Weekends Required (Danvers #1)(13)
Hearing Louise’s voice on the other end of the line, Claire smiled and said, “Hey Louise, it’s me. How are you?”
“Oh hey honey, are you home?”
“No, I’m still in Columbia; I’ll be home sometime tomorrow afternoon,” replied Claire. “How is mom doing today?”
“Oh you know honey; she has moments where she’s living in the here and now and others where she’s living in the past. Today has been in the past, mostly,” Louise said sadly. “Physically though, she feels good; we sat outside on the porch for a bit this morning and enjoyed our coffee before the day got so hot; and she really loved that.”
“That’s great Louise; do you think I should try to talk to her?”
“Honey, if you want to I’ll get her, but I think it will just confuse her today since she’ll assume you're Chrissie and you won’t be here in person to try to calm her if she gets upset.”
“Ok Louise, I don’t want you to have to deal with that so would you just please tell her that I called when she’s more lucid?”
“I will honey, don’t you worry about us and try to have yourself a good time for once.”
“Thank you Louise, I’ll see you guys tomorrow when I get home if it’s not too late.” Claire gathered her composure and walked back inside. Time to put your game face on.
~~~
Jason settled back into the seat of the car they’d hired for the evening. With everyone expected to consume alcohol at Harold’s Bachelor Party, Jason had made the call to hire a car to ensure that no one was driving afterwards. The noise level in the car was steadily rising as the others were picked up at their hotel and a rare guys' night out, especially for those who were married with children, was kicking into full gear.
He was surprised when his thoughts turned to his assistant. In the time that Claire had worked for him, he had never seen her as a desirable woman, hell; he hadn’t noticed her appearance, period. When he had walked into her room after hearing a crash today and saw her standing there with wild auburn hair cascading down her shoulders and those green eyes flashing it had made him lose his train of thought.
Jason was rarely surprised by anything in life anymore but feeling himself getting hard when he was looking at her injury after one of her ‘mishaps’ had damn near stunned him speechless. He had discreetly arranged his jeans to hide his growing reaction to her nearness. The tight confines of the bathroom had made this challenging, to say the least.
After he made a hasty departure from the bathroom, he took the time before lunch to take some deep breaths and tried to get back under control. He tried to tell himself that it was just a normal reaction to a female in close confines, and he had managed to get through lunch and the afternoon with only a few curious and frankly confused looks across the desk at her.
Then when he had run into her in the hall this evening it had blown all his theories away. Again, his body had an almost immediate reaction to her presence, and again he was trying to shift himself around like a school boy. He probably would not have noticed if her hair had been on fire most days at the office and now this weekend he was getting an erection every time she walked in the room. Apparently, it had been far too long since his last night with a woman, and he vowed to take care of that; as soon as he returned home.
~~~
The party was to start at seven and generally the cake was rolled in at nine after drinks and canapés had been served. Claire worked in the kitchen for the first part of the evening. Pam thought some of the surprise was taken out of the evening when the ‘cake girl’ was seen ahead of time. She wore a long apron over her cover-up as she arranged trays for the servers and ran any errands that might be needed. By eight, the party seemed to be in full swing and trays of delicious food were leaving the kitchen and returning empty at a rapid pace. It was usually a welcome sign when the guests were enjoying food at the same pace as their drinks; it seemed to keep down the number of over intoxicated men.
As the time neared for the big cake performance, Claire began to get nervous as usual. Being the center of attention was never something she desired and for those moments when she popped out of the cake, she was very much in the spotlight. As she almost always did, Claire thought that maybe she could just tell Pam she would be a waiter during the parties and have someone else take over the cake. The main problem with that thought was the difference in the money. Her pay for the evening was almost double that of the wait staff and although that might not seem like a lot to some people, it was a small fortune to Claire.
After loading her final tray for a server, Claire went to the restroom to freshen up and begin preparations for being loaded into the cake. Pam had a couple of young men from college who assisted her into the cake. Brian and Max were a lot of fun and always made her laugh as they hoisted her up to the top of the cake. They’d also be the ones who wheeled the cake in and assisted her down during the party in a much grander manner than the tricks they tried to pull when loading her in. She swatted at Brian as he tried to get Max to help him toss her like a cannonball. Claire laughed as they finally got her to the top of the cake and she stepped down into the small opening.
If they could build skyscrapers and bridges to cover miles, they should surely be able to build a cake with a bottom door to avoid having to be lifted to the top. Brian and Max were always asking if maybe she’d gained a pound or two as they mock staggered trying to lift her. Claire checked the top of the cake to make sure there would be no mishaps with it opening and then settled in.