It was the morning of the New Year's Eve party. The air was crisp and the sky clear; snow had yet again, fallen throughout the night, refreshing the purity of the winter blanket, that glittered in the morning sun as if it were solely made of diamonds.
Hutch was alone, sitting at the dining room table, enjoy his morning coffee in the peaceful quiet of the home. He was certain he was the only one yet awake, given how late they'd stayed up the previous night, leaving him startled when he caught movement in the corner of his eye. He hadn't expected to see anyone for another hour or more, let alone Casimir coming up from the basement.
"Shit," he grumbled, snatching a nearby napkin, to soak up the coffee he'd managed to spill.
"Having trouble?" Casimir questioned, a mischievous grin lingering on his lips, as he closed the basement door.
"Apparently," Hutch replied, as he finished wiping up his mess. "I was just lost in the view. Wasn't expecting to see the basement door suddenly open. I also thought no one else was awake yet."
Casimir chuckled as he sat down at the table, a half cup of coffee in one hand, and a stack of papers in the other. "You'd have to rise before the sun to beat me into the waking hours of a day," he commented, setting his mug out of the way as he organized the papers into two stacks.
"Still can't sleep in, even after all these years," Hutch remarked, quirking his brow at him, "and you wonder about me?"
"I jest. I only beat you by about 20 mins. And my ill-advised habits aside, I had business to take care of."
"It's the last day of the year, Cas. What couldn't wait until tomorrow?"
Turning the two sets of documents to face Hutch, Casimir slid them closer. "I would have taken care of this yesterday, but with the deliveries, and crisis management, I decided to wait until now, before the chaos starts again."
"Oh goodie. Can hardly wait for more that," Hutch replied, before taking a large swig from his mug.
"Drink up. You're going to need a few more of those before the day's finished."
"Going to double down on the 'Oh goodie,' part of my previous statement," he remarked, as he picked up the first pile of papers, recognizing them immediately. "Is this a copy of the contract you sent to my previous dwelling?"
"That one is, yes. But this one," Casimir motioned to the papers still on the table, "is my second offer. Yesterday, Celina mentioned that she wanted to hire you on as our butler instead. The contracts are identical, aside from the job title and description, and the pay has been adjusted accordingly. Take some time, read them both over, and I'll be in the living room watching the news, if you have any questions."
"Before you go, I really only have one question. If you were me, which one would you choose?"
"To me, the choice is simple, but I've always known what I wanted for my future. One of these gives you access and privileges, and the other affords you the comfort of a different kind of animal, but the joy of a simpler life. For you, it may just come down to the salary. Either way, I can't make this decision for you. You should know me at least that well by now."
"I'm not asking you to make the decision. I'm asking what you would do, if you were in my position. So, if it's so simple, then just tell me your answer."
Casimir sighed and pulled a pen from the pocket of his shirt, setting it down on top of the contract for the butler's position.
"It's very difficult to get ahead in this life without connections, and frankly, I'm a bit tired of seeing all your years of training go to waste. Mind you, I think you're a touch overqualified for either position, but I do believe that you are more suited to this one."
"Then why offer me the other job?"
Casimir relaxed in his chair and rubbed his hand back through his hair. "Hutch, there is a lot of history between us. Not all of it was good and we both know it. The reason I offered you a job in the barn, was because I wanted you to have space, and I can still remember how much you cared for the eranth. Horses don't really stack up, but they are as close as we're going to get here, and another set of hands, doesn't really change much. We have two too many hands as it is already. The reason why I'm still offering it, is because being our butler is going to entail a lot more than making meals and doing dishes. It's demanding, not just physically, but mentally, and of your time as well. It's an intimate position, and it requires trust on both sides, and I'm not certain if you're comfortable enough to take that on or if you even want to. At the end of the day, it comes down to what you want for yourself. Read it over, and then decide."
"How long to do I have to think about it?"
"You can take as long as you like, but I'd prefer for this matter to be settled before we leave for the Tower, at noon."
Hutch nodded. "So, which job would you like me to take?"
"The one that will make you happiest, if I fail send you home. And the one you can continue to live with, if for whatever reason, you find yourself back here," he replied, before getting up from the table, and heading into the kitchen.
Hutch could hear him getting another cup of coffee, as he read over the details on the butler contract. While the title seemed straight forward, the description was anything but, and the salary had been raised to reflect the changes.
"Dammit, Cas," he whispered, as he picked up the pen, and signed and dated the last page, without hesitation. "You really do know how to get exactly what you want."
Chugging back the remains of his coffee, he gathered the contracts and headed towards the living room, tossing one in the garbage bin on the way by.
"And just like that, my life is yours once again," he commented, tapping Casimir on the shoulder with the signed contract.
"That was faster than I expected," he replied, taking the contract from him. Glancing at the last page, he set it onto the coffee table, before standing up and turning around to face him. "You read it over, every line?"
"Wouldn't have signed it if I hadn't."
"Then congratulations, Jules Hutchinson," he remarked, offering out his hand. "You are now the official butler of the Salvador family. It will be nice working with you, again."
"Thanks," Hutch replied, as they exchanged a solid handshake. "And I'm really hoping it turns out differently this time."
"You and me both. But with that out of the way, your first job, is to go outside and clear the walkways up to the house."
"First job?" Hutch questioned. "So, you want me to start immediately?"
"That would be the implication."
"With no training?"
"You need training on how to use a shovel?" Casimir questioned back; his skeptical tone matched to the raising of his brow.
"Only on where you keep them." Hutch grinned wide enough to show the world his teeth.
"Come on, I'll show you," Casimir remarked as he made his way around the couch and rested his arm across the top of Hutch's shoulders as he walked with him over to the side door.
Dressed in boots, hats, coats, and gloves, Casimir showed Hutch where they kept the snow shovels in the garage, and despite repeatedly telling him that this was his job, Casimir shoveled alongside him.
"So, to be clear, about tonight," Hutch said, before tossing another shovel of snow onto the lawn, "you're going to be introducing me as your butler, right?"
"Well, it's that or we spend the entire night trying to explain how you're Celina's cousin."
"You don't think people are going to ask just as many questions about why you hired me as your butler?"
Casimir began to laugh.
"Didn't think that was funny, but okay," Hutch mumbled, as he moved another shovelful of snow from the walkway that led from the driveway to the front porch of the house.
"Hutch, as soon as any of those people find out you're the help, they won't even bother to learn your name, let alone care how you got employed or why you might be there," Casimir replied, once he'd calmed himself down. "Once word gets around, you'll be able to disappear into the crowd, even if you're standing right beside me."
"Just like old times. And don't worry. I might be a bit rusty with the signals, but I've never been able to forget the training. Although, I highly doubt anyone's going to be there attempting to assassinate you. Unless you have a bunch of enemies, you'd like to tell me about?"
"That's a bit of a long list. Keep an eye on the plus ones tonight. Never know who might try and sneak in," Casimir replied, as he cleared off the last step leading up to the porch.
"I was trying to be serious," Hutch remarked, as they speared their shovels into the snow.
"Fair enough," Casimir said, knocking the snow from the bottom of his boots before heading up onto the porch and taking a seat on the bench that was up close to the house. "Enemies here, they don't play the same games you're used to. They assassinate businesses, not people. You have a problem with someone you do whatever you can to take their money; tank their stocks, corporate takeovers. You'd be surprised how many of these wealthy people, rely on cashflow to keep up appearances, but wouldn't have enough cash to cover their bills for a month if they lost everything tomorrow. Celina will be the one to bring you in on the business dealings though, when you're ready. As for tonight, this is charity event. Tickets are sold in blocks throughout the year, and a dozen or so are given out directly. We use the list of buyers, to get a rough idea of a guest list, but we have no way to account for the plus ones, or tickets that were given as gifts, or raffled off."
"Take it the tickets are expensive?" Hutch asked as he sat down beside him.
"Expensive enough to target those with money to burn. They get to say they've done a good deed, while forwarding the receipt to their accountants for the tax write offs, and we get to put their funds where they will be put to better use. I should hope that any enemy of mine, wouldn't bother to take any interest in letting me decide how to spend their money. But then again, you never know."