"So now what?" She suddenly remembered why she had barged into his office in the first place. What emergency could really require Andrew to be in Colorado for two weeks?
"You sent Andrew to Colorado. What is that about?"
James snapped from the awkward turn of silence. "Yes, Colorado! It was an emergency. Everything happened so fast and I didn't want to bring up work to you before I had a chance to straighten everything out."
Jennifer nodded and relaxed into the seat. "Okay, well, what's going on? Is there anything I can do to help?"
James smiled at her warmly. "You see this," he pointed a finger at her, "this is why I love you so much," he chuckled, shaking his head incredulously, "you're always on."
"Excuse me?" Jennifer had lost her breath again. Her mind reeled at the only words she had managed to hear "This is why I love you so much."
"You're always on," James repeated with a sure nod.
Jennifer shook her head crazily. "You just said you loved me."
James face fell with confusion. "I said that?"
She nodded eagerly, "Yes," she said in a breath.
Shaking his head, James ran a hand over his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that," he put the other hand on his face and rubbed hard. When he dropped the palms from his cheeks, he smiled kindly and sheepishly shrugged his shoulders.
"This just might take some getting used to, that's all," he paused for a moment, and then let out a loud bark of laughter, "on the other hand, I think it's nice to finally not have to hold anything back, don't you?"
Jennifer said nothing. She stared at him blankly, unsure of what to say. He had to have known how she felt about him all of the years that they had worked side by side. She had hoped he would have known that she didn't work so hard for him out of unparalleled dedication to his cause, but because she had loved him too.
"So-Jerry," James said at length, he turned to his computer and began to tap at the keyboard. "I've been conversing with this man all weekend. I didn't involve you because of the Friday fiasco, but," he paused and looked up from the computer. "Can you come here? I need to show you this stuff. I haven't had the time to compile the information."
Jennifer forced her legs to move. Her mind jumped from his second declaration of love to how he classified Friday as "the fiasco". The big failure. Was that because of her? How she quickly left, leaving him to pay the bill, followed by her stark silence all weekend?
At James's side, Jennifer forced her eyes to narrow in on the text, but it was hard. She could smell him, the familiar lovely scent of his favorite musk. She remembered, it was downright intoxicating. She loved sharing screens with him, being so close to such strength-wait-what?
With renewed vigor, Jennifer tried to focus on the words. She saw the roman characters, but couldn't really make anything out. At her side, James was still talking.
"Jerry started sending me freak emails Thursday evening, but they didn't make sense until later Friday evening. He said one thing after another, things weren't going through. The original office we tried to contract for ourselves was apparently under contract when we told Jerry we wanted it. He didn't tell us because he thought he could work out the negotiations with the relator and seller himself," James paused. "He couldn't."
With a determined struggled, Jennifer tried to focus on the meaning behind James's words. Now the issue was starting to become clear. The office they wanted was a necessity for several reasons: Exposure and location. As a new firm establishing itself in the market, they needed to be where the other businesses were to establish casual rapport and build relationships.
"Why didn't Jerry just tell us as soon as we lost the contract?"
"He thought he could get it back. Instead, he just ended up pissing off the seller and he thinks we've been blacklisted out of several prime commercial spots in the downtown hub."
Jennifer's mouth dropped. "No."
James turned to her and nodded solemnly. "Yes. I spoke with the relator myself Saturday."
"So what now?"
"I've been on the phone for hours. I flew out there Saturday evening and spoke with the original seller, a large real estate investor who doesn't need our business and spoke with them personally. I convinced them that Jerry and his actions, as ass backwards as they were, were not the opinions of me and this company and told them my partner could meet with them personally throughout this next week to smooth and put out whatever wrinkles and fires that asshole made."
Jennifer's head swelled with the information. She never met Jerry. He was a reference from one of James's business contacts, but she didn't understand how anyone could screw up something like this so horridly wrong.
"I don't understand," Jennifer repeated, trying to work through the facts. "How can we be blacklisted? If the realtor is an issue, couldn't we just try again with a different one?"
James raised an eyebrow. "Of course. But it's not just the realtor, but the owner too." Jennifer frowned.
"The owner of what?" She smirked, "The entire downtown commercial business sector? Wait," Jennifer's saucy smile faded. "You can't be serious. Those buildings are owned by a corporation, aren't they?"
James nodded. "And the CEO is Robert Dwebbings. He doesn't just own business property in Denver, but Chicago too, and other cities as well."
The confusion was back. "You only spoke with the realtor this weekend?" Jennifer's mind raced to muddle through the facts. James nodded. "Do you really think it'll take two weeks to sort this out?"
"Well, I'd love to be optimistic, but at this point, I think we just have to be prepared for whatever. Seogen and Carnal don't know about the setback, but if we can't get our office up and running within the week, we're going to have some major delays implementing the first string on our contracts with them which isn't a good impression to make within the month."
Jennifer nodded. "So, what can I do?" She asked eagerly again. "Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe I can take some of Jerry's responsibilities regarding those two contracts until we get that office up."
James squinted his eyes at her, chewing thoughtfully on her words. "I think I have a better plan."
"Okay, let's hear it," Jennifer crossed her legs and locked hair behind her ears. For a brief moment, James paused to look over her again.
"It's been a while since you've done the straight thing."
"Excuse me?" She chuckled awkwardly, not following James's train of thought.
"Your hair," James said with a slight nod in her direction. "You used to wear is straight all the time. I loved it. Then you started curling it and it looked incredible. Now you're back to straight again. I like it," he smiled at her.
Jennifer couldn't stop the smile that touched her lips. She ran a hand over her hair absently. She always thought James preferred the curly look on her. In fact, until just now, she hadn't even know that he had even seen her-like actually seen her, beauty and all.
"I thought you preferred the curly look," she said softly, her voice nearly a thin whisper.
James chuckled. "Who said that?"
"You did."
"Hmm," James cradled the bottom of his chin. "You know, I think I remember something like that. I must have meant I liked the new look, but you know," he paused and gave her an incredible smile, "you pretty much nail every look you're going for. You're gorgeous."
He hadn't even stopped speaking, and Jennifer was giggling before she could catch herself. When she regained control of herself, her mind thought briefly of Andrew. Her heart squeezed and her throat tightened at the though. Her mind drew blank. She blinked and stared with wide eyes back at James. He never complimented her like this before. Yes, they had always been close, but maybe it was really more of the professional type. Now, she wasn't so sure.
"But let's get back to business. Andrew is headed to Denver right now. He has a lunch meeting with the CEO and two of his advisors. Jerry's focus has been limited to keeping the two new contract's schedule as close to on time as possible. We might not need you to cover him just yet. Instead," James paused and reached for a bottle of water sitting on the right side of his desk in the silence. He smiled at Jennifer and held up a finger before he unscrewed the top and tipped the bottle back into his mouth.
Jennifer watched him drink it. He guzzled it liberally, making Jennifer's throat feel as though it might need some relief as well. She touched her throat and tried to clear it quietly. As James watched her, his eyes widened and he withdrew the bottle quickly.