2. Jake: A Favor for a Friend

Chapter two

Jake – A Favor for a Friend

“Ryan, I just don’t have the time or the inclination to be out until all hours on Friday night. I’m tired this week and have so many projects that I’m juggling at work,” I reiterate, for the twentyish time on this phone call alone.

“Yes, I hear you loud and clear, but . . . Oh, for Pete’s sake, I’ll come. But it had better not be a waste of time. I’ll commit to ten o’clock but no later.”

“You, of all people must know how hesitant I am for any female companionship just yet after what the unnamed person put me through. Yeah, I know it’s been a long time, but you know how bad it was,” I explain, yet again.

Good grief, this supposed ‘knock-out gorgeous’ friend who Ryan wants me to meet had better be worth the effort .

Ryan just cannot stop his urging. His retort is a great effort at convincing me. “Jake, that’s just the reason you need to get back into the swing of meeting new people. New women. And I promise you, Rory is well worth meeting.

Yes, I mean Aurora, sorry. I’m just used to calling her all sorts of nicknames. She’s a knock out both inside and out. Sure, yes, I know you think I’m biased and you’re not wrong. She’s a super good friend to both me and Britt, but that doesn’t mean she’s got warts or anything.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop laughing, but the thought of describing her that way just cracks me up, Jake. Honest and true, she’s beautiful and I think you’ll really get along. She’s not looking for any long-term relationship either. No, no, I’m not making that up to get you to come. She went through a similar thing in her past, too. Okay, later.”

Talking with Ryan is always weird. He’s off on this thing and that. I sure hope he is being honest and not trying to set me up with anything that I’m not ready for.

After a quick knock, my office door pops open, and two of my marketing team members enter, apparently looking for some answers. Rosey and Lynette are two of the top performers here at the company.

When we began making plans to expand into this part of the state, they asked to be part of the new location. They were eager to transfer for similar reasons—neither currently encumbered with any significant other, and both have family nearby. It is a win/win for me as they know the processes we prefer and are both open to new ideas.

With this and several other meetings behind me, I figure it’s time to get home and maybe take a run. But looking out the window, it may be only a quick jump into the car through the pouring rain. Drats! My apartment building has a great exercise room, pool included, but I yearn for the fresh air after a ten-or-so-hour day at work. Today, however, it’s going to be inside or nothing.

Leaving my ‘inner sanctum,’ as my assistant calls it, I see she is still at her desk. “Marty, what the heck are you still doing at work?”

She bursts out in a huge smile, patting her mammoth belly. “Jake, this is it. I stayed late to clean up some projects and to say goodbye.”

At first, I’m confused but the dumbstruck look on my face gives way to my own broad smile, immediately replaced with a panicky stare. “You’re in labor? No, are you really?

Why have you continued to work so many months when you could have taken time off before this . . . this . . . this all begins?” I ask, with my arms flailing about like a crazy man.

“Are you okay? Where’s John? Is he coming to get you? Do you need a wheelchair?” I’m rapid-firing bullets and she is just smiling. What’s wrong with her? Doesn’t she understand this is important? Why is she just sitting there?

“Jake, you obviously have had no experience with a woman giving birth. This is so preliminary. I know it’s going to be soon, but not in the staff bathroom, for goodness sakes! I’m just feeling a little twinge now and then, so I know we’ll probably have a few hours or more before we need to pack it up.

This IS my third baby, you know!”

I hug her tightly and come back down to earth a bit as her husband walks in to collect the mommy-to-be. We get a little while to talk, and he lets me know her car will be here until he gets time to pick it up. Telling him that I’ll have one of the security guards drive it to their house in the morning provides him with a bit of relief. One more thing not to worry about.

Off they go, and I realize how much she and her family mean to me. They are such great people—including their short ones: Jimmy and Josh. Very soon those boys will have their world turned upside down when Mommy and Daddy come home with a bundle of pink bliss.

I know that feeling personally because I have a little sister who entered my life in one of those bundles. Isabella was and is the sweetest person I know. So, watch out guys, it’s going to be a great ride , I think, as I jump into my own car, now soaked to the skin.

I’ll need some temporary help while Marty’s away. I ponder on the way home. I hate breaking in new people. It’s certainly not my strong point since I don’t really know what she does all day. She just takes care of me.

It’s probably a lot more complicated than that. Probably? I laugh to myself.

Maybe the perfect personal assistant will drop from the sky. One can hope.