Chapter 29

NOTHING IS AS EASY as it seems it should be. A couple in love with a marriage proposal on the table should progress smoothly to a wedding. But it was a rocky road of love.

Erin was unwilling to consider the proposal until she’d been divorced a full year. That would be early in February.

“Not to discount your excitement and the potential, but it seems even a year is rushing things a bit,” Dolores said as they sat with their wine on Sunday afternoon. “I’m a big believer in the idea that when it’s right, it’s right. But an entire company is going to speculate about the CEO of the company and its Owner/Chairman getting married, and it won’t be pretty. Divorce an employee, who then gets fired, and then go to work as personal assistant for the head of the company, before being miraculously promoted to CEO of the company, and finally turning around to marry the owner ... Honey, you have a big public relations nightmare ahead of you.”

“In one way or another, it’s exactly what Jerry and I have been afraid of ever since we first started dating. And we’ve been very circumspect about our relationship inside the company. Dolores, I’ve spent every night of the past week in his apartment. But the company has been essentially closed down during that period. Tomorrow, everyone is back to work—at least for a day and a half before New Year’s. Last year they were greeted with the news that five percent of the full time employees had been laid off. This year they get met by an announcement about the owner and CEO getting married? And Miss Anders will be at her desk first thing tomorrow morning. Am I just going to walk down the stairs from his bedroom with him while she rushes upstairs to make sure everything is neat and clean?”

“If she’s as astute as you say she is, she probably assumes you are lovers already,” Dolores said. “But living together in what is really her office seems a little like throwing it in her face.”

“I’d like to live with him for a while and make sure we really fit and can tolerate each other, but I don’t think he’d be happy joining me in my apartment. It’s so small by comparison. My kitchen is nothing as elaborate as his. My bed isn’t even as big. He’s six-two. He needs a large bed.”

Erin proved her hypothesis when she invited Jerry to spend the night at her place. He was happy to be invited into her home to spend the night. Making love was as wonderful and intense as it had been all week in his apartment. But the bed was uncomfortably crowded to sleep in and he woke up in the morning stiff and sore from sleeping in a new position.

“We really can’t spend the night together in the office during the week,” Erin said. “It isn’t because I don’t want to sleep with you.”

“No. It would be embarrassing to walk downstairs in the morning with Miss Anders watching us. I don’t think she signed up for that. I could spend a few more nights in your apartment, but the bed is a little small for two people.”

“We could come back here on the weekend,” Erin suggested.

They stepped off the elevator together and that was almost as embarrassing as walking down the stairs. Miss Anders looked at them in surprise and then blushed scarlet.

“We went out for an early breakfast,” Erin hastily said. “Give me a minute to make coffee and we can get started on the day’s schedule.”

“Yes, Ms. Scott. Mr. Carver. I’ve reset the puzzles on this level. I’ll go upstairs while you get settled,” Miss Anders said.

Mr. Carver’s laundry had been delivered already and Miss Anders took the laundry bag to his bedroom to put things away. Erin came running out of the kitchen in time to hear a gasp from Miss Anders upstairs.

“Ohh!” Erin moaned as Preston came to see what was wrong. “I dropped my undies in the laundry chute all last week. I forgot we sent them out together.”

“Oh, dear. Well, I enjoyed discovering what kind of lingerie you wore. Perhaps she will, too,” Preston said. They were both blushing over a cup of coffee when Miss Anders returned from the bedroom suite.

“I hope you don’t mind, Mr. Carver, but I rearranged your drawers to make room for ... um...” she paused and blushed again, suddenly unsure if the underwear she’d just put away was Erin’s. “ ... the new things in your laundry. I’ll change them later if you wish.”

“Thank you, Miss Anders,” Carver said. “I-I-I’m sure it’s ... f-f-fi ... okay.”

“How does our calendar look for this week?” Erin asked brightly. “I hope your holiday break was all you wanted it to be.”

“Yes, ma’am. The schedule is light. Many employees are taking an extra day or two of personal time and won’t be back until Thursday. Some elected to take vacation time and not return this week at all. You are due to visit to St. Louis for an inspection. Mrs. Duval indicated that she and Mr. Duval would drive separately as they planned to spend New Year’s Eve in St. Louis.”

“I see. Mr. Carver, would you like to accompany me on the site visit? I know the crew always likes to see you when you stop in,” Erin said.

“I don’t think anything significant will be happening at Cloudhaven this week,” he said. “A trip to St. Louis might be just what we need.”

They packed up Preston’s car and left in time to reach St. Louis for lunch.

They avoided the issue of staying at each other’s apartment by simply staying in St. Louis for the full week. It was New Year’s and they chose to celebrate there, and then to spend another couple of days to celebrate each other.

“We agreed to keep our relationship out of the office,” Erin said. “As long as our office is in your apartment, we really can’t have our relationship there. Poor Miss Anders blushed crimson when she found my underwear mixed in with your laundry. I was definitely not ready for that.”

“I want to be with you,” Preston answered. “If you’ll have me with you. Your apartment isn’t really big enough for two, though.”

“At least my bed isn’t,” she laughed.

“My alternative locations are either too remote at Cloudhaven, or too near to G-Pop and Mother.”

“Talk about embarrassing! Just coming down the stairs from your room with them waiting would be a lot more than I could take right now.”

“What should we do? I mean, do you want to be with me? Live with me?”

“Yes, love. I’m having a little difficulty with the idea of getting married again—especially so soon after my last failure—but it doesn’t mean I don’t want to live with you,” Erin said. She kissed him again and since they really hadn’t gotten out of bed New Year’s Day, the kiss almost ended with them making love again. She was pretty sure it would soon. “We could ... I know this sounds like a big move ... It is a big move ... We could find an apartment together and furnish it the way we want. You know, as a kind of compromise?”

“Well, it’s not like we couldn’t afford it, is it?” he said. “I mean, you’ve got a CEO salary now.”

“Don’t think I’ll let you out of carrying your share,” she giggled. “We’re pretty equal on this, Mr. Chief Architect.”

“There are some nice riverside apartments just up the river from us. Our company didn’t build them, but I did check them out. They’re good. We could see if anything is available.”

“It will take us a little time to get things squared away. I still have two months left on my lease. We’d have someplace to stay while we get the new apartment prepared. No matter how uncomfortable the bed is. We could get that replaced.”

“And we could still use the penthouse on weekends. I only make an elaborate meal on Saturdays,” Preston said. The next kiss was nearly the one that joined them together.

“I could live with that.”

“We’d still need to join G-Pop and Mother for Sunday dinner, at least part of the time. Is that too embarrassing?”

“They’d know we were living together. I could survive their scrutiny, even if I did arrive looking freshly ... um ... satisfied.”

“I’d like to satisfy you right now.”

“Yes. Please do.”

“So, we plan to get an apartment separate from the company and Jerico House so we can be together,” Preston said. “I rushed a marriage proposal, but Erin isn’t ready for that.”

“I haven’t said no,” Erin clarified.

“I’m so glad we’re marking this milestone in family history,” Lawrence said. “We don’t plan nuptials either, but Gina has consented to shack up with me for the foreseeable future.”

“When he dragged out that prenuptial agreement, I suggested we keep things informal,” Gina said. “I have all I need and if Lawrence accepts my baggage, I’ll haul it over here.”

“We all have remnants of the past hanging over us,” Erin said. “I’m glad Jerry overlooks mine.”

“Jerry?” Jacqueline said. “I haven’t heard you use that name since your college days.”

“Maizie and I met long before you hired her, Mother. Gene had suggested I make a weekly trip out to eat lunch—in order to practice meeting people. After my first week experimenting, I didn’t go anywhere Maizie wasn’t waiting tables.”

“You’d met and didn’t recognize each other in the office?” Gina asked.

“Seeing Erin in a suit and glasses with her hair down as opposed to her waitress uniform with its little cap was an effective disguise. I don’t think we said a dozen sentences to each other for the first week she worked for me. And the next week, I discovered who she was.”

“I’d only ever seen Jerry in dark glasses, a mask, and a hoodie sweatshirt,” Erin said. “Some of the waitresses speculated he was homeless, but I knew he was too generous for that. Still, seeing him in a suit and tie in the office was so different I didn’t recognize him. I just knew I liked him.”

“You mentioned sponsoring a cube competition this spring. What inspired that?” Jacqueline said.

“Something we both enjoy,” Preston said.

“We still have to get the proposal approved by the national organization. And then if the company sponsors it, the board will need to approve it, too. Like everything, there are so many steps to take, to get to where we’d like to be,” Erin said. She looked meaningfully at Preston and he acknowledged she was talking about their relationship as much as the competition or company.