by Simone Jaine
At the time Jason was still working at his day job too so it must have been a nuisance for them to stop everything every time she turned up. It also explained the reason for their early departure from parties as they had to do the work they hadn’t been able to do during the day. All this time she thought it was mostly because Jason and Jess didn’t want to be out too late with a baby and that Eben had found an easy score.
Jem inwardly cringed at that thought. Okay, now she knew he had been working into the night with Jason. No wonder Eben ate so many meals with them. It would have saved time to do that rather than go out and get something then return.
If she had paid attention she would have realised he wasn’t mooching. Quite the opposite. He and Jason were using all their free hours working together to ensure their own business did well enough to support them away from their regular day jobs.
So of course she had the audacity to encourage Eben to set goals for himself. The real wonder was why Eben had decided to amuse himself by letting her think the worst of him.
“Great, I needed to remind myself of that,” she muttered.
Jem tiredly rubbed her eyes. She really needed to sleep.
Perhaps I will have a better grasp of everything in the morning, she thought as she started preparing for bed.
Eben slipped into the darkened bedroom a couple of hours later. There was a lot more work to be done but Jason had offered to keep working as long as he could if Eben took care of the children in the morning so Jason could sleep in.
As far as Eben was concerned that took care of several problems he had been facing. He could give up trying to concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing instead of running through further apologies in his head. In addition he couldn’t be expected to use the Murphy bed while Jason was still working in the office and by getting up when Jem did he might be able to persuade her to stay.
He quickly showered and slid into bed beside her. As soon as he stopped moving Jem snuggled up against him. Eben hugged her to him, cherishing the feel of her against him. Before long he fell asleep.
Jem woke seconds before the alarm clock was due to turn the radio on. She resisted the weight against her chest to reach forward and switch it off just before the time changed. Looking down she saw a dark haired forearm resting under her breasts. Unsurprised, she sighed and was glad she had switched the alarm clock to her side of the bed the night before.
She carefully prised the arm away from her and inched her way to the edge of the bed. The arm came towards her again so she moved and slid the pillow in her place. Appeased, Eben hugged the pillow to his chest.
Jem quietly got dressed and finished packing her suitcase. When she finished she left the room, closing the door behind her softly.
She intended to drop the older two off on the way to work and leave Aidan with Jason but that plan fell through a short while later.
The shrill beeping of the smoke detector got on her nerves as she unplugged the toaster in an attempt to stop the smoke pouring out of it. Jem’s hope that Eben would sleep through the racket was proved futile when he appeared in a t-shirt and boxers and stabbed the alarm button on the ceiling in the family room into silence.
The children removed their hands from their ears and continued eating breakfast without comment. Jem took the silence to mean they knew something about what had caused the toaster to produce smoke worthy of White Island.
Eben appeared beside her and held out his hand. Jem slapped the cutlery knife she had been using to prise the foreign object out of the toaster onto his palm.
“It’s all yours. Don’t electrocute yourself,” she warned him.
“I’m glad you still care,” Eben murmured as he turned the toaster upside down and began to shake it.
“I don’t want to go to the bother of phoning 111,” Jem corrected.
Crumbs started bouncing over the bench with Eben’s efforts.
“How about you do that over the sink?” she grumbled. “You’re making a mess here.”
Eben dutifully carried the toaster to the sink and after a few vigorous shakes something partially charred fell out and hissed on the sink’s wet surface. He looked closer at it.
“What is it?” Jem asked as she shook the dishcloth out she had used to wipe up the crumbs.
“It’s Daisy’s fairy eraser,” Eben said as he picked it up with thumb and forefinger. The front of the fairy was fine but her wings were now blackened stubs.
“I told you kids not to throw bits from Daisy’s pencil case around!” Jem scolded while the children watched interestedly from where they sat at the breakfast bar.
“So that’s where it landed,” said Jeremy and shrugged. He returned to finishing off his Weetbix.
Jem was about to growl something else but stopped herself. After she dropped the children off this morning she would return to her old life and they would become their parents’ problem. Strangely enough, instead of feeling relieved she felt a bit empty inside.
“Just stick to throwing balls around outside,” she stressed instead.
“Okay,” they dutifully chorused.
Daisy put down her spoon.
“Can I put one of Jeremy’s rubbers in the toaster?” she asked.
“No,” said Jem and Eben.
“I never get to make the toaster smoke,” Daisy complained.
“And we’re thankful for it,” Jem told her as she collected Daisy’s empty bowl and spoon to put in the dishwasher.
A little while later Jem called Jeremy and Daisy to the car while Eben and Aidan built block towers in the family room.
“Are you coming to the office today?” she asked Eben while she waited for Jeremy and Daisy to finish brushing their teeth.
“I’m booked in to see Nate later,” Eben said, adding a block to Aidan’s tower.
Jem pressed her lips together briefly.
“I can give you a lift there if you want,” she offered.
See? I can be mature about this despite wanting to smack a stiletto heel into your forehead, she silently congratulated herself.
“I’d like to go with you but I promised Jase I’d stay and look after Aidan until he wakes up. Maybe we can have lunch afterwards,” Eben said, watching her while he used one hand to straighten the uppermost blocks as Aidan kept stacking them higher.
I’d rather Daisy did my makeup again than have lunch with you, you deceiving bucket of zoo doo.
“I think you underestimate how much help Nate needs with the computer,” Jem said instead. “At any rate Martha mentioned wanting to have a work lunch to go over several things from our last meeting.”
“Maybe I can duck into your office to see if you’re free for lunch before I go,” Eben suggested.
I’d prefer you made yourself into a human judder bar on Queen Street.
“Okay,” Jem said noncommittally, wondering what was taking the kids so long to finish getting ready just as the blocks crashed to the floor. She couldn’t take much more mature conversation and was verging on a relapse where she said what she thought.
Jeremy and Daisy came thundering down the stairs and with relief Jem started ushering them towards the garage.
“Jem!” Eben called as she started to follow the children.
She stopped and returned to the family room doorway.
“I’m sorry I stuffed up. I never meant to hurt you,” Eben said remorsefully from where he sat amongst the fallen blocks.
Jem nodded tightly and followed the children to the car. She’d have to return the car seats before going to work but she’d leave them in the garage and not go inside. She could handle anger but if he diffused that she would be left with pain. That was something she hadn’t worked out a way to deal with.
Cherie led Eben into the staffroom and indicated he should take a seat.
“I’m sorry to have to drag you back for another tutorial with Nate,” she apologised as she flicked on the switch to the kettle.
Eben straightened the tie that was strangling
him.
“Don’t worry about it. We said we’d give personal support when needed for the next few weeks. Not all of us are computer literate.”
“Duh-boss computer literate? I doubt he could work an abacus,” Cherie snorted.
She pulled two coffee mugs from the cupboard.
“I don’t normally make others drinks but since I’m making one for myself I’ll make an exception. What would you like?”
“Do you have hot chocolate?”
Cherie rolled her eyes.
“Another one! I suppose you’d like the little marshmallows on top too?”
“Only if you have them,” Eben replied easily.
“Of course I do. You probably know that Jem has it the same way,” Cherie replied as she spooned in the powder and milk.
“Who do you think converted me?”
Cherie smirked as she placed the frothy hot chocolate in front of him.
“You’ve got it bad,” she said as she sat in the chair adjacent to his.
“Yep,” Eben agreed. He took a sip of his drink.
Cherie put her drink on the table in front of her and looked at him seriously.
“I hope you are planning to look after her. She’s had a rough time of it and you’re the first guy she’s gone out with since I started here nearly three years ago.”
“My intentions are completely honourable if that is what you are asking,” Eben replied, unfazed.
“How honourable?” Cherie asked, not completely convinced.
Eben removed the ring box from his jacket pocket and opened it in front of Cherie. He still carried it on him, still hoping that the perfect moment to propose would arrive.
“Oh that’s beautiful!” Cherie exclaimed as she admired the half carat brilliant cut solitaire. “Is it an heirloom?”
“Yes. My Pop had it made for my Nana when he proposed to her. They had a long and happy marriage. Do you think Jem will like it?” he asked.
Eben already had Jess’s approval but wanted Cherie’s opinion seeing as she and Jem were close friends.
“I think she will love it,” Cherie told him sincerely.
He breathed out a sigh of relief just as Mark wandered into the room.
“What’s this?” he asked, moving to Cherie’s side of the table to get a better view of the ring.
“Are you proposing to her?” he asked in surprise.
“No, he’s got it for Jem,” Cherie told him. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
Mark examined the ring from where he stood.
“Aren’t you doing very well financially?” he asked bluntly.
“What do you mean?” Eben asked, trying very hard to be polite.
It is not good manners to thump the client’s employees.
Mark gestured to the ring.
“The stone’s a bit on the small side isn’t it? Aren’t you supposed to spend six week’s salary on a ring? That one either says you’re poor or you’re cheap,” Mark informed him.
Mark scratched his head and leaned forward to look at the ring more closely.
“Actually it looks a bit on the old side. Did you raid your mother’s costume jewellery box?”
“Shut up Mark. You’re being incredibly rude and don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cherie snapped before Eben could respond. “Didn’t they teach you manners at that exclusive boys’ school you keep harping on about?”
While Cherie scolded Mark, Eben flipped the lid shut and slipped the box into his pocket feeling less certain about the ring. Maybe Jem wouldn’t share the sentiment behind it and would like one with a bigger stone or even prefer to choose her own.
“Anyway you just have sour grapes because Jem got the promotion you wanted,” Cherie continued.
“That promotion should be mine,” Mark told her as he poured himself a cup of coffee seeing as Cherie obviously wasn’t going to make it for him like she should. “Do you know the number of times I played golf with Nate and forced myself to lose to keep him happy?”
“Obviously enough for Nate to want to take you with him,” Cherie told him pertly. “Anyway it’s fitting since you like to be the loser and now get to live in a barn in Christchurch.”
Mark dropped the kettle and lunged towards her. Eben just had enough time to get between them. He had a challenge holding Mark back.
“What do you intend to do when you get hold of her?” Eben enquired, trying not to show how much effort it was taking to keep Mark away from Cherie.
“I’ll just maim her a little,” Mark grunted. “She’s got it coming for turning Martha against me.”
“You did that on your own,” Cherie huffed from the safety of the other side of the table.
“I deserve Hong Kong and not Christchurch where I’ll be Nate’s dogsbody,” Mark snarled.
He tried to lunge in the other direction but Cherie squealed and threw herself behind Eben for safety.
“Look on the bright side. At least you’ll know any woman you have sex with will say the earth moved for her – even if it is only due to the aftershocks,” Cherie added cheekily behind the safety of Eben’s shoulder.
Mark tried to grope for Cherie around Eben’s arm but Cherie moved back out of the way.
“Ahem. Am I interrupting anything?”
At the sound of Nate’s voice they all suddenly stilled.
“No, of course not,” Mark said with a forced smile, straightening up.
He stepped back to the bench and rapidly stirred his coffee.
“I think I’ll finish my drink at my desk,” Cherie said and scooped up her mug and disappeared out the door before anything else could be said.
Nate smiled at Eben who found he needed to straighten his tie again while Mark made a show of picking up his coffee and sitting at the table with it.
“There you are. I have a few questions for you from our last session,” Nate said as he indicated for Eben to accompany him back to his office. “Now when you do something and you are told to hit “any key to continue” what do they mean? I can’t find the “any key” button.”
Cherie glanced past the partially open door to see Jem’s head resting on her desk.
“Are you all right?” she asked as she walked in and closed the door behind her.
Jem groggily raised her head and the document she had been working on partially lifted with her face until its weight made it drop back to the desk. She rubbed her eyes.
“I just feel a little run down and tired. I think I have been overdoing it for too long,” Jem murmured.
“That could be one reason,” Cherie agreed as she eyed her friend closely. “But I think you are pregnant.”
Chapter 28
“Pregnant? You’ve got to be kidding,” Jem said.
“I’m perfectly serious,” Cherie assured her. “I’m from a big family and have enough relatives happily breeding around me to recognise a pregnant woman when I see one.”
“Well you’re wrong this time,” Jem scoffed. “I’ve just got one of those bugs. You know, you’re stressed out and when it’s over then you get sick. That’s all. Anyway I can’t get pregnant.”
“Says who?” demanded Cherie as she placed the carryout lunch bag on Jem’s desk.
“A year of trying with my fiancé Alan and getting nowhere.”
“You were engaged? Imagine aiming to get pregnant before the wedding. People usually try for the other way around,” Cherie mused.
Jem tried to hide a grimace. Alan had talked her into the idea by telling her how keen he was to start a family. She had readily gone along with it because she was feeling a little left behind seeing her younger sister happily married with a son and daughter while she was still marking time in her job. The fact it would horrify Coco had been an added perk.
While they were working on that project she soon learned that Alan expected her to give up her job the moment a pregnancy was confirmed. She explained that to Cherie.
“That rat bastard!” Cherie gasped in mock horror then paused. “Is he still
single and do you have his phone number?”
Jem had to smile at Cherie’s reaction. It was no secret that Cherie’s goal in life was to be an at home wife and mother. The fact that she was bright and could have a great career had no bearing on it. Cherie’s biggest goal for her career was that it would bring her into contact with Mr Right.
“Trust me, you do not want it,” Jem said.
Alan had wanted to be the master of his household and with the distance of time Jem now saw that he had felt threatened by her earning power which with her sales bonuses was more than his. He had compensated by becoming increasingly domineering. When it came to their fight over her leaving her job to be with Toka she realised that until that point she had unconsciously started to clear every move she made with him first. In her mind that made her no better than Coco, someone she was determined not to emulate.
Alan’s reaction to her quiting her job to be with Toka without his permission had brought to mind one of Coco’s husbands laying down the law during one of their arguments over her spending.
What was the saying he had quoted?
He who has the gold makes the rules.
Jem had seen a future with Alan where she was financially dependent on him and instead of the partnership she had envisaged he was demanding a submissive wife who could only do what he permitted. Upon realising that she had broken the engagement.
In hindsight it was for the best that things had worked out the way they did but at the time, the breaking of her engagement and Toka’s death followed by learning that Alan hadn’t wasted any time marrying his new pregnant fiancée had hit her while she was down. When Martha had offered her the new job Jem had been more than happy to be buried in work to take her mind off her situation.
Cherie had started at the company just after Jem returned. Although she knew Jem’s stepfather had recently died she hadn’t known anyone well enough at the time to learn the whole story. Later, the engagement was something Jem just wanted to forget about so she had never disclosed the details for the break up. Since Alan had never come to any of her work functions and as a rep she had spent most of the time out of the office their break-up had gone largely unnoticed by her co-workers.