Longwood

Longwood

It had been another busy day at Dale's DX, I often referred to the day's activities as the same only different, a different day, basically the same activities. Longwood is a town of 205 located on a main state highway, for all intents and purposes this place should have succumbed to the draw of bigger stores to take away my business, but it still made enough to keep the wolves at bay, pay my employees a decent wage and stick some in the bank for a rainy day. I had a loyal clientele of local folks and an endless flow of hunters and fishermen.

Prior to owning Dale's I had worked with my dad for over fifteen years selling medical equipment, a rather lucrative field then, when he died I thought I would be a shoe-in to take over his position representing a half dozen or more companies. In their collective infinite wisdom, I wasn't old enough at 34 to know what I was doing in spite of the fact that it had been me who'd done the lion's share of the selling over the past seven or eight years.

In the end it was as my father had stated many times, just follow the money, there were behind closed doors deals which I could have spent a load of money contesting. With my mother already gone and no siblings I decided, screw them and the ship the sailed in on. I sold everything there was to sell including my parents place, my place and the building my dad had built to operate out of over thirty years prior.

I didn't drive away with a small mint but I didn't drive away poor either. With the office building and my parents place being in prime real estate areas of the city they brought top dollar, mine sold for market value. I kept the few pieces of old furniture I wanted, the three-generation old china that had been passed down to my mother from her mother, I auctioned the rest including their two year old Caddy. Considering I could buy a 7x12 tandem axle enclosed trailer for just over double what renting one would have cost I chose to buy the trailer, I could always sell it afterward, with it and my pickup loaded I hit the road.

Seven hours later I pulled onto the old logging road that led to our hunting cabin just west of High Ridge, a town of about eighteen hundred. It was late afternoon when I arrived affording me enough daylight to unpack the essentials, get the pilots lit on the range, water heater and furnace, turn on the water and unhook the trailer. I checked the LP tank and decided I'd call to have it filled the next day, it was showing thirty percent but I didn't want to forget and run out of fuel. It was late fall which meant the days were pleasant but the nights were chilly.

I didn't have room to store everything at the cabin, there were no rental facilities in High Ridge so I headed south to the county seat of Lake Junction to find a rental storage place, Lake Junction was home to the county courthouse, Sherriff's Department, and a regional hospital. Driving the forty three miles to Lake Junction I had to pass through a little burg named Longwood, the sign on the edge of town stated the population was 205, it was basically older homes, a few newer ones, a tavern and not much else.

I'd driven through the town for years when we'd go hunting and up until nine years ago there was a DX gas station/grocery outlet in the middle of town, the blue and white sign still hanging out front was an original porcelain. When the owner died no one wanted to buy the business, it had set empty since his demise. His kids owned it but they lived six states away and had never set foot in Longwood again after they left high school and moved on. I stopped at the Log Cabin Diner in Longwood for lunch on my way home, an older waitress recognized me and sat down, within our conversation I asked about the old station. She gave me the low down on how the kids owned and wanted nothing to do with it but couldn't seem to get it sold. Her impression was that it was overpriced.

Over the next two weeks I was able to ascertain a phone number for the oldest sibling, a hot shot lawyer down south, he didn't want to come north so I told him I'd drive south. A day and a half later I sat in his office drinking coffee and chatting, when I brought up selling the place he threw out a ridiculous number. I laughed at him.

"You don't want to sell it do you? That property is nowhere near what you're asking."

He glared at me, "Nobody has the money to buy that dump anyway, so who gives a shit. I'll keep writing it off every year as a loss."

I leaned forward, "How much would you sell it for if you could get cash? No muss, no fuss, no inspections, nothing but a title search and a check once the search clears."

I guess he thought I was blowing smoke up his ass because he laughed in my face, "I suppose you're going to try and tell me you have that kind of money."

I stood and contemplated telling him to piss off but instead bent over his desk and gave him a number I had in mind. He sat back, blinked a few times, stuttered, mumbled to himself and stood sticking out his hand.

"You got a deal mister, I want half down today and the remainder after the title search and legal paperwork is completed."

Now I was pissed, "Fuck you, ten percent down which is a normal for earnest money, the balance when the rest is completed. Take it or leave it, I'm going home tomorrow morning."

I was just about to close the door when he yelled, "Wait, come back, get your checkbook out, ten percent, I'll get the paperwork started tomorrow."

Everything else was completed via electronic signatures from that point forward, three weeks later I sat in the title office and completed the deal, a week later I had the deed in hand. The place at one time had been a gas station, small grocery, small auto repair shop and in the fifties a Dodge Dealership. At the time the old guy died the only part open was the very front of the store, no one had been in the back of the facility in ages. Upon closing I was given a ring of over a dozen keys, the title company didn't know what they were for, but they went with the sale, I damn near tossed them but thought better of it.

I was walking though the place figuring out what was trash and what was salvageable when I encountered a heavy metal door with the biggest padlock I'd ever seen. Going to the truck for the ring of keys I was trying key after key with no luck until the second to last one. The lock clunked open and I walked into a museum of Americana, there were gas pumps from the 50's and 60's, an old Dodge pickup, what looked to be a model T on blocks hiding in a dark back corner, a dozen or more globes for the top of older gas pumps and then in a small room off the back the most exciting find.

Two visible glass pumps in good condition, one with a Texaco top and one with a Phillips 66 top, next to those was model 38-A vintage gas pump with a Sinclair globe. There were old rims, old wide whitewall tires on shelves that were mostly dry rotted, shelves of old parts and a vintage Brunswick brass cash register. I was so excited I was ready to wet my pants, I estimated the value of what I could see on the surface was worth as much as I'd paid for the place. If his smart ass kids had done a little homework and not thought their old man was nutty as a fruit cake they'd have realized it was a gold mine.

I made the decision then and there that I was going to re-open the place, I would start small and build it up. The first wave of realism hit me three days later, an early snowfall of just over five inches. I made the executive decision to schedule a plow be mounted to my F-250 as soon as possible, six days later I drove off the lot thinking to myself, "let it snow", at least now I had a means to move it.

I spent the first six weeks going through and cataloging everything, deciding what I wanted to hold onto and what would go on auction. I found an antique car parts store on the web that was willing to buy the original Dodge parts, most still in their boxes, they in turn bought the rims, one of the 1950's gas pumps and two of the globes. People in town had originally thought I was nuts for buying what they called *that dump* until word got out what had been locked in that back area for decades.

The day of the onsite auction there were over three hundred registered bidders, by days end after paying the auction houses commission I still cleared more than I'd paid for the property. Shortly after I'd discovered my gold mine the hot shot lawyer suddenly wanted more money saying I cheated him, I hired a lawyer equally as notable as he was and it all went away within a week. Slimy prick, he'd had years to come look at the place and chose not to, in his eyes his old man was a fool to live in that hick town, the very town the lawyer had been born in.

With December approaching most of the construction crews and trades people in the area were due to be laid off until spring. I took advantage of that and hired who I needed to completely gut, rewire, re-plumb, and remodel the front portion of the store. In the process I had a small apartment built behind the office, big enough for a bed, a walk-in shower, a small kitchenette and an area to sit and relax. I could stop sleeping at the cabin and spend my days at the store once it re-opened.

The old guy had upgraded to fiberglass tanks two years before he died so I didn't need to replace those, I had newer digital model gas pumps installed and put a canopy over them. With an entirely new interior and the latest in technology concerning the pumps I opened the fifteenth of March selling gas and some groceries, bread, milk, feminine products, cereal, chips, mostly convenience items. I was awaiting a license to sell cold beer and was told I should have it by May.

The common pattern of thought through the years since the old guy had died is that with Lake Junction thirty some miles away and High Ridge just under twenty the other direction no one would want to stop in Longwood. They were wrong, between the locals, the logging trucks needing diesel and the myriad of hunters I had no trouble keeping the doors open. I was opening at six and closing at nine, I was doing it all myself, by the sixth week I could see I was going to need help in order to keep up with everything, I posted a part time help wanted sign on the door and left it at that. A lady who'd filled up several times and had bought milk a few times, (she would also flirt with me each time she came in), asked if I was still hiring after paying for her fuel, I nodded yes.

"My name is Iris, I worked here before Horacio died, everybody knew him as Harry, anyway, I worked for him for five years. I'm only 52 and have a lot of spunk left in me but I'm tired of traveling to Lake Junction for work. Think you might be interested?"

She wasn't hard to look at by any stretch, her face looked middle aged but it was still fashionably made up with enough to highlight and not look gawdy, I figured her to be five foot six or seven and probably one hundred and forty pounds, a narrow waist along with that gentle slope to her hips which accompanies being a mommy. I thought her ass was cute and looked firm in her casual jeans, her chest was average, maybe a B or C to match the rest of her body. Yes, I could work with that every day.

I jumped on her offer like a chicken on a June bug, "When can you start Iris?"

She smiled and winked, "I'll be here at six tomorrow to help open."

"But don't you need to give notice where you work?"

"Nope, I told him to stuff it today, that's why I'm looking. He thought he could touch and do whatever he liked, some of the girls put up with it to keep their job, I told him to take a flyin leap, stinking perv."

True to her word I heard a faint knock at five forty-five the next morning, with her there to help stock, clean, and man the register I was able to stay abreast with inventory and paperwork. With Iris done at six each day I was still closing at nine which was wearing me out. Iris asked one morning if I might consider hiring someone to close so I could go to my apartment at a decent hour, I'd still be there if anything happened and I could close up at night as usual.

"Your wife can't be very happy with you here fifteen hours a day Dale."

"I don't have one of those Iris, I had a few long term relationships but my previous job wasn't conducive to family life, I'm still single. Not that I wouldn't mind having a wife, but then who wants a thirty six year old as a newlywed groom? What did you have in mind about closing?"

"My twenty one year old grandson goes to tech school in Junction until two, he gets home around three and is looking for a part time job but wants to stay close to home. What would you think about training him? He's honest and smart, wears his hat like you're supposed to, doesn't have the crack of his butt showing from droopy drawers and will be on time. Did I mention he's six foot plus, not many mess with him."

Hiring Todd was one of the best moves I'd made. I could leave the main floor by five or six most days and didn't have to work every weekend. With my beer license in hand I had a line of reach-in cases installed along a wall for beer and cold drinks. I opened the remainder of the front section and installed a cappuccino machine, three of the digital coffee machines, a bigger grocery lineup.

I had no desire to compete with the local diner and talked to its owner, she saw no reason why me selling personal size pizza's would affect her regular crowd. By mid-summer it was time to implement the next phase of Dale's DX, a small kitchen with enough room to make and bake pizzas, with it came a walk-in cooler and freezer. I could now keep a small amount of fresh produce, cheeses, bacon, simple items like that as well as adding more doors for pop and juices.

Iris and I had formed a pseudo crush on each other, we would flirt and make saucy statements to each other, there was a sexual tension between us that couldn't be denied, and yet we did. It came to a boil on a Friday morning, the early crowd had come and gone, the other two workers were busy in their areas, I was kneeling putting away supplies behind the counter next to the till. Not paying attention when I stood I was face to face with Iris who had just walked up, our faces weren't three inches apart. Looking into each other's eyes it was obvious to both there was more than a flirtatious game going on, we quickly stood back from each other looking a bit embarrassed.

For the next week we tried to avoid each other, being awkward, trying to be nonchalant when in reality we were a bundle of nerves when we had to work together. Friday afternoon I made a comment about going to Lake Junction the next morning, Iris immediately asked if she could ride along, As I stared at her she said loud enough that only I could hear.

"I'll behave myself." Followed by a sultry wink.

I spoke no louder than she had, "What if I don't want you to behave?"

She smiled, patted my chest and said, "Then I won't." Turned and walked away.

As she was clocking out I yelled from the office, "I'll pick you up at eight, we can go to breakfast at the diner before we leave town."

Breakfast was quick and simple, scrambled eggs, toast, bacon and coffee. She did most of the talking on the way to the city, it almost seemed as though it was nervous chatter more than anything. We shopped, got what supplies we needed, stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant she liked and headed home. Our conversation on the way home was more substantive, she talked mostly about her ex husband. He was an over the road trucker who was also a philanderer, she said it took her years to figure it out and when she did she took him for every penny she could get. When I dropped her off at her house I helped carry in her packages and commented on how something sure smelled good.

"I put a beef roast, carrots and potatoes in the slow cooker before you picked me up this morning, I imagine It's so tender by now it would literally melt in your mouth. Why don't you come have supper with me Dale, I get tired of eating alone, say five o'clock?"

I nodded and left, unloading my junk I pondered if I should change clothes and look a bit more presentable when I went for supper deciding that would be a good idea. I showered, shaved, changed into some nicer casual wear and drove to Iris's, she must have had the same idea, her hair was freshly done, she hadn't had makeup on during the day but she did then, she was wearing a bright red cotton dress with yellow flowers and sandals. As good as she looked on the outside I found myself wondering what might be under that dress, if anything.

I helped her clean the kitchen and do dishes before we adjourned to the couch in the living room, by this point the tension of passion between us was nearly palpable, there was no denying we were both thinking the same thing. It was Iris who took the bull by the horns and broke the ice.

"Okay Dale, you want to be a gentleman and not pushy, but it's obvious we both want the same thing, we're horny and want to get laid without strings or consequences. I'm not looking for a relationship, or holding my hand, or telling the world we're in bed together, no pats on the ass at work, no secret looks, no whispers in the hallway, no secret admirer flowers delivered kind of stuff. I'm a fifty three year old woman with needs, you're a thirty six year old man with needs, I'm disease free and I sure as hell can't get pregnant, why don't we stop beating around the bush and satisfy each other?"

I was curious, "Are we going to kiss, or just fuck?"

"Straight to the point, I like that Dale. I like kissing, but you don't have to, I think it adds to the intimacy, it's up to you."

I pulled her to me and kissed her softly, she was a good kisser, soft full lips melting into mine, her hand at the back of my neck holding me to her lips. Sliding her tongue into my mouth we carried on for another three or four minutes before we broke.

I lifted her chin, "I don't have to kiss but I like to kiss, I want there to be some level of intimacy, not just two animals breeding. I don't need a relationship to respect you and I certainly don't want you to think we somehow belong to each other if we sleep together. Next question, do you want to do things here or elsewhere?"

Standing she took my hand pulling me up, "In my bed, at least the first time, after that anywhere in the house is fair game. One more thing, when we're done, we're done, no pining, no moping around, no feeling depressed, we have fun and when it's over we smile and walk away, two weeks or two years, the rules stay the same. Agreed?"

I smiled as I tugged her down the hall, "Agreed."

I had taken my shirt off when she turned with her back to me, "Unzip me."

Sliding the dress over her shoulders and down I was pleased with what awaited me, a common everyday woman who seemed to exude sensuality in her light blue bra and like colored lacy cotton panties. They were loose enough her ample bush puffed out the front, I reached to caress her breasts through the bra, leaning in for another kiss she whispered as our lips met.

"Do it right, take the bra off."

As her bra hit the floor I was pleased with her breasts, they were heavy on the bottom but didn't sag or droop, they weren't nineteen year old tight and firm but they held their own. I looked at the areolas, they were of the nice round light brown variety, measuring at least two inches across with a dark brown nipple in the center. Without being stimulated the nipples stood straight ahead, I could only imagine how hard they would be during an orgasm.

Pushing back, she told me to get rid of my pants and underwear as she stepped out of her panties. With me sitting on the bed I couldn't tear my eyes away from the most perfect pussy I had ever seen, the hairs were long and thick but the V wasn't very wide, her mons stuck out which only accented the puffiness of her pubic hair. I so wanted to bury my face in that hairy little forest and root around, she had other ideas. Gently taking me by the ears she guided my face forward to her right nipple, my mouth opened and my lips wrapped around her half inch long nipple, sucking as much into my mouth as possible.