Take a Chance (19 page)

“Come on. This is a great idea,” Eben cajoled. “I’ve done this before for my sisters.”

Jem eyed the pair of scissors in his hands.

“Did they talk to you afterwards?” she asked.

“Eventually,” he admitted.

She held up her hands to ward him off.

“Do you have a better idea?” he asked.

“No,” she said.

“Then don’t be a wuss. What’s the worst that can happen? It’ll grow back.”

Eben draped a towel around her shoulders.

“Close your eyes,” he said.

With trepidation, Jem did as she was told and inwardly flinched every time she heard the scissors close.

A few minutes later Eben put down the scissors and turned Jem to face the mirror.

“What do you think?” he asked.

She reluctantly opened her eyes. Her reflection showed that she now sported a long thick fringe that came down to her eyelashes. It hid the bright blue eyelids but she kept fighting the urge to flick her head to get the fringe out of her eyes.

“You’ve done a great job,” she admitted reluctantly. “But I’m going to wind up wanting to do hair in the eyes head flicks all night.”

“Don’t,” Eben advised.

Jem snorted as she sat on the end of the bed.

“If they had not been earlier than I expected I would have escaped this embarrassment,” she commented ruefully as she squeezed her feet back into the shoes.

Eben slipped his arms into his suit jacket and turned to face Jem.

“You look very handsome,” she said as she gingerly stood up and nearly toppled.

“Thank you,” he said and held her arms to steady her.

“I don’t think I can walk in these by myself,” she said.

“Then allow me to escort you,” Eben said and offered her his arm. As she wobbled closer he noticed her height.

“I guess this is one way of getting me to look up to you,” he said.

She grinned and grabbed hold of him. Together they moved across the room; Eben limping and Jem walking as unsteadily as a new toddler. Her toes ached before she made it to the door.

“I’m going to be crippled for life,” she said.

“I already am,” Eben said and limped through the door.

Arriving in the family room they saw Sonia sitting on the arm of the sofa, an open anatomy textbook on her lap, chatting easily with Cherie, Evie and Greg. Aidan sat near her, absorbed in the movie being played. On the other sofa Jeremy and Daisy sat with something in their hands and were whispering to each other. Sam and Crash had left their post at the front door to fill their empty bowl with corn chips. Everyone looked at them enter the room.

“Wow!” said Sam.

Crash left the bowl in Sam’s hands and walked over to Jem.

“How do you like, feel about dating like, younger men?” he asked.

Eben scowled at him.

“She’s
like
, taken,” he said.

“Aww,” said Crash and he returned to the corn chips.

Cherie snickered.

Aidan got off the couch and scurried past them.

“Where are you going Aidan?” Eben asked.

“I wear my suit too!” said Aidan and disappeared upstairs.

“Does he have a suit?” Jem asked.

Eben shrugged.

“We need help Uncle Eben,” Jeremy called from across the room. “We can’t blow these balloons big enough for the party.”

“You can help if you want,” Daisy suggested to Cherie, Evan and Greg. “They have different tastes. Mine tastes like strawberry.”

“Mine tastes like banana,” said Jeremy.

Jeremy and Daisy held up a partly inflated condom each.

“Are those like, what I think they are?” asked Crash.

Everyone looked at Eben and Jem. She was grateful that she had enough makeup on that no one could see her cheeks getting red.

“Don’t say it,” warned Eben. To Jeremy he asked “Where did you get those... balloons from?”

Eben limped over and snatched them off the children to have them deflate noisily in his hands.

“I
never
get to make the balloons make noises,” Daisy said.

“Don’t worry, they don’t do that for me either,” Cherie told her.

Evie and Greg laughed. Sonia’s face went pink then disappeared behind her textbook.

Eben ignored them and looked pointedly at Jeremy.

“They were in the drawer by the bed. I found them when I was looking for your tic tacs. I didn’t think you’d mind us helping you,” Jeremy said.

Jem took a step forward and found herself losing her balance.

“Over here Eben,” Jem called as she windmilled her arms around.

Eben raced back and caught her before she fell.

“Just relax,” he said after seeing the expression on her face. “Tonight will be memorable.”

“That’s what I am afraid of,” Jem said.

He shifted her so that she stood upright.

“I have good reflexes huh?” he murmured into her ear as a distraction.

It didn’t do much good. She was still dwelling on the evening thus far and recapping the most recent additions to her night of shame. If the condom display in front of the neighbour’s teenagers and her co-workers wasn’t enough she now demonstrated she couldn’t even walk in high heels. She could feel her face growing hotter.

Thank goodness for the thick makeup
.

“Aunty Jem!” Daisy called. “Why is your neck turning red?”

That’s it. The night can’t get worse. Things can only get better from now on,
Jem told herself.

Drongo jumped onto the
breakfast bar and started sniffing the corn chips.

“Uh oh,” said Evie.

Eben saw the cat so propped Jem against the wall then took Drongo to the laundry and shut him in with his food bowl and water. While he was gone she decided to make conversation and try and salvage her dignity.

“Did you all come in the same car?” she asked. It also meant she silently said
the subject of condoms is not up for further discussion, excuse the pun
.

“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 y
et 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.