by Simone Jaine
“Yes,” said Greg, taking her lead. “We’ve been at the office all day finishing off our material and getting everything printed. It just made sense to come together seeing as Cherie knew the way.”
Evie handed her a small gift wrapped box. With all the excitement she hadn’t noticed her holding it.
“This is for you,” she said.
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Jem protested.
“It’s to thank you for giving us the opportunity to see our sales through,” Evie told her.
“It’s not like Mark would have included us,” added Greg.
“Thank you,” said Jem and took the parcel. It was heavier than it looked. “Shall I open it now?”
“If you like,” said Evie.
Eben returned to watch Jem slide the ribbon off the box and lift the lid. Inside sat a selection of her favourite handmade chocolates.
“Oh you guys shouldn’t have,” exclaimed Jem as she extracted the card that listed the varieties. “Hazelnut fudge! My favourite! Thank you.”
She held the box of chocolates against her chest and looked at Jeremy and Daisy to see if they were watching. Fortunately they were now engrossed in looking at pictures in Sonia’s text book.
“I would share but I like them too much. Please excuse me while I put these in a very safe place,” she said and managed to walk between closely placed furniture to the guest room where she hid the chocolates under her pillow.
When she returned Eben had taken Greg and Evie to select a drink. In their absence Cherie took the opportunity to quiz her friend.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” asked Jem.
“Well yesterday you were the mother from Little House on the Prairie and today you are Jessica Rabbit.”
Jem tried to tug up her bodice but gave up.
“I had to borrow some of my sister’s clothes and she’s shorter than I am,” she said.
“So you did your makeup like the Joker to keep attention on your face?” asked Cherie.
“No. It’s what happens if you make the mistake of falling asleep and my niece finds you,” Jem said.
Cherie bit her lip to stop smiling.
“The kids are something aren’t they?”
“Yes,” said Jem. “I think they’d be perfect in advertisements for birth control.”
Cherie had to laugh at that.
“They’re not that bad,” she said.
“Wanna bet?” asked Jem. “They’re relentless. If Eben hadn’t been here to help me I’d be nuts about now.”
“Really? He’s a man of many talents, is Eben.”
“Yep. I’m just beginning to realise the man has hidden depths,” said Jem with a private smile.
Cherie smiled knowingly at her.
“What?” asked Jem.
After a few moments Cherie realised Jem wasn’t going to elaborate.
“Shall we join the others for a drink?” Cherie asked.
She moved across the room and looked behind her. “Are you coming?”
“I can’t really walk in these shoes,” Jem admitted. “I’m not used to heels, let alone ones these high.”
Cherie walked back to Jem, disgustingly stable on heels of a similar height. Jem watched her move, reluctantly impressed.
Is this why gymnasts are usually short? They get that extra practise balancing on high heels?
“Did you do gymnastics at school?” Jem blurted without thinking.
“Yes. Walking in high heels was the first thing we learned when we put on our leotards,” Cherie said with amusement, knowing how her friend’s mind worked. “Now pay attention.”
“The problem is that you’re used to walking as we are intended to,” she continued. “Now you have to learn to walk like a fashion model. Toe, heel, toe heel.”
Cherie walked up and down the room demonstrating.
“Just walk on tip-toe and see if that helps.”
Jem took a few tentative steps. It was to her advantage that the shoes were tight and held firmly to her feet.
“I can do it!” she exclaimed.
Eban, Greg and Evie entered the room.
“Looks like we’re missing the floor show lads,” said Evie.
“At least we get first choice of the best seats,” added Greg.
Eban handed Cherie and Jem a glass of red wine each.
“Thanks,” they said.
“Hey, you look different now Jem,” said Greg.
Jem froze. Could they see her blue eyelids from when she whooshed her hair out of her eyes?
Greg eyed her intently while Evie rolled her eyes. Jem felt her face warming again.
“She’s had her hair cut,” Evie finally prompted.
“Yes, that’s it,” said Greg. “Nice ‘do.”
“Thanks,” said Jem, raising her glass. “And here’s hoping tonight is a nice ‘do’ as well.”
They toasted each other and took a sip of their drinks.
Jem looked at the ice clinking around in Greg’s whiskey glass. It made her remember something.
“The swan,” she exclaimed.
“Still in the freezer,” Eben said and hurriedly limped to the kitchen to retrieve the box from the freezer. On the way he remembered to dump the condoms in the bin.
Didn’t need them anyway, he consoled himself.
Jem followed Eben to the kitchen with the rest of the curious guests behind her. She was in time to see Eben open the freezer door only to have several packages of frozen meat fall on his foot.
“Are you okay?” Jem asked when he cursed.
“No. I’ve got to get steel capped shoes,” Eben muttered.
He pulled out the box and set it on the bench while Jem hurriedly stuffed the meat back into the freezer and closed the door. Eben put the kitchen gloves on and lifted out the ice swan sculpture and set it on a tray. He looked over his shoulder at Jem.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“What happened to it?” Jem asked.
Eben turned his head to look at the swan and winced. He thought he had done a good job of repairing the swan’s neck but it looked as though his mend hadn’t held. The head and top part of the neck had slipped lower and in the process had turned around so the swan’s head was facing its back. Then it had obviously refrozen in that position.
“Whoa, that’s a cool duck!” said Greg as he grabbed a handful of corn chips.
“Yeah. It’s like, twisted,” said Crash.
More like Swan meets The Exorcist, thought Jem.
The deformed ice sculpture was yet another unanticipated treat for her co-workers and the clients hadn’t even arrived yet. If things like this kept happening she might miss out on the promotion but felt she should deserve an award for surviving the evening.
I’ll pretend it’s happening to someone else, Jem thought. Anyway, who cares about the ice swan?
Mark did. He was going to have a cow when he saw that swan. Just the thought made her smile. Her eyes met Cherie’s and they both bit their lips to stop from laughing.
“Maybe we can decorate it with pen drives,” Cherie suggested, trying to keep a straight face as she held up a zipped bag she had brought with her.
“I nearly forgot about those. Why don’t you all come on out and help me spread them around?” she said to her co-workers.
Eben obligingly picked up the tray with the swan on it as they headed for the door. Jem walked carefully in her heels the way Cherie had shown her and they made it outside before Evie and Greg saw the marquee squatting beside the edge of the patio and stopped.
“Isn’t this a little over the top?” Evie asked, looking at the marquee wide-eyed.
“Yeah, the big top,” Greg snorted.
“I wasn’t given much choice,” Cherie said defensively “because Mark refused to change the date to one that had a decent venue free.”
“Figures he’s behind it,” said Greg disparagingly.
The tone of his comment surprised Jem as she tho
ught Mark was popular with everyone in the office.
“Won’t it be cold inside?” Evie asked, snapping Jem from her thoughts.
“Hopefully the heaters will have kicked in by then,” Jem said and opened the door flap and gestured for them to precede her.
“Wow!” said an impressed Evie as she entered and took in the sight of the marquee looking ready for a banquet.
Eben deposited the swan on the table beside where the caterers would be set up while Evie and Greg looked around.
“You look like you’ve thought of everything,” Greg said as he eyed the big screen set up at the far end of the marquee.
“I certainly hope so considering I only had since yesterday to organise the whole setup,” said Cherie. “But that is only the half of it. Without Jem and Eben’s hard work we wouldn’t have got this far.”
Evie’s eyes widened in amazement.
“You’ve done wonders in the time you’ve had,” she said, passing one of the gas heaters going with a muted hiss, realising the marquee was already comfortably warm.
“Thanks,” said Eben as he left them to head back inside.
Jem rolled her eyes at his retreating form for taking the credit on their behalf.
“It could have been worse,” Cherie admitted once the door flap shut behind him. “With working for Duh-boss I am used to organising things at the last minute. This task just turned out to be bigger than usual.”
“No kidding,” said Greg. He suddenly stopped his perusal. “You aren’t going for that promotion too, are you?” he asked seriously.
Cherie shook her head.
“Uh uh. Too far out of my comfort zone and I would miss my family too much. Besides that much responsibility would cut down on my time to find Mr Right,” Cherie said.
She was a little unsettled when Evie and Greg laughed good naturedly in response. She had been serious about finding Mr Right as her goal was to be a stay at home mother and her career was something she was only doing until the first baby came along.
Jem gave her a sympathetic nudge, used to getting flak for being so career minded instead of settling down and starting a family. Their goals might be at opposite ends of the spectrum in outlook but they respected each other’s choice.
Jem cleared her throat and indicated the bag that Cherie carried with her.
“How about we add the pen drives to the centre pieces and go back inside until people start turning up,” she suggested.
With four pairs of hands distributing pen drives the task was quickly completed. When they walked inside the kitchen they found Eben directing a group of people dressed formally in black.
“What’s going on?” Evie whispered as they picked up their wine glasses and moved into the family room to be out of the way of the new arrivals. They hovered near the breakfast bar, away from the teenagers as well as Jeremy and Daisy who were sitting on the couches and helping themselves to snacks that had been set on the coffee table before them.
“They’ll be the caterers,” Jem told her since Cherie had stayed in the kitchen to go over details.
Greg gave a low whistle.
“All the stops have been pulled out for tonight. I didn’t realise that Mark had so many potential clients lined up.”
“He doesn’t,” Jem commented absently. “I wouldn’t pass more clients to him than to anyone else.”
“Then how do you explain all this?” Evie chided gently. “We all know he’s invited some of Greg’s and my clients tonight. What’s the bet he’s invited those of other reps too?”
“Mark wouldn’t do that,” Jem responded, silently wondering why she hadn’t thought to query the magnitude of the event. “There’ll be a good reason for all this.”
“Like the reason he usually winds up with the high end clients?” Greg asked with studied casualness.
Jem was taken aback by the implied accusation that she favoured Mark when delegating high end clients to the reps.
“No he doesn’t,” Jem denied. “The last big deal he was up for he passed to you, saying you were more familiar with that aspect of the financial industry.”
Greg snorted.
“Yes. That deal sounded great; a group of independent financial advisors wanting to get a bulk deal on software. But you’ve forgotten the meaning of independent. I had to make adjustments to most of the contract with each advisor individually because they had slightly different needs. By the time I had sorted that out twenty times in twenty locations and finally got their signatures on the dotted line Mark had three other clients bagged.”
“And he’s forever in your office,” Evie commented.
“He’s just interested in what I’m working on,” said Jem defensively, not wanting to mention how frequently Mark had asked her out on a date. In their current mindset that would count against her. “At any rate he usually only pops in for a few minutes between clients and games of golf with Duh-boss.”
“If you say so,” said Evie, sounding unconvinced.
“If I were purposely giving him the fast, high end deals then why did I ask Cherie to invite you both here tonight when I found out he had invited your clients?” Jem asked.
There were a few moments of tense silence while Greg and Evie considered her question. Jem had always felt she had got on well with everyone she worked with and felt uncomfortable knowing that Greg and Evie shared an ill-conceived perception of her showing favouritism towards Mark. Did the rest of the reps feel that way?
“That’s an excellent point,” Greg finally said as he picked up a corn chip from one of the platters sitting on the breakfast bar. “I doubt you favour him over anyone else although I wouldn’t put much past Mark the Shark to ensure things go his way.”
He crunched the corn chip, decisively changing the tone of their conversation to something less weighty. His action broke the tension and the sight of a small masked figure streaking in their direction stopped Jem from asking what he meant by his last comment. The black and grey creature paused before them. Choosing Jem, Aidan backed up to her.
“I need help,” he said and swished his black cape off his shoulders with his black gloved hands.
Amused, Jem fastened the Velcro seam down his back.
“Why are you dressed like Batman, Aidan?” she asked.
“This is my Batman suit,” said Aidan.
“That explains it,” said Eben who had just joined them.
The doorbell went.
From the other side of the room the two teenage boys on the couch looked at each other with barely repressed excitement.
“Hey bro, we’re like, on,” said Crash to Sam as he stood up.
Sam set down his bowl of corn chips and they headed for the door. Jem started to follow them until she saw Jeremy stick a stalk of celery up each nostril and chase after Daisy who was being happily terrorised and shrieking as she ran.
Jem’s eyes widened but before she could say anything she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“I’ve got it,” Eben murmured behind her.
Jem nodded and looked back over her shoulder.
“Perhaps we should all stay in the marquee from now on so the clients don’t get to see behind the scenes,” she suggested to an amused Evie and Greg.
“Gotcha,” said Greg.
Jem noticed Greg ushering Evie out the ranchslider door out of the corner of her eye as she continued walking carefully to the door. With one hand trailing along the hallway wall to keep her steady she followed Sam and Crash. Behind her the shrieking stopped abruptly.
You can depend on Eben to do what he says he will, Jem thought and surprised herself by realising it was true. By the time she caught up to the Sam and Crash they had already opened the door.
Mark was on the other side.
Chapter 16
“Can we like, park your car?” Crash asked Mark.
“Sure,” said Mark and passed his car key from his pocket.
Both Sam and Crash disappeared outside.
Mark looked at Jem.
>
“I hope that is what he is going to do.”
“Yes. That’s Sam and Crash... I mean Simon. They’ve offered to be our car valets tonight so we don’t ruin my sister and brother-in-law’s lawn. Come on in,” said Jem and took his coat to hang it on the coat stand by the door.
Jem gestured for him to precede her to the family room so he wouldn’t see her stumble behind him if she momentarily forgot her toe, heel movement. From there they walked out to the marquee amongst the toing and froing wait staff from the catering company.
Eben appeared and offered Mark a drink then left to get the wine. Mark looked around the marquee.
“You’ve been busy,” he noted as he skimmed a vol au vent from a passing tray and popped it in his mouth.
Then he saw the swan and choked. Greg was the first to him and pounded his back. Mark coughed up pieces of vol au vent onto the plywood floor.
“Are you okay?” Jem asked nonchalantly as she poked the end of a carrot stick into some dip and bit the end off.
“Yes,” Mark wheezed.
“Shame. I wanted to try the Heimlich,” said Greg.
Mark’s head swivelled and took in the presence of Greg beside him, Evie further back calmly munching a handful of corn chips, with Cherie standing beside Evie calmly sipping her wine. Upon realising she was the focus of Mark’s gaze Cherie raised her glass in salute then took another sip.
Mark drew his attention back to Jem.
“What do you call that?” he asked, pointing at the deformed swan.
Jem finished chewing the carrot with dip she had in her mouth.
“I call it twisted duck,” she said.
Mark just looked at her.
“What?” Jem innocently said. “There wasn’t enough room in the freezer so the neck had to go.”
“Can we speak privately for a moment?”
“Sure,” said Jem. “Just let me get the vol au vent into the bin. I’m sure you don’t want us to lose any deposit for staining the floor.”
“Lucky you hadn’t chewed it for long,” observed Evie as Jem scooped up the pieces of vol au vent with a serviette and left the marquee to put it in the kitchen bin.
“Yes, lucky,” muttered Mark as he followed her outside.
After Jem dumped the serviette he grabbed her by the elbow and steered her down the hallway and dragged her through the first door he came across.