Sales team and confidential deal – part 1

“Stand up, go to the bathroom, and go to bed.”

She stood, looked at me with teary eyes, and walked to the bathroom. Minutes later I heard her go to the office. I stood up and found the door open and looked in. Her shirt and shorts were lying next to the bed and she was on her side with her back to me. The sheet was down to her knees as I once again saw her nakedness. I could hear her quiet snores.

I pulled the sheet up to her shoulders and quietly closed the door, cleaned up the kitchen, had two healthy drinks and went to bed. I thought, “Tomorrow should be interesting.”

I’m an early morning person no matter when I go to bed, so I woke at sunrise, unsuccessfully tried to go back to sleep, and finally got up. My master bedroom has its own bath so I did my morning things, put on a clean shirt and shorts and went to the kitchen.

The office door was still closed so I stalled for about an hour sipping black coffee, reading the morning paper and then started organizing breakfast. I went to the office door and knocked.

Nothing.

“Jan, wake up.”

I knocked again hard and opened the door. She was on her side facing me with the sheet up to her neck. Her eyes were full of sleep, but open and watching me.

I said, “In twenty minutes breakfast will be ready so you better get your butt out of bed, clean up and meet me in the kitchen.”

“Are you always this bossy?”

I pretended to look stern and answered, “Twenty minutes.”

I walked away leaving the door open. Minutes later I heard the door to the bathroom close, and then the toilet flushed. Almost twenty minutes later she walked into the kitchen wearing the same T-shirt and shorts. I noticed this time she was wearing a bra.

She sat down without talking. A large glass of milk and another of orange juice was in front of her. I put down a plate with three pieces of toast each topped with two poached eggs accompanied by about eight slices of bacon. I put a couple of bagels on a side plate with cream cheese next to her.

She said, “This is way too much food for me.”

Fifteen minutes later the food was gone.

She looked embarrassed. “I ate like a pig again.”

“You ate like someone who hasn’t eaten right for a while.”

She blushed again.

“William, I want to thank you…”

I interrupted, “There’s a great park four blocks from here. I’ll clean up the kitchen and let’s walk to the park and then have our talk. It’s cool right now but later it’s going to be really hot, so let’s enjoy the morning.”

We walked to the park in comfortable silence. I’d point out something interesting every now and then, but I could tell she was getting nervous. We circled the park once along the bike path and then sat down at a picnic table in front of a large pond; ducks were swimming in the water.

It was obvious she didn’t know what to say.

I asked, “What’s your most serious problem?”

“I’m broke with no job.”

I continued, “What’s your second most serious problem?”

“I have no place to live in a strange town and have no friends.”

“Do you have cancer or a serious illness?”

“No.”

“Are you wanted by the police?”

“No.”

“Well then,” I concluded, “You have a serious short term problem, but will be fine in the long term, and you don’t consider me a friend yet.”

She grabbed my hand and blurted, “Shit, that was stupid of me. You saved my life yesterday; I was desperate and you took me in. I won’t ever forget your kindness.”

I covered her hand with mine and quietly asked, “If it will make you feel better, why don’t you tell me how you ended up at my doorstep.”

She talked for an hour. The first few minutes were stumbling and then everything poured out. She had grown up in a suburb of Florida. Her father bailed out even before she was born, so she was raised by her mother. They were very poor, but her mom got her through high school and started her into junior college. During her second year of junior college, her mom had a heart attack and died.

Her emphasis in junior college was business and she quickly got a job working for a small business in Florida. Two years and two promotions later she was starting to make it in the real business world when she met Alan. After three months Alan moved into her apartment. The plan was that they would get married as soon as they had enough money to feel comfortable.

Three months after Alan moved in he lost his job; he had been an alcoholic and had fallen off the wagon. He didn’t look very hard for a new job and the small savings they had built up started to disappear. His drinking got worse; he abused her when drunk and their sex life became more like multiple rapes.

Alan came to her office drunk a week ago and demanded money in front of her coworkers and boss. They made him leave, but he yelled he would come back and kill everybody. He had so frightened her company that they told her she was fired. She received a week’s severance.

When she got home that afternoon she found the apartment had been torn apart in one of Alan’s rages. The furniture was destroyed, all her clothes had been ripped apart, and there was an eviction notice on the door. Alan had taken the checks for rent, but never mailed them in for the last two months.

When she went to her bank to get the past due rent money, she found out that Alan had cleaned out their account. The only favor the bank did was to cash her severance check.

She had met Kinsey at a charity party about the same time she met Alan and had kept lightly in touch with her even after Kinsey had moved to Atlanta. She called Kinsey to see if she could stay with her a few days and start a new life. When she arrived in Atlanta, Kinsey wasn’t there; I was.

Jan sat across from me at the park sobbing as she finished her story. The look of desperation had come back as she realized again the mess she was in.

Other than touching her hand, I had done nothing during her story. I wasn’t sure what to do. I felt if I hugged her she would completely fall apart and be even more of an emotional cripple, but I had to give her some hope; and I was not unaware that even at this moment, I was attracted to her.

I said, “Jan, you have a big short term problem, but that’s all it is. Here’s what we’re going to do.

“For the first week you have to get back on your feet, and in the second week we start working on finding you a job. Let’s go back to the apartment and I want you to write a list of the clothes you need to buy along with other stuff that will get you through one week.

“Do you cook?”

She nodded yes.

“Fair cook or pretty good?”

“I’m pretty good,” she admitted

“That makes it easy,” I said. You’ll stay with me for the first week. You’re the official apartment cleaner and cook, except that Wednesday and Saturday we go out to eat. I’ll loan you the money for what you need to buy, and you can pay me back once you start making some money.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked.

“You’re my lucky charm so far on my selling, and I think behind those tears I see a good person who got unlucky,” I answered.

We walked back to the apartment and she started writing her list of clothes and things. When she was done I checked the list.

“I don’t see a dress for the restaurant tonight,” I teased.

“Restaurant?”

“It’s Saturday. We go out to eat on Wednesday and Saturday. Don’t you remember?”

She added a dress to her list.

I continued, “Put down a swimming suit.”

“I really don’t need a swimming suit,” she said.

“Well when we go down to the pool this weekend you are either going to be skinny dipping or wearing a suit…it’s up to you.”

She added a swimming suit to her list.

“Now make up a list of the meals you are going to cook during the week,” I suggested.

“What do you like to eat?” she asked.

“Everything.”

Thirty minutes later we were ready to go shopping. We drove to the plaza and walked into the first clothing store. At first Jan was embarrassed as she bought panties, bras and other clothes, but then she wanted me to tell her what dress she should buy and what my favorite color was. It was kind of fun to watch Jan forget her problems for a while and enjoy herself. From the clothes she picked out I could see she had good taste.

When it came time to buy her swimming suit she timidly asked me what kind she should buy.

I said, “Jan, you have a nice body; don’t hide it.”

She beamed at the compliment. A not-too-conservative black bikini went into the shopping bag.

Four hours later we were done. She asked me how much she had spent. I ignored the question and lied, “I’m keeping track of every penny, so don’t worry about it now.”

We then went to the food stores. It was obvious she knew what she wanted. I was going to eat very well the first week.

By the time we returned home and put all the food away it was late afternoon. I told her we were going to a casual, but nice local Italian restaurant.

I was dressed in slacks and a shirt waiting for her to come out of her bedroom. She walked out and stood in front of me nervously. The light summer dress she was wearing highlighted her figure as the front displayed her shoulders and the beginning of the slope of her breasts. Her hair was arranged differently and was glossy from combing. Her light makeup accentuated her high cheekbones. I could smell the fragrance of her perfume. She was beautiful.

I teased, “I know you’re beautiful, but where’s Jan? She’s my dinner companion for tonight.”

She giggled and blushed with the compliment.

The dinner was fun. I asked her about her old job. It set her off talking and it was obvious to me that she had loved her job. The business emphasis she had taken in junior college along with three year’s work experience convinced me we would have no trouble finding her a job.

For the first time she ate a normal size meal. “I’m not always a pig,” she explained.

We returned home; it was obvious the day had caught up to her. She yawned as I gave her a glass of white wine.

I said, “One glass and you’re history. You need sleep.”

Sales team and confidential deal – part 1 will continue in the next page.