This is a copyrighted original work by the author. All rights reserved.
All characters featured herein are at least eighteen years of age, even if not expressly stated. Any resemblance between actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental. If you have not read
Into the Quetico
please do so before you read
Return to the Quetico.
You don't have to but this will all make a great deal more sense if you do. This is not a short sit down and read it in a few minutes so if that is what you are looking for you might want to look elsewhere. Yes parts of this are real and yes some of it is fantasy and finally, yes I have been there many times. Thanks, Dean
*****
I had just arrived back into LaCrosse when my phone rang. I was not at all surprised at who would be calling; as a matter of fact I would have been disappointed if she hadn't called. Those of you familiar with
Into the Quetico
know that the call was from Amanda. I could not control my enthusiasm as I answered it "Hello Sweetheart", and waited to hear her voice.
I felt like a love struck teenager and worst of all I was acting like it to. Here I am 52 years old and I am acting like I just hit puberty only because of a girl. Well not a girl, a woman actually, and the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. I could not wait to see her again and we only lived thirty miles apart.
I had been on a trip into the Quetico to get away from women and I was lucky enough to not only find one that was in trouble I found one that made my heart sing. We had agreed not to meet until Tuesday and I was just getting back late Sunday evening. I was in no hurry to get home since I had nothing waiting for me there. Her phone call immediately made me wish I was still with her sitting on the large boulders sitting at the edge of the lake.
It is hard to explain what it feels like when you really do love someone so much that it hurts, and wow did I have a big hurt. I had never felt this way before and to be honest it scared me to death. I should not be feeling this way and I wondered what I had to do to make it stop. Scratch that, I did not ever want to make it stop.
Amanda and I talked on the phone for hours like we had known each other for years and I wanted so badly to just hop in my truck and go to her house. I even suggested it at one point and she told me that I had to wait until Tuesday. I didn't want to wait until Tuesday I wanted to see her now. See what I mean about acting like I was going through puberty. I don't know who made up this stupid thing about waiting but they should be taken out and shot just for my aggravation. Come to think of it, scratch that too because it might have been me.
After we hung up it seemed like my world stopped and then my phone rang again. I picked it up and said, "Wow didn't take you long to call me back did it sweetheart?"
"No, honey it didn't."
I heard nothing but hysterical laughter on the end of the line as Mike, my security officer lead continued to roll. "That must have been some vacation. Can you take me with you the next time you run away to hide from women?"
"You know you can be a pain in the ass sometimes Mike, shut the hell up and how are you?" I said, laughing into the phone.
"Well not as well as you are from the sounds of things honey."
"You know they have a job opening in the artic that is perfect for you." I again said laughing at him.
"Hey boss I just had to give you a bad time since you opened yourself up the way you answered the phone. Now who is the new hot chick and when do I get to meet her?"
"I tell you what when I marry her or hell freezes over, whichever comes first."
"O come on let's hear it. You left here swearing off women for life and you come back spouting sweethearts on the phone. Something happened and I want to hear about it."
"Okay Mike when I am ready I will let you know."
"Okay boss you do that."
"Oh Mike"
"Yes sir"
"If you don't quit with the boss and sir crap I am sending you to the artic."
"Okay Dean, okay, I just had to do it." He said laughing into the phone.
Mike was my friend and one of those people that we all know, he would give you everything he had if you needed it and I never forgot that. He could be counted on for anything and had proven that many times before. I trusted him with my life and he knew it. If I ever did get married he would be the one person in my life that I would ask to be my best man. Mike was fortunate in that he had a wife at home that loved him and he knew it. He always said no one else would put up with him even on his good days.
"Okay Mike why did you call me other than to give me crap?"
"Well while you were out chasing wild women, I got a call from a company that is looking for security services, and I told them that you would be back on Monday. I left their information on your desk and told them you would give them a call."
"Okay thanks Mike, now you know why I left you in charge."
"Thanks boss...Dean...sorry."
"Don't worry about it. I will see you on Monday morning at the office." I said laughing as he stumbled over my name again.
After I hung up the phone with Mike I just stood around the apartment and realized I was bored to death. The last week had been an absolute merry-go-round ride for me and I wanted to get back on. I did not want to come back to the real world. The real world for me was a few hundred miles away with a really cute woman. Did I tell you how gorgeous she is?
I finally came back to the real world I guess and got the truck unpacked and started doing the laundry. That is one job I have never liked and I do not think it's possible I ever will. I put away camping stuff, took the tent and set it up in the backyard to dry out, and checked to see if I needed to replace anything.
Everything I had looked good and I was thrilled that I did not have to rush out and replace anything right away. I did have an issue though and that was how I was going to go back to Canada and into the Quetico before summer was over. The prospects of that were not very good and I wanted to go back with Amanda. If I couldn't go back with her I would just stay home because my interest in her at the time outweighed the pristine beauty found in the Quetico.
I sat around mumbling to myself mostly while the rest of the day seemed to just fade away. I waited a couple of hours and decided it was time for a shower, and then off to bed. It didn't seem like anything I did kept my mind from Amanda or what happened while I was with her. I reached up and even turned the head on the shower remembering how we took a shower together out on the boulders. This woman was driving me crazy and she wasn't even here. I finally got my shower and went to bed hoping to drop off quick, to put me out of my misery.
Sleep came surprisingly fast and before I knew it I heard the alarm and got up to get ready to go back to work. I wanted to call in sick but it's hard to do that when you're the boss and you have to call yourself. I got through breakfast by stopping off at a convenience store and walked into the office. When I walked in a got a big hug from my secretary Kathy, as I walked through the door. If I had not been so interested in Amanda I would have made a play for Kathy because she was a major babe. I did not want to start anything with an employee or I guess that would have happened before I left.
I walked into my office and looked over all the paperwork that had piled up from my week long sabbatical from women, yeah right, and started prioritizing what needed to be done. I had worked about two hours when Mike walked into the office and we talked about what needed my attention. He had done a great job of taking care of things while I was gone and I told him so. I am one of those employers who will try to go out of their way to reward my employees for their hard work, and I handed Mike an envelope and told him I appreciated what he had done while I was gone.
Mike opened the envelope and just looked at me. "I don't know what to say Dean but you didn't have to do this you know."
"I don't expect to see you back here until after you and your wife get back from Hawaii."
"Jenny is going to be absolutely mortified; she has always wanted to go to Hawaii."