Jillian and Jake Get Lucky

"Without question! She is a tremendous consensus builder. Her abilities go far beyond intellect and design talent. I do need to tell you that Jillian and I have a relationship that is decidedly personal and far from a secret but I hope you know me well enough to know that it wouldn't cloud my judgment. I also know you've already received glowing reports on her contributions from the other folks involved."

"How personal, Jake, and tell me to go to hell if I'm prying?" The CEO said with a smile.

"Not at all, although I've haven't shared my thoughts with anyone else. Oh, hell I'm madly in love with the darned woman on more levels than you could even imagine. In my heart I know the feeling is mutual. Jillian's track record in affairs of the heart is rocky so getting her to believe that we should spend the rest of our lives together has been a challenge. I'm still working on it. And that's probably a lot more information than either of you wanted!" Jake said with a grin.

"Well, the spin off would be a separate company, reporting to the board, so there wouldn't be anything remotely inappropriate about the head of that new business unit dating or even marrying our new Executive Vice President."

"Pardon me?"

"You heard me. Interestingly, your current boss, a Senior Vice President, who will now report to you, indicated he didn't remotely have a problem with it and had long ago predicted it. The other SVPs are equally enthused. Congratulations! How do you want to deal with Jillian on this issue?"

"Let me talk to her and simply indicate that you guys have a proposition you'd like to pitch to her without providing any details other than that it would involve design."

"That'll work, but don't delay. We'd like to nail this down tomorrow---early."

Jake found Jillian doing some last minute paper work; they often rode to work together, making no attempt to hide the closeness of their relationship.

"What do you want to do now, Jillian, career wise, since this puppy is pretty much done?"

"You know I can't stay on. I'm a designer, I need new challenges and simply running something day to day wouldn't be my cup of tea."

"I don't want to get bogged down in details this evening, but the CEO wants to pitch an idea to you---tomorrow. I sense that it might be something you could get your arms around and enjoy. All I ask is that you keep an open mind and hear them out."

Jillian started to laugh. "It is, sometimes so strange the way you and I communicate on different levels depending on the moment. Easy, comfortable banter when we're just being friends, like an old married couple when we're doing laundry together, different still when we're looking for a wave and then, of course very different when we're...having sex. And now we're having a business chat. I continue to be amazed at your ability, and mine I guess, to separate all of our respective roles out and make it work."

"I guess we're just pretty special people!" Jake quipped. "Maybe it means that we found each other one morning on a sunny California beach for a reason?"

"Oh, Jake..."

"Jillian, do you love me---are you in love with me, not just as a friend but really in love with me?"

"Yes."

"Thank God! Progress!"

Jake, it's just that..."

"Look, girl, in case you missed it, I love you and I'm in love with you. In case you also missed it, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I'm not going to change my mind. You know what? You're going to come around and I'm not going to give up on you or leave you or whatever it is that other people have done to you. I'm here. I'm yours, my heart is in your hands and you are not going to shake me or chase me away. Don't answer, just take the time to search your heart and I know you'll find the truth."

That evening was very much about just being friends. The night which followed was very much about being in love. Jillian knew that her walls were tumbling down and her fears were fading. Still, the next morning as she entered the CEO's office her own insecurity, at least as far as love was concerned, were still controlling her actions.

The CEO interviewed Jillian but spent most of his effort selling her on the spin off. She had assumed he wanted her in a staff design role. When he dropped the bomb that he wanted her to run it---and the board had already approved her—she almost fell out of her chair. She said yes. The job he had proposed was a natural next step in her career and one she knew she could handle.

The CEO was not done. "Jillian, congratulations and thank you for saying yes. I was starting to feel like a high school kid trying to get a date for the prom there for a while. Now, I'm going to meddle where I have no business but when you get to be my age you get to take some liberties."

The CEO continued. "Jake is the finest young man I've ever met. His contributions to this company since the day he stepped through our door have been spectacular. Keep it under your hat until I make the formal announcement in a couple of days, but he's been promoted to Executive Vice President, reporting to the executive suite. On paper, you will report to the board but in day to day things you'll essentially report to the executive suite also."

The CEO continued. "Jillian, I need your personal help in dealing with an issue that, if unresolved, might, I fear, adversely impact Jake's ability to assume his new responsibilities. Bluntly, Jillian, the boy is hopelessly in love with you; he actually told me---and the COO---that last evening. He seems pretty sure that you feel the same way about him. Do you?"

Jillian nodded.

"I know of no two people within this company family, or anywhere else, for that matter for whom I have a higher regard than the two of you. It goes beyond that to genuine affection. I care about your futures, professionally and personally. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you two belong together and that you each have an incredible ability to make the other one happy. All I'm asking is, if he get some wild idea about asking you to be his wife, which I sense he has hinted at with you before, I'd consider it a personal favor if you'd look inside your heart and give serious thought to answering in the affirmative. It's just a suggestion, not an order. Okay?"

The CEO got up and hugged Jillian as he would hug one of his own children. "I sense in your young eyes that somewhere in your life, someone, a man probably, has hurt you deeply. This one never will. Go with your heart this time; you can trust him with it forever. I'm absolutely sure of that."

It was in that hug that Jillian let go, and finally admitted what she had denied for too long. She wanted to tell Jake. But she couldn't find him. His secretary said he had stepped out to run an errand. She called home. She tried his cell. And as she sat in her own office, head in hand, crying softly, he was there.

"Things didn't go well with the CEO?" He said, concerned.

"They went very well. I said yes to his offer." Jillian said, gazing into Jake's eyes.

"You were crying."

"Happy tears, baby, very happy tears. Now that you are here everything is just fine." Jillian said softly. "Are you really, really, really sure?"

"Sure that I love you? Sure that I want to spend the rest of my life with you? Sure that I want us to be husband and wife? Not a doubt in my mind on any of those counts."

"Then try again. Ask me again. Ask me to marry you, ask me to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Well, what a coincidence! I guess I timed my little errand almost perfectly." Jake said, reaching into his pocket and removing the ring that would be symbol of his love and devotion.

Sliding the ring on her slender finger, Jake said the words that were in his heart, words he had so desperately wanted to say for a long time to the woman he so desperately loved.

And she said yes.