The thought struck me “What happens to the two of us when I lose these duplexes?” I cannot face that idea right now. I know I am not letting her go, or be diminished in my life, but not really sure how I am going to do it.
When something like this needs to be done, it will be done. I just haven’t figured out how yet.
There was a second car in front of her house and I could hear someone moving around inside so I let myself in hoping that she had made some coffee.
The good news was that the coffee was made. The bad news was that it wasn’t her holding the cups. I opened the door and began to say something when it sank in that the person in the kitchen wasn’t her but some guy I had never seen.
I am not sure who was more embarrassed, him or me. Probably him since the closest thing he had on to clothing was a coffee cup in each hand. As they say ‘He was dressed in nothing more than God had given him upon his birth’. His eyes were wide and he was tongue tied not knowing what to say or do. I was at a loss also.
That’s when Ann came sauntering out of the bedroom wearing nothing but some bright nail polish and a smile. She was smirking that crazy ass grin of hers that means she is trying not to break out laughing. Ann took both cups of coffee out of his hands and handed one to me. He was simply standing there speechless (so was I). She arched an eyebrow like a Vulcan and told him “I think it’s time for you to get dressed and go to work”.
“I can stay a while if you want me to.” He was stuttering and trying his damnedest to be cool but just couldn’t pull it off. Ann (still buck-ass naked) put her arm around my waist, hugging me to her, and smiled sweetly at him saying “Sorry honey. We had fun but my girlfriend is here now, you understand. Besides she doesn’t like to share.”
That boy went into her bedroom and emerged wearing clothes faster than Sheldon Cooper’s idol ‘The Flash’ on the Big Bang Theory. He tried valiantly to say something but she waved him away. I followed him to the door, closed and locked it then turned around to see Ann holding her sides and literally collapsing on the floor laughing until she had tears running down her cheeks. Every time she seemed to get in better control of herself she would look up at me and laugh so hard that she was having trouble breathing.
Finally I endured all I could of this I could stand and could not watch her any more. I went into the bedroom, grabbed her blue satin robe off a chair and threw it over her head. Then I sat down to enjoy my coffee. I was also thinking that ‘someone needs to teach this boy how to make a decent brew’. After I finished my cup I began to drink hers too, just out of spite.
Eventually she managed to gain control of herself and struggled into her robe while still sitting on the floor. It seems that after work last night she and some friends had gone to an all-night diner to get something inside them to soak up at least part of the alcohol they’d been drinking. This guy had been their waiter and the two of them hit it off well. She invited him back….One thing led to another.
I got the picture.
The only problem was that he was so sweet, and tried so hard to please, that she didn’t want to hurt his feelings by letting him know this was a one-time thing. Ann said that every time she dropped a hint that it was time for him to leave she felt like she was kicking a puppy dog. Then she heard me come in and decided to have some fun. Then she started laughing again while I could only watch her while I finished drinking her cup of coffee.
When she finally stopped laughing again and was more, or less, together she said that now the guy could have a really good story to tell his friends. I asked what she would have done if Rico had been the one to walk in. Her crazy ass grin got wider and she said “I would say that my husband wanted to do to him what he just did to me.” Then she began laughing again. (And people say I have a warped sense of humor)
I shook my head, went back to my place, and crawled into bed with Dave while he was still asleep. Him I understand, but I think Ann is losing it.
We had what would be our last cook out for the year on Sunday. The weather is turning colder. I hate winter. Everyone else can enjoy their ‘Winter Wonderland’ just leave me inside where it’s warm until spring.
I knew I didn’t have to ask Ann not to mention anything about the units being sold to anybody. Nobody knows I own them and I wanted to keep it that way. Also Dave would use it as an excuse for me to move to Wilmington with him.
He and I still haven’t had that ‘little talk’ about this. Mostly because he knows what I am going to say. I am nervous about what Mr. Wendell is going to say on Tuesday. Which reminds me, I need to go check on Sawyers PO box and drain some money out of that dead bastard’s accounts next week. After all it wouldn’t pay to have too much build up would it? Also right now I need cash so much more than he does.
Chapter Seven
During the Monday morning meeting, Beverly told me in front of the others not to come in on Tuesday. She stated that my assignment was to “Take care of our Buckroe account”, which of course meant me. Nobody made any comment but I know their curiosity is eating them up. Good, sometimes it pays to keep people guessing.
I left around noon to take care of Sawyer’s PO Box, withdraw money from his accounts, and pick up some Peanut Pie from the Dixie Diner up on 460. Ann went with me to drop the pie off at Bill’s while he did notary work for Beverly. Ann met him once before when we stopped there about a month ago and fell in love with the guy. Who wouldn’t? In his way he was flirting with her too. When he was in his prime, maybe 70 years ago, I bet he was quite a ladies man. Every time I see him now he looks a little frailer. I don’t like to think what that means.
It was hard for me to focus on Monday night’s class while this problem is eating away at me. Ann noticed that too and wanted me to relax. Her idea of relaxing involves smoking some premium weed. While I will take a hit occasionally, I don’t really like using it. I prefer to be as sharp as possible unless I am going to be in my house all day or doing a ‘Netflix and chill’ kind of night.
Finally Tuesday morning dawned. I was at Mr. Wendell’s office exactly 15 minutes early. I chatted with Marie. Just the usual ‘Hi, how are you,’ kind of stuff. She was wearing some really nice earrings that I was instantly jealous of and told her so. I always liked Marie, but even if I didn’t, it is never a good idea to tick-off some one’s secretary.
Mr. Wendell called me in on time, and turned off his phone to concentrate. I know for him to even silence his phone is almost an unnatural act and I appreciated that he considered this important enough to do it for me. (Thank you Beverly)
We spent the next thirty minutes with him explaining what was going to happen. My purchase procedure of acquiring the units was adequate but had some “irregularities that people might question”. During his inquiry of the city’s intentions and time line, he found it was sooner than I thought it would be. Also he said that the longer I waited to accept the city’s offer, the more likely they were to dig into the ‘provenance of ownership’. When asked if there was any chance the previous owner could come back to dispute the claim I could honestly say “No”.
The long and the short of it was that Mr. Wendell needed me to sign a limited power-of-attorney so he could negotiate and finalize the deal as my agent of record. I knew that doing this relinquished my rights in the deal. I also knew that he could legally sell the units to himself for a dollar apiece and leave me high and dry.
But most importantly I knew that Beverly had instructed me to do whatever he said in this deal. He stated that his commission and fees would be taken out of the final settlement as well as all taxes incurred. (Why do they give you money with one hand just to take it away with the other?) I signed the papers, shook his hand and left. After making sure to say good-bye to Marie on the way out.
It felt strange to trust another person this much with what is basically all I have in life. The old me was whispering in my ear ‘You cannot make someone treat you right, but you can s
ure make them wish they did.’ Not the nicest thought to have. Comforting yes, but not exactly nice.
When I arrived at the office on Wednesday morning Katie handed me a note from Beverly saying I should discuss the ‘Buckroe account situation’ with her. I knew the contents of the note would get around and wondered if she was laying it on kind of thick just to stir up the office gossip and speculation.
Also, I would be amazed if she didn’t know everything about it already. Maybe she is just doing one of her little tests on me? Either way the best method I ever found to deal with her is head on and straight forward. It is strange and scary for me to be totally honest with someone.
Even with Ann there is a lie between us about how I acquired the property. I think she would understand if she knew everything. But I am afraid to tell her just in case. She is too precious for me to risk losing her. I have lost too many people I loved in my life, and am not going to lose another.
Mr. Wendell said this deal would not happen overnight and he would contact me when things were finalized. So for now I will concentrate on school and running little errands for Beverly. I am happy Dave is back in town, even if he is talking a lot about moving to Wilmington.
One of the things most appealing about him to me is the way he thinks. Our minds often work quite a bit alike, which is kind of unusual. Truth be told, we all have our inner demons. It’s how you dance with them that makes a difference. I like people whose demons play well with mine. His play very well indeed.
* * *
Rico is seeing someone pretty regularly now. Neither Ann nor I have any idea who it is. On the one hand I care about him like a brother and want to see him happy. On the other hand I have this mental image of him and even though I know he is gay I don’t want to see him with another man. Ann thinks I secretly have a ‘forbidden love’ type crush on him which is ridiculous. (Although a woman could definitely do worse).
Beverly asked me to bring my Notary Public equipment from the house and begin notarizing things at the office. She is keeping track of them and will pay me five dollars for each item notarized. The checks are deposited at the end of each month into the Buckroe Investments account. It isn’t much but every little bit helps. She also puts what I consider ‘my allowance’ into my personal account every week. It certainly is not much but then again I don’t do much around here for her anymore either. Mostly I sit in my office and study.
Tax time is coming and Beverly had me do my own for Buckroe Investments. She then went over the paper work and pointed out my mistakes. Personal taxes though are fairly easy to do and there were no errors in those. When I went home I did Sawyers and sent them in. Bastard got back more in his account than I did.
When I brought a new batch of paper work for Bill to notarize I noticed there wasn’t anything that needed notarizing. Just copies of things already in our files. Evidently Beverly was only doing this so Bill could have an income and keep his dignity. Some people might think Beverly is cold hearted, but things like this prove otherwise.
I called ahead and asked what he wanted from the store like we always do. He said he was fine and didn’t need anything. This didn’t seem right so I got him his usual bread and milk plus some sandwich meat and cheese. Not to mention a pack of his favorite blueberry muffins with sugary tops. He likes them and his eyes light up when I bring one over.
I was putting everything away in his fridge when I noticed the milk he had was out of date. Very out of date. The sandwich meat was old too. I began to go through everything and most of the stuff including the bread had gone bad. I bagged it all up and took it out to the trash without a word then came back inside and really looked at him.
He was moving slower than usual and seemed tired. I asked him when he last saw a doctor. He said it was not important. When questioned about the expired food he said he hadn’t had much of an appetite lately.
I watched him closely while we talked for a couple of hours and left in a puzzlement. He might forget things that happened recently but his memory of fifty years ago is clear as a bell. I called Beverly and told her what I had seen. It wasn’t until I was on my way home that it hit me. This is the first time since I have known him that he didn’t insist on paying for his groceries as soon as I walked in the door.
That scared me more than anything else.
* * *
Beverly decided my new routine would include going to Bill’s house for a couple of hours each day to get things notarized. While I was there I was to see that he ate something, even if it was just a sandwich or soup. She had some deep care lines around her eyes while we discussed the best way to do this.
After all, he does still have his ‘manly pride’, so to speak. But someone needs to look in on him and take care of him. Until somebody better comes along I guess that someone is me.
When I explained to Ann what was going on she got frantic and wanted to know what she could do to help. I mentioned that he might like some cookies, but she decided to make him homemade soup from scratch instead. Damn it.
I had never seen anyone make soup from scratch before but Ann knew just what to do. We planned that she would ‘happen to stop by’ his place tomorrow around one. He liked to flirt with her so persuading him to have some of her homemade soup would be child’s play.
No matter how old they are, all men love it when a pretty woman makes them something to eat. It is in their DNA. Bill may be an older man, but he is definitely a man. He would need absolutely no persuasion to eat whatever Ann brought over.
* * *
School was going pretty well for me. Sometimes though I had to marvel at the stupidity of some of my classmates, (although Charlie is not one of them). Most are active duty military who seem to treat this as something they can take for granted. Some of the other students are married to people in the military, and a couple are older people who just wanted to take a class in something to sharpen their skills. I still see Charlie while we are both going to class and we usually briefly exchange a few words, mostly the “Hi. How’s it going?” kind of thing.
One of the guys in my class I find interesting is a computer major. He is taking a course in Business Law with me. He is sharp with a good sense of humor, even if most people don’t get it. I remembered what Beverly said about networking with others and decided he would be a good contact to have.
His name is Ben and he is due to get out of the military in less than a year. When we talk during breaks he was quick to mention that he was married and they had a kid on the way. (Full props to him for bringing that up and not trying to be some kind of a player.) He and his wife were both Airforce and stationed at Langley. I asked why he didn’t wear a ring. He said he sometimes got out of the habit because where he worked they were made to take them off so there couldn’t be a micro-spark. (No idea what that is.) At these times he wore his ring on a chain around his neck. Good man.
Ben’s goal was to be hired by one of the sub-contractors who serviced the military in the area and eventually to open up his own business. He asked what my long term goals were and I didn’t know what to say. I really didn’t.
When I went home that night I sat alone and thought about his question. No TV, music or Netflix. The phone and lights were turned off. It was just me and my thoughts.
I have been so focused on getting a degree in Accounting and Finance that I never asked myself what will happen afterwards. Beverly stated she did not plan to hire me, but has never said why. She has found me to be useful on more than one occasion, but those were for special things and definitely out of the ordinary.
She needs people with more experience than I have to run the day to day accounting. The only way you get experience is to actually do things repeatedly. To be honest I haven’t got it. She has me on the payroll as a part time worker and will put a little in there on paydays but nowhere near what I would need to live on.
She lets me use her office to study
and learn things and she is nearby so I can ask her questions when I get stumped. Because of her I met Mr. Wendell who is handling my properties, so let us hope I won’t have to go to jail, or change my name and go into hiding somewhere. She arranged a complete scholarship for me but doesn’t appear to want anything from me in return.
So not only do I not know what I want in life, but I don’t know what Beverly wants from me either.
My personal mantra to be ‘The Perfect Employee’ still rings in my head. Unfortunately for the first time in my life I do not know how to do this. I am good at numbers and know that I can do well at accounting but that is all I know. Being an accounting type person should not be my goal. It is only a way to a goal.
But what is that goal?
* * *
I fell asleep sitting in the chair that night and woke up without any answers. But at least now I knew what questions to ask. I also knew I had to hurry or I would be late getting to the office. The questions would have to wait.
Dave and Rico were working at the club where Ann was dancing so I went there after school on Friday night to see them. (I still love walking past a long line of frustrated people desperately hoping to be admitted). I gave each of my two men a peck on the cheek and went inside. Ann was in the middle of a set on the runway and was going wild. I watched the men throw cash at her and wondered again if I should choose a different profession. (I’m not going to but sometimes it’s fun to think about it.)
The other dancers know me by now so I have no trouble getting back into the dressing room. I always wait there for Ann to finish. Partially because while I can admire her skill at dancing and enticing others, seeing a nearly naked woman gyrate sexily on stage doesn’t do anything for me. The other reason is that once before she got a crazy gleam in her eyes when she mentioned that the next time she saw me walk by the stage she was going to grab me and drag me up there with her. Maybe she was kidding, and maybe she wasn’t. I do not put anything past her. Earlier Ann had asked me to go with her to a south side club in Norfolk tomorrow for a dance engagement so I needed to confirm the time. She and two others are doing a special show for some club called ‘Heaven’.
Opening the Door Page 12