Fae Second Chance

Chapter 9 - Daddy's Home

Chapter 9

Nothing annoys you more than a surprise guest, especially someone you hope to never see again.   I am home after work and in the kitchen preparing dinner.  John is missing as usual, in some super-secret meeting.  I am expecting him late and not bothering waiting on him to get dinner done.  I busy cutting up the vegetables when there is a knock at the door.  I walk over expecting it to be John.  He has a tendency to lose his keys at random times. I get a huge shock when I open the door to see John’s dad, David, standing at the door.

“How’s my favorite daughter in law,” he announces as he steams pass me and drops his bags in the middle of my living room. 

“Good,” I stammer.  “John forgot to mention you were coming for a visit.”

David waves his hand in the air, “I didn’t tell him.  I figure I would surprise you two.”  Oh, he was right he was surprising us and I was not sure how John was going to react to his father being here. “So, where is that son of mine?” He asks as he looks around the apartment.

“Still at work.  He has a major project right now and has been working really late.”

David nods and proceeds to the kitchen.  I close the front door and follow him in.  He is staring into the fridge.  A couple of seconds later he is pulling out one of John’s beers.  He pops the top and strolls over to see what I am cooking.  John is a carbon copy of David.  Where John’s hair is still black David’s has grayed.  He is one of those handsome older gentlemen that ladies like to watch on television.  The only problem is he is not one of those sweet older men.  He is a shark, an intelligent shark and uses his good looks to get ahead.  There is a reason he is the CEO of a large corporation.  John’s brother joined the family business after college to his father delight.  John on the other hand went into politics.  David is not too big of a fan of that decision.  He would have rather he worked for the family business as well.  But as long as John does not cost him money, he is supportive of his career, somewhat.  John has always resented David for not supporting him properly, i.e., with money.

“How’s Marie?”  I ask as I go back to making dinner. 

‘Good, good.  She wanted to come as well, but you know . . .”

I do know.  Marie was his secretary when he was just starting out.  She helped him learn the business and get ahead and then they got married and she became the perfect housewife.  She is a small mouse of a women now.  Whatever he says goes and she nods and marches behind him.  The funny thing about Marie is she is always 'sick.'  Well she is not really sick, she likes the attention and uses her 'illness' to get out of events and meetings she doesn't want to go to.

“So, David, where are you staying?”

“Here, of course.” Of course.  I silently groan and roll my eyes.  John is going to be so thrilled at this new development. 

I finish putting everything together and place the pan in the oven.  “Okay, well let me change the sheets in the guest bedroom.  Please excuse the mess, John is using that room as an office as well.”

“No problem, I guess you do not get many guests here.”

“No, not many.  You are actually the first one to use this room.”

He grins at the comment, and I go into the guest room to make the bed.  As I am in the room, I send a text to John giving him a heads up.  The last thing I want is an angry husband because I forgot to tell him his dad was in town.  The phone rings shortly after.

“What, why is he here?” John doesn’t even bother with a hello just starts yelling.

“I didn’t ask him.  He just showed up and said he is here for a visit.”

John arrives back at the apartment in record time.  David has retired to the guest room for a nap, and I am setting up the table for dinner.  I hear a loud bang and look toward the front door and see John as he barges in.  He tosses his briefcase by the front door and storms into the kitchen bypassing me.  I hear a loud string of curse words and a lot of grumbling as he comes out of the kitchen.

“Where is my beer?” He yells.

“Hi Dear, I hope you had a good day, what’s for dinner?”  I sarcastic state as I finish setting the table never once look up to him.

“Really, I don’t need your attitude.”

I stop what I am doing and look up at him in shock.  I could believe him accusing me of an attitude when he is the one throwing a tantrum. “Your dad drank the last two you had.  I haven’t had a chance to get back to the store.  You are welcome to walk down there yourself and get another six pack.”

He looks around the living room trying to decide if he is going to go get the beer or demand I do it.  He stares at the table I am setting, “How long till dinner is done?” 

“At least 15 minutes.  Would you like me to go get the beer and you can finish dinner?”

He is still staring at the table and then looks towards the kitchen.  John CANNOT cook.  The man can burn water.    Every time he has tried the smoke detector ends off going off and I have to open every window.  He can heat up things in the microwave but that is about the extent of his cooking abilities.  I can see him truly debating doing women’s work.  He hates to go to the store and right now he is debating which would be worst. 

“Can’t we have it delivered?’  He finally asks.

“Yes, but it will be a couple of hours before they can deliver it.  If you want, I will order it now and hopefully by the end of dinner it will be here.”

He nods and walks to the guest room then remembers his dad is there and turns towards our bedroom.  I go over to my phone and pull up the shopping app and order his beer and a few pre-made meals for David.  John gets his cooking ability from David, so I need to make sure there is food here for him during the day.

In about 20 minutes I call both of them for dinner.  We all awkwardly talk during the meal and there are many unnerving silences throughout dinner.  We have finally finished the meal and I stand to clear the table.  John steeples his hand and looks towards his father.

“Why are you here?”

David wipes his mouth with his napkin and hands his plate to me to take to the kitchen.  I am leaving for the kitchen, but I am keeping an eye on the table.  What can I say I am nosey about the reason as well?

“No reason, just wanted to see what you were up too in this God forsaken place.  You know if you worked for the family company you would be in Boston right now.”

“I have no desire to be putting together company merges and I don’t want to live in Boston.  I want to be in DC.”

“Oh yes, you want to be a politician.  Come on John, how far do you think this will take you.  You don’t even live in DC right now you live here.  You and Amelia could be working for me and making sure our family has a long legacy that will last.  Not playing that some silly game.”

“I am building my own legacy.  I am a congressman and one day I will be President.  I will be in the history books.” John yells at his father.

“President, please.  You will be a one term congressman.  You do not have it in you to move up any farther.  That is why they sent you here.  To get you out of the way.  Do you know how embarrassing it is to know that my son was put into time out?  It looks bad on the family.”

John is fuming at his father.  “I have plans to fix this.  You will see and then you will be sorry.”

“What plans?”  His father scoffs.  “If you and Amelia were working for me then you could be getting ahead and no longer be an embarrassment.”

John stands then and throws his napkin on the table and storms off to our room.  Just then the doorbell rings.  I hurry towards it.  It is the food delivery and by the time I have signed for the order and brought it in I see the dining room empty.  I sigh and take the food to the kitchen where I put everything away and finish cleaning up from dinner. Once I am done, I go into the living room and pull out my laptop and get some work done.  I have the feeling it is going to be a stressful week and the more work I can get done now the better.

The next morning, I have finished cleaning up the breakfast dishes from our silent meal.  John follows me into the kitchen. “I think you should take this week off so you can stay with my dad.”

I nod and finish cleaning up the dishes. “I’ll ask.”

He grunts and turns and walks out the kitchen.  I hear a few grumbles reply from John and his dad and then the front door slams.    I finish up and walk out to get my bag and leave for work.

“You don’t have to take time off to babysit me.”  David is sitting on the coach reading the paper. “Where do you work now?”

“Johnson Financial.”

“Good Firm.  I was glad to hear you were working.  Your talents are wasted being a housewife.”

That stops me for a second.  David is the one whose name the report about me was addressed too.  He knows what I am and what I am capable of. 

“Do you really want John and I to work for you?”  I ask.

“Oh yes, you could help the company so much.  Maybe when all this is over and you are back in DC, we can arrange to have you work for my company.  We have a branch in DC.  Give you a good salary, office with a window, all the perks.”

I smile up at him, “I’ll have to keep that in mind.”  I tell him goodbye and leave for my job.

As I am walking to work, I call Jordan and tell her about my surprise visitor.  She is giggling into the phone.

“Your life keeps me very entertained.”

“Not funny,” I grumble at her.

She stops giggling and we change subjects to discuss her kids and life in general.  I tell her bye as I walk into the office.