[Edward's POV]
"Nah Claire. Do it like this. That'll work better."
"But…We used to do it… another way while I was working."
"Yeah. And that was like, 15 years ago right? People have advanced now. A whole other generation has already been born."
Finally, I showed Claire how easy it would be if she followed my way. As the woman was technologically challenged, I had to create a step by step method in her training files and even labeled all of the steps clearly so that she wouldn't miss it.
She had brought her own laptop to the training today which I had connected to the website and the office system. After this, she would work for the company from the comfort of her home without even needing to go to the Marina.
[Alex's commentary]
"As if. I predicted that mom will have learned everything about the marina path in just a few days."
[commentary ends]
"No way. That's brilliant Ed. I can't believe this. A Middle-school student can have something this big? Mama Likey-"
Before Claire could go any further, I stopped her quickly. She was leaning next to me, her chest was directly in front of my face if I turned. She was looking at my laptop screen so much that she didn't realize that part of her body was pressing onto mine.
"Claire. You're alone in a hormonal teenager's house. Please refrain from using sentences with double meaning and only behave that way around your husband." I said using a teasing tone.
Honestly, Mrs Robinson needs to back off a bit or I'll start making Phil be in despair.
Flabbergasted, the hot and scary milf - Claire took one step back from me in wariness and stammered , "E-excuse me? How is that double meaning?"
I used a sultry voice and said, "Ooh. You have something this…big? Mama Likey-"
"Okay Stop!' Claire said, finally understanding what she had done wrong.
"It's okay 'Mrs Robinson', it's your first day on the job, and I have a high threshold for sexual connotations that I wouldn't act based on impulse." I teased her again.
Claire widened her eyes in disbelief and horror. "M-M-Mrs Robinson! I'm not making moves on you- I'm a Married Woman!"
Ignoring her reactions, I asked, "Do you understand how to use the excel documents yet? I had set up the program, you just need to input the numbers inside."
Claire's brain short-circuited and she replied, "Yes."
"Good. That's for accounting. About customer service, I had created an auto reply system for a few of the messages and inserted the customer service working hour in the website so you don't have to be on standby all the time. You just need to reply to the email at the specific time."
"What I need to focus on today is Scheduling and Logistics." I continued.
[Claire's commentary]
"Ed is a great teacher. But…Sometimes his jokes are…" Claire said in exasperation. "Not that I can do anything about it. He's the boss's boss. He's the Grand Boss of the whole operation."
She knew that the reason Edward could've made the joke was because he was uncomfortable as it was easy to diffuse an awkward situation by the joke. She was also feeling a bit smug inside when she realized she could make a 14 years old kid a bit restless just by getting closer to him.
"Still got it…I think." Claire said with an awkward smile.
She then started to think about the training experience she had received today.
"Sometimes, his ideas were so brilliant that I forgot that I was talking to a 14 year old." Claire confessed.
[Commentary ends]
"It's almost 7 pm. You should go home and get some rest. Phil is the one handling dinner tonight right?" I asked.
"No. Seriously, 3 to 4 hours waiting time to get the liquor?! How irresponsible are the workers there?" Claire was inside her own world, reading documents after documents to further understand her new job.
"Well. They're sailors. They're drunk most of the time. 3 to 4 hours is the most optimistic calculation." I said casually. "Sometimes, they don't even deliver the alcohol, causing my dad to run to the store just moments before a trip to stock up their bar. Anyway-"
"But that's serious. We can sue them for harming the business." Claire said in astonishment.
"Yeah. They're sailors. Do you really think there are contracts to prove the transactions?" Shaking my head slightly, I said, "Anyway. Stop. Time's up. You need to go back home."
Claire looked at her wristwatch and said, "Oh. It's time for dinner already? Do you want to come and join us Ed? Phil is buying pizzas for tonight."
"Nah. I need to finish up the program for the office. The website is going to be launched tonight, so I need to make sure everything is running smoothly."
I turned to the computer and started to make the final adjustment. I had already synced both the website and the office system together. All I needed right now was to make some tweaks so that it'll sync better.
"TONIGHT!" Claire suddenly shouted. "Why didn't you tell me?!"
"It was in your briefing packet. Besides, I will handle the job for the week, so you don't have to be afraid that you were pushed into the job without training."
Thinking that Claire was feeling anxious because she was caught unprepared, I explained to her the situation immediately. "Go home. Your work today is done." I said again.
Unfortunately, Abby couldn't come and hang out today because she was hanging out with her mother and wouldn't tell me where. I had invited her over, but I didn't tell her about the site launching yet.
"No. That's not it! You'd worked very hard for this! And you're going to launch it alone?!" Claire said hurriedly, getting up and close to my face again.
"It's not a big deal. It's just a website. I also don't need the distractions while I am monitoring the launch-" Before I could finish my sentence, I saw Claire had called someone using her mobile phone.
"Phil! Bring the pizzas and the kids here! The website is going to be launched tonight!"
"Claire!" I called out in exasperation. "I need to focus!"
"No. You can focus. We'll all focus…with you. When is your dad coming back home? Why isn't he here?"
"I tasked him to monitor the office program and to make sure to answer the phone when I call." I said.
Claire was confused, "Why don't you let someone else go on standby there?"
"After the whole fiasco about the crew handing out flyers in an old people home, I couldn't trust them much."
Claire had fallen silent from my answer. Within minutes, the doorbell of my house rang multiple times. I rubbed my forehead as my stress level was rising up, but Claire ignored me and opened the door.
"We're HERE!" Phil said excitedly. "Ed. Why didn't you tell us about this?!" He approached me hurriedly and gave me a big hug, almost picking me up from the ground to swirl me. I stopped him before he managed to do that and only gave me a big hug.
Alex and Luke followed from behind, but not Haley as she was having dinner with her friends tonight at the mall. Luke was wearing a blue robot shirt while Alex was wearing an E=mc² shirt.
"Hey. What's going on?" Alex asked as she was confused by the sudden invite.
"He's launching the website, but he wants to do it alone." Claire explained before I could open my mouth to answer.
"What she said." I pointed at the grinning Claire." Anyway, what pizza did you bring?" I asked after I understood there was nothing I could say to change Claire's mind.
"We got peperoni, classic cheese, and mushrooms." Luke said while holding three stacks of pizza boxes.
Phil and Claire sat together in private as they were talking about their day without each other. I gave the lovey-dovey couple some privacy while I sat down with Luke and Alex at the dinner table.
"What time is the launch?" Alex asked while seated at the dinner table, eating a slice of mushroom pizza.
"At 8. So an hour from now on." I replied while eating a slice of pepperoni pizza with my right hand and was coding with my left hand.
"Did you already do all the preparation? You're not launching it prematurely right?" Alex asked.
"Nah. Everything is already done." Taking a bite of the pizza, I finished my last bit of coding and finalized the website creation.
"Now. We wait." I said, turning my focus onto Alex and Luke.
"You're…like an adult. With your job." Luke commented. As he ate the pizza with his right hand, he used his left hand to prop his head on the table. I wonder if he was tired, or if he usually eats like that. "Will you go to the office next?" Luke asked.
"Nah. I'm going to play next." I replied.
"After this, you're going to work on rapid hot air technology right? I was thinking if you can rent a lab at school to do it. Mrs Henderson said you can if you let the school participate in the invention to increase their reputation." Alex said after patiently waiting for me to finish my work.
"Hmm? Did you tell them about it? You didn't, right?" I asked with concern.
"Of course not. Do you think I will be that stupid?" Alex said with her eyes rolling.
"It's a good thing you didn't. It'll take a long time to do it. If I collaborate with the school and I transferred to Wisconsin afterward-"
Suddenly, Phil grabbed my shoulder from behind and asked, "Why are you transferring to Wisconsin?"
I paused and turned to Phil. I then said, "We are just playing in a hypothetical situation."
"Ahh. I see. Like if you're bitten by a vampire and a werewolf at the same time, will you be a werebat or a vamp-wolf?" Phil said excitedly. Alex breathed in relief after I managed to trick Phil from knowing about the matter.
Time passed by quickly as I was enjoying myself with the company of the Dunphy's. Phil constantly asked about the invention I was talking about with Alex, and wanted to show me a few things that he had invented, like the Real Head Scratcher, T.M.
"Dad. What he's doing is actually important." Alex said sarcastically.
Phil retorted, "Solving itchy head problems is also important!"
Claire finally joined the conversation after taking one last look on the briefing packet. "Luke, sit up properly. Alex, he needs to rest first after doing such a big project. Can't you see his eye bag? Stop trying to push him into another one. And Phil…"
Claire turned to Phil who had a scared look on his face. "When will Haley get back?"
Phil breathed in relief and said, "Around 8.30. She promised me she will get home at that time."
"As if." Alex snorted in derision. I turned toward her and said, "Aww, is someone missing her dear sister?"
"What the- NO!" Alex said hurriedly as she became embarrassed.
As the launching time was nearing, I was sitting on the chair at the dinner table while the Dunphy's family were all standing behind me watching the countdown on my laptop screen together.
[Phil and Claire's Commentary]
As Phil was sitting next to Claire, he started the commentary.
"As I was waiting for the website countdown to reach zero, all I could think about was how…wonderful it would be for Edward if the website became successful. That means…his dad can be around more, and they could spend more time together."
Claire held Phil's hand and let him continue.
"When I was growing up with my dad, we were inseparable. So when Claire calls me and says he will celebrate…One of the major achievements of his life…all alone in that empty house…my mind…and my heart… couldn't take it." Phil said and pointed to his mind and heart as he spoke.
Claire interjected, "Although he was so…smart, and looks mature, He's still a 14 years old kid. He didn't even plan to eat anything while launching the website. It makes me think about how many nights there were that he had spent not eating anything while he was alone over there."
Phil nodded and said, "I know life has been rough on him, and he's been working hard to change that life. I can respect his efforts…But I just can't… understand why he's pushing everyone away."
Claire turned to Phil with a weird expression on her face. She whispered, "When did he push everyone away?"
"Just before this, I offered to help him with his project, but he shot me down." Phil explained to Claire.
"I think…that was more of a safety issue than him pushing everyone away." Claire said. "But he does repress a lot of his emotions. I could see that he was happy when the website launch countdown had started, but he wouldn't let anyone see it."
[Commentary ends]
Claire started the countdown! "3…2…1…0!!!! The Website is now LIVE!"
Phil blew a party horn while Alex popped a confetti, making it fly everywhere near the dining room.
"Congratulations Edward!" Claire said and kissed my cheeks. Phil did the same thing while patting my shoulder with a lot of force as he was too happy. I turned to Alex who's standing nearby and said, "You guys are not going to kiss my cheeks too?"
"What- I don't-" Alex stammered.
"I will!" Luke said and rushed into where I was sitting and kissed my cheeks the same way as his parents did.
"Now, it's too late for you Alex." Luke said teasingly to his sister.
"I-I don't want to kiss him in the first place!" Alex shouted.
"Oh my god, people are coming into the website!" Claire said hurriedly with a bright smile on her face. I had set up a visitor's count view in the website – personally for me so that I could see the website traffic on the first day.
"A thousand people are opening the website! Why!?!" Phil asked in shock.
"Well. I kinda had a promotion set up. The first 20 people who book a trip on the first day of the website launch will get 20% off. So right now, people are competing to make a booking and settle the payment so as to not let the good deal go." I explained calmly.
"Yeah. That's a good one." Claire said in acknowledgement. She then continued with a tone full of amazement, "5 minutes in, and we're already fully booked for the next 10 days."
"That's amazing! Ha haa haa!" Phil laughed and took the laptop away from Claire.
"Well done Ed! Seriously. Good job!" Claire praised me endlessly, which I got to admit felt a bit nice. I was sure that my grinch's heart had grown 1.005% in size after hearing all of the praises and acknowledgement.
"How many now?" I asked Claire after it had been 10 minutes in.
"Wait. Let me check." Claire said and walked to Phil who was sitting down on the dinner table adjacent to my seat and typing something on the laptop. Claire widened her eyes when she saw what Phil was doing.
"Why are you booking it?!" Claire asked hurriedly and snatched her laptop from Phil.
"Give me that Claire! It'll be a good trip for all of us!" Phil said. He was chasing after the 20% off discount and he might make it too before all the spots had been filled up.
"EMPLOYEES GET 40% DISCOUNT PHIL! WHY ARE YOU CHASING THE 20%!!" Claire shouted as Phil was being relentless.
"Wait what? Mom. 40% discount? Is that true?" Alex asked in astonishment.
"Go ask the Grand boss." Claire said, pursing her lips towards me.
Alex and Phil turned to me for an answer, so I replied casually, "Yeah. That's true. There will be an annual party too and that will be for free."
"You're the best Grand boss!" Luke complimented innocently.
As the website launch was successful, I received calls from Mitch and Cam, from Gloria, Manny and Jay, from Pepper, and from Abby. She was furious that I didn't tell her about the launch today, and I had to talk to her for 20 minutes just to calm her down.
By the time I had finished comforting Abby, Ted had driven home and the first thing he did was hug me to congratulate me about the website.
"Uff Dad." I let out a burst of air from the sudden hug.
"You did… Really…Really well! I'm…proud of you!" Ted said while hugging me. Those simple words made my entire body tingly in ways I had never experienced before in my past life.
Phil and Claire smiled softly as they witnessed the touching moment between the father and son.
"What's going on here?" Haley asked as she entered the house. Her dad had already texted her to go to the Newgate's house when she returned home, only to witness the scene of my dad hugging me.
"Okay. Dad…enough." I said with a flat tone after he wasn't letting me go. "No." Ted replied decisively and tightened his embrace. I sighed in defeat and reluctantly hugged him back while feeling so embarrassed inside.
As the website traffic slowed down, finally the celebration was over.
"We're now fully booked for 2 months!" I announced excitedly while putting my glass up, causing the adult crowd to raise their wine glass and cheer before I added, "...if there isn't any cancellation."
"Boo!" The kids booed me for being so pessimistic and raised their sparkling cider together with everyone.
"Here to a new journey!" I made a toast for the new start of my dad's business. The Whitebeard ship's rental and tourism had rebranded itself and now ready to take on new ventures that I would lead them into.
"Let the party begin!" Phil shouted and the kids popped the confetti together to signal the start of the celebration.
With an awkward smile plastered on her face, Haley whispered to Alex, "...Party for what?"
"..."