I had thought about spending the Holidays with Mia’s family since they invited me, and was somewhat concerned about Christmas Morning. If they chose to get me a present as well, even if it was just some useless little thing out of consideration, I would look like an idiot if I had not prepared any presents myself. The question of what kind of present to prepare was quite hard, though, and after two days of intense brainstorming, I finally had an idea I thought would fit. I needed Bill’s help for it, however, which was the first reason why I had to talk with him.
When I asked him about the necklaces we used for high-risk principals, he was all too willing to let me buy two of them, and even accepted my five $100 Bills with an almost stoic face. I chose designs I thought would fit with what other accessories I had seen Mia and Nora wear.
The second reason for my visit to his office was to speak about my IT certifications. This did not play out so well for me. While Bill was sympathetic to my situation, he did not see the need to have his company pay for any training or education that was not necessary for an employee’s job.
While I was disappointed, he had done way too much for me to argue about it. I felt like I already owed him, and was immediately embarrassed that I had asked him in the first place. He noticed my sudden moodswing, and clarified that, should it become necessary, we would talk about it again. With this simple assurance, I felt somewhat relieved, and my big fear of being replaced by someone better qualified was mollified. At least to a degree. I would definitely look up other ways to get those certifications before they became relevant.
After that, he spent a good half hour giving me the bullet points for my assignment.
I never had lived with a client before, much less on watchduty, but I wouldn’t be alone in their house. The Miller’s were holding some kind of party on Christmas Eve, so there would be quite a few of us present. After that, while Bill would respect the Miller’s request of having only me in their house, the real guard would stay on the low while keeping himself to the outside perimeter. After all, officially, I was just Mia’s chauffeur, so I could not be left in charge on my own. Especially since they now knew who the stalker was.
Apparently, James Campbell worked for one of the many charities Nora was involved with, and had fixated on her through that, even though Nora herself swears to never have met the guy. After the briefing, I made my way back home, cleaned the apartment from top to bottom, prepared a little something for Christmas morning, and wrapped the presents for Mia and Nora before going to bed.
I arrived at the Miller Household at Ten A.M. sharp, and was greeted by Nora. Although ‘greeted’ would be the wrong term, since she immediately sent me to an entertainment room in the basement to keep Mia and Jack company.
When we had reinforced the building, the Millers had also signed off on having this room turned into a kind of safe-room. Since it was in the basement, it had solid stone walls. It also had its own bathroom, and the phone- and internet connection also started there. After we had installed a reinforced sliding door that only had a handle on the inside, this was the safest place in the whole building.
“Tim!” Mia greeted me cheerfully, while Jack only released an unmotivated ‘Hmpf’. “I see Mom wanted you out of the way as well?”
“She was a little curt with me, yes.” I chuckled. “So, what are you doing down here?”
“They have these lame ass parties every year. Seriously, who throws a party for their business associates on Christmas Eve!?” Jack rolled his eyes as he answered. “Anyway, we kinda got into the habit of hiding out down here and watching movies, while they make sure everything’s perfect up there.”
“Come on!” Mia grunted, as she pushed her brother to the outer seat of the sofa they were sitting on, scooted next to him, and finally patted the now free seat next to her on the other end. “Join us! Mom said you wanted to watch Christmas movies yourself, before they invited you.”
So, I sat next to her, and we started our movie marathon with ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ with Jim Carrey. I couldn’t help but notice how Mia sat decisively closer to me than to Jack, and was surprisingly eager to watch the movies I listed as my annual go-to choices. We had just finished ‘Scrooged’, when Mia announced that she would have to leave us to get ready for the party. I looked at my watch before blinking at her back as she left. Our team was scheduled to have a final roll call an hour before the party was supposed to start, and that was still an hour away. I just shook my head, as I heard Jack laugh about my confused display and put on ‘Die Hard’.
