Jennifer Hart woke on her stomach, with her husband's arms wrapped around her and his lips exploring the sensitive spot under her ear.
"Mmm. Good morning, Darling." She turned into his embrace.
"I should probably apologize for waking you up, but I'm not going to." Jonathan Hart planted a firm kiss on her lips and felt her smile.
"Well, if you don't apologize, then we can argue. And after we argue we can make up." He laughed and kissed her again.
"Or we could just skip to the making up part." Jennifer ran her fingers through his hair.
"That's an even better idea." Jonathan had just pulled her as close as he could get her for another smoldering kiss when their bedroom door opened. Freeway jumped on the bed, and Max came in carrying their breakfast on a tray. Jonathan's forehead landed on Jennifer's shoulder with a thud. She laughed at his obvious disappointment as he whispered in her ear, "Someday we should talk to Max about his bad timing."
As usual Max was fairly oblivious to what he'd just walked in on. He was so used to seeing the couple snuggled together that it didn't faze him.
"Morning, Mr. & Mrs. H. I figured that you two might want breakfast in bed since you both have meetings all day." Jonathan shooed Freeway away from the eggs and bacon.
"Thanks, Max. This looks great." Jennifer took a sip of her coffee.
"What are your plans for the day, Max?" He handed Jonathan the paper.
"Me and Freeway are going to run some errands, maybe go for a w-a-l-k at the p-a-r-k." Jennifer smiled as Max spelled out certain words.
"Well, it's a beautiful day for that." Max nodded and called to Freeway.
"Let's go, boy. You've got breakfast in the kitchen." Jonathan shouted to Max to have a good day. Once the door shut, he moved the tray to the floor.
"Breakfast looks great, but you look even better."
A while later, they walked down the stairs hand in hand. Jennifer had her keys out but set them on the table with her purse to straighten Jonathan's tie. She kissed him lightly, loving this little ritual. Sometimes she fixed his tie, even if it didn't need it, and she knew that occasionally Jonathan messed it up on purpose.
Jonathan was watching his wife closely. As she fussed over him he took in the shape of her eyes, her high cheekbones, the pertness of her nose, the fullness of her lips. He smiled as he remembered those lips on his just a few minutes ago. The love he had for her overwhelmed him sometimes.
"There. Now it's perfect." She was going to take a step back, but he wrapped his hands around her upper arms and pulled her to him. They were so close that there was barely a breath between them.
"What would I ever do without you?" She smiled at him.
"Thankfully, you won't ever have to find out." Jonathan kissed her passionately and tried to pull her back upstairs. She laughed indulgently.
"Jonathan, we both have meetings today." He gave her one last kiss.
"Save my place, Darling?" Jennifer smiled slowly and seductively at him.
"Consider it saved." With one last kiss and an "I love you.", she was out the door. She heard Jonathan repeat those words to her as the front door shut.
...
Jonathan spent all of Monday morning in closed door meetings with the head of his legal department, Stanley Friesen, and another trusted executive.
"Jerry, things are getting worse. The company is bleeding money, and every time we get close to finding the leak, we get blindsided with something else. Whoever is doing this is one step ahead of us. It's got to be an inside job."
"I don't disagree with you Jonathan, but you're running out of time. The Board is getting anxious and losing confidence in you." Jonathan turned to his lawyer.
"Dave, how much longer can you keep them off me?" He shook his head.
"I don't know, Jonathan. There's blood in the water, and the sharks are circling."
"What have you found out, Stanley?"
"There are a lot of inconsistencies in the books, Mr. Hart. It started small, but now it's out of hand. There's a lot of money being siphoned off. I'm trying to find a pattern, but there doesn't seem to be one. There's definitely something off with the financial reports though. I'll find it, Mr. Hart; I just need more time." Jonathan slammed his fist on his desk.
"Dammit. I can't lose the company. Whoever is doing this doesn't care about the people who work here. I won't watch them all get thrown out on the streets. We've got to find who's behind it and fix it." Jerry asked for some clarification.
"You still own 51% of the stock, and Jennifer has some, right, along with her seat on the board?" Jonathan nodded. "Jennifer can run some interference, and that buys you some time, but not much. If you continue to lose the support of the board, you could own all the stock and it won't save your position." They continued to hash through what they knew and what they might be able to do, but it was daunting.
By day's end, they figured they might have until the end of the week at best to find the saboteur and begin to repair the damage.
At 5:45 pm, Jonathan left Hart Industries with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Going home and sitting down to a relaxing dinner with his wife were two things he needed desperately right now. He greeted Freeway on his way in the house and called for Max and Jennifer.
"Hey Max. Where are you? Darling, are you home?"
"Hiya, Mr. H.. I'm in the kitchen." Jonathan walked through the swinging door.
"That smells great, Max. What are you making?" Max took the lid off the stew pot.
"Chicken and dumplings." Jonathan took a deep breath as he loosened his tie.
"It looks as good as it smells. Is Mrs. H. home yet?" Max shook his head.
"I haven't seen her."
"All right, I'm going to go up and change." The gate buzzed and Jonathan answered it. "Hello?"
"Mr. Hart, it's Lt. Draper. May I come up?" Jonathan shot Max a confused look and pushed the button to open the gate. Max shrugged.
Jonathan stood in the open doorway, wondering what brought the lieutenant out to the house. The two men shook hands and Jonathan led Lt. Draper to the living room.
"Would you like some coffee or something else to drink?" Lt. Draper clasped his hands together.
"No. No, thanks." The man took a deep breath and Jonathan's curiosity grew. "Mr. Hart, is Mrs. Hart at home?"
"No, she had some meetings today with her editor and publisher. Why?"
"Which car did she take?" The curiosity turned to a pit in his stomach.
"The yellow convertible. Why?"
"Mr. Hart, you need to sit down." Jonathan's heart started hammering in his chest.
"No, Lieutenant, you need to tell me why you're here." Max came in to see if he could get anyone anything. The tension in the room stopped him in his tracks.
"Mr. H., what's going on?"
"That's what I'm waiting to find out, Max."
"Earlier today we got a report of a car going over the edge on Route 2. We found a plate near the scene that matches yours, "2 Harts", and the framework of the car belongs to a Mercedes convertible. I'm sorry, Mr. Hart." Jonathan had to concentrate on his breathing, and he felt Max lay a hand on his shoulder.
"I don't understand what you're saying. Is it or is it not my car?"
"We aren't one hundred percent sure at this time. The car exploded after it landed. It burned to the shell before we could get a rescue team down the cliff. We think the plate ripped off as the car flipped against the rocks on the way down." Breathe in, breathe out.
"The driver?"
"Burned beyond recognition." Jonathan's knees buckled, and he landed on the sofa. Max went to get some water. Jonathan continued to try to process it all.
"If you couldn't identify the body, it might not be Jennifer."
"Mr. Hart, who else had access to your car?" Jonathan got up to pace, ignoring the water glass Max held out for him.
"If it is my car." He paused, his mind reeling. "I don't know if Jennifer lent it to anyone else, but there's a chance that the person in the car isn't Jennifer, right?"
"I don't want to get your hopes up."
"Is there anything to identify the driver?"
"No, not at this time. We're going to try to run dental records, but that will take some time. When we have something more, I'll let you know." Lt. Draper started for the door but turned back around. "I really am sorry, Mr. Hart." He let himself out.
Jonathan and Max stood motionless for a long time, the younger man staring into the ashes of the fireplace, and the older man unsure of what to say or what to do. "Mr. H.?" He could hear the waiver in Jonathan's voice as he answered.
"What, Max?"
"Can I get you anything?" Jonathan shook his head slowly.
"Just Jennifer."