Chapter 1 - redundancy

Zach knew that his wife Jennifer hated her job in web design. Whilst their life together was very happy, Jennifer’s job hung like a dark cloud over everything that they did. Every vacation, and indeed, every evening that they spent together, felt like there was giant clock ticking down until the next day in work. That’s why, when Zach got his big promotion, he didn’t hesitate to make the suggestion that Jennifer quit her job, once and for all.

“I couldn’t do that!” Jennifer protested. “What would we do for money?”

“How much do you think we spend in a month?” Zach laughed. “We can cope, honestly. I’ve done the numbers all morning. With my new wage, we’re more than comfortable enough for you to take some time out. You can find out what you want to do instead; see where your true passions lie.”

Despite the fact that they had been married for over two years, Zach could see Jennifer’s hesitancy to lean on him so much. No matter how hard he tried to push, Jennifer wasn’t about to give up her job with nothing to fall back on; even if she did loathe her work.

“I have some news,” Jennifer began a couple of months later; her tone cautious. “Things are not good with management at work. They sat us all down today and asked us how we felt about voluntary redundancies…”

“Oh?” Zach smiled; his grin echoing the building delight on Jennifer’s face.

“So, I kinda did something stupid…” she hinted. “I accepted a pretty generous pay-off and I leave in two weeks!”

“That’s brilliant!” Zach smiled, reaching over to hug his wife. “I’m so pleased for you. This will be the best thing you’ve ever done, I promise.” He couldn’t believe that the stress of Jennifer’s job would soon be a thing of the past.

“Well, it means I can live off the redundancy money for a while, without having to rely on you,” she considered. “And if things roll on, without me finding something else, well, only then will we need to dip more into your wages.”

Zach didn’t care about the money. He was finally going to have his wife, care-free and relaxed. It was the best news they had had in years. They definitely needed to celebrate.