The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (25 page)

‘Pleasure,’ Jared said as he
examined the contents of the frying pan. ‘How was your day?’

‘Not too bad,’ she said as she
unwrapped the plastic around the flowers. She took a vase from a cupboard and
filled it with water. She then placed the flowers into the vase and carefully
positioned the container on the counter. ‘I’ll find a nice spot for it later,’
she said.  Amy then turned to Jared and wrapped her arms around his neck.
‘And you? How was your day?’

‘Same old, same old,’ he said and
snuck in a quick kiss. ‘And then I rushed home to be with you.’

‘Well, you’re just in time, Mister
Greene,’ she said and grinned.

‘Oh yeah? In time for what?’

‘Grating the cheese.’ She shoved a
cheese grater into his hands.

Jared slumped his shoulders and
chuckled. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Not entirely what I was planning on hearing, but I
get the message.’

Amy took the cheese from the fridge,
handed it to Jared, and gave him a peck on the cheek. ‘Who knows?’ she asked
and winked. ‘Maybe there might be a little thank you reward a bit later
tonight.’

He smiled while he grated the Gouda.
‘I pay people to do this kind of stuff for me, you know?’ he asked
rhetorically. Amy merely returned his smile and stirred the frying onions.
‘Anything interesting happen at work today?’ Jared asked.

‘Where to begin?’ Amy rolled her
eyes. ‘One of our suppliers sent us a shipment of Bibles a few days ago. When
we wanted to follow up on the status of the delivery, they couldn’t find our
order. So they asked us to fax the order through to them again so that they
could follow up. I did just that.’

Jared nodded as he continued grating
the cheese. ‘Do people still send faxes nowadays?’

Amy nodded. ‘Well,’ she said and
stopped stirring to look at Jared. ‘Some brainiac on that side figured that the
fax was a brand new order; so guess who received another shipment of exactly
the same Bibles today?’

Although the question was
rhetorical, Jared answered it to keep the conversation flowing. ‘You?’

‘Right,’ she said. ‘So I called the
guy and told him about the mix up. He checked their system, but all he could
see was that the second order was logged as a new, separate order.’

‘Then what?’ Jared asked and wrapped
the remaining cheese before returning it to the fridge.

‘He said that he would take back the
double order, but at our expense.’

Jared shook his head. ‘So now
you
have to pay for a mess that
they
made?’

‘And the delivery cost isn’t cheap,
let me tell you that.’

‘Are you actually going to let him
get away with this?’ Jared asked.

She shrugged. ‘There’s not much that
I can do at this moment in time. I’ll have to speak to my manager in the
morning to see if we can find a way around this.’

‘Amy, just call the guy and explain
to him that it’s his screw up to begin with and he has to carry the expenses,’
Jared said, slightly irritated.
How hard can it be?
he wondered. If it
was him in that scenario, the issue would have been resolved before afternoon
tea time.

‘I’ll speak to Russell tomorrow and
hear what we can do.’

But I just told you what to do!
Jared merely forced a
smile. ‘I’m sure that all will work out just fine,’ he said. ‘If not, give me a
shout and I’ll make a few calls.’

Amy giggled. ‘That won’t be
necessary, but thank you for the offer.’

The buzzer interrupted Jared’s trail
of thought. ‘That must be Tanya,’ he said and checked his watch. ‘She’s early.’

‘This will still take a few more
minutes,’ Amy said. ‘Let her in and I’ll join you guys in the living room
shortly, okay?’

‘Sure.’ Jared playfully kissed her
on the cheek and made his way down the wooden steps and through the
entertainment room, into the second living room where the intercom system was
mounted against the wall. He picked up the handset and pressed the video feed
button. The mini-screen flickered and clicked on and Tanya’s face slowly faded
in. ‘You’re early,’ he said.

‘I got off sooner than I thought I
would,’ she said with a smile. ‘Sue me.’

Jared pressed a button and the gate
slowly opened. ‘Come right in,’ he said. ‘I’ll meet you at the door.’ He
replaced the handset in its cradle and made his way through a hallway to the
front door. Jared punched in a security code, the door buzzed open and he
stepped outside into the cool evening air.

‘How many times do I have to tell
you that you need to install an elevator here,’ Tanya said slightly out of
breath as she reached the top of the stairs.

Jared merely smiled. ‘Hey Aunt Tanya,’
he said and they greeted one another with their usual hug and peck routine
before entering the house. ‘Amy’s in the kitchen,’ he said as he led Tanya
through the hallway and into the living room. ‘She will join us shortly.’ He
took Tanya’s coat and indicated that she should be seated. They made small talk
for a few minutes until Amy entered the room.

‘What did I miss?’ she asked and
greeted Tanya with a hug.

‘Not much, dear,’ Tanya said. ‘We
were just discussing the weather.’

‘Good,’ Amy said and smiled. ‘Dinner
is ready. Let’s eat, shall we?’

*   
-    -    -    *

 ‘This isn’t half bad,’ Tanya
said as she helped herself to a second portion of Amy’s Macaroni and Cheese.
‘I’m quite impressed.’

‘I agree,’ Jared said and also
helped himself to seconds.

Amy blushed and accepted their
compliments with a modest, ‘Thanks.’

‘I can recall your mother’s meals,’
Tanya said and stabbed her fork at Jared. When she saw Amy’s subtle reaction
she added a quick, ‘It was nothing compared to this, of course, but it wasn’t
bad either.’

‘Speaking of my mother,’ Jared said.
‘She called me the other day. She sends her love to both of you.’

Tanya smiled. ‘You should tell her
the same from me. How are they, by the way?’

‘They’re fine.’ Jared shrugged. ‘At
least that’s what mom says.’

‘Is Justin still writing his novel?’

‘According to her, he finally
finished the thing.’

‘It only took him the better part of
five years to do it,’ Tanya said and laughed.

‘And don’t I just know about it! Mom
says it’s all he’s been talking about for the last five years. Now and again
she can manage a decent conversation with him, but it’s almost as if, every
time he opens his mouth, something about the novel pours out.’

‘Poor woman,’ Tanya said. ‘Sounds
like she needs a vacation.’

‘Speaking of someone in dire need of
a holiday,’ Amy cut in and nodded in Jared’s direction. ‘Mister Corporate here
is way overdue himself.’

Jared laughed. ‘There’s no rest for
the wicked, unfortunately. At the rate contracts are coming in, I’d be lucky to
have a decent holiday in about ten years from now.’

‘See?’ Amy said and merely shook her
head. ‘There’s no talking sense into this man.’

‘I still wanted to ask,’ Tanya said.
‘How are things over at Whyte & Greene?’

‘Quite well,’ Jared said and helped
himself to a second portion of Amy’s macaroni and cheese. ‘We’re shooting for a
new contract now that will push the company to new heights.’

‘I doubt that Whyte & Greene can
go much higher,’ Amy said and winked at Jared. ‘You could sell the company
right now and live in luxury for the rest of your life without having to raise
a finger.’

‘His children’s children wouldn’t
need to lift their fingers either.’

‘Now ladies,’ Jared said and sipped
on the Rosé. ‘It’s not all fun and games. If we mess up this contract, we might
all end up looking for jobs.’

‘Could it be that extreme?’ Amy
asked.

Jared nodded. ‘If we breach SLA with
this new contract, we not only have to pay for the shipment itself, but a huge
penalty fee as well. Enough to sink us, depending on the size of the shipment,
of course.’

‘Then why take that risk?’ Amy asked
and finished her wine.

‘Because the profit that we make—if
everything goes right—dwarfs the fear of something possibly going wrong.’ He
grinned and squeezed her hand. ‘Besides, how many times have I breached service
level before?’

‘Never,’ Amy said.

Jared smiled. He took a bite of the
macaroni and dabbed his mouth with a cloth as he chewed. He swallowed hard,
then looked at Amy with a pleased expression. ‘And how many do you think I’m
planning on breaching in the near future?’

‘None...?’

Jared nodded. ‘Bingo, baby!’ The two
women giggled and Jared thought it a good time to throw in the topic changer.
‘Anyone up for desert?’

No one objected.

*   
-    -    -    *

After dinner, the three of them continued
their light-hearted conversation for another hour before Tanya politely excused
herself. After the hug and peck ritual, she left.

‘That was a nice visit,’ Amy said as
she and Jared snuggled on the couch in front of the fireplace. ‘I’m relieved
that she liked the food.’

‘The meal was divine,’ Jared said,
‘and Tanya loved it. Trust me, if she didn’t, you’d know about it.’

Amy smiled. ‘I think she’s warming
up to me. I could feel it. Who knows? Maybe she’ll even like me one of these
days.’

‘Of course she likes you,’ he said.
‘Don’t be silly.’ He gave her a reassuring hug and kissed her forehead lightly.
Amy was starting to blend into the family. Slowly but surely, she was becoming
a Greene. The final twist in the knot would be when he slid a ring over her
finger, but that would only be done once the timing was absolutely perfect. He
wanted the event to be romantic, yet not cliché. Shaun had suggested that Jared
ask Amy to be his wife as they fell towards earth before pulling on the ripcord
of the parachute. Jared had something underwater in mind, but he was sure that
when the time was right, the perfect opportunity would present itself.

‘I just can’t shake the feeling that
she’s never really, you know, liked me.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ he said and rolled
his eyes. ‘You know she likes you.’ The doubt in her eyes told him otherwise.
‘I’ll talk to her about it if it would make you feel better.’

‘No! I’m sure I’m just
over-reacting.’ She snuggled closer to him and tightened her arms around his
mid-section. For a moment both just sat in comfortable silence, listening to
the soft crackle of the fire. ‘So,’ she said when she was certain that there
were no distractions. ‘Have you given it any thought yet?’

Jared tilted his head and frowned.
‘Given what some thought, my love?’

‘Church,’ she said. ‘You said that
you would think about joining me for the service on Sunday morning.’

Nuts!
He had completely forgotten about
the whole thing. Why did it matter so much to her anyway? ‘Well,’ he said
slowly as he formulated the answer in his mind. ‘It all depends on the
Patterson contract. Once they sign, I won’t have any weekends to myself for at
least a few months.’

‘I’d appreciate it if you could try
at least,’ she said and sighed. ‘It would really mean a lot to me if you could
make it at least once before
that
happens.’

‘Still trying to convert me, eh?’

Amy didn’t answer. She merely held
him tighter.

Jared switched on the television and
channel hopped until he found something worth watching. The two of them spent
another hour in silence in front of the television before they retired to the
bedroom.

‘I’m going to take a shower,’ she
said. Jared merely grunted and fell down on the bed. He liked showering in the
mornings before work. It made him feel fresh and ready for a day of hard
managing. Amy hummed a tune as she showered, and continued humming as she dried
herself and wrapped a towel around her hair before entering the bedroom. She
took one look at Jared and smiled. He was fast asleep.

*   
-    -    -    *

 ‘So,’ Shaun asked. ‘When are
you going to make an honest woman out of her?’

Jared sighed and looked around the
ill-lit pub as he probed his mind for an
easy-out
answer. Other than the
bartender and three regulars, the pub was deserted. Business usually picked up
around seven, after the rush-hour madness had taken its toll. With exaggerated
effort he took another sip of his Chivas Regal and savoured the taste for a
moment. The truthful answer would be that Jared didn’t know. He had no idea
when or how he was going to propose, but he could sense that the time was near.
‘I’m not sure that the time is right yet,’ he said.