Jen ultimately smiled when Tad left for the Ross home. It was a surprise that a family that they had made friends with in Quantico had come all the way out to Washington state, and Moon Lake, specifically, but it was still a pleasant surprise. Tad had adapted well to Moon Lake and Jen knew that her son would want to be there for his friend. As the Ross family would be going through what many new families did when they moved to Moon Lake. She gave her advice to Tad to be tactful when he left and then went about the rest of her morning chores. They were largely maintenance and cleaning type things that she presently had the time for. She'd just finished one set and looked out the door to the pool that had come with the house, which would be something fun for the coming summer, but that was still a good many months away with winter and the Christmas season being closer than the summer.
"I should probably set about draining the pool and making sure its covered for the winter," Jen thought to herself, "Moon Lake may not get the coldest weather in the winter, and Moon Lake's weres can endure that fairly well... but an outdoor pool wouldn't do as well."
She was about to head out and get started on that when the home phone rang. She had her cellphone, and in Moon Lake, the plan service enough was strong enough in Moon Lake to work, but every home in Moon Lake was also equipped with a land line, even if wireless technology was starting to leave that behind. It was that land line that was ringing, and Jen was quick to move and answer it. There was a hallway that went toward the northern side of the house and picked up the phone that was there in the hallway. She picked up the phone and held it to her ear before answering.
"Decker household, Jennifer Decker, speaking," Jen spoke into the phone, "Who may I ask is calling?"
"Good morning, Mrs. Decker," came a cultured voice from the other end of the line, "I trust I am not calling too early?"
Jen recognized it immediately. Akane no Tachibana, the Skulk's leader and the CEO for Tachibana Enterprises the most profitable business in Moon Lake and dabbled in in great many things. Most of it was science related and specifically related to pharmaceuticals, though there were lots of other projects as well. And Jen had applied for a job there. For the moment, that wasn't too much of a pressing issue as she and Jeff had saved a lot of money, and more than enough to get Tad through most colleges, though he'd need to get an application into Moon Lake College before December if he wanted to go there. Jeff's pension as a career officer in the Marine Corps with combat tours also provided a very good pension, but that pension was presently there with the expectation that Jen Decker would live to see 100 at the oldest, which was relatively young for a were. She could live to be four hundred years old if she played her cards right, and with weres presently "hidden" from the world, she couldn't claim Jeff's pension for that long.
This had meant that Jen needed find work that she could do and was suited to do so that she wasn't suited on a military pension that was expected to run out in a fixed period of time. With Akane no Tachibana needing a new secretary, and as Jen eventually found out, personal secretary, the post had been one of several jobs that Jen had applied for through the course of getting over her husband's murder and settling back into things in Moon Lake. So far, though, none of the other applications had been responded to, which gave Jen some measure of concern that while they may have had positions open, they weren't looking to her as a candidate. Tachibana Enterprises was also one of the better options that were there for Jen to go with.
"Of course not, ma'am," Jen answered, "I was just going about some business around the house."
"I see," Akane no Tachibana answered, "I've gone over my notes from my interviews with you and compared them against your competitors for the position, and I would say that I remain relatively well impressed."
"Do I have the job?!" Jen blurted, barely holding back some excitement with the knowledge that the other places she'd applied to hadn't even responded to her applications. It was impolite and probably wasn't what was to be expected of her, but Jen couldn't hold all the excitement in. As it related to some of the good things that had occurred in her return to Moon Lake. Her husband's murderer had gotten his just deserts, she'd assured that Tad would be safe, she'd managed to find love again, and in a way she didn't expect, and now there was the possibility of getting a relatively decent job that would let her provide for her son. In the wake of things, that was good news she couldn't fully resist being excited about.
"If you would still wish to take it," Akane answered in a very amused tone of voice.
"I would," Jen answered back, regaining some composure, "when will you require me to come in?"
"For the moment, things are calm and you shouldn't have worry about being rushed into anything," Akane informed her, "come in on Monday at eight AM and we will begin handling the last bits of paperwork that will assure how you would wish to be paid, company ID cards, and other materials... and so on. You'll be starting with your immediate predecessor who will then handle your training schedule with regard to our phones and internal systems. I'm sure there will also be the standard gossip about the things I like and so on."
Jen thought she heard a chuckle from the werefox through the line, which to a degree could make sense when one thought about werefoxes in general. While their meetings were reported to be highly formal and not including the invitation large orgies that other were-groups got into at times, which often contradicted the reputation werefoxes had in bed, werefoxes were also relatively well known for enjoying a good practical joke, which often made Halloween and April Fools Day big days for the Skulk. It was something that in general had Jen thinking that werefoxes would actually have some humor on the supposed actions that could be considered "humorous." The one thing that countered those thoughts was that Akane no Tachibana was not a generic werefox.
At over two hundred years old, she was older than a fair number of the weres that lived in Moon Lake. There was also the fact that Akane no Tachibana did come from a noble house in Japan, though no one knew if she was born to it or married into it. Either way, she carried the image and prestige that would lend a lot of credence to a more serious persona, and Jen half expected that to be the case.
"I'm sure I will do my best to learn and meet your expectations, Mrs. Tachibana," Jen said formally.
"Along with my tastes in tea and coffee, doubt," Akane added with a more obvious chuckle, and this time Jen did hear it, "but that is what you would say is "office talk." So long as none of it breaks the law or deliberately hurts company productivity, I find nothing wrong with it. It helps bind everyone together and keep up morale... and let me know when I've done something wrong."
Jen didn't immediately answer and just looked at the rusty red plastic where the phone she was holding rested on the wall while processing what she'd just been told. There was actually a fair amount of insight in the statement that made a degree of sense. As business men/women could make mistakes and misread the market, and those that often did often went under. Those that did also tended to be singularly focused on things and didn't get much that contradicted what was desired to be done, even if that desire was in error. Eventually Jen did manage an answer.
"I will do my best, Mrs. Tachibana," Jen said again, "I look forward to working for you."
"Of course," Akane replied, "see you, Monday."