Rome-Mance

Michael sat next to Jennifer in the bar a sad look on her face. John got worried again that he was being brought down to discuss the kiss he and Jennifer had the other night or possibly his slip with Vittoria today. He was nervous when he sat down. "Hello Michael, Jennifer."

Michael leaned closer to John as he spoke, "I need a favor again from you. Jennifer has spent a couple of days trying to convince me to go to Venice with her for the weekend."

Feeling relieved that he wasn't being interrogated about their kiss he smiled. "That's a great idea. You two would have a great time there. I've always thought that would be an interesting place to visit."

Michael grinned. "I'm glad you think that, the favor I need is this. Can I talk you into going to Venice for the weekend with Jennifer to keep her company?"

John's face showed his surprise at the request. "Why wouldn't you want to go, it sounds like the perfect place for you both to go, get away and spend some together?" As he said that Jennifer perked up and looked over to Michael.

"Yes, I agree that it would be a great place to visit, but with all that I have to do this weekend to complete this deal, I really need to stay here. But on the other hand, I don't want Jennifer to miss out on seeing Venice just because I've got to work. Would you please do this for me? I'll pay for everything again. I can even make all of the hotel reservations for you two from here along with your transportation arrangements." Hearing Michael get out of going again her sad face returned.

John sat there stunned for a moment. Of course his first thought was he would love to see Venice, especially with Jennifer as his companion, who wouldn't. But he felt bad for Jennifer. He could see by her expression that she was disappointed that Michael wasn't willing to go with her. "Well, I would love to see Venice, but I'm sure Jennifer would rather have you going along than me."

"I would rather be going with her too, but I must get the contracts settled this weekend. Remember, we are leaving this coming Wednesday morning early so everything has to be done by Tuesday night. That only gives me a few more days to wrap this all up. I'll be spending long hours to get it all done as it is. I don't want Jennifer to sit around all weekend when she could be sightseeing in Venice. So what do you say, I would be very grateful if you did this?"