Second, and even more surprising, was what occupied the other shelves—cash, lots and lots and lots of cash. Theodore had handled money all of his working life, but he had never seen so much money in one place. He knew his mouth was hanging open with shock, but he felt incapable of closing it.
Cautiously he picked up one of the stacks of bills tied together with a neat ribbon, convinced it would be something like one-dollar bills. The first stack of bills he picked up was made up entirely of twenty-dollar bills.
Curiosity got the better of him, so he counted out how many bills were in the stack he’d pulled out first. Convinced he couldn’t have counted it correctly, Theodore started over and counted a second time. But the result didn’t change. The stack contained a hundred twenty-dollar bills.
Theodore was speechless. He had expected to find papers—deeds, legal documents, maybe a little cash money, things of that nature. He had never imagined finding what he did. Each stack of currency was about the same thickness, so he guessed that each likely contained one hundred bills. One by one he lifted the piles of cash from the safe and placed them on the desk. Most of them were twenty-dollar bills, but not all. Theodore was shocked to find that one stack was made up of fifty-dollar bills and still another was made up of one hundred dollar bills. It was almost a reassurance to find a couple of stacks of ten-dollar bills and five-dollar bills.
But he was not finished yet. When he tried to open the drawer at the bottom of the safe, he could barely move it. He’d been curious about whether it contained anything at all, but apparently it did, and whatever it was weighed a great deal. It took him several minutes of serious work to get the drawer opened enough to solve the mystery. Theodore shouldn’t have been surprised, but he was—the drawer was filled with silver dollar coins. While the paper currency had been counted, tied, and neatly stacked, the coins were simply tossed into the drawer. He rifled through the coins, counting some of them and stacking them on a lower shelf of the safe to make the drawer easier to close. There were too many to count all of them right then. He’d been at it for long enough that it was well past his dinner time.
Theodore was getting quite hungry, so he quickly stashed everything back inside the safe, closed and locked it up, and made his way upstairs to deal with something for dinner. While he cooked, his mind kept returning to the unexpected cash he’d found. Never in a million years had he expected to ever see so much money. He didn’t know what to do. Should he report it to the lawyer in charge of settling Mr. Hoffman’s estate? Should he…? He had to stop dreaming and focus on cooking or he’d not have dinner until breakfast the next morning.
That night he wasn’t able to sleep as well as normal. Usually he worked hard and slept well each night so in the morning he was rested and ready to get up and do it all again. But that night, for obvious reasons, his sleep was disturbed by his mind racing in so many directions simultaneously, sometimes in dreams and sometimes not.
The following morning, very early, Theodore went back down to the store, having remembered something that hadn’t registered at the time. He remembered sometime during the night having seen and moved a piece of paper to get to the first stack of currency. He found the paper where he thought he’d left it, on the desk next to the safe.
It was a simple piece of paper folded in half. Unfolding the paper, he saw Mr. Hoffman’s recognizable script. He shouldn’t have been surprised by anything from Mr. Hoffman anymore, but he was surprised to find that the paper was a handwritten note addressed to him.
Theodore—
For a long time, I have viewed you as the son we never were able to have. You have treated me better and certainly been more loyal to me and concerned about me than my own blood relatives have been. By coming back to me at this point, you have made an old man feel very happy and at peace. You are more family to me than anyone else I know. The contents of this safe are for you. The contents of this safe are not part of the estate and are not covered in my will. This is my farewell gift to you, to give you assistance as you either try to become established as the owner of a business, or to help you move on to something else in life that you will find fulfilling and satisfying. To answer your obvious question, when you left my employ as part of the Micah mess, I did not have this money. After he left—and nearly left my store in ruins—I liquidated a number of property holdings that I had. At that time, I also sold a number of shares of stock that I had purchased years earlier. They had increased very nicely in value over the years and generated a tidy profit. In addition, my wife had a trust fund left by her father that transferred to me upon her death since she had no surviving family. So I therefore freely give this safe and its contents to you, no strings attached. The years go past faster than seems possible. Please take care of yourself and be happy, pausing occasionally to do something fun. With my fondest best wishes,
Mr. Hoffman
Chapter Nineteen—Finding Help
ONE SUNDAY a few weeks later, Theodore was enjoying dinner with his parents, when the conversation turned to events surrounding Mr. Hoffman’s will.
“I cannot believe that man’s family challenged his will,” Theodore’s mother said angrily, throwing her dinner napkin onto the table. For her, this was a major outburst of anger.
“Didn’t surprise me at all,” Theodore said. “Micah had to learn all of his rudeness from somewhere. I’m sure he inherited it or learned it from either his mother or father, or both. I assume his father, but I have no proof of that, obviously.”
“I suppose,” his mother said, shaking her head. “In all these years, I don’t remember any of them ever coming near this town or Mr. Hoffman.”
“Other than Micah,” Theodore said.
“So I guess it’s a good thing they didn’t come around more,” his mother added.
“I’m sure they never did,” Theodore’s father offered.
“His lawyer told me that I have nothing to worry about,” Theodore volunteered. “He said Mr. Hoffman paid him in advance, assuming that his family would challenge the will. He was right. They might not have known him, but he clearly knew them.”
LESS THAN four weeks later, when they were once again gathered around his parents’ table for Sunday dinner, Theodore had good news.
“Mr. Hoffman’s lawyer came to see me this week.”
“He did?” his mother said anxiously. “What have those people done now?” she asked, assuming the worst of Mr. Hoffman’s relatives.
“Everything is finished. They’ve lost their challenge. As the lawyer told me would likely happen, the court ruled against them, and the will stands as written and executed.”
“Oh, wonderful!” his mother practically shouted. “Theodore, we’re so happy for you.”
“Thank you. I wasn’t worried because his lawyer had been so positive about the way it would work out.”
“What now, Son?” his father asked.
“What do you mean?” Theodore asked.
“Are you going to sell the business? Or the property? Cash it in and do something different?”
“No, sir. I intend to continue to operate the store, just as it has been. Well, maybe not exactly the same. I have some ideas for some modernizations that I want to explore. Some new products that I think might be popular—things that I know no one else in the surrounding counties sells.”
“I’m sure that if anyone can operate that business successfully, it’s you, Son,” his mother agreed. “Mr. Hoffman knew what he was doing when he left the business to you.”
THROUGH HARD work and knowledge of the valley and the people who lived in the area, Theodore rebuilt Mr. Hoffman’s business and made it bigger and better and more profitable than it had ever been before. His hard work paid off by giving him a handsome income. But since the business was his entire life, he had no expenses to speak of, so he just accumulated money.
One thing Theodore needed, he thought would be easily obtained. However, it turned out to be much more difficult than he had anticipated. The busin
ess grew to the point that he could not keep up alone, and he needed help. An advertisement placed in the local newspaper seeking a store clerk produced mixed results.
After several disastrous experiences with hiring and firing clerks, Theodore was beginning to despair that he would never find the help he needed. Then one cool spring morning, Jasper Webb walked into the store. When Theodore first met Jasper, the first thing he noticed was that the man had the most gorgeous eyes he had ever seen. Theodore was mesmerized by Jasper’s eyes. When he looked into them, it was almost as if he was looking into two perfect crystals that sparkled. Jasper’s eyes were like two jewels that made everything around them beautiful by association. When Jasper smiled, Theodore very nearly melted into a puddle on the spot. But he couldn’t do that. He had a business to run and he needed help—and he needed to maintain appearances and keep his secret exactly that, a secret.
After the formal introduction and Theodore having learned that Jasper had worked on his family farm and was eager to get a job in town, Theodore handed the man an apron and hired him on the spot. Several times during that first day, Jasper had asked Theodore, “Excuse me, sir. Is there something wrong?”
“No,” Theodore said, wondering what he had done to elicit that question. “Why do you ask?”
“You’ve been staring at me for several minutes.”
“I have?” Theodore asked, suddenly realizing he had been doing exactly that. “I’m so sorry. When I’m thinking about something,” he said, “my mind wanders far, far away, and I can be looking at something but not see it. I’m sorry that I was staring at you this time while my mind was off on a journey.”
Jasper smiled, which did not for one moment help Theodore’s situation. He sighed.
“Very good, sir. I was worried that I had done something wrong, or had dirt on my face, or something.”
“No. You are perfect,” Theodore said, immediately kicking himself mentally for revealing too much of what he was thinking.
“Perfect?” Jasper asked with a laugh. “Hardly.”
“It is a rare delight to be able to look a man in the eye. Most people are shorter than me. But you and I are about the same height so we can look eye to eye.”
What Theodore didn’t add was that he absolutely adored Jasper’s eyes. Actually, he adored just about every inch of his body. The man was, in his private estimation, a walking, talking picture of masculine perfection.
FOR THE next several weeks, they worked together, and Theodore quickly observed that he and Jasper seemed to synchronize beautifully. Theodore approved of the way Jasper worked, and of course, he was quite fond of how the young man looked, but that had to remain something he alone believed.
But after working together for several months and becoming increasing comfortable with Jasper, Theodore dared to take a step forward and call him not just an employee but also a friend.
After one especially long and tough day, Theodore invited Jasper to do something they had never done before. “Jasper, would you join me upstairs for dinner and a drink?”
Without even thinking about it for a second, Jasper immediately said, “Yes.”
“Good!”
Dinner was nothing elaborate, just something left over from a dish his mother had made for him earlier in the week, but it didn’t matter what they ate. They had a chance to sit together and relax, unwind a bit from their chaotic day.
Maybe it was his fatigue. Maybe the wine they’d been drinking. Maybe some combination of the two. Or perhaps it was their two hands accidentally touching during the meal as one passed a dish to the other. But for whatever reason, Theodore felt oddly empowered.
He had a basic survival instinct that required him to guard who he really was, but something about Jasper gave him pause, and gave him confidence to be more direct.
For whatever reason, Theodore found himself staring at Jasper.
“You’re staring at me again, Theodore. It is a bit unnerving,” Jasper said.
“My apologies,” Theodore said, blushing.
“Not a problem. I just never know what it is that you see when you look at me.”
“It’s your eyes,” Theodore whispered, trusting his instinct.
“My eyes. What about my eyes?”
“Your eyes are simply beautiful. I cannot recall ever seeing another man with such beautiful eyes. You wouldn’t know it, but your eyes, when they catch the light, absolutely come alive and sparkle.” Theodore was embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Please forgive me.”
Jasper put his right hand onto Theodore’s shoulder. “Thank you, Theodore. No one has ever said that to me before. In fact, no one has ever said anything remotely so lovely to me before. I feel… special.”
Nodding vigorously, Theodore said, “You are special. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that we must believe in ourselves. In life there are countless forces, seen and unseen, that want nothing more than to make us question ourselves. They want to hold us back from trying new things. But we absolutely have to resist those forces. We must believe we can do things. We may not succeed, but we must at least try.”
“Wise advice,” Jasper agreed. “Now, the hour is getting late, and I really must be heading home. Thank you for a lovely evening. I feel reinvigorated and ready to tackle that ride home.”
Checking his watch, Theodore was startled to see how late it was. “Oh my, I see what you mean.”
After Jasper left, Theodore cleaned up and then crawled into bed. He fell asleep with visions of Jasper and his lovely eyes.
EVERY TIME Theodore looked at Jasper after that, those damned eyes grabbed him as if they possessed thousands of little tiny tendrils that reached out and wrapped themselves around Theodore’s body, refusing to let him go, forcing him to look at Jasper.
Hiring Jasper was the best decision Theodore ever made. Jasper was competent, respectful, pleasant, efficient, eager to learn, and eager to please. He got on famously with the customers and went out of his way to help them. And he was just a nice person to have around as well.
Theodore tried to maintain a careful distance, but aside from work, he didn’t have any other opportunity to meet or see people, and the same was true for Jasper as well, so the two of them became increasingly friendly.
It was close to Christmas their first year of working together when, after another in a series of exhausting days, Theodore locked the door at the end of the day and leaned back against it, groaning in relief.
“I have never felt as tired as I do right now.” Jasper laid his head down on the sales counter.
“Amen,” Theodore agreed.
“Is it like this every year at Christmas?”
“Yes,” Theodore said, being economical in his use of words. Rousing himself, he started to walk back to the counter. “You should head home.”
“Not yet. I want to unpack that order before I leave,” Jasper told him. “I just need to rest for a minute or two before I do it.”
“Are you sure?” Theodore asked, feeling emboldened. “Isn’t your young lady going to be upset that you’re not available tonight?”
“That is not a problem,” Jasper answered, being as cryptic as always whenever Theodore said anything about his home life or his personal relationships.
“When one of your predecessors had to stay an hour extra one day, the next day I had a visit from his very angry fiancée who was not at all reluctant to share her displeasure with me. I do not want a repeat of that episode.”
“That will not happen in my situation.”
“How can you be so sure?” Theodore asked him, deliberately pushing the point, hoping against hope to get some added evidence to confirm or refute what he had come to believe about Jasper.
“I do not have a young lady.”
“Really? I thought that all young men your age had young ladies.”
“Did you? Or I suppose, since we are not that different in age, I could ask, do you, sir?”
Theodore felt his skin fl
ush as the blood drained away from his face. He felt a bit faint. He was trying desperately to convince himself that he had misheard Jasper’s question.
“Um… actually, um, no.”
Jasper smiled at him and said, “I suspect that we are more alike than we are different.”
“Really?” Theodore asked cautiously. “How do you mean?”
Jasper continued to smile but remained quiet.
“What do you mean?” Theodore asked again. He hoped he didn’t sound as terrified as he was feeling inside.
Jasper took a deep breath. “I do not have a young lady.” He looked directly at Theodore and softly said, “And I don’t want one.”
Theodore stared at Jasper, his eyes wide with hopefulness. He wasn’t sure what to say, though, so he remained quiet for a moment. Theodore practically forgot how to breathe. Was this man standing in front of him telling him… that he, too, preferred the company of men?
As if reading Theodore’s mind, Jasper added, “My interests… lie… elsewhere.”
Theodore’s heart was aflutter with excitement and plain, pure lust. It had been so long since he’d been with another man who appreciated a man in the same way he did. Was this really happening, or was he dreaming? Theodore stared directly at Jasper, who returned his gaze. Theodore read an intensity in those eyes that made him abandon his normal, cautious approach.
The prospect of finally feeling another man’s hands on his body, of feeling a man’s body beneath him, of stroking a man’s solid length was too overwhelming. Theodore slowly took a step toward Jasper without even realizing his feet were moving to close the distance that separated them.
Jasper never broke their locked gaze.
“Are you… are you telling me that… that you…?”
A Night at the Ariston Baths Page 16