"You are a most fortunate guy," he laughed. "After enjoying the wine, her legs, and each other's mouths she stood and unzipped her skirt letting it fall to the floor, then raised the shell over her head. I'd forgotten what a beautiful pair of shapely tits and a nice round full ass. Did Veronica dress her? She unzipped me. I got undressed and we made love on the couch, several times, with the lights on. With the lights on can you believe it! Jesus, Scott what a change and I owe it all to Veronica," he enthused.
"Hazel's always been a beautiful woman Emerson. She's a generous woman. Give her encouragement and your eager attention to help bring out her inner sensuality. You and I got sidetracked with our business success and kind of let our personal lives go in the toilet. Speaking of success, what have you heard any more from CitiGroup about their proposal to buy us?"
"Nothing yet today except that they're interested in setting a date to perform due diligence analyses within the week. If this keeps moving as quickly as it started I expect an offer within the next two weeks. They've been on a buying spree and're eager to get this done to help offset some of their subprime risk. Are you coming in today?" Emerson continued.
"No, not unless you need me, you can always get in touch with me by phone or email. We're taking a small load of some dry clothes and jewelry home now. We also have a couple bags of wet clothing that we may be able to salvage after a good wash and dry. The girls will probably stay home too. They only had classes this morning and they skipped them. I think Veronica and Hazel are going shopping this afternoon, You'll probably have a wife with an entirely new wardrobe tonight, and a lighter wallet," I kidded him.
"I can live with that. If I have a new Hazel, no matter what she spends I'll view it as a bargain. Give Veronica my thanks, will you," he said just before hanging up.
As I was talking to Emerson, Veronica was on her cell talking to Hazel. She stayed on the phone with Hazel until we pulled into our driveway. After carrying in a load of stuff, she told me essentially the same story that Emerson had. She said that Hazel was actually sorry to see him leave for the office this morning but he promised to be home at a reasonable hour this evening. "I'm looking forward to spending the afternoon with her," smiled Veronica. "I'm going to make a few calls about a bed before Hazel picks me up about noon."
Veronica called some special-order bed places and hit the jackpot with the fourth one. The dealer had just last week taken delivery of a solid cherry sleigh style bed with hand-made carvings that was ten feet wide along with seven sets of sheets and a dozen pillows. He also had two blankets, a comforter and a bedspread. Since we lived just over thirty miles away he offered to email us pictures he had taken of the bed when it arrived.
Within ten minutes we received ten pictures of the bed. Veronica and I were immediately taken with the it. We smiled at the erotic carvings in the headboard. It looked like there were several small carvings of couples making love, male and female as well as pair women with each other. I kidded her that it's so large and with those carvings that we should call the bed, "Bryce Field". When Veronica's eyes glowed and she kissed me I realized that she took me seriously and that Bryce Field it would be called.
When we called him back to ask the price, he said that as of Friday the purchaser's financing had fallen through. He was on the hook for the whole setup minus the twenty-percent non-refundable deposit. The original purchase price for the other buyer was $23,750, but if we would take delivery of it tomorrow we could have it for $17,500 if we paid in cash or used a debit card. I offered $14,500, we settled on $16,000 which I suspected still gave him a slight profit rather than facing a significant lost.
After he agreed and I'd hung up, I called the bank and make sure that the account behind the debit card had at least a $25,000 balance to take care of the bed and today's shopping.
"If it's as good as the pictures, I'll give him $16,500. The poor guy is desperate and we can afford it, can't we?" Veronica asked as she embraced me as only she could and hungrily kissed me.
"Of course, ten feet wide eh, all four of us will easily fit," Veronica enthused.
"We'd probably have room for two more too," I said with a wink.
"Whom do you have in mind?" asked a smiling Veronica.
"Cindy, Carol, maybe even Mary Claire, I laughed. My phone rang and it was Dave Hawks asking if I could meet him at the house. I assured him that I would and when I told the girls where I was going they both wanted to come along. The only discussion between them was who got to sit next to me.
When we left, with Ashley was sitting next to me, with the understanding that Katrina would ride there on the way home. Hazel arrived in their Chevy Suburban to pick up the love of my life as we pulled out of the driveway.
There was a Ford F-250 King Ranch in the driveway with a man about my age leaning against it gazing at the house. With a digital camera in his left hand he walked to our car to introduce himself. I introduced Ashley and Katrina as my daughters. He told them to call him Dave. He mentioned that he had daughters too, four of them, two who are about Ashley and Katrina's age, a 22 year old and a newly married 24 year old.
We began with a walk around the outside the house and stopped at the corner directly underneath the tree trunk. He took a few quick pictures as we walked. He knelt down and put his hand between the outside edge of the wall and the inside edge of the foundation and said "Uh, Oh." He pointed the camera and the flash went off as several pictures were taken.
"What's that mean," I asked.
"Well, until I get inside it looks like the whole house had been pushed diagonally off the foundation by about seven inches. This house probably weighs twenty tons and the grand old oak probably a two and half to four times that. With momentum behind it as it fell, it wasn't a very fair match. It also appears that most of the major roof joists and the ridge are busted."
He shook his head as he took various pictures of the corner of the house that had buckled at least two feet. He then walked over to the stone chimney, and took pictures of what remained standing. Pointing to a large branch lying across the roof "That's what likely acted as the giant bat that destroyed the chimney. Your insurance agent said you'd been inside, how'd you get there." We led him around back and onto the deck then worked our way through the wet branches to open the door.
Dave walked throughout the house, opening the curtains and blinds to give more light, and at times raising and shining a flashlight tethered to his belt. As he progressed he methodically took pictures and spoke quietly into a digital recorder. When he was done he found me sitting in the kitchen and shook his head, "I'm glad that no one was sleeping in that bed when that limb crashed through. Material things can be repaired or replaced, lives are another matter."
"That's very true," I replied.
He continued with a note of sadness in his voice, "Too many people see life as a series of momentary interactions and transactions. When we discovered that Debra, my first wife, had cancer I became acutely aware that life is about building and cherishing quality relationships. As I watched Debra grow weaker and weaker I wished I had spent more time with her, loving and being with her. Mr. Appleton, you have beautiful healthy daughters, I hope you'll not take them for granted."
"I know what you mean. I've been there and done that. I'm now focused on loving those dear to me and enjoying life rather than working to gather more and more stuff," I replied. He was right. I had been too focused upon things other than those closest to me and having true friends. Up until a few weeks ago, I would have only considered Emerson and Hazel as close and good friends. My bank account was very healthy, my investments strong, and professional success noteworthy, but in the relationship department, I had been poor indeed. Fortunately, I had discovered life while young enough to make changes and to begin to enjoy life.
I looked at Dave and noticed that he was waiting for me to finish my private thoughts. Somehow he knew to let me have a reflective moment. His silence gave me confidence in his character. I smiled at him, "I agree that life is too short neglect those closest to us. By the way Dave, call me Scott. The only Mr. Appleton I know is my father."
"Scott it is. Well Scott, I hate to tell you this, but I have to be straight with you. This house is a very sick puppy." After a pause to let that sink in he continued, "The house has shifted on its foundation. When the house shifted two of the wooden beam supports in the basement cracked, fell over and now need to be replaced. The chimney needs to be rebuilt from the foundation up in order to meet current codes. That chimney wall has a bulge on the one side which suggests that a number of studs have broken. Nearly every room in the house will need plaster replaced below the two foot level due to the water damage. The one bedroom will have to be gutted for the most part. The hardwood floors in most areas are salvageable but there are areas where water the damage will demand new floors. All the carpet is a write-off."
