Chapter 5

With the Phoenix office now up and running it was time to move on to the next location Matt wanted to open an office at which was in Austin, Texas. Before he left he had a discussion with Lena telling her she had the responsibility for all of Arizona as well New Mexico and to advertise in those areas. He did explain to her what he wanted her to include in her monthly report and the mid-month zoom conference calls he would be having with all of the territory managers.

Jenna as usual was her perky self and was looking forward to opening this new office. She said she had been to Texas before and that was when her team played in a tournament at UT Austin. She remembered that they won the championship game 4-3.

On the drive to Austin Matt told her about a thought he was having in regard to the business.

“I think that there are only going to be so many startups that turn into successes like Wilkinsing Corporation, Google, MacDonald’s, and Amazon out there. This loan business started out to create companies like that but there are only a few who will be so fortunate for that to happen. I think the premise or purpose of our loans is to help businesses succeed and not just startups but all small businesses. To that end I am going to advise our area managers to start advertising our availability of giving loans to small established businesses that already exist. Maybe our loans giving an inflow of fresh capital could be the boost for these companies to get bigger and expand which would have them become more successful. What do you think?”

“I think what you say makes sense and we should be going in that direction. This loan business we were told was started to help businesses succeed. I am also thinking that some of these small businesses may already be publically traded, probably on pink sheets. If we think it is a good business that will do well if we loan them money maybe that should be a company we would want to invest some of our personal funds in by purchasing their stock. We would need to be careful in purchasing stock on information that was already known and not on some insider information. I don’t know if we will come across a company like Amazon but do you know that if we had invested one thousand dollars in Amazon stock twenty years ago, today that stock would be worth over one point five million dollars,” said Jenna.

Matt knew Jenna was intelligent and her comments confirmed to him that she also had a good business sense.

The expansion of loans to small businesses was communicated to the area managers. Matt did require the managers to submit a short report to him on any of these businesses which were given loans if they had already issued stock. He wanted the manager’s opinion on what they thought was the potential of these businesses. Matt would review these reports and forward them to the investment manager handling the investment of funds supporting this loan operation. Maybe the investment manager as well as Matt might want to purchase some stock of these companies.

The setup of the office in Austin was done with no major problems. This was now the fourth office they had open and it was getting to be somewhat of a routine in setting up these offices. The routine change when Jenna asked if she should place the employment ad for an area manager for this office.

“No, that isn’t going to be necessary” said Matt. “I say that because I have been talking to Ed Kaiser. He tells me his oldest daughter will be going to college next year and has been accepted at UT here. He said he would like to move here and manage this office as there are two more daughters that will be going to college in the not to distance future. The high taxes in California and some of the other things the government is doing are reasons he wants to transfer.”

“That’s all well and good but what about the LA office? Do we need to place an employment ad for that location?”

“That won’t be necessary as I have someone already in mind for that office.”

“Anyone I know?”

“As a matter of fact you do.”

Matt didn’t say anything more and was silent.

Jenna who was giving Matt a questioning look broke the silence and said, “Who is that?”

Matt still didn’t say anything and he could see she was thinking of who this could be.

Finally she said in a somewhat quiet and questioning voice, “Me?”

Matt who was standing and was watching her reaction still didn’t say anything and just nodded his head. He could see a smile on her face developing just before she jumped at him and hugged him saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you. You won’t regret or be disappointed. I will do a good job for you.”

Jenna released her hug on Matt and moved back a little. She heard him say, “I know you will. I was thinking that this weekend we should fly to Las Vegas.”

“Why... , are we going to be opening up an office there? I thought you were going to give Lena that territory.”

“No, I was thinking we should go there and get married.”

“WHAT, WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?”

“I said we should go there and get married. Jenna... , I have known you for almost a year now. In that time we have been living and working very close together both during and after business hours. One time you said men were dense and you were right in that it has taken me some time to realize you are all I ever wanted or hoped for to find in a woman. I do love you and besides being my pal and my best friend I want you to be my wife and my lover. Will you marry me?”

The shoe was now on the other foot because Jenna didn’t say anything and was just looking at him. After what was probably a very long minute Matt said, “Well?”

She still didn’t say anything because she was a believer in that actions speak louder than words. She just eliminated the space that was between them moving closer to him. With her arms wrapped around him she gave him one big long kiss with plenty of tongue. The passion in that kiss gave him his answer.

Ending the kiss and moving back a little in his arms that were around her she smiling said, “You know, Jenna Daniels does have a nice sound to it,” and moved back with watery eyes to give him another kiss.

They decided to go to a nice restaurant to celebrate the forthcoming nuptials. Both of them were obviously excited as they discussed what was going to be happening.

“I don’t think we need to go to Vegas to get married, we could do it right here. I will look into how that can be done, “said Jenna.”

“You wouldn’t want a church wedding?”

“No, I am not big on doing that. My brother didn’t do that and my parents didn’t say anything about it so we can get married here. Of course once that happens we are going to need to go and meet our parents and break the news to them in person. A problem however is going to be how our marriage is going to be received at work. You directly supervising a relative let alone a wife I would assume is a big no no.”

“I thought of that and my temporary solution for now is that we don’t advertise or announce that we are married. In time it will come out that we are married but let’s cross that bridge when that time comes.”

“Along those lines is there any rush for Ed to take over this office and us going back to LA?”

“Not really, I can manage the whole operation from here for now. I was thinking maybe of opening up an office in Denver next and maybe St. Louis but then holding back on any additional offices until we see how this whole kit and caboodle is functioning. I however will need to establish my office in LA now that this business is off the ground and growing. Why are you asking?”

“Austin is kind of a nice area. Why don’t we stay here for a few more months instead of rushing to get back to LA? With that being said now let’s get out of here as I want to start practicing for the honeymoon.”

Matt in hearing her say that had a smile on his face that wouldn’t go away. It was a rush for them to get back to the condo and once there they did practice for the honeymoon. Matt discovered that Jenna was a very good lover who wanted to give him more satisfaction and enjoyment than he was giving her. Considerable time was spent with each of them caressing and becoming familiar with the other along with the kissing and cuddling and saying sweet things as they made love.