Harold Jenkins made himself a big pot of coffee that Thursday morning before sitting down at his desk.
He wanted to go back to bed. At least take a nap.
He was tired, having not slept well because of what he considered fevered dreams overnight.
But there was work to do, no matter how he felt.
Maybe it's time to start teaching Mel how to cook, thought Harold, believing his overnight ills and their consequences were all brought on by an upset stomach.
The one thing Harold Jenkins wasn't willing to admit was the truth.
Providing he could accept it himself.
That the months long emotional loss of his late wife Eliza was finally fading because it was being replaced by a growing interest (love?) in his next door neighbor Virginia McCoy.
Harold attempted to throw himself into his work.
Having moved what remained of his family to Moon Lake to take a history teaching position at the local college in hopes of getting a fresh start, Harold needed to prepare and submit a syllabus to Dean Myers before the beginning of November to be approved for the Spring semester that would start that coming January.
He had all the materials he needed in front of him, including the college requirements list.
Yet why couldn't he pick up a pen and start at least forming his rough draft?
Then he spotted the two history text books Virginia dropped off yesterday afternoon that he promised to look over and give his opinions on when they saw each other next.
Harold wouldn't admit that he wanted to see her again, not even on a legitimate business pretext, when his front doorbell rang.
Reluctantly getting up, he went to the door and asked in a loud voice, "Who is it?"
"Delivery for Harold Jenkins," said the man outside.
"I didn't order anything," replied Harold.
"It's from a Miss Alice Decrux, from the Decrux Delights Sweet Shop," explained the man.
Harold opened the door and saw a delivery man holding a large box of candy, along with a clipboard for Harold to sign.
"What exactly is it?" asked Harold, while signing his name.
"The invoice says 5 pounds of peanut brittle."
"Oh god no!" exclaimed Harold, looking at the box with disgust. "I've never liked peanut butter in my whole life. Not even as a kid. You can have it. Consider it a tip."
The delivery driver smiled, said "Thank you," and went back to his van with the box of candy.
What neither Harold nor the delivery driver knew was that Alice had picked that specific variety because the peanut butter would mask the powerful aphrodisiac that affected both weres and normals alike that she had laced the candy with.
Alice had hoped to come over later to find Harold all hot, horny, and ready for her to turn him into a were-raccoon. Instead the delivery driver, who happened to be a werecat, and his husband would be spending many a wonderful night to come rutting like crazy and never knowing exactly what the source of the boost to their sex life was.
Harold Jenkins went back to his desk and actually managed to get some work done.
Provided you counted writing SPRING SEMESTER SYLLABUS—FIRST DRAFT across the top of a blank sheet of paper work.
He organized the pile of text books on his desk, careful to keep Virginia's separate from his own, when his cellphone rang.
"Hello?" he said, upon answering.
"Harold. It's Dean Myers. Are you free for lunch today?"
"Yes sir. When would you like to meet?" Harold asked in return, hoping to be back in time to meet Virginia when she came home from teaching high school history.
"I have an errand to run first, so I'll call before coming over to pick you up. Say, somewhere between 90 minutes to 2 hours from now?"
"Sure. No problem. I'll see you then," said Harold, hanging up the phone.
In his office at Moon Lake College, once the connection was broken, Dean Myers printed up all the information he had found on Alice Decrux, then used his computer to look up her business address before telling his secretary that he would be off campus on business for awhile before leaving.