Take a Chance

by Simone Jaine

  Eben knew Jason was distressed by having to rely on others to communicate with his wife as ICU wouldn’t allow cell phones and personal calls weren’t allowed.

  “That’d be great, thanks,” replied Jason. “Is she feeling much better?”

  “I don’t think she’s noticed overly much improvement since yesterday when we spoke but they’re still giving her the good stuff so the pain is under control. Her bruises are turning lots of pretty colours now.”

  “Maybe we should take a photo.”

  “I somehow think she wouldn’t appreciate that and I’m sure Jem would injure me if I tried to take one,” Eben said with his smile in his voice.

  “So how is that plan of yours to get my sister-in-law to realise she can’t live without you going?”

  “I’m making progress,” Eben said modestly when he actually felt like punching the air in triumph over the headway he had made. “I think she is coming around.”

  “And are the kids still behaving themselves?”

  “Of course. They’ve been little angels,” Eben said, crossing his fingers. “We took them to the zoo today.”

  The conversation flowed around their visit to the zoo then turned to work matters. After they hung up Eben caught himself making notes on a pad beside his computer.

  I’m turning into one of them, he thought in mock horror and grinned.

  Feeling a lot more relaxed and happier, Eben flexed his fingers and started editing the information on his screen. Before long he was in his zone and didn’t hear Jem’s arrival until she muttered something as she tried to push open the office door with her hip as her hands held mugs of hot chocolate.

  She saw the Spider Solitaire screen blink over whatever Eben had been looking at and he turned to look at her with a cautious smile on his face.

  Had she seen anything?

  Chapter 21

  “Whatcha doing?” asked Jem as she set the cup on the desk beside the mouse pad which was on the left side of the computer because Eben was left handed.

  “Nothing much,” Eben raked a hand through his hair and stretched in his seat. “Just surfing the net.”

  He picked up a pen and started twirling it in his long capable fingers.

  “Porn sites?” she asked.

  The pen went flying out of his hand, clattered on the desk then went rolling off the corner to land on the floor.

  “What? No I’m not,” Eben said, annoyed.

  He got to his hands and knees to reach the pen and bring it back to the desk top.

  “You really don’t think much of me do you?” Eben growled as he settled back in his seat, his earlier feeling of wellbeing gone.

  “No. I mean yes?” said Jem.

  “Which one is it?”

  Eben’s mood blackened as Jem took her time considering her answer. He was about to tell her to forget it when she spoke.

  “I do think a lot of you. In the time we’ve been here since the accident you’ve put the kids and my needs before yours. You’ve even stayed here to help out when you could have easily gone home and left me to it.”

  Jem dropped into the chair adjacent to his and continued earnestly.

  “Not only that but you’ve looked after the kids so I could sit with Jess while she was in a coma. That meant so much to me and I appreciate it more than you know.”

  “But you just see me as a good time beach bum and someone to temporarily take your mind off your worries. I’m not someone who would interest you in the long haul. Mr Perfect I’m definitely not.”

  “No you’re not,” Jem agreed.

  Eben scowled.

  “You’re not perfect. No one is. What you are is dependable, loyal and fun to be with,” Jem began.

  “You make me sound like a dog,” Eben complained, although he felt a bit better about their relationship. He was sure she was naming qualities she wouldn’t have applied to him before this week.

  Jem looked at him mischievously.

  “If I said “down boy” would you?” she asked.

  Eben took a sip of his hot chocolate to hide his smile.

  “Try it and see,” he suggested.

  Jem dipped a finger into the top of her hot chocolate and retrieved a marshmallow surrounded in froth. She put her finger in her mouth and sucked the sweet, gooey mixture off.

  “Down boy,” Jem purred to him over the steam rising from her mug.

  Eben set his mug down on the desk and moved to position himself on the floor between Jem’s knees, keeping eye contact the whole time.

  Jem fumbled with her mug as she placed it without looking onto the desk beside her. She didn’t seem to notice his hands reach up underneath her skirt and quickly skim her underwear from her hips as she was still looking into his eyes.

  Eben kneeled forward and broke eye contact to look at what he had uncovered. His head then bowed low and Jem soon found herself gripping her seat with both hands.

  The hot chocolate was forgotten.

  The next morning when the alarm went off Eben’s hand reached out to turn it off and knocked the alarm clock off the bedside table instead. Jem felt the warmth she had been snuggled up to move away and the blankets pull over her as he leaned over the side of the bed to pick it up. Then Eben cursed as his head caught the edge of the bedside table when he lifted himself upright. All the while the alarm’s shrill beeping continued. His fingers fumbled for the off switch and found it.

  “We should set this thing to radio,” he muttered to Jem. “I don’t think it’s healthy to wake with your heart beating so fast.”

  She murmured something and snuggled against him. Amused, he patted the lump in the bed beside his hip.

  “Wakey, wakey sunshine. Time to up and at ‘em,” Eben sang.

  “It can’t be morning already,” Jem sleepily groaned from beneath the covers.

  “Afraid so,” said Eben as he slid out of bed.

  He grabbed her hands to pull her to a sitting position.

  “How come you’re so full of beans this morning?” Jem asked tiredly.

  “Maybe it’s on account of my stamina,” suggested Eben and easily dodged the pillow Jem threw at him. “Now, now, that’s not friendly and I’m trying to be helpful.”

  “I’m supposed to be the morning person,” she told him as she reluctantly got out of bed.

  Eben bit the inside of his cheek. He was going to make a remark about him being more youthful but he thought she was still a little sensitive about the age difference and decided not to bring it up.

  “Maybe when you have nights as good as I have been it makes you keener to start the day,” he suggested instead.

  “Glad to be of help,” she grumbled as she headed for the ensuite.

  When she got in the shower he joined her. For once, his hands were almost businesslike in the manner he soaped her body and helped her to rinse. Jem returned the favour, lingering on the more interesting places until Eben pulled her hand away.

  “Don’t start something you don’t plan to finish,” he told her huskily.

  “You’re right,” Jem teasingly sighed as she leaned her head to rest on his collar bone. “I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s just the effect you have on me.”

  “As long as no one else has this effect on you I guess it’s okay,” said Eben generously as he held her against him. He was rewarded with a laugh.

  “How big of you to allow it,” replied Jem.

  Something firm nudged Jem’s hip.

  “Glad you noticed.”

  They both sighed, knowing they didn’t have time or really the energy to go further. The hot water sluiced over them as they stood embracing each other.

  “Do you want to get the kids up or do their lunches and breakfast?” asked Jem after several moments passed.

  “Definitely get the kids up,” said Eben.

  “I was hoping you’d say the lunches,” said Jem. “They’re so fussy. Would you believe that Daisy didn’t eat her sandwich on Thursday because they were cut into squares instea
d of triangles?”

  “Why do you think I chose to get the kids up?”

  Neither made a move to get out of the shower.

  “Tell you what. Let’s play paper, scissors, rock. Winner gets the kids out of bed,” suggested Eben. “On the count of three. One, two, three.”

  Eben held his hand out as a rock which Jem’s “paper” immediately covered.

  Jem laughed and got out of the shower leaving Eben in it alone.

  She grabbed a towel from the heated rail and started patting herself dry. Eben stuck his head out the shower door.

  “Best of three?” he asked.

  She shook her head and left the ensuite to get dressed.

  By the time she got the children down for breakfast she was more than ready to hand them over. Aidan climbed up the bar stool wearing his Batman outfit. He refused to put on anything else so Jem had given up that fight.

  Daisy sat at the breakfast bar eating nutella toast so Jem used the distraction of breakfast to keep Daisy occupied while she repeatedly tried to part her hair neatly to plait each side. When she was finally successful she celebrated her achievement by tying pink ribbons into bows at the ends.

  Eben nudged a plate with a couple of pieces of toast on it towards her.

  “This is for you.”

  Jem looked at the nicely halved slices of ginger and lime marmalade toast and said in a put-on whiny voice “I wanted them cut into triangles.”

  “They taste the same no matter the shape,” Eben told her.

  “Okay.”

  Jem picked up a piece and took a bite.

  “This is delicious,” she told him.

  When Jem finished her toast Eben took the plate away.

  “I have to go out this morning so I can drop Jeremy and Daisy on the way,” Eben said as he put the plate in the dishwasher.

  “Thanks for that,” said Jem. “It’ll mean I can see Jess and be back in time to supervise the marquee being packed away.”

  “What about the stuff in the garage?”

  “Greg’s car has a towbar and since he had to be out this way today he offered to hire a trailer and take it back,” she answered absently, distracted by Jeremy pulling a box out of the freezer.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’m taking the swan to school for news,” Jeremy told her and patted the box after setting it on the bench.

  “It’ll melt,” Jem pointed out.

  “We have news first,” Jeremy said.

  “What will you do with it afterwards?” Jem asked.

  “He can give it to his teacher so she can make margaritas in the staffroom,” Eben said as he distributed raincoats to Jeremy and Daisy.

  “I want a margarita,” said Daisy.

  “No you don’t,” said Jem. “They contain alcohol.”

  “I never get alcohol,” said Daisy glumly as she allowed Eben to button her raincoat.

  Cherie ushered Eben into Jem’s office at Sachs Wall and closed the door behind them.

  “That went well, don’t you think?” she asked.

  Eben rubbed his hand over his face then dropped it.

  “On the whole, yes. Forgive me any disrespect but if that idiot boss of yours asked any more inane questions I would have thrown something at his head.”

  Cherie laughed and gestured for Eben to take the seat behind the desk while she took one closer to the door. She placed a clipboard on the desk and nudged it towards him.

  “Please tell me he doesn’t touch the computers,” said Eben as he picked up the clipboard.

  “He doesn’t touch the computers,” said Cherie with a straight face then held up her crossed fingers.

  Eben smiled despite himself.

  “I can’t tell you how much we are all looking forward to having this new system to work with. Your favourite student chose the last one and insisted we use it long after it proved to be rubbish.”

  “It doesn’t surprise me.”

  “Well you certainly did,” Cherie said. “I never expected you to be the one teaching us the new system.”

  “Why not?” Eben asked. “I did help design it.”

  “Jem never mentioned you worked for her brother-in-law’s company,” Cherie told him bluntly.

  “Jem never told you that Jason and I are business partners,” Eben corrected, “because she doesn’t know.”

  “How can she not know?” Cherie asked incredulously. “She spends a lot of time with her sister and her husband works from home.”

  “Let’s just say it’s a well-kept secret and I’d appreciate it if you keep it that way.”

  “Why? What on earth do you hope to achieve by keeping your partnership a secret?” Cherie demanded. She mentally ran through possible reasons. “You’ve got to know that Jem isn’t a gold-digger if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “Of course I know that. It’s more about her dumping her preconceptions of who I am. Some things she has to work out for herself.”

  Cherie sat back in her chair and straightened thoughtfully.

  “I think I see. She has obviously misjudged you at some point and instead of correcting her you are going to let her embarrass herself working out the truth.”

  Eben began nodding then abruptly stopped.

  “No! I don’t want to embarrass her. I just want her to want me the way I am instead of thinking she wants some uptight, career focussed, money orientated jerk instead.”

  “Ah! I see how it is now.”

  “Jem has always said you’re very smart.”

  Eben picked up a pen from Jem’s desk and started rolling it between his hands while Cherie stood and smiled at him.

  “I’ll leave you to your tutorials now and I’ll keep your secret,” she said. “But you had better let her know how you feel about her.”

  Cherie walked over to the door.

  “In the meanwhile you can start by giving a tutorial to our biggest uptight, career focussed, money orientated jerk.”

  Eben looked at the first name on the clipboard and smiled.

  After Cherie left the room he pushed his chair back from the desk. He started setting up the lap top which he had left on the desk before giving the software demonstration in the conference room. For the purpose of the tutorials, only test data would be used so anyone not following instructions wouldn’t create problems.

  He knelt down to look for the power board to plug his lap top in and saw a folded up piece of paper. Eben almost ignored it but noticed how worn it looked. He picked it up and was about to unfold it when there was a brief tap on the door before it started opening.

  Eben slid the paper into his pocket and sat back in the chair. He noticed the self-assured smile on his visitor as he stepped into the room.

  “Hi Mark,” said Eben. “Cherie said you were first up.”

  Chapter 22

  Jem winced as the smoke detector started shrieking. Beside her Jeremy and Daisy clapped their hands over their ears.

  “Stop noise!” Aidan wailed as he ran to Jem.

  Jem looked at the burning, rolled up paper in her hand with annoyance. She tried puffing out the small flames but all that did was produce more smoke. With little choice left to her she held the glowing end under the running tap. The potential blaze immediately hissed out.

  The alarm in the family room abruptly stopped. Turning around she saw Eben stalking towards them. He’d obviously just turned it off.

  “What’s going on?” he asked then spied the ashes all over the bench. He looked at Jem. “They’re not trying to set things on fire now are they?”

  “No, nothing like that,” Jem assured him and forced the rolled paper into Jeremy’s hand. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear with overt casualness. “It’s just a school project not going as expected.”

  “What did you expect a piece of paper set on fire to do?”

  “I’ve got to make a treasure map for homework, Uncle Eben,” interrupted Jeremy. “I wanted it to have burned edges to make i
t more athen.. authin.. real so Aunty Jem said she’d do it for me.”

  “What happened?” Eben asked Jem.

  “I couldn’t find matches or a lighter so tried to burn it on the stove element. It took a while to catch alight but made plenty of smoke in the meanwhile. Then it was hard to put out,” Jem admitted.

  She gestured vaguely towards the smoke detector which chirped to let them know there was still smoke around.

  Eben pushed open the window above the kitchen sink and the chilled evening air rushed in to dilute the smoke.

  “My map’s wet,” Jeremy complained as a dribble of water rolled off the paper and onto his hand.

  “It’ll be okay,” Jem soothed. “After you had finished your map I was going to soak it in coffee to stain it to make it look old. How about we leave it on the bench to dry then have another go after dinner?”

  “Okay,” said Jeremy, immediately pacified. “May I play on the computer now?”

  “Sure,” said Jem.

  With the excitement over, Daisy and Aidan had already gone back to the hut they had built out of sofa cushions and blankets in the family room. She reluctantly turned to face Eben, not wanting to be teased about producing enough smoke to set off the alarm.

  Instead Eben gave her a big hug.

  “That alarm had me worried for a few moments,” he said against the top of her head.

  “It wasn’t intentional,” said Jem.

  “I know that,” he said.

  They stood like that for several seconds then the oven timer went off.

  Letting go of each other Jem turned off the timer while Eben closed the window since the smoke from the map had dissipated and wood smoke from neighbourhood chimneys had started drifting in.

  “I see that the giant marshmallow in the back yard has gone,” he commented as he turned back towards her.

  “Yes. The hire place people turned up just as I was about to leave to see Jess,” Jem said as she peeked in the oven door then turned the timer back on for another couple of minutes.