Is this destiny?

Sophia looked at Jeff and JoAnna and shook her head. Considering their personalities, it\'s no wonder that they reached here.

Sophia spoke to JoAnna: "Anna, if you want your marriage with Jeff to work, you need to talk. Pick one thing, a big one, and work from there. See if you can come up with a solution on how to fix it. In my opinion, you made a mistake by waiting this long so that you don\'t know where to start. And both of you made a mistake by thinking that just being together and loving each other is enough. I noticed that the two of you are burying your problems under other things, instead of solving them. That can provide a short-term fix, but it is not enough to compensate for the fact that the two of you don\'t know how to compromise. It is all or nothing."

Sophia paused and took a deep breath when she realized that she started preaching. "What I\'m trying to say is: you need to talk about your relationship and make tweaks as you go so that you avoid this happening again. Figure out what works for you; are you going to voice out the smallest thing as soon as it happens, or will you have a weekly or a monthly time where you will sit and discuss things in a batch?"

Sophia gave JoAnna a knowing look. "You need to talk about what is bothering you. Without saying it, Jeff will assume that you are OK with it."

JoAnna took a deep breath and turned to Jeff. "I am upset that I barely get to see you. This pregnancy was supposed to be a blessing, and it turned into imprisonment. You kiss the belly in the morning and in the evening, and what about me? The whole day I don\'t see you. I have aches and cramps and cravings, and you are not there. I thought that we were supposed to do this together." JoAnna glanced at Bridgette while she continued talking to Jeff. "Biddy is a great company and I appreciate her daily efforts to cheer me up, but she can\'t fill up the gap left by you. And you leaving the company is not a solution. How can I relax if I know that thousands of people who work at White corp. might be suffering because you abandoned them?"

"I can work part-time.", Jeff suggested. "And I will prioritize to work from home whenever possible."

"I don\'t think you can.", Sophia interjected. "You are a workaholic and you have a need to be in control. You can start part-time, but soon those four-to-five hours will become six-to-seven and one by one, emergencies will pile up when you need to be there in person, and without you realizing it, you will be back to where you are now."

Jeff was exasperated. He knows that Sophia is probably right, but he does not have a better idea. "Do you have a suggestion that will work?"

Sophia nodded. "You will need to go through a behavioral change. It will not be simple to modify your habits, but if you keep reminding yourself why you are doing it, it might work. Pick the time when you work and stick to it. If you can\'t do it by yourself, hire a lifestyle coach. To make the transition easier, you should get more people you can trust around you. Based on my observation, you trust only Oscar and Steve enough to leave the office in their care. All this was triggered by your need for additional help. When you are trying to hire another assistant, looking at the performance and achievements does not mean anything if you don\'t trust them to attend meetings as your proxies and to make decisions in your place."

Jeff \'s brows furrowed. "You speak like it\'s easy to find trustworthy people."

Sophia spread her arms. "Look around this room. We can\'t take your job, and neither of us wants to, but we can take some of your load. And each of us has the means to make your job easier."

At these words, everyone looked at Sophia with puzzled expressions, especially Sarah and Aiden.

It\'s a common knowledge that Sarah and Aiden are avoiding to go to the office, why is Sophia bringing up that they can help? She is not thinking of making them actually go to work? They like working from home.

Sophia ignored Sarah\'s glare and continued talking to Jeff. "Allow me to start with my contribution. We already spoke previously that we should work on exchanging company-specific knowledge so that in time we can act as each other\'s substitutes when needed, but that is a process, and we need something that will produce results sooner. With Steve\'s availability being uncertain, you will need another assistant, and I believe that I know the person."

Jeff was unable to guess who the trustworthy person on Sophia\'s mind is. "Who?"

Sophia made a dramatic pause before responding: "Leah. She worked by my side for years, so she has an idea of what to expect as CEO\'s assistant. She is currently under-utilized in administration, and I\'m confident that if Pam is not my assistant, Leah would be willing to return to her old job. Talk to her, I\'m sure that she will be willing to consider working with Steve as your assistant. Make sure to point out to her that even though at first she will work with Steve, you are not looking for Steve\'s helper because as the time passes, Steve will be more and more absent from work up to the point when he takes over the Long Industries and as such he will not be your assistant anymore. You are looking for your next assistant and this initial period will be a transition for her to ease into work and learn from Steve. Bonus is that Leah and Pam are getting along great, so my current assistant is already in sync with your future one."

Jeff nodded in agreement. He was never close to Leah, but his impression of her is positive. Also, the plan related to Steve will require slow execution, and it will probably take years until it actually happens but in the end, Steve will be the CEO of Long Industries (if it works). How he sees it, he can give Leah a try, at this point he has no better candidate.

Jeff turned to JoAnna. "What do you think? Will you be OK with Leah working closely with me?"

JoAnna was surprised that Jeff is asking for her approval. He never asked her about anything related to his work. She remembered Vera, and realized how that incident prompted Jeff to ask her if she is fine with another woman (aka Leah) to work close to him. It showed her that he learned something, and that is a step in the direction to fix things. "I trust that Leah is professional, and she will do her work properly. I can vouch for her character, and it is up to you to check her qualifications and how you work with her."

Jeff looked gratefully at JoAnna. Finally, he had a feeling that they are making progress. This is the first thing she approved, it\'s not a big thing, but it\'s more than a zero.

"Don\'t relax yet.", Sophia warned Jeff. "That is only the assistant position. White corp. is large, and you will need more people who you can trust within the company…"

Sophia\'s gaze moved to Sarah and Aiden who both blinked at Sophia, obviously not getting her hint.

"Your kids.", Sophia reminded them. "They are young, but most of them are taking college-level courses and Jeff is personally teaching them about business."

Sarah and Aiden exchanged glances and they understood where Sophia is going with this.

"Our kids are almost done with exams and they can join White corp. over summer." Sarah voiced her thoughts (and Sophia\'s) while speaking to Jeff. "You know them. They are smart, trustworthy, and eager to learn. This can be a practical training or internship during summer. Put them to work next to directors or managers, kids will learn about how the company works and part of their job will be to keep an eye out…"

Sophia agreed. "If kids find something suspicious, they will inform you…"

They all know that the only ones who can fix relationship problems between Jeff and JoAnna are the two of them, but if lack of time is a problem, others can help them out.

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