The Hot List Ch. 03

AUTHORS NOTE

Thanks for the feed back. I'm obviously new at this so bear with me. I've got a fair imagination and a decent command of language, but what I don't have are technical skills. I'm an old guy and a bit of a technophobe and so far it's killing me.

Building A Love Life, my first attempt at writing, was eleven pages long when I tried to post it, and that's just chapter one. Somehow everything got deleted. My wife seems to think it was alcohol related, I can neither confirm or deny that allegation. I have no clear recollection of that event.

I called the witch doctor in [my son], and think the problem is corrected, although mumbling under his breath about old perverts and suggesting I set a votive candle and a picture of Bill Gates up beside the computer wasn't really constructive in my opinion. Anyway, it took a couple of days to wash all the chicken blood off the monitor. Now I'll try again.

Oh, and by the way cpete, without giving too much away they do live happily ever after.

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Will came home from the restaurant with a smile on his face and the index card in his pocket. He didn't see Pam until he looked out the patio door.

She was outside on the deck fooling with her 'upside down tomato' plant.

Will thought it was crazy to knock a hole in the bottom of a bucket, put a tomato plant in it, and hang it from a post. Any gardener will tell you things grow towards the sun and not away from it.

The poor plant gets 'leggy' and grows around the edge of the bucket and upwards until it sets fruit

and then gravity takes over and pulls the plant downward and away from the sun. He couldn't believe somebody got rich off this.

It gave Pam pleasure though, and like all things that gave her pleasure, he didn't mind. She was in a tank top and cargo shorts, and looked as beautiful as she did the first time they met

over 31 years ago. From a distance she looked in her late thirties, and up close she could pass for mid forties, even though she would be 52 in just a few weeks. Happiness filled him as he remembered.

................................................

He had worked for Massive Industries for six years after coming out of the marines. He had the distinction of participating in one of the most minor events of U.S. military history, the Grenada incursion. He stood out in that conflict because he was one of the few to actually get shot. It hurt like hell and left a nasty scar on his thigh, but he got a purple heart and a bronze star out it. He never mentioned that part of his life to anyone. Pam didn't know about the medals until they had been married ten years, and only then because the VFW wanted he and a few more purple heart recipients to be marshalls in the Veterans Day parade that year. He told her it was in the past and wasn't something he thought about much. In reality he didn't feel his service was in the same league as the WWII, Korea, and Vietnam

veterans.

He had gone to school at night and worked his way into junior management. As the junior member of the management team one of his responsibilities was to walk the prior days' paper work across the street from the plant to the main office. This was before the prevalence of computers. The office had them, big ugly machines that most of the plant employees didn't trust.

That Monday he noticed the office manager showing a new girl around, and that Jenny was not at her desk. The manager waved him over.

"Will, this is Pam. She's taking Jennys' place while she has her baby. Help her out if she needs it, okay?"

He was instantly smitten. She was 5'5' tall, but her slender body made her look taller. Medium lenght ash brown hair, teased wildly in the style of the era. Her most distinctive feature were her eyes, large and almost black in their intensity. like she was looking straight through you.

"Not a problem, Esther. How are you today, Pam."

She smiled nicely.

"Nervous, confused, and anxious to do a good job.

I'll probably lean on you a good bit at first, if that's okay."

"Well, don't hesitate to call. You'll find an phone directory on the top of your file cabinet. If I'm not in, just use the page number. You can hear it all over the plant and I'll get back to you quickly."

They spent about twenty minutes helping her through the basics and then he reluctantly left.

He thought about her off and on all day. In reality she was about three sixteenths away from being beautiful, but in his eyes the yardstick was broken. Never in his 28 years had he been so attracted to a woman. And he was sure that with his looks and her beauty, plus the six year age difference[she had just turned 22] he had no chance at all.

He developed a habit of delivering the paperwork right before her morning break, and before long they were having their coffee together. When he found out she thought the office coffee was weak he started stopping at the break truck on his way over. It was run by a retired naval mess steward, and the running joke was that maintenance used it to strip paint off equipment. She liked it though and when he found out she had a sweet tooth he brought her a pastry or candy bar to go with the coffee.

They talked. She found out he had never married because he had just never found 'the one'. He found she had married at 18, way too young. They were both too immature, and when the stress of life hit she became clingy, and he became mentally abusive and cheated. The parting was bitter. She had been divorced for thirteen months when she went to work for Massive, and had dated twice but was too nervous to enjoy it.

After eleven weeks had gone by he came in on Monday to find Jenny back at her desk. She laughed at his expression.

"Don't worry Will. Your little honey isn't gone, she's been transferred to accounts receivable. I'm jealous, in three years you never brought me coffee. But, then again, I'm 32 and a mother of four now, not a hot bodied 22 year old. Want to see my baby pictures?"

He was miserable but made appropriate approving noises.

He went back to delivering the paper work first thing in the morning and spending his break in his office. It didn't help him that Jenny would tease him and tell him his hot little girlfriend was waiting for her coffee. She would smirk and add a comment about something a little sweet would be just the thing for her.

Then two weeks later he was heading for his office and saw Pam standing at the door with two cups of coffee. She looked at him hard and said-

"I decided to come by and see why you wouldn't spend your break with me anymore. Where can I set these?"

My office was more like a cubbyhole and only had one chair besides the one behind my desk. I didn't want any obstacles between us so I grabbed a chair out of the next office and sat down beside

her with the coffees on the desk.

She got right to the point.

"Why did you stop having break with me? Did I offend you? Or, do you just not like me?"

He hesitated, choosing his words carefully.

"I like you, quite a bit actually. But with you not doing the paperwork anymore I had no excuse to be around you. I miss our break conversations terribly, it was the high point of my day. Besides, I know there's quite a few girls your own age in your new area. I thought you would enjoy talking to them more."

He thought he phrased that pretty well. Boy, was he wrong, and she let him know it. It was the first time he got a glimpse of the temper he was to grow to know very well.

"Will, there's six years between our ages, not sixty!

And why can't you spend your breaks with me just because you want to, without some sort of excuse?

That's not very good for a girls' ego, just so you know."

She paused to take a breath and fixed those penetrating eyes on him.

"Just so you know, I've never chased a man my whole life and I'm not about to start now. However, if you were to ask me to dinner Friday night and to see the new Spielberg movie, I might not say no. It's all up to you now."

She sat back with a small grin on her face.

To Wills credit, he wasn't an idiot, and it just didn't get any plainer.

"Pam, I've really been wanting to see the new movie playing uptown, and there's a great little Italian place close by known for their homemade pizza. Would you care to go?"

She had a small smile on her face as she got up.

"I'll have to think about it. How 'bout I answer you tomorrow at first break after you've gotten us our coffee? Oh, and try to bring one of those cheese danish things if they have one. See you then sweetie."

She gave him a little peck on the cheek as she left. It just so happened that another supervisor happened by and saw it. His cheek felt warm all day, but that could have been from all the ribbing he got over his hot new girlfriend.

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Of course they went out Friday. And Saturday.

Coffee breaks at work turned into lunch together every day. Dates began to occur in midweek in addition to the weekend. They spent almost every spare moment they had in his small apartment.

The touching, kissing, and cuddling continued to escalate. This went on for about four months and both were getting sexually frustrated, especially for Pam. Will would almost get carried away,then pull back at the last minute.

After a particularly intense session of kissing and fondling Pam thought it was finally going to happen only to have Will disengage. Her temper flared just a bit.

"Damn it Will, when are you going to make love to me? What's holding you back?"

It caught him by surprise and he blurted out.

"I wanted it to be special for us. It was supposed to happen right after we got engaged."

He realized what he was saying too late to stop it.

She sat upright on the couch and spoke so softly he almost didn't hear her.

"You want to marry me?"

IN for a dime, in for a dollar, as his grandfather used to say. Time to commit.

"More than anything else in the world."

Her eyes were huge.

"When were you going to ask me?"

"In about three months. I wanted you to know how much I loved you by holding out until then."

"Where and how were you going to ask me?"

"I was going to do it here, where we're alone together most often. I didn't want to do it in front of an audience, I think it should be the most private and intimate discussion a couple in love should ever have."

Although she was trying to control it, tears were starting to flow.

"Do it", she demanded.

"Do what?" he was confused.

She held his face in her hands.

"Propose to me. Pretend it's three months later.

How would you do it?"

He looked at her long and hard, then slid off the couch until he was on both knees in front of her.

He took both her hands in his, and looked her in the eyes with the most serious expression she had ever seen on his face.

"Pamela Maria Vincent, I love you. I think I loved you from the moment we met. I want to grow old with you , to never leave your side. I want our children to bask in the glow of our love. I want our friends to envy the joy we have. I want to love you to the best of my ability until I take my last breath on this earth. Pam, will you marry me?"

The tears were flowing steadily now, accompanied by huge, wracking sobs. Overcome, she fled into the bathroom.

'That dear, kind man' she thought. 'He didn't promise me eternal love, or forever and ever love. He promised to love me with all his heart until death robbed him of the chance to continue.

What woman could ask for more'.

She composed herself and came back into the living room. Surprisingly he was still on his knees in front of the couch. She felt a touch of panic, maybe he thought she was rejecting him. Getting on her knees and nuzzled his neck.

"Show me."

She was almost whispering.

He roused just a bit.

"What?"

She slipped around to face him.

"Pretend it's three months later. I've just screamed 'YES' at the top of my lungs. Show me how you would love me."

She leaned back and slipped her top over her head.

Her bra was black and lacy, the panties matched he discovered later. She put his hands on her breasts.

"Please, my future husband, future life mate, future father of our babies, please, show me how you would love me."

She held his face in her hands.

The kisses were slow and passionate at first, but escalated quickly. She was more beautiful nude than dressed, and he didn't believe that was possible. He worshipped her body, even as he was rough and demanding. She reciprocated, touching every part of his body she could reach. They would have decades to continue, but the now, the first time ever, nothing would ever surpass it.

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Three months later to the day he proposed. Six months after that they married. Both were good with money, Will from good training by his parents, Pam from the mistakes of her first marriage.

Two years later they bought a nice house in a nice neighborhood. A year later their first child, a girl, was born. Twenty three months

later their son arrived.

They had a good life. They argued over simple things, but never carried grudges. Both had the same version for the future and that sustained them.

They were friendly, outgoing people, quickly establishing life long friends with many of the neighbors. They socialized, having the odd party or cookout, and attended many others.

It was at a cookout at the house of their friends Sam and Sarah that Pam got a glimpse of the temper Will kept hidden. The party started before dark and continued into the night. A set of new neighbors had been invited. Neither seemed to fit in. Tony was loud, and considered himself to be a gift to women. Lisa was jealous and had an acid tongue, Making it known she was watching all the wives because they were just like every other woman in town, lusting for Tony.

Tony closed in on Pam, probably because she was the best looking woman there. He proceeded to brag about his accumulated wealth, his sports

prowess, and indirectly, his sexual skills. Pam looked bored to tears. Finally she excused her self and left him standing alone. That seemed to challenge him because he kept following her around. Will had enough. He was going to politely collect Pam and start making their goodbyes before a confrontation developed but he never got the chance.

Sarah had banana trees planted all around the pool, creating a mini jungle. He was looking for Pam when he heard something that sounded like a pistol shot followed by a scream.

"You bastard!"

Pam came around the tree looking extremely agitated, followed by a blustering Tony.

He pulled up when he saw me and heard Pam asking to be taken home. He looked over with a smirk.

Will shocked everyone at the party when he made a loud announcement.

"We'll be staying just a bit, but join me in wishing Tony and Lisa goodnight.

"I'm not ready to stop partying yet!"

Tony said belligerently.

"The hand print on your face says you are.

She's my wife, so think before you speak."

The tone of his voice, as well as the look in his eyes made Tony suddenly realize he had an early tea time. He made thier goodbyes to the host and left quickly.

Sam came over and stood beside Will.

"Thanks."

Will looked over.

"Thanks for what?"

"For holding your temper. I've never seen the term 'murder in his eyes' actually occur until now. I don't think I want Tony back in my house."

"Good idea, next time it could be another husband, or a wife with too much to drink falling for his lines. Then it would get ugly. Its' been an interesting night. I think I'll walk my wonderful wife home and get in a little snuggling before I go to sleep."

As they walked home Pam thanked him.

"For what?"

"For defending my honor."

I think the hand print on his face meant I didn't need to defend you."

"I meant for later on. It could have gotten ugly

if you hadn't spoken up. Even without raising your hand or your voice you scared him into going home."

She held his hand the rest of the way home.

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The years passed quickly. The kids grew up, went off to college and then to their own lives. Both married, the daughter moving with her husband half way across the country, the son half way across town.

They moved up in their careers. He became plant manager, she ran the accounts receivables department. Life was good, right up to the present.