Lunchtime arrived that Friday with many people going about their day as they went for lunch. Those at school often went to the cafeteria or the small restaurants on the campus, if one was at Moon Lake College. Some went out to eat or had lunch ordered. Some that worked packed a lunch if their break wasn't that long. Those that were at home ate their lunch. At present, Jen normally fell into the last category and Claire normally packed a lunch or ordered a lunch at the college's cafeteria. However, they had something different planned as they had an arranged lunch to meet with Jen's mothers, Karen and Vivian Teller. In fact Claire found Jen waiting for her as she drove up to the Decker home. Claire also noticed a pair of paper bags that were in Jen's hands and that there were a pair of sodas on the ground near Jen's feet.
"Only a sack lunch?" Claire asked, "Wouldn’t your folks have something more formal?"
"If this was for dinner, maybe," Jen answered, "but they have their own work at the moment and will have their own lunch break to be concerned with. In this we may be pressed for time..."
Claire slowly nodded as Jen approached Claire's own car. Claire accepted the sack lunches while Jen went back for the sodas. Claire set the bags down on the small armrest between her driver's seat and the passenger seat. It wasn't too long before Jen came around and sat in the passenger seat.
"I did get some time off though for this... not much, but I did get some time off," Claire spoke as Jen got into the car and made no comment.
To a small extent, Claire was a bit jealous of Jen's own car which was larger and nicer than the one she owned. She'd liked her car, and at times even liked tinkering with the engine, but it was older, could be cramped when there was a lot to move, and without the upgrades she'd given it would be lucky to reach sixty miles per hour. However, it was what it was and now wasn't the time to worry about how nice someone's car was. As Jen buckled in, Claire backed her car up and they were soon on the road with Jen giving Claire step by step directions. Claire was ultimately the most surprised by where they ended up.
"You grew up across the street from the high school?" Claire said with some surprise, "it's where we first met."
"Yes," Jen answered, remembering that Tad had had the same reaction to her childhood home. She was a bit nervous on this meeting, as while she had found a lot to like in Claire, it was still relatively close to her husband's murder and that her mothers had both liked Jeff. She'd found a lot to like in Claire and something in a way felt very much like it did with Jeff when she met him in college. In its own way, it was rather special and in that Jen was more than willing to let things keep moving forward. Though as they began to walk toward the front door, Jen also remembered her mothers' delight in mentioning embarrassing moments to Tad and decided it was best to avoid that sort of thing with Claire, as one it would be embarrassing and two, they likely wouldn't have time. "We'll try to avoid the details in all that... at least with the initial introduction."
"There's a story here... I sense," Claire commented, "It's not bad is it?"
"Nothing bad," Jen answered, "just something we probably don't have time for at the moment."
Claire nodded as they carried the sack lunches and sodas up the driveway to the front door. Jen calmly knocked on the front door and waited for one of her mothers to answer. It was Karen who answered the door, still in her uniform for the local bank... or at least the one that had its roots in Moon Lake. Wells Fargo had moved in and established its branch mostly on the basis of its success in getting offices across the country. Karen smiled to Jen and then looked to Claire with a small nod.
"Hello, Jen!" Karen Teller said happily, "I trust you're doing great?"
"Yeah... job hunting and getting settled in, that's all going well," Jen answered, "as well as a few unexpected surprises..."
This drew Karen's eyes to Claire, who slowly waved to Karen with a nervous smile.
"I see, and you must be Claire," Karen spoke politely, "Come on in. I'm afraid we don't have much time for anything fancy. I'm on my lunch break and... well, Vivian could take longer for her break, but I can't."
"I can understand being on a tight lunch schedule," Claire spoke politely and a bit nervously, "I'm on my lunch break too."
They followed Karen on toward the kitchen where they found Vivian Teller making sandwiches as well. Vivian looked up as they entered, though it lead to a surprised response from both Vivian and Claire.
"It's you!" both exclaimed in surprise making both Jen and Karen jump.
"Do you two know each other?" Jen asked. Karen also looked a bit puzzled by her wife's reaction.
"She's the woman who's wanted to be a werecat like it was an obsession!" Vivian declared.
"Dear, you and I both know that if she wants to be a werecat, there is nothing wrong with that," Karen chided her husband.
"She's also straight," Vivian answered.
"I was well aware of what becoming a werecat would do," Claire spoke up, "and I've had a great affection for the Domestic House Cat that is greater than any other animal. That's why I wanted to be a werecat. My sexuality was never a concern."
Jen guessed that Claire and Vivian must have met at the college. Vivian worked in the Administration Building as a secretary while Claire worked as a custodian. In this it was entirely possible that while Claire had been looking for a werecat that would turn her, she had run into Vivian while on campus. It made some degree of overall sense, as because of the issues that related to all werecats and "male" werecats, or werewildcats, being at least bisexual like Jen if not homosexual like Karen and Vivian, that they were often hesitant about turning every normal of the same gender because of sexuality issues. Which would mean that if Claire had come across Vivian and asked about being transformed, her mother would turn Claire down for that reason.
"And there is no outright law that says she can't be a werecat if that is what she wants," Jen spoke up, "she understood and she politely."
"You turned her!" Karen and Vivian spoke together.
"Yes," Jen nodded, "again, she understood the risks and was still willing. There is nothing wrong in that."
"Of course, dear," Karen said to Jen and placing a hand on Jen's shoulder, "but it's that sort of thing that can make things potentially difficult. We're glad that you were able to find someone... but a new were... one freshly turned... may not always be the best way to start a relationship... Especially with your husband's death and the fact that YOU are bisexual. What if she's now a lesbian and can't understand why you are also attracted to men?"
"I'm not out to replace her murdered husband," Claire said nervously, "but she is the only one who was willing to turn me... and THAT by itself is special to me. If it leads to love, that's great... and I'm more than willing to take it slow and not force Jen into anything before she's ready."
Karen and Vivian paused and glanced to each other. They seemed to relax a little bit, but Claire figured they were going to remain protective of their daughter, particularly under the circumstances that related to Claire's arrival in Moon Lake.
"That's quite mature of you," Vivian said slowly, "Very mature. Though, you WILL remember how important our daughter and her son are to us."
"Of course," Claire nodded, "I wouldn't want to see either hurt."
Karen and Vivian both nodded for a moment. That would be tolerable for them as parents. As things calmed down from that initial burst of surprise over Vivian recognizing Claire, likely from the college, there was still the question, at least for Jen on how Claire knew Vivian.
"So... I'll ask again... how do you two know each other?" Jen asked glancing between Vivian and Claire.
"Well... I'd only just started with my post at the college as a custodian," Claire started, "mostly for the tinkering and repair work that is also a part of the job, not just cleaning, and it was during their summer clean through. The entire college staff goes through the campus and thoroughly cleans everything and fixes things that might be broke. The last building that we got to was the Administration building..."
"I'd forgotten some papers I was working on and came back to get them, and since no one had posted "closed" signs up, I figured it was okay to go in," Vivian said slowly.
"And tracked mud in through carpets that freshly vacuumed and getting ready to be shampooed," Claire commented, "which meant a lot of the work that had been done had to be done over. Put us a bit behind schedule, which meant we had to play catchup in terms of dealing with other issues that related to our own respective buildings to look after at the end of the summer cleaning season."
"So... you two met then," Jen surmised.
Claire and Vivian both nodded. Both then scratched the back of their heads at that while Jen shook her head and Karen sighed for a moment.
"Then it's best to forgive and forget," Jen finished, "especially while we're facing a limited amount of time with regard to lunch."
"Right," was the universal answer. And the four would enjoy a nice and quick lunch, in which Claire was able to show that she wasn't taking advantage of Jen being willing to turn her and that she held a good head on her shoulders. That was enough for everyone to feel more comfortable with the situation.