Just a quickie while I'm trying to put some of the longer ones to rest. Hope that you enjoy it. Baron
"Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise".
Samuel Johnson
It was a typical Monday morning in the Doyle house. Josephine was up, breakfasted and was leaving the house as I was getting out of bed. I yelled, "Have a nice day," she didn't answer. I wasn't upset, as I said this was a typical day.
I looked at the clock radio and saw that it was six forty five. I showered, shaved and had some coffee, then went down to my office on the ground floor. You could call it the basement, but it's a split-level and so it's not really a basement. We could call it anything but not a basement. Arguing semantics, something I love to do. I play with words all the time.
I went to my office and turned on the computer. That is my livelihood. I'm a systems analyst by profession and I have my own consulting business. I make quite a good living doing it. I have a pretty large client base and at times I even have to bring in a temp when things get busy.
Today, I'm doing some tests on a system that I am going to install for a good friend. He is one of my oldest and best clients and a good friend. He constantly gives me leads and recommends me to others. I had promised him that I would have it installed by the end of the week.
I was working for a couple of hours, when the doorbell rang. "Shit," I thought, "It never fails, whenever I'm on a roll something comes along and screws it up." I got up and went up to answer the door.
I opened the door and broke into a big grin. It was Maureen Bascomb. She is Josephine's best friend. Maureen and her husband, Dennis have a house a few streets from us.
She is a very attractive woman in her mid to late thirties; about five feet seven and slender. She has jet-black hair and deep blue eyes. Her beasts are on the large side for a slender woman, but not overly so. I love them. Her waist is small, hips are round and they go all the way down to two perfectly shaped legs.
I have secretly lusted for her for years, but have never done anything about it. And here she was standing in front of me on this cold February morning.
"Maureen, what a pleasant surprise, come in...come in, it's freezing out there," I said as I opened the door completely. She came in and I quickly closed the door.
She gave me that mischievous smile of hers and said, "You forgot, didn't you, Rick."
I hit my head with my hand and said, "Oh Christ, I did. But don't worry everything is ready. I have a space in the garage cleared. I cleared it just as soon and Jo told me that we would be storing the stuff for you. And I really don't have much to do today, so there is no problem." Okay, I lied...so shoot me.
Maureen smiled and said, "I hope you don't mind. It's just that with the floors being sanded, the dust gets into everything and even thought they put up the plastic, it still gets all over. Dennis and I loaded the van last night, so we can start right away."
I smiled, "Don't worry, as I said there's no problem. We have the space and I needed to straighten the garages, anyway. You know, anything for you, Maureen."
"Really, Rick?"
I looked at her and laughed, "Well...almost anything."
She gave a slight giggle, "Oh you."
I said, "Why don't you back the van up to the garage door, I'll open it when you get there and we can unload."
She said, "You know that not everything fit, I'm going to have to make a couple trips."
"No problem, when we empty the van we can go and get the rest. A trip or two and we will be done."
She gave me a worried look and said, "Oh Rick, you really don't mind? It's quite a lot of stuff. Dennis has to work and he won't be around, until this evening. The guys want to start this afternoon. I really want to have everything out."
I patted her on the shoulder and said, "Maureen, don't worry. We will have this done in no time."
She went out and backed the van down to the garage doors and we started to move their stuff into the garage.
Jo and I have a two-car garage and I had cleared all of the tools and boxes that I had in there over to one side. I had at least three quarters of the garages clear. Jo said that we would only need a small space, but I thought, better to have more space than not enough. So I cleared the area.
My prediction of taking "no time" was not quite accurate. We had to make three trips and we needed most of the cleared space. What make it worse was the cold and the wind.
We had just finished packing the van for the last time when the men who were doing the sanding arrived. Maureen spoke to the boss as they got their equipment out and began to set up.
The boss, Marty, was a good friend of Maureen and her brother Teddy, they grew up together. She would leave them there without any problem. Maureen and Dennis would be spending the next few days with his sister. We heard the sander start up as we got in the van.
We got back to my house and we emptied the van for the last time. We just had enough space for everything. It seemed to have gotten much colder and the wind was really blowing. We were both frozen.
When we finally got the last box in, I closed the door and we went into the family room. We took off our coats and I asked, "Maureen how about a cup of tea, or I can make a pot of coffee if you want."
"Oh Rick, a cup of tea would be perfect. I am so cold, I feel like I will never warn up."
I had her sit on the couch and I wrapped an afghan around her shoulders. She smiled up at me and said, "Such service, I could get used to this."
I bowed with a flourish and said, "Nothing is too good for my lady."
I heard her giggling as I walked up the stairs to the kitchen. I boiled the water and measured the tea. I poured the boiling water in the teapot and took two mugs, milk and the teapot downstairs. We let the tea brew for a few minutes and then Maureen poured two mugs. I added just a little milk, as did Maureen. Neither of us like it with sugar.
I was sitting on the couch with her. There was a respectful distance between us. Maureen slowly sipped the hot tea and said, "That is wonderful, now I don't feel like the ice maiden. I'm beginning to thaw out."