In the weeks and months that followed Mom's breakup with John, one might think our collective personal lives and business connections might have suffered somewhat because of it. But, to the contrary, our lives continued almost as though nothing untoward had ever happened. John and Mom had seemed to reach a depth of understanding where they were both able to maintain a true warmth of friendship without sexual intimacy. Mom was equally adamant that Mable and I follow her example of understanding and forgiveness. As such, John remained an integral part of the business as my partner and was still a frequent and welcomed dinner guest at our house.
Eleanor, however, was another matter. Mable suggested removing her altogether from our list of clients and I concurred. John came to Eleanor's defense, however, pointing out that Eleanor had, by her word of mouth alone, brought us well over a dozen new clients. He even offered to take over Eleanor's account personally and to be her primary source of contact to eliminate our having to deal with her personally. Mable and I shared a smile over that, assuming he was, in all likelihood, hoping to continue a sexual relationship with Eleanor as well.
Once John and I were through with the burden of having to attend school, our computer maintenance business began to grow at an unprecedented rate. Between Mable's herculean efforts to canvas office buildings within her sphere of business influence, along with the surprising explosion of new clients brought to us purely by word of mouth, our appointment calendar quickly reached critical mass where John and I were running our asses off from morning to evening.
After a discussion, Mable and I visited a local post-secondary IT school to interview prospective new employees and were happy to offer positions to Bonnie and Margot, two female students who both had a wealth of computer experience and came with glowing references for dependability and trustworthiness.
John and I each took one of the new girls under our wing and, within a few days, they were both up and running seamlessly without supervision. We offered them both part-time positions with a better than average wage, promising them full-time employment if they wanted it in the near future. In less than a week, each woman was working independently on a calendar that worked with their school schedule and alleviated a great deal of pressure on John and me.
Then, just when things seemed to be leveling out, Mable came to us one day bursting with excitement. She presented us with a prospect that, if it came to pass, would move Jamble into an entirely new income tax bracket. She had been presented with a proposal from a large local real estate company to take over the tech support for the entire company. They had previously outsourced their tech support to a company in the Philippines and had been very unhappy with their work. It would mean maintaining an on-sight presence for either John or myself as well as necessitating that both of us become knowledgeable and up to speed with all of the tools involved with Server administration, such as Active Directory and Group Policy Management.
Waiting for the requisite 90 days to relieve their current tech support of their duties, John and I had a window of opportunity to gain the knowledge we needed. At the recommendation of Margot and Bonnie, we enrolled in the same IT school they attended for a boot-camp crash course in Server 2012 and 2016, to apprise ourselves of the ins-and-outs of server administration so as to be able to work seamlessly and effectively for the real estate company once we had the tech support contract.
John was extremely enthusiastic about the on-site position of tech support, so it was decided he would be our liaison there. He and I both put in a few long nights rebuilding their server and bringing the group policies up to our liking, but then it was his to run while I maintained the day to day running of Jamble with Bonnie and Margot. Upon their recommendations, we brought on another student named Amir and quickly brought him up to speed as well.
With John in the new position of on-site tech support manager, I saw much less of him. But we kept in touch daily by phone for updates or if he needed a hand with the server. He confessed to me one day that he had a new love interest that kept him busy in his off-hours. When pressed, he wouldn't reveal the new girl's identity, saying he preferred to keep his personal life private from now on and seemed very happy.
Mom finally confided to us how, just before his unfortunate dalliance with Eleanor, John had revealed to her his desire to have sex with Mable and had asked her about the possibility of inviting Mable for a threesome some evening. The request had actually hurt Mom's feelings, as she had begun to have definite feelings for John at that point and had suggested pointedly that perhaps John should take that particular subject up with Mable and leave her out of it. I finally came to understand what that little estrangement in their relationship had been about on the day we had gone over to Eleanor's.
For me, however, I seemed to fall deeper in love with Mable with every passing day. We spent so much time together that Mom finally spoke up and chastised her for keeping her apartment and paying her exorbitant monthly rent when she was basically living at our house all the while.
It didn't take long for Mable to see the wisdom in Mom's words. She discussed it with me in private that night to make sure I would be okay with the proposed living arrangement. I couldn't be happier, I told her, and we sealed the deal with over an hour of lovemaking. Arrangements were made with a local moving company to put her furniture in storage and Mable turned in her notice with the apartment manager.
I'm not exactly sure when I decided that I wanted to ask Mable to marry me. I suppose it had always been lurking there in the back of my mind, but lately, the thought became ever-present in my thoughts.
One afternoon while passing a jewelry store in a mall, I looked over the selection of engagement rings purely to get an idea of the range of prices. Impulsively, I purchased one that very day, with savings I had accrued over time, and took to carrying it with me every day and waiting for what I was hoping might be the perfect opportunity to propose to Mable.
Of course, it went without saying that I had no idea what Mable's answer might be. I felt in my heart that she would accept but nagging doubts in the back of my mind kept were always present. She was of the same age as my Mom, which presented quite a quandary. While I was certain it had no bearing on how I felt about her or how much I wanted her to be my wife, it certainly gave me pause to consider how she might feel about marrying someone as young as I.
Seeking counsel from my most trusted source, I took Mom aside one afternoon. "I've been thinking about asking Mable to marry me," I said, watching her eyes to gauge her reaction.
"Oh?" She said, her lips curling into a smile. "Well, frankly, it's about goddamn time."
We both laughed. "So...I'm guessing you're okay with it?" I grinned.
"Of course I am, honey," she said, taking me in her arms. "I can't imagine anyone in the entire world better for you than Mable. When are you planning on asking her?"
I shrugged. I hadn't thought about it all that much, only that I wanted it to happen. "I don't know, Mom," I said, "I guess I'm probably a little worried about what she might say if I ask her."
Mom nodded and smiled, "Is it the age thing you're worried about? Because if it is, you can put that out of your mind right now. Mable loves you, Jimmy. I don't think the age difference will matter to her one iota."
Relief course over me and I couldn't help but smile. Even though I still had more than a few misgivings about it, Mom's confidence eased my mind tremendously.
"Have you thought about buying a ring yet?" She asked.
I nodded and smiled, reaching into my pocket for the little red velvet pouch, opening it to let the ring slide out into the palm of her hand.
"Oh, Jimmy, it's beautiful," she gasped, holding the ring to let the diamond catch the sunlight cascading in from the window. "Mable will absolutely love it."
