Take a Chance (4 page)

Fortunately the story was short. Jem praised Jeremy’s reading and
took the reading record book he handed her to the breakfast bar. Rolling her eyes when she couldn’t see any pens in the jar between the phone and note paper she grabbed her shoulder bag which she had left on the breakfast bar and selected a pen from the side pocket.

After filling out
the reading record book she looked around and discovered Jeremy was in the middle of a computer game.

“Hang on a minute,” she told Jeremy. “Before you start playing on the computer you need to help tidy this room.”

“That goes for all of you,” she added seeing Daisy drop the end of the fairy dress and slink out the door. “Daisy!”

Daisy slowly came back into the room with her brown eyes filled with tears and her bottom lip quivering. Even her cute little brown pigtails seemed to sag and look forlorn.

“There’s too much to do!” Daisy wailed.

“Yeah!” said Jeremy and pointed at Aidan. “And he makes all the mess while I’m at school!”

The object of his pointed finger had the fairy dress on inside-out and looked pleased with himself as he staggered around in dress-up high heels.

Jem knew she’d have war on her hands if she insisted on complete tidiness so she decided to attempt a minor campaign instead.

“I need to vacuum the lounge,” she said. “You need to clear every toy from the lounge while I make the beds upstairs and have finished by the time I come back down.”

“Are you going to vacuum the family room too?” Jeremy asked.

At that moment he looked suspiciously innocent and Jem sensed she’d opened her request to interpretation but couldn’t work out how. She blinked but the family room was still in chaos. It’d take a bobcat to clear it in an afternoon. “No, I’ll leave that until tomorrow.”

“Okay. Come on you guys, help me,” Jeremy ordered. Daisy and Aidan reluctantly followed him.

That seemed too easy but she wasn’t about to question the best thing that had happened all day so headed upstairs without further comment.

She was only halfway through making up the second bed when she heard the sound of the computer game faintly in the background.

How could they have finished already?

Jem finished making the bed and dodged toys as she went down the stairs. She checked the lounge and they had indeed cleared it. Suspicious, she checked
behind the couch and in the few cupboards and drawers the room contained. No toys. She went into the dining room which still contained the ironing and back into the kitchen. From her vantage point the number of toys in the family room appeared to have multiplied.

“You haven’t put the toys away, you’ve just shifted them,” she muttered, annoyed with herself.

Jeremy heard her and spun around on the swivel chair by the computer.

“You aren’t vacuuming in here today and the other room is clear like you asked.”

He shrugged then turned back to his game.

Jem had to bite her lip to stop a smile of unwanted amusement showing. Now she knew what was wrong. She needed to be
specific
in her orders. She had heard Jessica bemoan many times how Jeremy would find the loophole in instructions and would exploit it. Okay, today they had put nothing away but the lounge had been cleared so she’d call it a draw.

She left the kids to play and
finished making the beds then came downstairs and moved towards to the kitchen. The first thing she noticed were numerous photos pinned to the noticeboard above the school bag hooks. How many times over the years had she seen the photos that she had no longer noticed them?

As she got closer she
started making out the details. There were snapshots from Jess and Jase’s wedding, including her favourite one of Jason hugging Jess to his side. There were photos of the children as babies and of them all participating in different activities. Whether Jess was hugging her newborn daughter with her long dark brown locks hanging untamed over her shoulders or scruffily dressed holding a paint roller, she grinned at the camera. It was an expression Jem knew well as her sister was one of the happiest people she knew.

Jem crashed onto the bar stool, rested her elbows on the breakfast bar and dropped her head into her hands. A wave of guilt swallowed her for even unconsciously thinking her sister had purposely left her with so much to do.
Only yesterday Jess had phoned her at work and laughingly listed tips to ensure promotion that she’d found in a magazine.

Jem sucked in her top lip and bit down to prevent the tears forming.
She hadn’t seen her father since she was a teenager, her mother was, to put it politely, emotionally unavailable and her younger brother was great but seldom around.

If anything happened to Jess…

She felt out of control of the situation which she didn’t like at all. She realised she needed to be doing something to prove she at least had a little control over her tiny corner of the universe, anything at all to keep busy and take her mind away from finishing that thought.

Jem
pulled her shoulder bag to her, withdrew her notepad and started furiously writing a list of things she needed to do around the house then another of work related things while they were still fresh in her mind. When she finally finished she dropped the pen and stretched her fingers.

Fearing that seeing her sister’s face could set her to tears again, Jem studiously avoided looking at the noticeboard as she reread the first item on her list and got off the stool.

As she tidied and cleaned she repeatedly had to point out toys for the children to pick up that had mysteriously escaped the family room without any of them knowing how that could have possibly happened.

“That includes books,” she later added so
Aidan backed up a truck to remove several Spot lift-the-flap books from the lounge while she was vacuuming.

Since the sun was getting low in the sky Jem decided to give up the Herculean task of bringing order to the household. Instead s
he followed her nephew back to the family room where Jeremy was still attached to the computer and Daisy played with a herd of My Little Ponies.

Jem steeled herself against the mess
in front of her that plagued every anally tidy cell of her being. She would be looking after the children at least until Jason got back from Fiji which meant she wanted, no
needed
at least the lounge to be kept immaculate to hold onto her sanity.

She thought quickly
to remove any loophole from her requirements then clapped her hands to get the children’s attention. She gritted her teeth as Jeremy took his time to pause his game before turning around.

“Okay, listen up. From now on no toys, books or other objects are to be taken into the lounge. It needs to be kept clear of all kid’s things,” she announced. “Also, from now on anything you get out, you put away
where it belongs
when you have finished with it. Is that clear?”

She waited for the reluctant affirmatives from all three children. Satisfied, she swept aside toys with her feet to create a path to the kitchen where she could consult her list. Despite being in Jess’s home a couple of hours she’d barely made a dent in what needed to be done.

With numerous tasks on her mind to do before phoning their mother to tell her about Jess, Jem stepped back and tripped over something behind her which yowled. Grabbing the edge of the kitchen bench for balance she steadied herself and looked around to see an overweight, indignant ginger cat sitting in front of the fridge swishing his tail. How could she have forgotten Drongo?

The cat had adopted Jess and Jason when they had built their home t
wo years ago and persistently demanded food. Jason had named him because he kept getting underfoot to get their attention when he wanted to be fed and being stepped on hadn’t taught him self-preservation. Drongo regularly caused accidents doing this and in addition was bulimic; often gobbling his food then bringing it up before he’d left the vicinity.

Jess had been concerned about his health and had taken Drongo to the vet. After a thorough examination the vet declared him healthy and suggested limiting the quantity he ate in one sitting. Fine in theory but it meant Drongo worked for longer to get more food so there were more accidents.

Jem squatted in front of the bottom pantry shelf where the cat food was stored to make her selection.

“I help you,” Aidan said and squeezed in front knocking her off balance. She put her hands out behind her to prevent falling on her back.

Ugh. The floor’s sticky. Something else that needs to be sorted out,
she thought then got up to wash her hands in the sink. Another thing to add to the list of things to do that seemed to be growing exponentially.

Aidan rummaged around then selected an individual sachet of cat meat in gravy.

“This one,” he announced and turned to Jem. “Can you open it please?”

“I like your manners,” Jem told him as she tore the top off the sachet. She must have squeezed it a little because the gravy overflowed onto her hands. With a sigh she washed her hands again while observing Aidan tipping the sachet in the cat bowl. Drongo purred loudly and rubbed against Aidan’s hands which bumped the sachet so most of the contents wound up on the floor beside the cat bowl.

Jem decided to start dinner. That cat would lick the sides of the bowl and floor to get the last morsel. Could be why the floor was so sticky. She fought the urge to wash her hands again.

She was scrubbing potatoes in the sink when the kitchen door opened and from the corner of her eye a large black shape moved inside.

“Hi honey, I’m home!” the large black shape said.

Jem turned and saw Jason’s best friend Eben Stone standing in the doorway wearing a wetsuit. Eben spent so much time with Jason that he was almost considered a fixture at the house.

The close fitting wetsuit
he wore left little to the imagination. Standing a few inches shy of six feet, Eben had broad shoulders, skin that seemed permanently tanned from spending a lot of time outdoors and eyes that appeared blue or grey depending upon what he was wearing. He had a strong jaw and a dimple high on his right cheek that only appeared when he smiled. Not that she noticed but the dratted man smiled a lot.

All the thoughts she’d been dwelling on since the phone call she’d received at the office went out her head. In the back of her mind she wondered why she hadn’t thought to phone him but was too flustered to think of why she would.

When he was present she had a hard time paying attention to anyone else. She had long since realised she wasn’t the only one judging by the number of one night stands he was purported to have had. Jem had never allowed herself to become one of the many because she had too much self-respect to be another nick in his bed leg. If what was said about him was true his bed had probably been turned into a futon by now.

Her self defence mechanism was to
focus on his short-comings and generally act in a way that ensured he kept at arm’s length.

Jem made a show of reluctantly grabbing
more potatoes from the bag sitting on the bench and added them to the ones in the sink. Eben was the biggest mooch around. Since he’d obviously seen her making dinner he’d hang around. She’d known Eben long enough to know that his presence presumed an invitation.

“
Did you surf here?” she asked.

Eben
’s dark grey eyes looked puzzled for a moment then he grinned. “I figured I’d be warmer wearing this home than freezing while I changed in the car. Anyway, a wetsuit is the best suit in this weather,” he joked.

The thought of Eben wearing a
regular suit and working a responsible job in an office somewhere was the joke. The man was so laid back about everything she sometimes thought his surname should be Stoned. He seemed to spend his life surfing and little things like a job or planning for the future didn’t seem to worry him. As long as he had a board, a wave and a beer he was happy.

She had met him at Jess and Jason’s engagement party eight years earlier and nothing in their numerous encounters since had changed her mind. Despite his lack of direction and motivation from her perspective he was a good guy even if he frustrated the hell out of her. Wasting all that potential to bum around on beaches and sponge off
Jase whenever the opportunity arose.

Using long handled tongs, Jem transferred the potatoes to the preheated oven then started measuring the ingredients she had set out on the bench for the quiche.
She wasn’t feeling at all hungry but knew she had to give the children and now Eben something to eat. As she worked Eben took a tea towel from a drawer and used it to wipe his face and blot his gleaming dark brown hair which seemed in perpetual need of a cut.

Jem frowned.

“There are towels in the bathroom,” she said.

“I don’t want to wet the floor getting there.”

Jem looked down and saw a trail of wet prints leading from the door to his bare feet. In this weather his feet must be numb. What on earth was he doing out wearing his wet suit?

“Were you out surfing in the storm?” she asked incredulously.

“Nah. A friend’s boat hit the jetty hard in the swell and we needed to be sure it wasn’t going to take on water.”

Eben dropped the tea towel on the bench and watched her. Jem stopped mixing.

“You could have been squashed between the jetty and the boat.”

“We turned it around before I got in.”

Eben came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. 

“Worried about me?” he asked close to her ear.

His touch warmed her in more ways than one but she would never let him know. He was only interested in women until the chase was over. The rolling Stone that gathered no wife or mortgage or kids...

Besides, he didn’t meet her husband criteria.

Keep telling yourself that.

“Hardly.”
Jem elbowed him sharply in the stomach to get him to back off then opened the oven door and felt the flush of heat as she placed her quiche beside the potatoes. She closed the door, set the timer then spun around to face Eben.

Boy, did
he fill out a wetsuit nicely
.

Her face flushed by her traitorous thoughts, Jem tucked a lock of hair that had fallen out of her pony tail behind her ear. “It’s warm here by the oven,” she said inanely.

“I can keep you warmer,” Eben promised as he moved towards her again.

Jem placed her hand against his chest to halt his advance.

“I know what you do to keep that wetsuit warm in the water and you can keep it to yourself.”

“You can’t blame a guy for trying.”

“Trying it on, more like.”

And
you should stop before I forget the reasons why not.

Eben knew when to stop. Making a play for Jem in front of his honorary nephews and niece while she made dinner wasn’t going to get him anywhere. It was just a lot of fun to rile her. Besides, if he made his intentions clear she might say yes.

In your dreams
.

“Where’s Jess?” he asked, changing the subject.

Eben watched Jem’s eyes fill with tears. How could she have forgotten for even a minute?

“What’s going on?”

Jem checked that the children were occupied and softly told him what had happened so the children wouldn’t hear.  At the end of it she went into his open arms without protest.

“Hell,” Eben said as he rubbed his cheek against the top of her head.

As she cried he held her close and patted her back awkwardly.

“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked.

“It never occurred to me to try asking anyone after Mel couldn’t help out,” she answered brokenly between sobs.

Eben’s hand smoothed to circle her back in gentling caresses as he bit back a sigh. He knew
Jem, Jess and their brother had different fathers and spent a large part of their childhood only able to rely on each other due to having a frequently absent self-absorbed mother. Even though Jess’s father had loved them all and had custody during their late teens he saw how their early years affected them. Jem had entered adulthood determined to be totally self-reliant. It was as though she couldn’t allow herself to be vulnerable to anything.

She leaned her head back to look him in the eye.

“Anyway, what could you have done to help?” she asked.

“I could have brought dinner home with me,” he told her
and pushed her head back against his chest and continued to rub her back.

He was gratified
when she continued to allow him to soothe her.

“It gave me something to do to take my mind off things,” she
sniffled.

As her sniffles subsided he made a decision.

“I’m going to stay and help you with the kids for as long as you need me,” he said.

“Okay.”

She was too emotionally worn out to consider an argument as to why that wasn’t necessary.

“Do you want me to phone Jase’s folks and let them know what’s happened?” Eben asked.

“No, don’t do that. They’ve only been in Surfers Paradise for just over a week and you know how excited they’ve been about their first overseas holiday ever. Jase’s Mum won’t be able to help much considering his Dad’s health problems and they’ll just worry. I don’t want to spoil this trip for them…” her voice wavered “unless I have to.”

Eben’s mouth tightened at the thought that she would only disturb them if Jess died. It didn’t bear thinking about. He could see Jem was on the verge of crying again so decided the best way to prevent that was to provoke her.

“You going to share the guest room with me, Jemima?”

“Don’t call me that,” she said automatically but without any heat and pulled from his embrace.

“Is that a yes?”

She knew he was just saying it to annoy her to take her mind off Jess. She appreciated the thought but not enough to respond in anything other than her usual acerbic way.

“I’m already in the guest room. You can sleep somewhere else,” she told him pertly
, regaining some of her usual vinegar.

How he loved it when she got her back up.

“Uh uh. I’m already there and I’m not moving.”

Jem
’s response was to stalk across the family room doing her best to avoid treading on toys as she did so. She walked into the guest bedroom and whipped open the wardrobe door to see a couple of shirts and trousers hanging there. A pair of scuffed black boots sat on the floor.

They could be Jason’s
,
she told herself in denial.

She
stepped over to the tallboy and yanked open the top drawer to expose neatly folded boxers and socks. Narrowing her eyes she marched into the ensuite and gave up when she saw a razor and a green toothbrush sitting on the hand basin.

Eben came in beside her and started peeling off his wetsuit.
Despite it being the middle of winter he still had tan lines making his skin several shades darker than hers.

“What do you think you are doing?”

“I thought it would be a good idea to get warmed up before dinner. I’m going to have a shower. Wanna join me?” he asked with a sexy grin complete with flashing dimple.

He’s just yanking your chain. He doesn’t mean it.

“Sure,” she said boldly and smiled at his unguarded look of surprise. “As soon as you get a real job and be able to support me in the way I’d like to become accustomed to.”

It was Eben’s turn to scowl.

“There’s more to a man than what you think he has or doesn’t.”

“I agree. In your case however, I don’t need to see the little you do have to know anything between us is a bad idea.”

Jem turned and pulled the ensuite door closed behind her. Despite hearing “It’s just cold. Warm it up and see what happens” through the closed door she figured she had the last word.

Dinner was a disaster
in that they ate much later than the children were used to and the meal was something the children hadn’t had before. Long before it was served she was already sick of telling them that dinner was coming and no, they couldn’t have anything to eat beforehand. Even so, she had to remove Aidan from the pantry twice where he sat eating cereal from the box.

When she called, they had all come fast enough to the table, even Eben, freshly showered and smelling of Bulgari which was her favourite scent. She was annoyed with Jess for giving it to him for his birthday and at herself for getting close enough to notice.

As she set the plates in front of everyone she thought her self-crusting quiche served with potatoes in their jackets with sour cream and chives and mixed vegetables looked good. Eben complimented it after his first taste then got stuck in.

He had to be nice.
The freeloader.

While they ate, Jeremy reluctantly sampled a few vegetables but Daisy and Aidan just looked at their plates.

“Why don’t you eat up?” Jem encouraged the children.

“It’s gose,” Aidan said.

“It’s not gross,” Jem told him. “It’s good for you and will make you big and strong.”

“It looks like something Drongo sicked up,” Daisy said.

Jem ignored Eben choking on the mouthful he’d just taken. If he was laughing see if she’d give him the Heimlich manoeuvre.

“No, it doesn’t,” Jem said firmly.

“Yes, it does,” Daisy insisted. “It even smells like the fish one.”

Okay, tuna quiche wasn’t kid food and she wouldn’
t make it for them again,
Jem mentally conceded even as she was trying to think of something to get them to at least try it. Help came unexpectedly.

“I don’t care if it looks like something an elephant left behind. Aunty Jem went to a lot of trouble to make it and if you’re smart you’ll all appreciate it,” Eben said, annoyed. “You’re lucky to have someone who cares enough to go to the trouble of making
a real dinner for you. Where are your manners?”

The three children
turned their heads from Eben to her, looking like spectators at a tennis tournament.

“Thank you for the yummy dinner,” they said together.

“You’re welcome,” Jem said and watched, amazed as the older two tentatively forked up small mouthfuls. Aidan used his fingers but she wasn’t going to complain.

The children hadn’t eaten much of the quiche by the time the dinner was over but at least they had tried it. She cleared the table and did the dishes with Drongo underfoot wanting scraps while Eben organised the children’s baths and bedtime story.