Chapter 8

These were rewarding times for Tom Granger because of how things were going for him at work and his social life. He thought that way because of the relationships he had developed with a few women. Recently it was Connie in Hawaii and closer to home Tom was dating Lauren and Audrey. These ladies were keeping him a sexually satisfied man. There was also the possibility of developing a relationship with Myla, but that he thought could be trouble.

Tom thought these affairs with these women and the money he received from Jason were all positive developments in his life. One of the minor changes was that he was not going to Benny’s as often as he once did. His weekends were being taken up dating Lauren or Audrey. He was also paying close attention to Myla at work, but she did not act any differently from how she acted before she kissed him. He tried to act the same way with her.

A situation developed at work that required his attention. The company’s expansion was successful when measured by the number of new subscribers added. This expansion, however, caused an increase in calls to the customer service reps from customers concerning problems. At times, other people had to be temporarily assigned to handle the volume of the service calls the reps were receiving. Having programmers work as high-paid customer service reps was not a cost-effective way to solve a problem or run this business. Nor did Tom want to recommend outsourcing these calls for servicing.

Tom devised a solution for this problem that required discussion with Colton and his approval. He told Colton that the service calls they received were largely from older people concerning connecting to the internet. These customers for the most part were not overly familiar with modern electronics. Tom wanted to hire homemakers and college students to work part-time to supplement the customer service reps. These part-timers would have been brought up with computers, tablets, and smartphones, which meant they were knowledgeable and could solve service problems. They would only need a little training regarding Mid-Home’s system before they would assist customers. The homemakers could work when their children were in school, and the students could work when they did not have classes. These part-timers could be a pool from which full-time employees could be selected when there were job openings.

As Tom was telling Colton of the situation and his proposal, he noticed Colton unconsciously nodding his head in agreement. After Tom gave Colton his pitch to solve this problem, Colton told him to go ahead and do it.

Tom discussed the problem and his approved solution with Myla. He wanted her and the HR department to do the requiting to fill these part-time positions. He gave her the assignment of training these new part-time reps. Tom expected to see a negative reaction from Myla about receiving this assignment, but that did not happen. All that did happen was her saying she would handle it.

Jason phoned Tom one evening and they discussed how things were going for each of them. Jason said he could not talk about the specifics of the “Star Wars” projects he was working on, but it was enjoyable to be working for an employer with a seemingly unlimited budget. The call ended with Tom inviting Jason to come and visit him when he had some time off.

For something to do this weekend, Tom phoned Lauren asking for a date. She turned him down because her ski club had a scheduled trip to Breckenridge for a weekend of skiing. She said she was free the following weekend, and Tom told her it was a date.

Tom debated if he should ask Audrey or Myla for a date. After thinking about it, he decided there were too many unknowns in asking Myla out which had him phone Audrey. She also turned him down because she had another commitment. He was now down to his Plan C. That plan was either to ask Myla out or for him to go to Benny’s.

In thinking about it, he had to admit that Myla was the best-looking of the three ladies which was nothing to sneeze at. The problems were who Myla’s father was and that Tom was her immediate supervisor at Mid-Home. Those two concerns made him hesitant to ask Myla out. In thinking more about it, he decided to go for it. He picked up his phone and dialed Myla’s extension.

Myla answered her phone saying, “This is Myla, how may I help you?”

“This is Tom..., I..., I was wondering if you have any plans for tomorrow night? If not, maybe you could come to my condo and have some pizza and we could watch what is on the flat screen. Before you answer, I want you to know that this phone conversation is being recorded and you are not obligated in any way to accept my invitation. Further, if you turn me down there will be no repercussions.”

He heard her laughingly say, “Are you really recording this?”

“No, but I thought I would say that. What I said about no repercussions if you can’t make it is true.”

“Sure, I can come there. What time?”

He told her and asked what type of pizza she liked.

Ending the call, Tom thought that went well. He knew he needed to do a little tidying up of his unit because of his expected guest.

The doorbell to his unit chimed at the expected time. Tom opened the door and Myla walked in. She put a box of playing cards on the counter saying that instead of watching the TV she thought they could play Texas Holdem after they ate. Tom was familiar with this card game having watched it on television.

Arriving on time was the half vegetarian and pineapple, half sausage and cheese pizza. They both said it was delicious sitting at the table eating it.

After putting the leftover pizza into the refrigerator and cleaning the table, they played Texas Holdem. Myla suggested that to make it interesting, they should each start with an equal amount of chips. Whoever was the ultimate loser would pick up the dinner tab at the upscale Edge Restaurant in Denver. Her wanting to do this gambling surprised Tom in two ways. The first one was that she wanted to gamble but the bigger surprise was that win or lose there would be a future dinner date.

Tom initially thought he would let Myla win playing cards, but his pride took over. He decided to take no prisoners in playing this card game. It turned out that Myla was no rookie playing this card game. Several times she initially checked her hand when it was her turn to bet, then she would come over the top and raise Tom after he made a bet.

The game ended when Tom went all in with a pair of aces. Myla called him and went all in with her pair of kings. Tom was hoping he would catch the third ace which he did on the river, but that last card had Myla catch a flush. Playing this card game confirmed Tom’s prior opinion, that getting the right cards determined who would win the game.

After the card playing ended, they sat on the couch finishing the bottle of wine. Their conversation was about what was on the news, the expected weather, and the goings on at the office. It was an enjoyable time for Tom to be with Myla and he told her that in walking her to the door.

Myla echoed his comments and turning to him, she put a hand to the back of his head and brought it to her for a kiss. His arms went around and returned her kiss.

Ending the kiss she leaned back in his arms and said, “That was nice.”

“Yes it was,” he said as he brought her back unresistingly to him for another kiss. Tom thought she was a good kisser.

With the kiss ending, she moved to have him release her from his arms and left his condo saying she would see him Monday at work. The door closing had Tom thinking about Myla and what was developing between them.

Tom was a happy camper because of how things were going for him. He didn’t know how they could get any better and had that thought until he checked his email. Initially, after reading an email he thought things would be getting even better. After thinking more about it, he wasn’t sure if that would be the case.

The email he read was from Joyce Fielding, who Tom had been involved with and now lived in Seattle. She was working there as a speech-language pathologist. Her email said that for several reasons she missed living in the Denver-Boulder area. She had applied to a Denver school district for a position and after doing a virtual interview, she was hired. This meant she would be moving to Denver when the present school session was over and she would like to see Tom.

Thinking about Joyce’s email, it appeared to Tom that Joyce wanted to rekindle the relationship they once had. She was a nice person and he enjoyed being with her, but this could be too much of a good thing. He had relationships with Lauren, Audrey, and possibly Myla, and now it seemed there could be one with Joyce. Without a doubt, he needed to think about how to handle these relationships.

He wasn’t sure what would develop with Joyce, but after giving it considerable thought he would take the approach of waiting to see what that would be. Tom thought that there were men who would gladly give one of their testicles to be involved as Tom was with these women. Tom knew he was a fortunate man and wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his present situation.

A few weeks later it developed that Tom’s “Bachelor in Paradise” situation didn’t last as long as he thought or hoped it would. That was because an excited Lauren told him that she had become engaged to a man who was a member of her ski club. Tom thought she must have been dating her future husband when she was unavailable for Tom to date. Lauren now being engaged ended Tom’s sexual relationship with her. He knew that her husband-to-be would enjoy the sexual aspect of his marriage to Lauren. Tom was going to miss the times he spent with Lauren.