Jane had been more than a little frustrated with the way Rob had been monopolizing the conversation so far, although at least it had done a little to get them through the first few awkward minutes. She needed to get back to talking with Rick, to get some feeling for the guy. At least Rob had given her a little bit of a springboard to get to that.

“Rick,” she asked, “What kinds of things have you been doing to help Rob with this?”

“Just net surfing, mostly,” he replied. “I’ve managed to find a few things for him. It’s amazing the number of times I’ve managed to dig something up where a search engine like Google draws a total blank.”

“Do you find it interesting?”

“A little, maybe,” he admitted softly. “It’s something to do.”

“But you’d rather be doing something else.”

“Well, yeah. I guess Sophia told you about that.”

“She said something about it,” Jane admitted. “Not a real lot. She sort of indicated you couldn’t work on software that interests you.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “I guess I haven’t really done much that doesn’t have to do with software, at least till now.”

“Have you ever thought of something else you’d like to do?”

He looked distant for a moment. “Well, lots of things,” he said finally, looking at her with serious intent that didn’t take Jane much to decipher, the promise of the chance to do one thing that was clearly on his list! “But I, well, I guess I’ve never gotten the chance to do any of them.”

“You never know,” she smiled with what she hoped was a knowing glance. She decided to change tacks a little bit. “So where are you from?”

“Almost nowhere,” he said. “A little town in southern Michigan, by the name of Wychbold.”

“I’m from a tiny little town myself, Hartford, Nebraska,” she replied, trying to put him at ease. “I’ll bet your little town was bigger than my little town.”

Over the course of the next few minutes Jane managed to pull a little history from him, and acted like she was interested in every bit of it – which she was. Some of it seemed a little hard to extract, almost like it was prying, mostly because she soon realized that he really was shy and wasn’t comfortable talking about himself very much. Sometimes Sophia had to give him a little nudge to get him talking.

It turned out that Wychbold was indeed bigger than Hartford, three or four times bigger, not that it meant it was very big. Both agreed that things had been simpler there, but they were glad to not be in their hometowns any more. As Jane had more or less been told, Rick hadn’t been a popular kid, and had spent a lot of time on computers and with his nose in schoolbooks. She could sympathize; she hadn’t been very popular herself, although somewhat more accepted than Rick. Both of them had looked forward to the day when they could see their hometowns in their rear-view mirrors.

They talked about other parts of their background a little. With Sophia’s help, Rick managed to ask about her own background, not that there was much of it to talk about: Hartford, then Greeley, then Boulder, and now the Mountain Grove restaurant. They spent a few minutes talking about her work in art history, and the concentration on the Dutch and Flemish masters. It wasn’t that Jane had a real hunger for knowledge of the era – it was something interesting, but she admitted that it wouldn’t bother her much if she never saw another Vermeer again.

Rick proved to be a few years older than she was. As soon as he liberated himself from Wychbold, he went to the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, with his eye on a degree in computer science. It was an interesting place for him, mostly because it was home to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, known as the place where Mosiac, the predecessor of Netscape, had been born. It still was a place where computing progress was made, and while there Rick got involved with another couple students on a software project. Jane wasn’t clear on exactly what it was the program was supposed to do, other than the fact it resulted in much better speeds in handling graphics. It was promising, and the three formed a little company called Pegaso Software to promote it.

The program wasn’t finished when Rick and the other two graduated, but they continued working on it. The program proved to be a new and innovative approach to a knotty problem, not that Jane understood more than a tenth of what Rick was talking about – but she realized that he wasn’t shy or reticent when talking about software. In fact he was interesting and enthusiastic. In a way, that was promising – the capability to not be shy about something was clearly there.

Not long after Rick and his friends were out of college, their little company was bought out by an outfit in San Jose, Facelvega Microsystems. Jane wasn’t clear about how much money was involved, but it was not a small amount in pure cash, and there was even more in stocks and stock options. In fact, she thought Rick seemed unclear about it, and not because of how much it was, but because it was only incidental to the software development.

The important part of the deal was that all three of them had to move to Silicon Valley to continue work on the project. Eventually they got it perfected, and Rick’s two friends took their stock options and cashed out; he hadn’t heard from them since then. Rick had considering cashing out, too, but another project, this one involving pattern recognition – about all Jane could make out of his description – caught his attention, so he wound up staying on with Facelvega.

That went just fine, as far as she could tell from what Rick said. He may have been in Silicon Valley, but almost all of his knowledge of the famous place was what little could be seen from the road between the company and his apartment, the latter of which he only used rarely, often sleeping in his office after eighteen-hour days. From what she could tell, he’d never made it into San Francisco in all the time he’d been in Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale, to be exact, only thirty-five miles from the City by the Bay.

That went on for three or four years from what she could make out, when Facelvega was bought up by Comsector, again mostly with the exchange of stock and stock options. Since Rick still held a lot of Facelvega stock and options he’d picked up when Facelvega bought Pegaso, he came out very well on the deal, even though he hardly noticed it. Comsector was, as Sophia had indicated, an older company that didn’t have much interest in the actual research and development, but Rick had recently signed a long-term high-dollar contract with Facelvega, so Comsector had to honor it when the projects moved to Boulder. The upshot of it was that Rick wound up with an office in the Comsector building in Boulder, an annual paycheck in the six-figure range until his contract ran out, nothing much to do, and no chance of working on software, the only thing he loved doing.

Rob had been the one to point out to Rick that he was actually very well off as the result of his stock and stock options over and above his already healthy paycheck. It was a lot of money, but Jane got the impression that it was mostly Monopoly money to him – not quite real. He still tended to live pretty frugally, not quite aware of how well off he was.

“So you want to get back to writing code?” Jane asked gently.

Rick was loosening up a little by this time – perhaps the discussion of familiar things was having an effect on him. “Well, yes and no,” he said. “Yes, I’d like to be writing software again. It’s what I know, and what I understand. But I realize I can’t do it for another few years because of the damn non-compete clause. I’m afraid when that expires I’ll have forgotten a lot of what I know, or at least what I do remember won’t be on the cutting edge any more. I keep thinking I ought to be working on doing something else, although I don’t know what it is.”

“That’s kind of what Sophia said.” Jane acknowledged. “I’ve felt that way for a long time. I don’t know what else I’d like to do now that I’m out of school either, but I wouldn’t mind finding out. Maybe now that I’ve had a look at the real world I can figure out something that really makes sense. I know I have to be doing something.”

“There’s more to it than that,” Rick told her. “Look, despite what Rob thinks, I know I’m pretty well off even if I can’t quite make myself believe it. He’s told me more than once I could cash out, put the money in sound investments and retire. But I don’t want to retire and have nothing to do. If I’ve learned anything in the last few months, it’s that. Rob has been lucky that he’s found something. I haven’t. I’ve given some thought to going back to school, maybe getting a PhD or something just to have something to do. But you know the old saw, ‘Those who can, do? Those who can’t, teach?’ That’s even more true in computer science than elsewhere, and it’d be hard since I know I can do, and actually did it for a while and made good money at it according to Rob.”

“Maybe I could help you with it.”

“Maybe you could,” he replied hopefully. “Look, I’m sure you know about as much about this idea of Sophia’s as I do. Maybe even more.”

“We’ve talked about it some.”

“She has with me, too,” he said, the shyness starting to come back through since he wasn’t talking about computers. “Sometimes I think she’s full of shit. Sometimes I think it might work. I don’t know. I’m probably not the easiest person in the world to live with. But I’ve got to do something to try and change things.” He let out a sigh and said, “You seem to be a pretty nice person. I mean, much nicer than I expected. I don’t want to guarantee that it’s going to work, but I’m willing to give it a try if you are.”

Here it is, Jane thought, decision time. I can see how Sophia can think he’s a pretty nice guy, but obviously I don’t know him very well. He’s very shy and naïve in so many ways, and yes, just about a stereotypical computer geek. He’s lacking in self-confidence in a lot of ways, especially in terms of social skills, but I can probably help him with that. I don’t know him very well, but I don’t see any obvious red flags other than that, either.

Face it, Jane, she thought. You know a lot worse guys. There’s Walt, just to start with, but guys like Howie Newton, too, and plenty more. Arrogant jerks with too much testosterone and too little sensitivity. Rick is probably sensitive to being put down by others, so he doesn’t have that problem. God knows there are likely to be other problems, but when you get down to it, you could do worse. A lot worse.

“I guess I am too,” she said slowly, a little amazed that she was saying it at all. “So long as we can work out the details.”

“Good. Just one thing. I know Sophia has talked to you about the pre-nuptial thing and, considering the money Rob says I have, I have to do it to protect myself, I guess. But I’d really like to try to make this keep working, because if it fails I’m not sure I’d ever find the guts to try it again. God knows there’s reasons why it might not work out, but I’ll try to make it work if you will.”

“Neither of us knows what’s down the road,” Jane agreed. “And there’s no doubt we’re going to be taking a risk. But I’ll try and make it work. I’m not hard to get along with, Rick. I’m really not. You’ll see.”

They looked at each other quietly for a minute. She put her hand out, and he took it gently. “Deal,” he said.

“Deal.”

After a long moment Jane tore her eyes away from her fiancé – God, that sounded strange! – and glanced over at Sophia, who was beaming, just absolutely grinning from ear to ear. “There,” Sophia laughed. “That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”

“Sophia,” Rick grinned, “It this doesn’t work out, both Jane and I know who to blame.”

Wow, Jane thought, a wisecrack! I wasn’t sure he had it in him! Maybe this will turn out better than I thought!

“I was pretty sure each of you was going to find the other one acceptable,” Sophia beamed. “Now that we’ve got that settled, there’s a lot more to work out. We’ve got a wedding to plan. What do you think, a big church wedding, the whole nine yards?”

“I don’t think so,” Rick shook his head. “The sooner, the better, I think. Before I change my mind, anyway. And as far as a big church wedding, I don’t do churches.”

“Jane, what’s your thinking?”

“I think Rick’s right about the soon, and I think it better be before I chicken out, too. And as far as churches go, that’s something I left in Hartford with the manure smell.”

“Manure smell?” Rick frowned.

“I told you it was a country town,” Jane laughed. “Come on, if you’re from a small country town you know what I’m talking about.”

“It’d crop up in Wychbold once in a while, but only when the wind was wrong,” he nodded.

“It was a damn sight more than once in a while in Hartford. That’s what I like about Boulder. I mean, no shit.”

Sophia shook her head as she laughed, “I can see the two of you are going to have a lot of fun with each other. All right, a small wedding, then. Do you want your families here?”

Jane looked over at Rick, and could see in his face that he wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea. “I don’t think so,” she said. “This whole thing is so, well, unconventional I think maybe we’d better have a chance to get used to each other before we break it to my family. I think it’d go over better if it looked like it was a spur-of-the-moment thing in Las Vegas or something.”

Rick looked relieved. “Yeah, I think so, too,” he said in obvious relief. “They’re going to be surprised enough that I found a woman who’d agree to marry me at all, and I think I’d be just as happy if they didn’t know how it happened, or not for a while anyway.”

“Right,” Jane agreed. “Maybe years.”

“That would certainly simplify things,” Sophia agreed. “I’d like to be there, if you don’t mind, and I suppose Rob.”

Jane glanced at Rob again before she answered, “I guess. After all, you deserve to enjoy the fruits of your labors.”

“I suppose it could be done as soon as Saturday, if everything could get worked out in time,” Sophia replied thoughtfully.

“What’s to work out?” Rick asked.

“Oh, lots of things,” she replied. “You need a place to live. I mean, Rick, something better than the dump you’re living in now.”

“It serves my needs.”

“Don’t mess with me, Rick. I’ve been there and it’s a dump. You don’t want to force a nice young lady like Jane to live in a place like that. I haven’t been to her place, but she has a roommate, so you wouldn’t want to try to live there, either. I don’t think you need a huge mansion or anything, but a nicer apartment would do both of you well until you’re ready to buy a place. There’s no point in getting you involved with all the ins and outs of owning a home and maintaining it just yet, since both of you have got other things you need to be doing with each other the next few weeks. Get your feet under you, first.”

“Well, you might have a point,” he agreed reluctantly. “I used to hate being sent out to mow the lawn, especially when I was in the middle of something. One of the nice things about living in an apartment is that I don’t have to worry about taking care of the lawn.”

“Not having seen his place, you could be right,” Jane commented. “The apartment Madelyn and I have is kind of a dump, too. I mean, the walls are so thin you can hear the neighbors making out, and everything is always breaking. At least the price is about right. I wouldn’t mind a larger, quieter, higher-quality place.”

“They can be found, but probably not quickly,” Rob pointed out. “It’s going to take some looking.”

“All right, how about this?” Sophia suggested. “I think a honeymoon would be good for the both of you. It’d give you a chance to know” – she grinned widely – “each other before you have to deal with routine things. For most couples it’s just sort of a romantic getaway, but I honestly think the two of you are going to need it. Someplace that’s a little romantic, sure, but someplace where you can be by yourselves.”

“You might be right on that,” Rick said thoughtfully. “It would, uh, sort of force us together.”

“So stay gone for a couple weeks,” Sophia continued. “That would give Rob and me time to find an apartment for you, maybe get you part of the way toward getting set up. Rick, I know you don’t have a great deal to move. I could probably get Doug and Linda and the kids to help us move you while you’re gone.”

“Doug? Linda?” Jane asked.

“My daughter and her husband,” Sophia explained. “They live down in Golden. Oh, I guess we’d have to find some furniture for you; you’re both in furnished apartments, aren’t you? It wouldn’t be any big problem. There’s no way we could do all that by Saturday, but if you took off on a honeymoon it would give us a couple weeks. That ought to be enough time.”

“I’m not sure I could take off for two weeks with that little notice,” Jane pointed out. “All I can do is ask, and I can’t do that tonight. I don’t think I’ve been there long enough to have that much vacation time anyway.”

“I can take it off, sure,” Rick said. “I’ve got vacation time clear back through Facelvega that carried over. I mean, it’s not like they’d miss me.”

“Well, I suppose I could work something out,” Jane said. “But where would we go on a honeymoon? I mean, Las Vegas might be all right for a quickie wedding, but I don’t think I want to spend two weeks there. We might be better off here.”

“No, you’re right, you need something special,” Sophia replied thoughtfully. “It might not be easy to book the right place on short notice. Tell you what. Jane, you work on getting the time off. I’ll come up with something for a honeymoon while I’m at work tomorrow. It’ll give me something useful to do, too. Right off the top of my head, I’m thinking maybe Hawaii.”

“Hawaii?” Jane gaped. “That would be quite a honeymoon, all right! I’ve dreamed of going there ever since I was a little girl.”

“Then it sounds like it would work even better for you,” Sophia grinned.

“Rick,” Rob grinned. “Does it sound like these women are running your life?”

“I’ve been feeling that way for a while.”

“Get used to it,” Rob laughed. “You’re just getting started. Trust me, I know, considering that I’ve been married to Sophia for thirty-five years.”

“It’s thirty-six, dear,” Sophia said.

“I was speaking in general terms.”

“But still, you ought to get it right,” she laughed.

“If you wind up going to Hawaii,” Rob said. “You at least ought to do a tour of Pearl Harbor. That’s pretty awesome. The Arizona memorial is right there, and a couple hundred yards up Battleship Row the Missouri is moored. In one glance you can take in the endpoints of the war in the Pacific. It started there and ended there.”

“Oh, there’s lots to do in Hawaii,” Sophia continued. “But I think perhaps I’d better look for some quiet place where you won’t be tempted to play tourist all the time. Like I said, let me see what I can do.”

“I guess,” Rick sighed. “It’s probably best to just sit back and let you have your way. You will, anyway. But there’s one point I ought to bring up, and that’s working out the pre-nuptial agreement.”

“I had some thoughts on that,” Rob said, pulling an envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket. “We need to get a lawyer to go over it and add his party of the first parts and party of the second parts, but I think this covers the essential points, at least from what Sophia has told me.”

He handed the envelope to Rick, who opened it – it was unsealed, and was just a single sheet of paper. He looked at it for a moment; from looking at his face Jane couldn’t get a feeling for what he was thinking. “I can afford this, right?” he asked finally.

“Easily,” Rob told him. “I can’t tell you right now whether you could do it out of current accounts, or whether it might be better to peel off a little stock if the time comes. It’ll have to depend on the situation at that time, but the money is no problem.”

“I guess the husband is supposed to pay for the honeymoon,” he said. “If you’re right, I ought to be able to handle that.” He handed the paper to Jane.

She looked it over quickly and had to suppress some surprise. If the marriage lasted less than a year she would receive ten thousand dollars for each month they were married. If it lasted over one year, the figure would be a quarter million, and half a million if it lasted over two years. The figures were roughly what Sophia had talked about when it had first been brought up, but to see them on paper was another thing. It was a lot of money if the marriage failed. But if it didn’t . . . well, Rob said Rick could afford this amount “easily.” It may have been a reward for failure, but it seemed to her like there could be a much bigger reward for its success. Somehow she didn’t think she’d have much problem lasting with Rick for two years . . . and maybe lots longer.

There were another couple clauses; the one that caught her eye was that if the marriage were to fail on account of adultery on her part, she’d receive nothing. If on his part – not likely, she thought – she’d receive double the then-current award.

She stared at the paper for a minute. Even with what had been said in the last few minutes, it had seemed theoretical up until now. This made it seem very real. “Works for me,” she said finally.

“Good,” Rob said. “I know a lawyer who ought to be able to draft something up pretty quickly. I’m sure we could have it tomorrow if we need to. Now, what do you say if we call the waitress over here and order dinner?”

“Yes, I’ve been thinking about that,” Sophia agreed. “I’m partial to the pepper steaks they have here.”

Jane glanced over at Rick, who seemed content, with a mild smile on his face. Mrs. Jane Thredford, she thought. Mr. and Mrs. Rick Thredford. She sort of liked the sound of that.

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.