[Reviews - 30]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 2648 times

- Text Size +




May 2001
Memorial Day Weekend
Giles, Rayne & Summers (GRS) Law Firm | London, England

Friday evening – 8pm…

Rupert Giles, Senior Partner at GRS, started walking down the hallway to his son’s office.

Rupert, Hank and Ethan believed that all of their employees should have a proper quality of life. All work and no play made drones out of the lawyers and personnel associated with the prestigious law firm. So the agreement was that the office would shut down for the weekend every Friday @ 5:30pm.
However, there was one individual besides Rupert and Ethan that did not follow this rule.

The carpeted hallway muted Giles’ footsteps; hence giving him the element of surprise.

“Good Lord, William, what on earth are you still doing here?” Giles asked his son. “It’s Friday night, shouldn’t you be hanging out with your friends or on a date somewhere or whatever it is you young folks do nowadays?”

“Nice to see you too, dad” replied William. “I wish you would refrain from calling me William. It is Spike now and has been for the last at eight years.”

“I absolutely refuse to call my son after a piece of metallic hardware. I named you after my father, your grandfather. Besides, if your mother, God rest her, wasn’t calling you Spike; there is no way in Hell that I am going to.”

As the two men stared at each other, Spike finally started to chuckle.

“To answer your question, I just wanted to get the paperwork ready to file the continuance on Monday morning for the Hanover case. I plan to meet Cicely later this evening for drinks and a late dinner.”

“Oh, I see...” was Giles’ nonchalant reply. It seemed to Giles that in recent years, his son was making nothing but bad choices when it came to women. Drusilla really did a job on him.

Spike got defensive “Look, Da, it is my decision with whom I chose to go out. I know you have not liked my choices, but they are my choices.”

Hands going up in a surrender fashion, “I didn’t say anything,” Giles replied.

“You didn’t have to. What little you said and how you said it was plenty.”

“Listen, we have had a good week, let’s not end it by arguing, all right? I came here to speak to you regarding another matter.”

“Oh really, what’s that?” Spike calmed down.

“As you know, Hank Summers is returning in August to resume his position within the law firm,” began Giles. “He will no longer be a silent partner, but will participate fully in the day to day activities.”

Seeing that he had Spike’s attention, Giles continued, “I would like to the transition to be as smooth as possible for Hank. I need you to be the lead person on this.”

“Da, with my workload, I don’t think…,”

“I know this type of task is beneath you,” Giles interrupted. “But I really need someone that I can trust to handle this, not just for me but especially for Hank. It is really difficult to have uprooted one’s life and move to another country. Hank is doing it for the second time now. If I can at least not have him worry about the office aspect of the move, then let’s do it. I know without a shadow of doubt if the tables were turned, he would do it for me in a heartbeat.”

“I have to say your argument is convincing. I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you. Oh, it is almost nine o’clock. You better leave if you still want to catch Cicely for supper.”

“I’ll say, I may come in tomorrow to finish up my work so I can start getting Hank’s office ready beginning Monday.”

Spike shrugged into his jacket and turned off the lights to his office. Both Giles and Spike took the elevator down to the garage and bid good-night to the night watchman, Gus.

Instead of continuing to his own car, Spike walked his father to his car. “So, Dad do you have any plans for this evening?”

“I plan to go home, eat the dinner that Margie has warming for me, then spend a relaxing evening in my library with a good book.”

“Sounds exciting,” chuckled Spike.

“Well, off with you. You have a Lady waiting.”

“Good night, Da’. Please ring if you need anything.”

Watching his father’s car pull off, Spike walked to his car, a 2000 Black Bentley Azure, to drive and meet Cicely at the pub.

***********
Sunnydale Airport
Friday Afternoon – 2pm…

Buffy stood by the hire car on the airport strip in the area designated for private planes. As she saw her parents plane taxi down the runway, she felt an excitement grow in seeing her parents. As her parents’ began to disembark from the plane, Buffy smiled as she quickly jogged up to them.

As their daughter was running towards them, Joyce could not help to think My daughter is a swan. Hank had similar thoughts California has had such a wonderful effect on her. It is a shame we are asking her to give this up.

“Mum, Dad! Did you have a wonderful trip? I am so glad you are here,” squealed Buffy.

“Well, hello to you too, darling,” Joyce gushed. She wrapped Buffy in her arms and gave a warm hug. As both women continued to hug one another, another set of arms wrapped around them both. Buffy smelled the scent of her father and suddenly received a kiss on the top of her head as was Hank’s normal custom when greeting his daughter.

The family stood there holding one another for a few minutes more, reluctantly letting go to move towards the hired car. By the time they reached it, all of Hank and Joyce’s luggage was already placed in the trunk.

Once the family was settled in the car, Buffy informed the driver to take them to the Sunnydale Bed and Breakfast.

“Mom, you will absolutely love this place. It is very quaint and it overlooks the cliffs near Sunnydale Beach.”

“That’s wonderful honey,” Joyce replied.

“Dad, I made dinner reservations for 7pm. That way, both you and mom can get settled and have a bit of a nap.”

“That would be fine, Buffy,” replied Hank. “What will you do while your mom and I rest?”

“I will be in the next room unpacking as well. I thought that I would stay at the same place with you guys so we can spend as much time together this weekend. I hope that is okay?”

“You don’t have to ask that, Buffy,” Joyce gently chastised. “Of course we would want you with us. We just thought that with the long holiday weekend, you may want to spend time with your boyfriend.”

“Yes, your boyfriend. What’s his name, again? ...Ripley?,” queried Hank.

“It’s Riley, Dad. You have been calling him Ripley for the last two years,” Buffy stated.

“What’s the difference? Riley, Ripley… they both sound the same to me,” Hank commented petulantly.

Joyce gently patted her husband’s thigh as a comforting gesture. Both women knew that Hank had a difficult time letting go that his little girl had grown into a beautiful young lady. The fact that she also had a serious boyfriend did not help the situation either.

“Buffy,” Joyce wanted to broach the subject gently. “At dinner tonight, your father and I would like to talk to you about a couple of things… nothing bad I promise but it will reveal the reason why we came here this weekend.”

“Sure thing, Mom,” Buffy could not help but wonder what it was that her parents’ wanted to talk to her about. Before she could ask…

“Ah, here we are. Sunnydale Bed and Breakfast,” Hank commented. Hank quickly left the car and helped both his wife and daughter from the vehicle. As the staff new that Lord and Lady Summers would be arriving, they were on hand to swiftly check them into the best suite and have the luggage placed in their rooms.

Buffy noticed her father trying to stifle a yawn.

“Dad, why don’t you and Mom rest for a bit. I will wake you when it is time to get ready for dinner @ the Sunnydale Inn.”

“That would be wonderful, darling.”

Buffy left her parents to get ready for their nap. As she gently closed the door to their room and entered hers, she couldn’t help but think - I wonder what is so important that they flew all the way here to tell me.

tbc





You must login (register) to review.