Made

During the first day of sightseeing, Gianna had laughed at the numerous times during their tours when either Blair or Riley would finish the other's sentence for the other. At dinner that first night, Gianna had coaxed an explanation out of Blair regarding his reservations related to Riley. He expressed his beliefs concerning propriety in relationships between men and women, especially in the workplace. Riley listened intently, gaining a greater understanding of Blair's devotion to her and her marriage, and how that had limited his perceived ability to be as open with her as he was with others.

Though his words never revealed it, Riley also realized that Blair must truly hold her in a special place in his life to want to protect her so much. Her heart and soul welcomed Blair even more with his revelations. Would her own husband be as concerned about her career, her reputation, and her feelings as Blair had demonstrated he was?

Over the course of their first week in Milan, Gianna noticed that there were no ostentatious displays of affection but the feelings between Blair and Riley obviously ran deep. The pair seemed unconsciously sensitive to each other's presence. Riley seemed to always step closer to Blair when he came up beside her. He didn't have to look to see who was there. When one moved, the other shifted instinctively to accommodate their motion, both staying well inside the other's comfort zone but not quite touching. When apart, their eyes constantly found each other across the room.

When the two women were alone, Gianna would describe her observations to Riley and inquire about the affection that she and Blair had for each other, and then ask why they never acted upon their feelings for each other. Riley would remind Gianna of her marital status and the commitment that she had to her wedding vows. However, unlike with Blair, Riley did share her frustrations and concerns about her marriage with Gianna.

Gianna was reluctant to offer Riley any advice since the differences in Italian and American societal cultures would have made any of her suggestions untenable for either Riley or Blair. She did remind Riley that wedding vows were a commitment by both parties. The marriage was likely doomed if only one partner showed the love, honor, and respect while the other didn't. Gianna suggested that Riley consider whether her husband's apathy towards her as his wife was something that could be remedied.

Blair would virtually echo Riley's words when Gianna made the same inquiry to him. He had shared with Gianna the disappointment that he felt the many times that he had wanted to send flowers to Riley, such as on her birthday, or the times when he saw even a small trinket that he knew that Riley would love. He couldn't risk sending a message to others, especially her husband, that he and Riley might be more than mere coworkers.

Discussions over several meals that week focused upon Gianna's belief that poor communication and concerns over the perceptions of others were inhibiting what she felt was a friendship that Riley and Blair would treasure if they ever fully explored it. She tried to convince both of them that a friendship between Blair and Riley didn't necessarily have to be viewed as a betrayal of her marital vows.

To that end, Gianna arranged for the threesome to spend their leisure time in activities and at places where they would be greater opportunities for Blair and Riley to interact as a couple outside of a professional environment. First, were after-dinner drinks at dance clubs where Gianna would coincidentally meet up with a man that she knew, leaving Blair and Riley to dance with each other. She also arranged for them to travel to Venice where Gianna insisted on getting dozens of pictures of the pair so that would have them as souvenirs of their visit. A gondola ride through the canals would only accommodate two people besides the gondolier, so Gianna graciously insisted that her guests do it without her.

On the train ride back to Milan on Sunday afternoon, Riley had fallen asleep next to Blair, eventually leaning over to rest her head on his arm. Gianna had smiled as Blair's arm had instinctively wrapped around Riley's shoulder in a protective gesture as the train car's movements jostled his sleeping friend.

On the flight back to America, Blair tried to read but couldn't concentrate on the words his eyes scanned. Riley stared at their flight progress being displayed on the LCD screen on the seatback in front of her. Blair couldn't determine if she was anxious for their flight to arrive in Chicago, or apprehensive about returning home at all. He closed his book and laid it on his lap.

"I know that you said to me once that you were bad at keeping secrets," Blair said. "Is that true in all cases?"

Turning to him, Riley smiled and said, "No, I am actually very good at keeping secrets that aren't harmful to someone else. Why?"

"Because I want to share with you why this will probably be our last trip together, and I need to trust you to keep the news to yourself until things are officially announced."

Riley felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach, but she tried not to let it show on her face. At the same time, the emotional reaction to the idea of not spending as much time with Blair in the future also made her feel slightly ashamed. She composed herself mentally and said, "You can trust me with anything."

Blair studied her face for a few more seconds before saying, "I received the news last Thursday in an email from human resources. I am being promoted to Vice President of Operations effective October first..."

Riley grabbed his arm and pulled until she could reach his cheek to plant a kiss there. She said, "Oh, Blair, that's wonderful! Congratulations!"

"Thanks. If HR got everything in place that I requested, there will be another promotion announced on Monday as well..."

"Your replacement?" Riley asked tentatively. "Who will be my new traveling companion?"

"You will have to make that call," Blair explained. "As the new Director of the program management team, you will be responsible for all assignments."

Riley was stunned into temporary silence. She finally realized that Blair wasn't joking and said, "Wait, I'm the least senior member of the team. How can you justify promoting me over someone like Jeff who has been with XES for more than ten years?"

"It wasn't entirely my decision. A panel consisting of three of your team members and two people from HR evaluated all the likely candidates. They presented me with their recommendation based on performance reviews, customer feedback, adherence to corporate policy, and a few other factors of little relevance to the actual role. I endorsed their recommendation one-hundred percent and submitted it to senior management. You are everyone's pick."

Riley considered Blair's explanation and then asked, "So, I won't be working for you anymore?"

Blair saw the disappointed expression on Riley's face and tried to keep his own disappointment out of his voice as he replied, "No, just as I currently report to the VP of Engineering, you will do the same."

They sat silently for more than an hour as they contemplated their daily routines no longer including the other. In her heart, Riley knew that if she stood any chance of salvaging her marriage to Stuart, becoming less dependent on Blair being in her life would be critical, but could she do that? The time that they had spent on this trip had provided her, provided them both, with a glimpse at what a real friendship between them could be like. They had shared more than life experiences; they had accepted that there existed an emotional connection that neither had shied away from. That connection couldn't be painlessly severed, at least not where Riley was concerned.

Blair struggled with whether or not he should confess to Riley the reasons that he had orchestrated the organizational changes which would provide them with greater separation at work. Long before Gianna had recognized his love for Riley, Blair had accepted the reality that he had become more emotionally invested in his subordinate; his married female subordinate, than was appropriate or sustainable from a professional perspective. Sensing a growing closeness from Riley's words and actions towards him had also been a motivation for Blair to take steps to protect her marriage.

They were on final approach into Chicago, where they would clear immigration and customs before making the connecting flight to Orange County. Riley glanced over at Blair, took his hand in hers, and said one word, "No."

"No, what?" He asked.

Announcements from the cockpit and then from the flight attendants prevented Riley from answering for several minutes but she never released Blair's hand from hers. When the plane was once again quiet, she said, "Let's discuss it on our next flight."

[Eighteen months later...]

"I got an email from Gianna this morning," Riley said as Blair took the chair across from her.

He took a drink from the beer that had already been served for him and smiled. He had known that Riley would have already ordered for him, and he hadn't been disappointed. "Is her trip here still a go?" he asked.

Riley nodded and said, "Matteo got final approval for his vacation time yesterday. They'll arrive on February 3rd and leave for Hawaii on February 10th. Hawaii for Valentine's Day as they planned. Do those dates still work for you and Allie?"

"Of course. Our offer to put you up in the cottage still stands as well."

Riley considered the offer one last time. Blair and his sister, Allie, had inherited a large Victorian house in Olde Town Orange that had eight bedrooms, six bathrooms, and a mother-in-law cottage on the same lot behind the house. Blair felt that the propriety of having Riley stay over while Gianna and her boyfriend were in town would only be satisfied if Riley was housed in the cottage instead of in the house itself.

"No," she said. "Stuart probably wouldn't mind, but it would be counter-productive to the message I want to start conveying more aggressively to him."

Blair nodded in understanding and said, "I still think you should have gone for the VP position. You know that I would have backed you for it."

She took his hand in hers and squeezed gently, "I know, but this fits better with my plans. I can always revisit it next year if things don't work out."

Riley continued, stubbornly in Blair and Gianna's opinions, to regenerate her husband's interest if their marriage. Her travels had cut back over the past year, but not enough to placate Stuart. This is why Riley had sought the position of Director of Technical Support at XES. The role placed her in charge of the various call center and helpdesk operations, was a consistent 8-to-5 schedule, and required virtually no travel. As soon as she had been offered the position, she stopped taking her birth control pills in the hope that she would soon become pregnant, and that fact would be the catalyst that would finally make Stuart want to work on their relationship.

While he always listened patiently to anything that Riley wanted to share concerning her marriage, Blair still adamantly refused to provide advice or take a position other than one of support for whatever Riley felt was in her best interest. To her credit, Riley had remained faithful to the promise that she had made on their return flight from Italy last year.

She had said, "No," and then waited for their connecting flight to explain to Blair that she would not give up on the friendship that they were developing.

"We're both mature adults," she had stated. "We both recognize the risks associated with an emotional connection developing between us, but I refuse to believe that we can't find some compromise that will allow us to remain friends. I need you in my life. I'll admit that I love you, but I'm still in love with Stuart. I promise that as long as I am his wife, I will place my marital vows above anything involving you and me. I know that I can trust you, and that gives me the confidence to believe that together, we would never do anything for either of us to be ashamed of."

"You never spoke to your husband about us touring Italy together, did you?" Blair had asked.

Riley grinned and said, "Yes, I did. I may have been a bit vague about who the man was that I would be seeing the sights with..."

"So, in other words, you didn't mention that you would be sightseeing and sharing other experiences with the guy that you have spent the majority of your time with over the last year?"

Sighing, Riley said, "If Stuart would have cared to ask, I would have been completely forthcoming in telling him about you. He cares so little about my life, my work, or my dreams that I couldn't see him caring if I was sharing experiences with you, or George Clooney for that matter. Listen, Blair, we haven't done anything wrong, and we don't intend to. Let's just try to be a part of each other's life when the opportunities arise. You know, we can have lunches together occasionally to keep involved in what is going on with each of us. We can share our dreams, ambitions, and fears without being disrespectful to Stuart or anyone else. What do you say?"

The fact was, Blair, had loved every second that he had ever spent with Riley, and her willingness to attempt to make a relationship between them work without compromising her marriage intrigued him. Yes, she could trust him, of that he was certain. He would never do anything to dishonor her marriage as Craig had done to his and Scarlet's engagement. As he had said then, real men don't do that sort of thing.

It hadn't been easy, for either of them. Being released from self-imposed constraints on the expression of their feelings for each other resulted in fewer inhibitions where platonic affections were concerned. Though they seldom saw one another while at work, they communicated several times each day through texts or emails. There were a few times when their banter became what someone might misconstrue as flirtatious, and when one of them realized that, it was quickly deleted and their behaviors adjusted.

They would meet for lunch at least twice a week and try to gather with other coworkers for drinks at least once a week. Their greetings when they met always consisted of a warm embrace and a friendly peck on the cheek of the other. They didn't hold hands when walking, but it was not uncommon for their hands to meet in the center of the table that they were sitting at while talking. Blair continued to open doors and pull out chairs for Riley, but he had done that since they had first met, and was something he would have done for any woman he was with.

"The offer to host the cookout at our house still stands," Blair said. "The patio at your apartment barely has enough room for the grill and a cook."

"He should know," Riley thought, since it had been Blair who she had needed to rely upon to get the propane grill set up after it had been delivered. Stuart was 'too busy' playing golf with clients on that Saturday, so she had called and asked her friend to help her get the propane tank filled and the grill positioned on the patio. The grill's first meal had been steaks that Blair had cooked for the two of them. Riley hadn't mentioned that she had given him the steak that she had intended for Stuart.

"Allie and I worked it out this morning," Riley said. "We're going shopping for all the food this Saturday so that I can pay for everything, and then we'll store it at your house for the cookout. I figured that if I held it at our apartment, Stuart would bail and you would end up cooking anyway. So, if I'm going to put you to work, I should at least let you do it from the comfort of your own home."

Blair was glad to hear of the change. He wasn't looking forward to playing the man of the house at Riley's apartment due to her husband deserting her when she had company over, but he kept his elation to himself, and said "Allie didn't mention talking to you when I spoke with her."

After a quick laugh, Riley said, "Your sister and I talk almost every day. I've told you that. You're my best friend, but you're still a guy, and a very prudish guy at that. You would fall to the ground and into a fetal position covering your ears if I ever tried to discuss some of the things that Allie and I discuss..."

Blair just shrugged. Although Riley was correct that he didn't believe that discussing their sex lives, or lack thereof, was an appropriate topic for the nature of their relationship, he wondered if Riley would be upset to learn that his sister, Allie, always conveyed at least the gest of Riley's frustrations where the attentions of her husband were concerned.

He had always believed that he did a respectable job of keeping his conscious thoughts about Riley's desirability under control. His unconscious thoughts were a different matter entirely. His dreams had been haunted by carnal fantasies of her almost from their first day together. Having Allie recently reveal Riley's confession to her that she frequently fantasized about him had done nothing to help the dreams abate.

He turned his attention back to Riley in time to hear her say, "tell her that I needed to draw a line in the sand."

"I'm sorry," Blair said. "Could you repeat that?"

"When I told Allie about my hope that us trying to start a family might help me to get Stuart more involved in resurrecting our marriage, she asked how patient I was going to be with him. I got the impression that she felt that three years was more than enough time, but I reminded her that due to my traveling for work, I had to take some of the responsibility for where Stuart and I are at today..."

Blair smirked and said, "I saw the effort that you put into minimizing the effect of the travel on your marriage. I saw how you tried to call and talk to him every chance you got. I saw how frequently you would send him a text message and would then sit for hours waiting for a reply that usually never came. I know how many times you tried to get him to fly out to spend a weekend with you someplace. I saw you trying, so don't ever knock yourself out about that."

Riley smiled at his admission that he had been so aware of her all those times when he didn't seem to notice. She said, "I agreed with Allie that I should establish a realistic timeframe to seeing some improvement, 'a line in the sand', is what she called it, but I'm not sure that is an appropriate term for it. For all practical purposes, let's just call it what it is, a 'deadline'.

Blair nodded in understanding but remained silent as Riley continued, "In the next six months, Stuart and I will have an opportunity to celebrate Valentine's Day, both our birthdays, our anniversary, and there is also the potential that I might become pregnant during that time. If things between us haven't improved by August, I'll throw in the towel, I guess."

Blair had a concern and wanted to express it, "Are you going to mention this deadline to Stuart? Also, do you think it's wise to proceed with trying to get pregnant when there remains so much uncertainty about whether things between the mother and father will work out?"

Riley sat stunned. Blair had never offered this sort of input related to her marriage, and when he finally does, they are compelling points for her to consider. She gazed into Blair's eyes and found comfort in the strength and affection that she saw in them.

She said, "I don't think that providing the deadline to Stuart would be received well by him, so no, I will keep that to myself and hope that it isn't needed. As far as possibly getting pregnant and then leaving Stuart, I'll need to give that some more consideration. I'm not afraid of being a single parent raising a child alone, but if I am with child during divorce proceedings, that could complicate things."