Take a Chance (32 page)

“We know that already. Get on with it,” said Brett cheekily from on screen.

Martha waved a finger at his on screen image.

“I’m not beyond pulling the plug and leaving you in the dark,” she warned, belying the reprimand with a smile.

Brett mimed zipping his lip and everyone laughed.

“Then
without further ado let’s congratulate, Jem Flint,” Martha announced.

Cherie cheered and threw her arms around Jem.

“I knew it!” she cried.

Jem sat there feeling a little like Mark had looked earlier. People were coming out of their seats to congratulate her and she accepted their well wishes without really hearing what was said.

Inside she wasn’t as calm as she appeared. She knew her new job would be for two years after which she had the option of staying there or moving to set up the next office. This promotion was the culmination of everything she had ever wanted and would open many more doors for her if she ever decided to change careers. She should be ecstatic. So why wasn’t she?

The smell of the hot chocolate in front of her made her suddenly nauseous and she pushed the mug away. Oblivious to her discomfit, people around her took
the meeting as being over and started filing out of the conference room.

“Congratulations again, Jem,” Martha said and held out her hand to shake.

Jem took it and heard herself make the appropriate appreciative noises and didn’t notice Cherie sitting back watching her with a speculative look on her face.

The rest of the day was a blur. She spent the afternoon with Martha going over the business plan and only found herself back in her office shortly before it was time to leave for the day. After clearing the most urgent work on her desk she finally checked her email to see if Martha had forwarded the documents they had discussed and found one from Cherie labelled
New boss
.

Opening it, she saw Cherie had asked her to look at her seat allocation and to thank her later. Attached was the e-ticket information for her flight to Hong Kong. Jem opened the PDF file and saw she had been booked business class which was a nice surprise then noticed the flight date. She was leaving at the end of the following week.

Too soon
.

A rap on the door made her look up to see Eben waiting in the doorway.

“Cherie said you were still here and I wondered if you would like to come out to dinner with me and share any news you may have,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

He knew
she would be leaving and it didn’t bother him
.

Jem used her years of practice of hardening herself to Coco’s indifference to push the feeling of deep hurt away. Instead she became angry with herself for getting involved with him instead. She nodded stiffly and logged out of her programs and turned off her computer. Silently she gathered up her coat and shoulder bag.

You
knew
it would be a mistake to get involved with him but you had to take a chance didn’t you?

“Is something wrong?” Eben asked as they waited for the elevator. “You’re pretty quiet.”

“No,” Jem lied. “I’ve just got a lot of things on my mind at the moment.”

“Well I can’t wait to hear them,” Eben said as the soft
ding
announced the elevator’s arrival.

He ushered her in and before she knew it they were walking out of another elevator into Orbit restaurant at the top of Auckland’s Sky Tower. The waiter knowingly escorted them to a table by the window away from other diners.

Now that they were here Eben felt nervous and he thumbed the velvet covered box in his pocket to give him courage. The engagement ring inside had been chosen for his grandmother by his grandfather when he had returned from the war. His grandparents had always been an extremely close couple and Eben was looking forward to enjoying the same enduring love with Jem. He hoped she would like the single stone in its delicately etched platinum band.

Asking for the ring had certainly pleased his mother. She had been thrilled to give it to him and not just because it meant his sisters wouldn’t fight over who got to inherit it. She was mostly happy that he was ready to settle down.

Should I propose now or wait until dessert? How should I ask?

Eben mentally slapped himself. Although he’d been waiting for this moment for years he had never considered the specifics.

The waiter returned with the menus and filled their water glasses while Eben ducked over to the restroom. His nerves were getting to him.

When he returned Eben looked at the drinks on offer and decided on champagne.

What better way to celebrate Jem’s promotion and their engagement?

As soon as their orders were taken, Jem seemed content to look out the window at the city view slowly changing beneath them. The lights from streets and buildings made the night sparkle in hues of yellow, red and blue.

Why is he so quiet? Is he planning how to dump me?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the waiter filling her glass with champagne.

Eben sat there doubting his strategy. He should have got the champagne after she had accepted his proposal so they could toast to their future.

Don’
t forget her promotion,
he reminded himself.

“
Did anything interesting happen today?” he asked.

“I got the promotion to Hong Kong,” Jem said.

As if you didn’t know.

“You must be excited,” he prompted.

Jem shrugged.

“I think it is still sinking in.”

Eben drew his glass up for a toast and Jem slowly followed suit.

“To new beginnings,” he declared and tapped his glass to hers.

He’s finished with me.

A
ll Jem could do was to sit there and force a smile when inside she wanted to knee him in the family jewels.

They quietly sipped the fizzing champagne, each lost in their own thoughts. Despite being aware that she wasn’t overly animated and didn’t seem as enthusiastic about her promotion as he would have expected Eben was still preoccupied with how best to propose to question her further.

Should I get down on one knee?

Stick the ring in her drink while she isn’t looking?

Nah. Who knows what cleaners have been used on the ring and what if she didn’t see it and accidentally choked on it? That would go down well. Not.

He still hadn’t decided how to propose when their meals arrived. They both ate, happy to have a reason not to get into any heavy conversation
when they both had so much on their minds.

Feeling unsettled, Jem mostly pushed her food around on her plate. By the time Eben
had nearly finished eating he couldn’t wait any longer. The moment had arrived.

Instead of the words Eben had been planning, nerves prompted him to say something completely different.

“Could you please excuse me for a minute? I have to go.”

Without waiting for a response Eben hurried towards the restroom.

That’s the
third time in half an hour. Does he have a bladder infection? Maybe he just doesn’t want to be with me and is looking for an excuse to go home. Perhaps we should, I don’t feel that great myself.

Jem sighed and looked around the restaurant only to see Nate and Mark with Martha and Cherie waiting to be seated. Martha spotted her, tapped Cherie on the shoulder and pointed out Jem. Within moments Cherie was heading towards her.

“Howdy stranger,” Cherie drawled. “Where’s Eben?”

“He had to use the facilities. Why are you all here?”

“I was about to go home when Nate and Mark decided on a business dinner and wanted me there to take notes,” Cherie said, annoyed. “Heaven forbid one of them holding a pen and writing their own.”

“It’s unlike them to include Martha too,” Jem noted.

“That would be because Mark has an agenda. He’s been working on
Duh-
boss all afternoon and I’m sure before the night is out he plans to convince him and Martha that your promotion destinations should be swapped.”

Jem looked at the group and unintentionally made eye contact with the one person she really didn’t want to talk to.

Darn it. He’s coming over here. Hurry back Eben.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Mark said as he arrived at the table. “You must be very pleased with yourself.”

“I’m working on it,” Jem told him honestly then added politely “Are you looking forward to shifting to Christchurch?”

“You’ve got to be kidding! Nate’s made a mistake but it should be sorted before the end of dinner.”

Mark put his hands on the table and leaned towards Jem.

“A word of advice; don’t put your winter clothes in storage just yet.”

He stood up and walked back to join Nate and Martha who were being shown to their table.

Cherie watched him in disgust.

“I had better join them,” she said apologetically. “I am very much looking forward to booking him on a one way flight to Christchurch and I want to make sure he doesn’t say anything that will get him off that plane.”

Eben turned the corner in time to see Cherie walk from their table to join the others. He looked back and saw the expression on Jem’s face. She didn’t look too happy.

Great. There goes the intimate setting for my romantic proposal. Whatever the reason they’re here, their arrival has killed the mood
, he thought glumly as he approached the table and sat down.

Upon Eben mentioning seeing Cherie walk past, Jem explained Mark’s agenda. Unsurprisingly neither of them ate much more after that and when the waiter returned they declined dessert.

Next time take a chance on wetting yourself and don’t miss the opportunity to propose,
Eben berated himself as the elevator went down
.

When they got home Jason came out of the office to greet them in the hallway.

“How was dinner?” he asked.

“Lovely thanks,” Jem said
woodenly as she shook off her coat and hung it on the hook by the front door.

Jason raised an eyebrow at Eben in surprise. Eben quickly shook his head. Jason widened his eyes and raised his brows, silently asking for more details. Eben shook his head again. Jason put his hands on his hips and scowled at Eben. Eben scowled back.

Giving up, Jason moved to the next topic. He clapped his hands and started rubbing his palms together.

“You’ll never guess what,” he said. “Jess can come home tomorrow!”

Jem spun around.

“Really?” she asked.

The one day I don’t visit her…

“Yes. She’s sick of being in hospital and misses her own bed.”

“Will she be well enough to come home?” Jem asked over her shoulder as she went into the kitchen and turned on the kettle. Jason obligingly followed her.

“With the kids around I didn’t think it was a good idea because she’d be up to do things for them but we reached a compromise,” he said.

“You’re going to tie her to the bed?” Eben asked from the doorway.

“No. That’s Plan B. Plan A is that Aunty Beryl will stay until she’s well enough to do things on her own.”

Jason’s aunt was a registered nurse and ruled over an empty nest now that her youngest had moved out to go flatting. Uncle Ted wouldn’t mind getting away with making a mess for a while and Jess would be in good hands.

“I guess you’ll
want your guest bedroom back,” Jem commented, trying to ignore the unsettled feeling inside her as she withdrew three mugs from the cupboard. She walked to the fridge and opened the door.

“No hurry,” Jason assured her and winked at Eben. “The more the merrier. Besides she can sleep in the Murphy bed in the office.”

“What Murphy bed?” Jem asked, standing in the middle of the kitchen with the half full bottle of milk clutched to her chest.

“You know, the one that folds out from the panel above the desk,” Jason said. He nudged Eben. “Go on. Tell her how we kept opening it up and putting it back because all the computers on the desk looked cool lowering to the floor and then raising up when we put the bed away.”

Jason turned back to Jem who had dropped the bottle of milk on the bench.

“It’s very
Thunderbirds
,” Jason told her when Eben didn’t say anything.

“Show me,” Jem demanded and led the way to the office.

“Thanks,” Eben muttered to Jason as they followed in her wake.

“Why wouldn’t you want her to know we had another
… Never mind, I’ve figured it out,” said Jason. He slapped Eben on the back as they walked into the office. “Very smooth.”

“Now where is it?” Jem asked as she looked around the room.

“Right here,” said Eben. He pulled out two chairs from a long desk that had a deep bookshelf above it.

Jason grabbed a handle below the shelf and Jem watched in amazement as the desk covered with computer equipment lowered to the floor and a bed folded out above it.

She walked over and patted the end of the made up bed.

“It even has a proper mattress,” she commented.

Jem turned and looked at Eben.

“You would have been quite comfortable in here. I don’t know whether to commend you or thump you.”

Eben looked at her sheepishly.

“How about a hug?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” she said and walked towards the door. Thinking unpleasant thoughts reminded her of something. Jem stopped and turned to look at Jason.

“Have you phoned Coco about Jess coming out of hospital?” she asked.

“I hadn’t even thought about it,” Jason replied. “I don’t suppose you’d do the honours?”

She wasn’t in the mood to deal with her mother but at least she was less likely than Jason to be overtly offensive. She sighed.

“Okay. I’ll phone her then bring in the drinks. I may be a while,” she added.

Jason raised the Murphy bed to continue working
while Eben followed Jem into the hallway and grabbed her around the waist.

“Please don’t hold it against me. After all I was a good boy the first few nights,” he said earnestly. Eben thought of what he tried to do the
second night they shared a bed. “Or meant to be a good boy.”

Would someone planning to dump
me behave this way? Hardly
.

Jem smiled with relief at his words. She didn’t even pause to consider why he had been so preoccupied. She turned in his arms and hugged him to her.

“Then you were a bad boy,” she purred. “And that was even better.”

“That was more information than I needed!” Jason called from the office.

“Big ears!” Eben called back over his shoulder.

His hands moved down to Jem’s backside which he gripped and pulled against him. She undulated against his pelvis which started getting him very excited about his prospects for the remainder of the evening.

“How would you like me to…” he began breathlessly.

“La la la,” sang Jason loudly.

The noise reminded Eben where they were. He reluctantly dropped his hands and stepped back which had Jem following him and backing him against the wall.

“Make the drinks while you phone Coco?” he asked. No way would he give that woman the title of mother.

This time she stepped back and Eben watched Jem’s pupils constrict to pin points upon mentioning Coco’s name.

He wondered whether Coco’s essence could be bottled and marketed by Family Planning as
Passion Killer
. Thinking about her certainly cooled him off.

“No, I’ll be fine. It’ll give me something to do while I listen to her.”

“Okay, see you soon.”

Just as Jem turned to walk away he grabbed her hand and pulled her back for a searing kiss. She rocked against him and he groaned.

“La la la,” sang Jason again.

They pulled apart and Eben was pleased to see a smile on Jem’s face.

“That’ll have to do until later,” he told her firmly. “We don’t want to make certain people who don’t have our stamina feel inferior.”

“I heard that,” she heard Jason tell Eben indignantly as she reached the kitchen.

Close to half an hour later she hung up the phone in relief. Upon receiving the news about Jess coming home, Coco had berated her for not informing her earlier because she had arranged for one of her socialite friends to visit Jess in hospital. Finally fed up with that topic Jem had asked about Coco’s decision to leave Phillipe for the oil tycoon.

Coco
had tried to brush the topic off by saying she had decided to stay with Phillipe but Jem hadn’t been willing to let it go. Her mother’s reluctance to discuss it made her determined to hear every detail to her satisfaction since that subject had been deemed more important to Coco than Jess the last time they had spoken. Jem had taken perverse joy in knowing that Coco was ticked off at being asked to explain herself.

I
bet the fact he lived in Alaska had everything to do with Coco changing her mind
, she thought, feeling a little happier that Coco’s latest ambition had been quashed as she picked up the mugs.

She slipped into the office with the drinks. Both men were tapping away on their keyboards and focussed on their computer screens so neither noticed her arrival. Jem set the coffee beside Jason and turned to put one of the mugs of hot chocolate beside Eben’s mouse pad.

With the clunk of the mug against the coaster Eben’s screen flicked to a game of spider solitaire. Jem recognised from the layout of the cards the half played game was the same as the day before. He obviously hadn’t been playing at all.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“I’ve just been surfing the net,” Eben answered before picking up his mug.

Jem took the opportunity of his hands being occupied to click the mouse on the task bar at the bottom of the screen. She clicked on a button with an unfamiliar logo on the left of it and a full page of code similar to what Jason was working on appeared on the screen.

“What’s going on?” she repeated and folded her arms against her chest.

Eben put down his mug and raked his fingers through his hair. He didn’t try to misunderstand her question.

“Jase and I work together.”

“You have a job?” Jem asked in surprise.

“Why do you say it like that?” Eben asked her, annoyed.

“Like what?” Jem asked.

“Like you sound so surprised that I have a job.”

Jem considered how rude she must have sounded. She bit her lip.

“It’s just that it seemed no big deal for you to stay here and help me with the kids while Jess is in hospital,” she offered apologetically.

“The hours I work can be pretty flexible. As long as everything gets done before the deadline is all that matters,” Eben explained.

“I guess that explains why you’ve often been here when I phone Jess during the day,” she mumbled.

Eben heard her.

“I’m around here during the day because I
work
with Jason,
here
, during the day.”

That
explains
why I seldom see you dressed up,
Jem thought
. Who would put on a suit and tie to work at their friend’s house?

“And if I appear laid back it’s because I enjoy what I do and I’m doing it for myself, not to impress others,” Eben added.

Ouch.

Jem knew he’d got the gist of the conversation Coco had instigated about him
being a bum.

Eben grabbed his mug defiantly, took a mouthful of hot chocolate and swallowed.