“Jessica, I’m going on the trip tomorrow. Are you sure you don’t want to come?”
She looked at him and smiled. “Now how is that going to look? A meeting that you called to be able to speak about the direction of the company with the person who is also competing for the same job?”
“I’m forward thinking?” Brian shrugged.
“You need to be focused because you took a lot of time to get all of these men in one place.”
“I am focused. I'm focused on you.”
“Brian, I want to tell you something. I've been holding off for a while but there's no reason to do so any longer. I love you.”
“What?” Brian grabbed her and spun her around. “Really? You know there’s no taking it back, right?”
Just as Jessica was about to answer, her cell phone went off. Brian looked at the cell phone as if it was an offending snake.
“Let's focus on what's important here, Jessica,” Brian said as he twirled her around.
