Chapter 2

Two years later they hit a financial snag. Lynne mentioned it in the same casual way she might have said that there were two weeks left before apples would blossom. We knew each other pretty well by then. In many ways I knew both Lynne and Jill better, and was closer to them than I had been to Vicky, and it bothered me sometimes. I had loved Vicky, and what I felt for both Lynne and Jill was very different than what I'd felt for Vicky, but the closeness we DID have was something I hadn't had time to make with Vicky.

For that reason I was completely comfortable around either of them, while feeling tense and anxious at the same time.

Part of that was because both Lynne and her daughter were handsome women. At thirteen there was nothing gawky about Jill any more. Lynne was a well built woman, and her daughter had inherited those physical characteristics. Plenty of exercise and good food had brought Jill's physical maturity on early.

Both women had the same brown hair that looked blond sometimes. Both women had freckles scattered from one high cheekbone across the bridge of the nose to the other cheek. Both women had slim, but muscled legs leading to wide hips below a narrow waist that flowed into firm, healthy breasts that nicely filled whatever they were wearing.

Of course Lynne had looked like that all along. It was impossible for a man to miss, and that was part of what made me so stumble tongued around her in the beginning. She was sunburned and windblown and still managed to make me stare whenever I was around her.

What it amounted to was that I was finally able to appreciate a woman for BEING a woman, without feeling like I was cheating on Vicky. So, when Lynne mentioned that they'd have to tighten their belts I didn't feel like I was prying to ask a few questions. It turned out that there had been a bunch of repairs needed that she hadn't told me about. The water heater had rusted out, and the annual inspection of the furnace had revealed a crack in the combustion chamber. Then the truck had to have tires. It all hit her about the same time and in the space of just a few months she'd had to spend over three thousand dollars. That meant she'd had to dip into the money from Paul's insurance that had been set aside for Jill's college education and she wasn't happy about that. That fund had sat there, gathering a little interest, but tuition kept going up and she was worried that it wasn't going to be enough when the time came.

"How much do you need?" I asked.

She shot me a look. "You know better than to think I'm asking you for money," she said darkly.

"True," I said calmly. "So how much do you need?"

"I'm not asking for a loan either," she said impatiently. "We'll just have to go without some things for a while until I can pay her college fund back. It won't kill us, Bob."

I thought about it. If anybody deserved to go to college it was Jill. I had lots of money and didn't ever use it. But there was Lynne's sense of decorum to deal with. Where the idea came from I don't know, but I was glad it popped into my mind.

"I've always wanted to be part owner in an apple orchard," I said. "Of course apple orchards aren't all that common around here. You wouldn't know of anybody who might be interested in selling shares of one ... would you?"

She gave me a level stare, but I saw appreciation in her eyes. "You don't have to do that," she said softly.

"I know. I happen to have the money and I'm not using it for anything."

"We don't make a profit on the apples," she said slowly. "We break even for the most part, or at least I've always thought that. To be honest I don't even keep good records on where the money from the sales of apples goes."

"Maybe that will change some day," I said. "If there ever is a profit, I'll take my share. Until then, it's just an investment."

She hugged me, and those firm, warm, disturbing breasts pressed into my chest. I felt guilty when things stirred in my pants. That hadn't happened in a long time.

"I'll have to make you double the pies from now on," she said into my chest.

"I can live with that," I said into hair that smelled just wonderful.

She asked for five thousand as a buy-in. I told her to give me a few days and called Phil and asked him to do some research for me. He needed some information, which I got from Jill. It turned out Lynne's parents, whether they knew it or not, had done a lot more than plant a bunch of trees. They'd improved the value of the land a great deal. Based on the age of the trees, and the estimated output, that eighty acre orchard was easily worth half a million dollars. I went back to her with my checkbook in hand.

"I want to buy forty percent," I said as I sat down at the kitchen table.

"I don't know how much that is," she said, frowning.

"I do," I said. I wrote the check and handed it to her. She looked at it and blinked. It was a two, followed by five zeros and I watched her count those zeros twice. She looked at me and back at the check.

"This is too much," she said weakly.

"That's what my analyst says forty percent is worth," I said. "That's assuming output goes up a bit. You don't use pesticide or fertilize and according to Phil, that makes the apples eligible to be marketed as organically grown. He says you'll have to ship them further, but you'll be able to get more for them if you do."

"This is two HUNDRED thousand dollars, Bob!" she panted.

"Forty percent," I said calmly.

"Do I have to have sex with you if I take this?" she asked weakly as she sat down.

My mouth dropped open and then snapped shut. My mind shot off in twelve directions at the same time. It was the last thing I'd expected her to say and I wasn't prepared to respond. I gulped and she must have heard it. She looked up at me and smiled weakly.

"I was kidding," she said. She looked back at the check and then back at me. "At least I think I was."

"NO!" I finally got out in a gasp. She blinked and I realized it had sounded awfully harsh. I tried to undo any damage, because the last thing I wanted to do was offend her. I should have just kept my mouth shut, because what came out was: "I mean I'd love to have sex with you, but it's not part of the deal."

I sat down then, and put my head in my hands. "That's not what I meant," I mumbled.

"Would you like some pie, Bob?" she asked.

I ventured a peek and saw she'd gotten up. The check was still lying on the table. She was opening a cupboard and getting down a plate. I saw the pie was key lime with meringue on it as she put a huge piece onto a plate. Then she opened the freezer and got out ice cream to go with it. When she served it to me she picked up the check and left the room.

I think she was just giving me time to collect myself, because she stayed gone long enough that when she came back in I was just cleaning up the plate. She took it and put it in the sink and sat down across from me.

"Forty percent," she said firmly. "It's a deal. That's enough that I can buy some new equipment to pick with. If we hire some seasonal help - high school kids most likely - we can pick double or triple what I've picked in the past. I always picked what I could get rid of and left the rest to go back to nature. I won't do that from now on. And if you have time, you'll have to help harvest. Deal?"

All I could think about was that she hadn't mentioned the sex. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad about that. I decided it was all for the best if we just forgot my gaffe, and nodded.

"Thank you, Bob," she said softly. Her eyes looked liquid and I was afraid she was going to cry or something. If she did that I knew I would too and I already felt pretty foolish, so I stood up.

"OK!" I said a little too loudly. "Just let me know what I need to do whenever I need to do it."

I turned to leave and, as I went out the back door, I heard her voice say "Deal!"

I was weeding my carrots a few hours later when Jill showed up on Prancer, her horse. She got off, pulled me up to stand, put her arms around my neck and kissed me right on the lips.

Twice in the same day the Simmons women had left me flummoxed.

"Thank you," she said after she stopped kissing me. About then I felt HER firm warm breasts pressing against my chest, and my cock started moving in my pants again.

"You're welcome," I said weakly.

Then she got back on the horse she rode in on, and left, so to speak.