“Excellent. You know how I love surprises.”
Cam’s laughter was contagious, and Daryl smiled despite himself. “I look forward to hearing about it. Go get some sleep, I imagine you’ve got to be up nice and early tomorrow.”
They said their goodbyes and Daryl checked the time. Close enough to when they said. “You ready?”
Jason straightened from putting his clothes away. “Yep. Let’s go.”
Jenn was waiting for them as they came down the stairs, and Rachel joined them a minute later.
“Any problems?” Jason asked.
Jenn sighed, “A few grumbles about who was sharing with who. Honestly, they behave like children sometimes. But apart from that, no.”
“My lot were okay,” Rachel offered. “I think they’re all a bit apprehensive about tomorrow, to be honest.”
Aren’t we all?
Daryl listened hard, concentrating on trying to pick up anything of the two units. He got the odd snippet of conversation, but nothing much. “The rooms are soundproofed?”
“Yeah, looks that way,” Rachel answered, and Jenn agreed.
“Figures, I guess.” He yawned suddenly, and it spurred him into action. “I’ve checked in with Cam. Let’s get this done so we can go get some sleep.”
The living room proved unremarkable. Sofas, armchairs, and a few beanbags scattered about the room, enough to comfortably seat all of them, but no TV or any other form of electronic entertainment.
Jason snorted. “I guess they want us to talk to each other.”
“Wouldn’t be much of a pack-bonding experience if we spent all our free time glued to the TV,”
Jenn said, looking around. She pointed to a cabinet over on the far side of the room and laughed.
“Look.”
The sign on the door readBoard Games.
Daryl groaned. “Wonderful.” This was going to be the longest two weeks ever. He took back every good thing he’d ever said about Cam—turned out he was a sadistic bastard after all.
“There’s a ping pong table too.” Rachel pointed to the other side of the room. “That should be fun. I’m sure we need something else to get competitive over.”
The laundry room had two washing machines and two dryers. They were both huge and, judging from all the instructions on the walls, there for guests to use.
“Wow,” Rachel said as they entered the kitchen and dining bit.
The room was open plan, a long breakfast bar separating the kitchen from the dining area. The kitchen reminded Daryl of the ones he’d seen at school. Extra-large hobs and multiple ovens to cater for large numbers of people. The tables in the dining area were rectangle-shaped, some with bench seats, others with chairs. Probably seated four, six at a push.
Jason walked over and opened the huge American-style fridge. He let out a low whistle.
“Someone’s been shopping.”
The fridge was full with meat, veg, dairy products, and various drinks.
A huge whiteboard hung on the wall next to it, and Daryl’s earlier assumptions were proved correct. Across the top was scrawledRota, and underneath a table had been drawn. Days of the week down the side, andBreakfast,Lunch,Dinneras column headers. “I guess we know who’ll be doing the cooking, then.”
Rachel glanced at Jenn with raised eyebrows. “They’re going to kill each other.”
Jenn hummed in agreement as she studied the rota. “I hope we get to pick who does what. I don’t fancy Kohl and Davies being in such close quarters will all those sharp knives lying around.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that too much.” Daryl raised a hand and flicked his claws out. “If they want to hurt each other, they will. Knives or not.”
