The Proposition Proposal

Betsy was surprised to get an inter-office package marked “fax”. The company rarely ever used the sole fax machine they had. Eagerly tearing the package opened, she saw what looked like the same format and font as the mysterious emails she was getting.

It was a formal business proposal form that was inviting her to a special conference in the middle of the country. The town was unknown to her and the event equally obscure. Who was this guy? What did he want?

Pulling up her proverbial trousers up, her conquering feminist kicked into high gear. She had been courted by many guys in her day and had easily out maneuvered them all. This bloke however was different. He was smooth. He was patient. He was very literate. He was massaging her mind and caressing her heart. She needed him to stop.

His poetic swirls was stirring feelings she had long laid to rest. She loved her husband. But things were normal. They were good. They were standard. This guy was tugging passions she once knew and understood. Worse, she had entertained them under the guise that her hubby had written them.

This invitation was too much. To add insult to injury, the closing had recommended black tie affair looks. Jerry wouldn’t know anything about that. She had made the man. She had dressed him up. He was the kind of guy that loved working with his hand and getting his jeans dirty. She had polished him up to suits. No way he knew anything about the high society she was accustomed to.

Jerry knew that as soon as his invitation was received, Betsy would be turned into a tizzy. She would have many questions. The seed had been planted and now was going to yield results.

That night, when she called, she was abrupt. She was in her take charge mode. She snapped and barked orders. Demanding answers, demanding concern.

Jerry stayed cool. He knew this was the playbook. He may not be around a lot, but he kept tabs enough. He allowed Betsy to rage and flail until she had gotten all out of her system. Then, and only then, did he break his silence.

“You are to take this proposal seriously and do as you’re old.”

Good thing for Jerry, he had been prepared. He wanted to record the response. This was priceless. Betsy’s eyes popped, veins broke out, she stood, voice cracked, arms raised, she flew into a tantrum.

“You want me to go out on a date with some guy I never met?!?!?!”

Jerry did not repeat himself, but changed the topic to what she was going to wear. This incensed Betsy who incredulously snarked that she would wear her 120mm Strauss with her shimmering Vera Wang.

“Good girl”

Jaw totally dropped, Betsy plopped down trying to process the very sharp turn her relationship had just taken. Her mind raced to try and piece all the evidence together into a string of coherent thought.

“Don’t be late”

With that, Jerry politely said his goodbyes and got off the line. There was going to be a lot of questions to come once Betsy calmed down from having had a conversation end on terms other than her own.

As the silence of an empty hotel room filled the calm of his heart, he looked up at the closet. His Giorgio Armani was ready and bullet-proof. This trip was going to be grand and awesome. A few clicks of the mouse later, the details of the trip was booked and ready. Another tantalizing email was sent, this time from a different email account. One that was unknown to his wife and more suitable to the strong masculine tone of the content.

Sir Jetset

The Voyage

His half of the trip was not a picnic or walk in the park. There were several connections, many delays, lots of waiting in airports, plenty of text messages to handle and several business calls to finalize while making his way to their rendezvous point.

Jerry had picked that location only because it was a lot easier for Betsy to fly in and out of that town. He knew that if there were one too many connections, she would turn around and head back home. While she loved adventures, she hated drama of travel. Things had to be first class or close to it to make her happy.

That meant that he had to hop around many connecting hub to finally make a place that had a bus ride into their destination. The small cost of being a gentleman.

Once on location and settled, Jerry got himself a good convertible sports car. The rare time he could enjoy the open road and relax. Not that they were going to do much driving at all. However, should the need arise, something with zoom would do to calm the inner beast his wife was known to unleash.

From her end of things, the travel was a nightmare. There were two connections she had to catch. Why couldn’t this character Jetset not have booked a direct flight? Betsy was going to give this fictional delusion a piece of her mind. She only flew as directly as possible, not because she was vain or anything, but she didn’t like being in a long metal tube of any kind for any length of time. It was medical. Not social.