Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
I believe in her.
After cake, Jenny’s friends give her cards, which she reads and gets all teary-eyed and responds with hugs. No one brought presents as Jenny absolutely forbade it. She didn’t want to be the center of attention, despite already being the center of attention as the entire party was in her honor.
I wait until everyone has left to corner her by the window and wrap my arms around her, my tiny packaged gift in my hand.
“What’s this?” she asks, genuinely surprised. “I said no presents!”
“You couldn’t possibly think I would abide by that.”
“Marlon!” She sighs, taking it from me. “Now I feel all…”
“Feel all what?”
“I don’t know,” she asks, looking at the small wrapped box in her hands. “What is it?”
“I can’t tell you that, silly. It would ruin the surprise! Open it.”
She twists in my arms and looks up at me, a very obvious vulnerability in her eyes.
“I saw you talking to a girl earlier…before the party.”
This isn’t good. Jenny often slips into moments of jealousy, and sometimes it can be hard to get her out of them.
“Yep, that was Emily. She works in accounting.”
Jenny nods. “She likes you. I can tell.”
Oftentimes, humor diffuses situations like this.
“Well who doesn’t like me?” I grin.
Jenny looks away.
But not this time, I guess.
I hook my finger underneath her chin and lift her gaze to mine.
“Hey, I’m just playing. She just works for me, sweetie. There’s nothing going on there. You know I only have eyes for you.”
“Yeah?” she asks hopefully. “You sure?”
“Of course!” I reply. “Now come on, open my present. I want you to see what I got you!”
She looks at me, and I can see her teetering on the edge. This could go either way. But finally she smiles, looks down, and carefully unwraps her present, exposing the blue jewelry box beneath.
She looks up at me, hopeful suspiciousness in her eyes.
“Keep going,” I tell her.
She delicately sets the wrapping paper aside, none of it torn, takes a breath, and opens the box.
Inside lies the necklace I picked out for her. A heart made from 950 grade platinum, and at its center, a flawless single carat diamond.
I hear a tiny gasp from her lips and lean in closer.
“Do you like it?”
She simply nods, as if she can’t believe it.
“I didn’t want anything gaudy and huge. Just something tasteful and delicate. Like you.”
She looks stunned as I take it from its box and string it around her neck. She’s not even able to simply let it hang; she has to lift it in her hands to examine it.
I smile as I watch her. I wasn’t sure whether she would think this gift would be too much this early into our relationship–especially after what happened at the bridge and her being in therapy–but I wanted to get her something special, so I went for it.
“Happy birthday, Jenny. I love you.”
She smiles and looks up at me, and I see the tears beginning to form in her eyes. She smiles and leans her head against my chest.
“Thank you, Marlon. I love you too.”
About an hour later, when the party is winding down, I see Emily coming up the hall toward the office, a tablet and a stack of files in her hands. She nods at me, and I immediately sigh.
All I wanted was to be able to throw a party for my girlfriend and not get into any work-related activities. But I guess when you’re C.E.O. of your company, that’s too much to ask for.
Without making a scene, I step outside and walk over to her.
“What is it, Emily?”
“Just some numbers I needed to run by you–”
“Can you run them by Brian?” I ask. “I’m kind of busy right now.”
“Brian seems to have had a bit too much sangria,” she laughs. “And we really should get these out today. I am pretty sure they’re all fine, but I just need your signature.”
“Yeah, all right. Let me see.”
I take the tablet from her and look them over, eager to get back to Jenny and take her home. Emily has done a great job getting everything in order, and I smile as I nod back at her.
“I remember why I hired you now.”
She smiles back. “Is that right?”
“Great work,” I reply, signing the document. “Send them out. Let Brian know everything’s in order–once he’s coherent.”
“I’ll do that, sir,” she giggles.
“And what did I say about calling me sir? Just Marlon.”
“Okay, Just-Marlon.”
Chuckling, I shake my head and turn away and head back down the hallway to the party, but when I step back into the conference room, I don’t see Jenny anywhere.
I call out to her friend that I know most. “Hey, have you seen Jenny?”
“She ran out of here just a minute ago. She looked pretty upset about something. I thought she was looking for you.”