Chapter 16: Jared’s Kind Offer

Jared propped himself up on the little camp stretcher he was sleeping on and sighed one massive sigh of relief. He looked at his watch again then quietly made his way down to the bathroom to get ready for his day. It was Monday morning and Jared was about to head off to Blanke Schande College for a week of teaching as a substitute tutor in the Science and Mathematics Department of the campus.

As Jared turned into the bathroom he quickly looked back at the two doors just opposite him. One door led to the spare room where Vanessa Benson was sleeping and the other led to his bedroom were Vanessa’s mother was sleeping. Both doors were just slightly ajar so Jared risked a quick peek into each room. Both women were still sound asleep. Seeings how all was quiet and well Jared pulled back quietly himself from both doors with a happy little smile on his face.

The smile on Jared’s face was there because it had been decided that they would stay with him for a few more days until they could sort out some other accommodation. Gloria Benson had hoped that she, along with Vanessa, might be able to stay with her sister in Oregon for awhile but her sister and her husband, as it turned out, were just heading off on a five week cruise up the west coast of Canada. Gloria would have still been able to use the place if not for the fact that her sister and husband had just rented it out for the duration of their holiday ... so staying there became out of the question.

The police had also firmly established that Gloria’s husband - Blake Benson - was solely responsible for the destruction of the family home. Investigations had revealed that he had been doctoring his time sheets at the construction company where he worked. He had also been buying construction materials with fake purchase orders and selling the stuff on the black market so he could feed his gambling and drinking addictions. All this had come to light on the day he burned the house down. He had come home from work in a rage because he just been summarily suspended without pay awaiting prosecution. Gloria was advised that the amount Blake was being sued for was a six figure sum at the very least and the arson charge would also probably get her husband a ten year stint in prison on top of that.

After some very grueling questioning over the last four days by the police Gloria herself was cleared of any involvement what-so-ever. All the same it would still be sometime yet before the insurance company gave a ruling on the house settlement because of the ‘deliberate’ nature of the fire. Even if she wasn’t involved herself she was still married to the perpetrator and the house was in both hers and her husband’s names. The insurance company was confident it would all eventually fall in her favor but that would still be some time off because of all the legal hoops they had to get through. In the meantime she would just have to rely on the charity of family, friends and neighbors. Which was where she was at right now.

Gloria Benson and her daughter Vanessa had accepted Jared’s very kind offer to stay in his house for as long as they needed. They assured him that it would only be for a week or two at the very most then they would be out of his hair ... or so they hoped. Jared himself was quietly hoping that they somehow might end up staying longer ... but that was just a dream he knew would probably not come true. All the same it did not stop him hoping and wishing and having some very erotic dreams about them both - like the one he had just had about Vanessa - that is until Mrs Clusky crept in on things! Usually the dreams ended much better than that. But such was the nature of dreams Jared thought - just like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get!