Emily looked at her manager. “I don't think so.”
“Luckily they didn't fire me,” Emily said as she sat down on the couch.
“Well, I guess you can stay here for a while but I've already given the guest bedroom to Amy. Would you mind sleeping on the couch?” Daniel asked.
“I guess not. Why is Amy living here?”
“Long story. Just read the first half of the chapter,” Daniel said.
“What?”
“The one stipulation I have, Emily, is you act like an adult. No drinking, no drugs, no men and no women. I've agreed to be a father figure to Amy so you have to be a mother figure, okay?” Daniel ordered.
“Understood,” Emily agreed.
“I'm gonna go to bed. You ladies have a good night. Amy, get to bed early. You have school,” said Daniel.
“Oh, and I sleep naked. Hope that doesn't bother anyone…” Emily said, stopping Daniel in his tracks.
Ten
Ann gathered a stack of papers and took them into Daniel's office where he was on the phone. Daniel's hair was uncombed and a thin layer of beard stubble lined his jaw. “Okay, Amy. Have fun in math but don't let that Kim Choi cheat off you again. I'll see you this evening,” Daniel said and hung up the phone.
“Wow, you've really gotten the hang of being the father of a teenage girl,” Ann said.
Daniel looked up at Ann and uneasily smiled, “I don't like it.”
“Why not?”
“Everything I've ever heard about living with a girl is true. And mine is double thanks to Emily moving in. And it's only been one night. This morning we all had to get ready for work and school at the same time. I only have one bathroom!”
“Which explains the hair and disheveled look…”
“Yeah. And to make matters worse, the girls were up half up the night talking about girl-stuff.”
“Well that's not bad. Amy now has a kind of older sister who can tell her things may be too embarrassing for you to answer,” Ann acknowledged.
“I think Emily taught Amy to use a vibrator but I didn't want to get up and check.”
“Hmm. Anyway, here are those papers you wanted to look over and sign,” Ann rested her hand on the stack of papers. “Is Emily going to start immediately looking for an apartment?”
“I don't know. I hope so because I can't stand living with two girls until Amy graduates in two years. I'll help her look so maybe she can find something in a month or so,” Daniel explained. “But this weekend I'm gonna plan for that family reunion and relive God-awful memories with help from our famous Judge-family barbecues.”
“So you got everyone to agree to come?” Ann was surprised.
“No…there are still the holdouts of Chris and Nathan and I didn't ask Amy's mom Virginia but she'll probably come if I can make it seem like a charitable event.”
“Daniel! Daniel!” Benjamin came running into the office with his mop and bucket.
“Benjamin! How's the training going?” Daniel asked.
“Oh, that's already over. I was worried early on in the session when what was supposed to be a dry run, I pulled out too quickly, ended up spilling my suds and I wound up with a bit of a mess on my hand,” Benjamin explained.
Daniel looked at Ann then back to Benjamin. “Wow! There are just...so many poorly chosen words in that sentence. What are you doing here Ben?”
“I have an idea for a project,” he admitted.
“This should be good,” Ann muttered.
Daniel smiled. “What is it, Ben?”
“52 percent of this country is single. That's a market that's been dominated by apartment rentals. We should take some of that market. Modest houses for a single occupant: one bedroom, one bath, full appliances, phone, Internet, television along with an athletic club and swimming pool. It gives young people the chance to own a house.”
“That is actually a good idea, Ben. You do realize, however, that we're not a housing company,” Daniel revealed.
“Oh,” said Benjamin, dejectedly, “then what is it that you do?”
Daniel slowly turned from Benjamin back to Ann. “So how's phase three coming?” he asked.
“Good. Everyone was wondering if for this weekend's overtime, they could order a pizza with two toppings.”
“Actually, I'm hoping to speak to management about canceling this weekend's overtime because of the family reunion. I'm gonna need all the energy I have.”
“Family reunion? This weekend?” Ben spoke up. “I don't want to go to that.”
“Sorry but that's the stipulation of you getting hired here. You have to go to the reunion,” Daniel explained.
