The evening meal at the Decker household went fairly quietly as all involved as everyone accepted the developments of the day. The announcement that Jen had decided to date Claire in a serious way was a surprise, and essentially a surprise for all involved. It surprised Claire in that she'd never thought she'd ever feel that way about a woman before, and the fact that she loved it surprised her even more. But she could accept it, as being able to be a cat was something she'd always wanted and dreamed about when she'd learned about the existence of weres, and that drive remained there even with the knowledge that something like this could happen. In that, she figured that she was still adapting to being a werecat and many of the instincts that rushed her weren't quite second nature to her yet.
The most surprising thing to Claire, though, was that Jen would so openly and enthusiastically ask her out. From what she knew, she'd recently become a widow and that Jen had loved her deceased husband dearly. In fact, Jen was fairly surprised by all that herself. She loved Jeffery Decker with all her heart and Claire would never be able to replace him, but at the same time, in talking with Claire... something just seemed rather special. Claire had a different personality from Jeff, but the same kindness seemed to be there, and while she still had her own private concerns that she might wish to speak with Frances over at her next grief counseling session on Wednesday, things with Claire felt oddly right in a way. So while Claire might never be able to "replace" Jeff, something seemed to tell Jen that there was room enough for both of them. She was just glad that Tad was so supportive as he was.
Tad was a bit surprised too, though more by the conviction that he'd seemed to sense in his mother's voice when she announced that she and Claire were to be an "item." After all, he knew that his mother had loved his father dearly, and that to some degree he'd seen that Jen was only barely holding it together after Jeff was murdered. He remembered all that pain when he woke up to find that his father was dead and killed in the night, by a then unknown assailant. He remembered hearing his mother cry as memories of happier times with Jeff and a younger Tad were brought about, be it the various family pictures that had been taken as Tad grew up or other things that held sentimental value. It was something that Tad knew represented real pain for Jen, though he didn't fully know how to help her with that...
The result of this was that he never expected Jen to move on so quickly after returning to Moon Lake. From how Jen had talked about the town on the way from Virginia to Moon Lake he got the impression that there was something that was almost magical about the town in some odd way, but he didn't think it would work as quickly as it did. Regardless, though, while it may have been a surprise, he was glad to see his mother look happy again.
"So... you're planning to move in...?" Tad asked slowly after a few bites as he looked across the table to Claire, breaking the semi-awkward silence as they ate.
"Yeah," Claire said quickly and nervously, glancing to Jen at the head of the table, and who had looked up as Tad asked the question. "Is... is that a problem...?"
Her voice fell off at the end and made her nervousness rather obvious to all three of them at the dining table. It wasn't quite what she wanted to appear as, but she had to remember that while Jen turning her was something she'd always wanted, there would be the potential that Tad might not take to her. She'd thought that he did accept her given the earlier declaration of him being happy for Jen, but that didn't mean Claire expected the question Tad had just asked. That left her poking at her food with her fork and listening to the metal clink against the plate.
"No... not really," Tad answered, "it's faster than I'd expected... but for the most part I'm happy to see my mom happy again."
"Losing a loved one has to be rough," Claire said slowly, "and I'm not out to compete with your father... I'm sure he was a good man..."
"He was," Jen told Claire and reached over with her free hand to hold Claire's.
"And I'd be more than happy to give you guys privacy when you put flowers on his grave... or I'd come with you, if you want," Claire then spoke.
"Jeff is buried in Quantico National Cemetery," Jen told Claire, "As his last posting was at the Marine Corps base in Quantico... so... with his resting place being across the country, Tad and I wouldn't be able to visit him frequently..."
"All the same," Claire said back, "if you ever do make that trip... I won't stop you or do anything you don't want me to do..."
That made Jen give a small smile. Once she was fully reestablished in Moon Lake and had employment, the idea of visiting Jeff's grave wasn't far from her mind, but for the moment, that would definitely have to wait until she was fully reestablished in Moon Lake and so on. That would take time and thus, even with Jeff's killer dead, travelling back and fourth across the country was not on her immediate plans. However, Claire's kindness and consideration was the thing that made her smile and seemed to reflect that odd and magical feeling that Moon Lake seemed to have.
"Anyway," Tad spoke with a serious tone, though he made sure he sounded as friendly as possible. He'd noticed Claire's sudden nervousness and that wasn't what he'd wanted to cause. "If you're planning to move in... do you have a plan? Will you need help?"
"I probably will," Claire said slowly, "I don't have much at my apartment... closer to the center of town, but obviously if I move in... I will need to pack and move things..."
"Will you need help?" Tad asked.
"Help is always appreciated," Claire commented, "Though with some things... that may require movers for some of the furniture... though a lot of that might just be to get them to a storage place... until your mom and I can be sure as to whether or not... we..."
"Get married?" Tad asked.
"Yes, that," Claire nodded, "hopefully... things continue to be as magical as they've been and I can sell them to someone who needs them and so on... but that may take some time."
Tad nodded, "but will you need help moving it?"
"Maybe..." Claire said slowly, "A lot of that moving things will be done tomorrow. Jen and I can pick up things like my clothes and food and the small things that I'd had to decorate the apartment and so on. Though things like the couches and so on may need professional movers... and ALL of this would have to wait until I get off work."
That raised some interest on Tad's part. He knew his mom had done various odd jobs while he'd been growing up and obviously had known that his father was a Marine Corps officer. He couldn't remember how many times he'd given the statement that his father was a hero whenever they moved to a new post in the US. Though so far, he didn't know much about what Claire did.
"Well... I'm a day shift custodian, janitor, maintenance engineer at the college," Claire said slowly, "it isn't much and certainly isn't the most flashy of jobs, but it is something that's needed..."
"So you clean for a living?" Tad wondered.
"Not all of the work is cleaning," Claire answered, "granted there is a lot of that that is done... but there is also a lot of things that we have do that keeps the buildings running. Small scale repairs with desks, chairs, and so on... changing air filters, checking the boilers to make sure they're working... ESPECIALLY in the winter. Washington State may not get as much snow as other places, but that doesn't mean that the buildings at the college don't need to be heated... And during the day, there is a lot of that stuff that goes on as we need to be out of the way of the students and faculty while they're working. The day to day cleaning is done by the nightshift as they come in after students and faculty have left."
Tad slowly nodded in response, but said nothing. It was interesting in a sense, as he'd never really thought of a janitor or custodian handling those sorts of things related to maintenance work, but then most media often depicted them as cleaners.
"So... what do you want to do when you grow up, Tad, if I may ask?" Claire wondered, "Since we're talking careers..."
"I was actually thinking something related to the video game industry... you know write the code for the games and so on," Tad commented, "I'm pretty good with a computer and I've enjoyed video games... so... why not work to a career in that field?"
"That doesn't sound too bad," Claire commented, "and I hope it works out."
Tad nodded and Jen happily approved of that. While she had great respect for the military and was quite willing to let Jeff make his decisions to serve and accept combat deployments, she'd seen enough of the news reports to hope and pray that the draft was never reinstated and that Tad never entered. Wars were not glamorous things to be marveled at. They were horrendous killing matches that even the survivors didn't emerge healthy from, and there was no guarantee on how would survive the conflict. Jeff could have been killed at any time, and as a mother, Jen did not want her son taking the same risk, especially now that Jeff was gone.
"Anyway," Jen then spoke as she brought things back to Tad's offering of help, "If you want to help, you'll need to come straight home after school. Claire's told me on her shift schedule, six AM to two thirty PM with a half hour off for lunch... so if we can't get professional movers, we'll figure something out... Even if it means carrying things by hand. Which may mean helping us after school. Okay?"
"Yeah... that's okay," Tad answered with a nod, "and hopefully... hopefully things work out and you're both happy."
"Thank you," Jen and Claire practically said together.