Jared was only going to make use of Carla's hospitality, having pleaded physical and mental exhaustion.
His Dad knew that Ray did not have a flat of his own yet, so Jared could not sleep over at Ray's parents' place. They were very strict.
Jared reckoned that Carla would not get into his way, since she would be at work all day, every day of the week.
He had insisted on visiting during the week, explaining that he had some business to do with his father over the coming weekend.
Carla had used him before, so now could be his turn to do the same thing to her. She needed that kind of treatment, he told himself.
He needed to get to Cape Town and her apartment would be the most convenient means at his immediate disposal. The reason for this was that it was close to Ray's gymnasium. Jared's stay there had to take place during the week, because spending a weekend with Carla would mean that he was going to share more time with her than he was willing to offer. This being in exchange for the use of her hospitality.
Jared moved away from his seat by the phone and slowly walked to the window.
There he stood beside his father and joined him in looking out at the garden. He was usually quite adept at avoiding his father, but there were times like these; when he was simply trapped.
He was not one for small talk, but at times like these, he had to oblige his dad.
He knew that it was imperative that he should sound serious about the Cape Town issue.
He was relieved that his parents had―temporarily at least―given up on maintaining an active interest in his relationships with the opposite sex. It seemed as if they were at last convinced that he was discreet and that he acted with a sense of responsibility regarding that part of his life, at least.
***
Craig Johnson stared through the window and wondered where he had gone wrong in the upbringing of his younger child and only son. Jared was so different from his elder sister, Jeanette. As far as most of the really important issues in life were concerned, at least.
Even going to university had been a hit and miss affair with Jared, when it came to deciding which faculty he would enroll in. At least, he was sure about the fact that he did want to attend university.
Not that it was much consolation to his parents at the time. Their son could just not make up his mind about choosing a suitable field of study.
Mainly it seemed as if Jared's sole motivation for going to university was the fact that most of his pals were going. His results were good enough to have allowed him to apply for entry to the faculty of medicine.
Jared however, decided that he had to do something which would stimulate him enough and Medicine was not going to do that for him. His father saw this as a mere sign of self-centered behavior. Jared however, felt that studying biology and chemistry in his first year would have been too much of a trial for his endurance levels. Those subjects bored him.
He had then sworn that he was bound to fail his exams as a result of sheer boredom, if he was not free to choose his own vocation in life.
Jeanette, Jared's sister, had known from the start that she wanted to marry a diplomat and play the role of a model celebrity wife. She had always admired her friend Marcia's mother, whose husband was a prominent politician. This man had been in his enviable position in government for years.
Jeanette had desired all the trips abroad, as well as the glamorous lunches, dinners and charity events, which were often followed by banquets. So she had visited her friend Marcia quite often.
After completing high school she had joined a charity organization for the care of disadvantaged children, on a voluntary basis. Pretty soon she had worked herself up to a firm leadership position.
As a direct result of her work, Jeanette had met quite a few reasonably attractive diplomats, who found in her an attractive and engaging female. They saw her as a girl whom they would like to get to know better.
Jeanette went on discreet dates with about half a dozen of them and at the age of twenty-four she married a prospective ambassador. His parents were rather well off financially, so they had an extravagant wedding, followed by a honeymoon in Bali. There they had met a few other politicians and some successful business people.
In the second year of her marriage, Jeanette relocated to London, to help her husband establish a new charity organization. It was a charity which was sponsored by the British government. It was aimed at improving prospects for gifted, but under-privileged children in South African township areas.
At the same time, her husband also managed his father's successful publishing company in London, rather efficiently. Her father-in-law, Lord Eickenberry, occupied a seat in parliament and was a respected member of the British nobility. He was also a judge.
***
Now Jared was talking about a job in Cape Town and Craig knew very well that his son was not too keen on the place. Not since his girlfriend Charmaine, whom he had dated when he and Blake were both eighteen years old, had decided that she preferred Blake's company to his. They were all holidaying in Cape Town after having learned that they had passed their Matric exams.
Craig knew that his son had never before opted to move anywhere for the sole purpose of securing a job.
There had to be another motive for his wanting to go to Cape Town.
Could Jared perhaps have developed an interest in a former girlfriend after all? Craig wondered. This seemed unlikely, because Jared often found it very difficult to hide his feelings when he was developing an interest in any particular girl.