chapter 45: marius's storm

~marius~

       Because the rainstorm in Port Orthos might possibly start today while I'm at work, I decided it would be best for me to work from home for the day. There's no telling on whether or not I would be able to make it back home safely, and I would rather not leave Fawn to take care of the twins alone, especially because we have no idea how they're going to react to the storm.

       I make sure to send a mass email to my employees, letting them know that if it's going to be difficult for them to commute in the upcoming weather, they're free to leave work early, or they can work from home if they're able to. While the city won't get hit with a storm as bad as Port Orthos, they're still due for heavy rain so I don't want to put any of my employees at risk. Even if there's work that could only be done at the office, I would prefer for the work to be on hold in favour of my employee's safety.

       The first thing I do when I start working is to send an email to ByteTech's CEO, telling her that I'm uncomfortable having Terrence take part in any form of the collaboration between our two companies because of the unprofessionalism he has portrayed towards me and my husband. If Terrence doesn't get reprimanded in some way, I won't be afraid to end the contract, even if it means I have to pay a fee to do say. I'd rather not work with someone who could be so vile as to one, completely disregard my marriage and think it's okay to persistently ask me out and two, lie to my husband about me having an affair.

       Mary-Anne is over at the house right now to help me keep an eye on the twins as I work from home. Fawn is out in the town, helping people do last minute preparations for the storm. It's likely that Mary-Anne will end up staying the night so she doesn't have to walk home in the rain, but we always have a guest room prepared for her.

       Harlow, being the camera hungry person she is, insists on sitting on my lap while I have a video call meeting the marketing team of my company. Mary-Anne kept trying to keep her away but at one part, Harlow was too fast for her and climbed onto my lap before either of us could stop her. I told Mary-Anne that it's okay. If Harlow distracts the meeting too much, I'll take her off my lap but as of right now, she's just looking at herself on the screen.

       This is the only video meeting I have so when it's over, Harlow loses all interest in what I'm doing and decides to go play with her toys instead.

       Fawn comes home halfway through my workday, completely soaked from the rain. "Do you mind if I bring Bubbles inside the house?" he asks. "I'm just concerned about her shelter outside not holding up since there's also reports of strong winds."

       "If it will keep her safe, of course," I say. "You put an inflatable pool in the bathroom for her, if you want."

       "Yeah, I'll do that." Fawn heads outside to our backyard to fetch Bubbles so our pet duck won't be out in the rain, even if she is in her shelter. Although Fawn did build the shelter himself and all of his builds are of excellent quality, it's never a bad idea to prepare for the worst.

       Fern is extremely happy to see Bubbles inside out house since it's rare for the duck to be inside. In fact, the only time Bubble is inside is during harsh weather. Fern plays with Bubbles for a bit as Fern prepares the twins' inflatable pool for Bubbles to have some water to swim around in.

       I soon get a message from one of my security guards at the office, informing me that he thought it would be best to have everyone leave the office early. I agree with him and thank him for handling things at the office for me.

       There isn't much to do for work since everyone at the office will now be heading home for the day and likely won't be able to continue anything. I still keep my work phone close to me just in case.

       The first instance of the storm comes out of the blue and freaks out Fern. The wind blows harshly, causing a nearby tree to hit a branch against a living room window. A loud boom of thunder makes it worse for Fern. She screams and cries, and it takes Fawn a while to calm her down. At least Harlow isn't scared of the storm, so we only have to try to calm one toddler.

       "I have an idea," I say, pushing the coffee table off to the side. "How about we create a fort?"

       "That sounds like a great idea," Fawn says. "You hear that, Fern? Do you want to help Daddy and Poppa create a fort out of blankets and pillows?"

       Fern, who's in Fawn's arms and hugging him tightly, nods. Though, she does keep her face in Fawn's neck.

       I go to the linen closet and pull out all the spare blankets and pillows we have. I also grab a king sized air mattress, though I inflate it in my and Fawn's bedroom so Fern won't have to hear the loud sound.

       Mary-Anne helps me bring the air mattress downstairs, and we place it in the middle of the living room so we could build the fort around it. After another crash of thunder that freaks Fern out, Fawn gets her sensory headphone and puts them on her. Another thunder sounded, but Fern's headphones seem to block it out since she doesn't react.

       The harsh winds end up causing a power outage, so I go around the house to find all the candles, flashlights, and other light sources we can use. We have a few battery-powered lanterns which will be perfect to put in the fort.

       I place the light sources all around the living room, making sure it's light enough for the twins who don't particularly like the dark. We use battery-powered lanterns and flashlights for the fort to keep candles away from the blankets.

       The moment the fort is completed, the twins crawl inside it, lying down on the air mattress. They giggle, pointing at all the pillows and lanterns.

       "It's a shame the power is out," I say. "We could have had a movie night in here."

       "I have a few movies downloaded on my iPad," Fawn says. "It should last us long enough to watch two or three movies."

       "Perfect," I say. "I guess we're having a movie night." 

___________________

my internet provider started doing maintenance at 6pm and it's currently 5am with no sign of the internet working :( i wrote this offline and now i'm using my data from my phone to post it since it's a different provider. i'm just annoyed because season 2 of heartstopper came out and i haven't been able to watch it yet and i can't play any of my usual video games because they're all online games :(

anyway, ignoring my little rant, five more chapters left until book three! there's going to be a lot more angst in that book...