Jonathan frowned as he read over the email on his computer monitor. His stomach churned anxiously. He liked to think he was pretty good at business and had good instincts for things. He had a creative mind and an optimistic spirit. He always seemed to find a solution and get himself out of tough situations. And try as he might, he hadn't found a solution here yet.
On the desk beside the keyboard, his cell phone buzzed. The screen lit up to show a new message from Jennifer. Instantly, Jonathan smiled and felt lighter. In the midst of all the bullshit, at least he had Jennifer.
Let me know when you're ready to be done for today. Max has a date so I thought we could go out somewhere. I can take an Uber and meet you so you don't have to come all the way here to pick me up.
A quick glance at the clock told him it was just after four in the afternoon. Nearly time to be done for the day, now that he had a beautiful fiancée he wanted to spend his time with.
Jonathan minimized the window with his email and opened the Aorta, the web browser his company had developed to compete with Chrome. It had all the same conveniences and protected data privacy better. The Hart Industries developers were very excited by the way they could seamlessly introduce data mining into the coding in order to sell off user data and make an even greater profit. Jonathan had been horrified at the idea and moved those developers into a different division.
Aorta's benefits to the public were the least of Jonathan's concern just now. He was more focused on pulling open the map and taking a look at a couple of restaurants he liked to see if he could make a quick reservation. He was able to snag an early spot at the Intercontinental. Showing Jennifer the city from seventy-nine floors up would be wonderful, he thought. Though he could also take her up in a helicopter or plane any time they wanted. Still, the cocktails and atmosphere at Spire were much nicer.
After securing the reservation, he texted her back. I just got us a table at a place I think you'll like. Meet me at the Intercontinental at 5.
He needed to go back to that email now that he'd arranged things with Jennifer; he needed to get this figured out before he could relax for the evening. But the thought of returning to the nightmare did not appeal in the least.
Jonathan turned to his second monitor where he kept the interoffice messenger open. He scrolled to find the conversation with Marcus and sent a quick message to say he needed a little more time with that report and they'd review together tomorrow.
Jennifer texted back, Sounds great! See you soon, darling. Love you! She then also sent a gif of 'heart eyes motherfucker' which made him laugh.
Surely Jonathan would not be returning to anything difficult tonight. He turned his desk chair away from the computer screens and looked out the window. The sprawl of Los Angeles was strangely beautiful, and he took a moment to appreciate it. In so many ways, this was an awful city. Crowded and shallow and failing too many of its residents and kissing the asses of too many others. But it was home. San Francisco might have been where he was born and raised—so to speak—but it was never truly a home. In the Navy, he'd moved around too much to ever call anywhere home. It wasn't until college at CalTech that he spent time in the LA area and found his home here. It wasn't Silicon Valley, but he didn't want it to be. A part of him loved the glitz and glamour of LA, even if it was all hollow. He had everything he could ever want or need in this city, and looking out at it like this made his heart a little lighter.
Jonathan's mind drifted, however, to the conversation he and Jennifer had when they were still in London about maybe buying some land somewhere so they could have cows and horses and a sprawling view of a different kind. After all, Jonathan could work remote from anywhere, and he was certainly capable of traveling to LA or anywhere else when he needed to. And with the boat and Hart Towers, they'd at least visit here on occasion and he could keep up with his friends. Maybe it would be nice to be able to get away.
More than anything, however, Jonathan knew that building a home with Jennifer, wherever that was, would be the best thing of all. Jonathan decided to bring the idea up to her tonight over drinks and see if she was still interested.
And in the meantime, it might be worth seeing if he could join a polo game sometime soon. He and Jennifer had enjoyed riding together, but he wanted to see if she'd make good on her promise to take his polo pants off with her teeth.
That was the thought that occupied Jonathan's thoughts until it was time to leave to meet Jennifer. He wanted to be in a better mood before he saw her, and that certainly did the trick.