Chapter 2

Steve had turned off of Interstate 5 when the female voice from his in-dash GPS told him to do it. He was on a county state road for about a quarter of an hour when the map on his GPS indicated he was approaching Lake Lancer. This was confirmed when he saw a sign telling him to reduce speed. Right after that sign was another sign which said Lake Lancer, population 4654.

His first impression was that it was the small town he expected it to be with a main street that seemed to be two to three city blocks long. The buildings looked old but were in good shape and seemed to have a fresh coat of paint. He noticed a gas station and a fairly large food store. All of a sudden he noticed something in front of his car which caused him to slam on the brakes. He wasn’t sure if it was him or the automatic brake system the car had that brought the car to a stop.

Steve looked and saw a woman no more than a few inches in front of his car that moved away from him and then came back with both of her hands landing on the hood of his car for support. Steve didn’t think he had struck her but it was close.

“Why in the hell don’t you look where you were going? Don’t you see that I am in a crosswalk and you are supposed to yield to pedestrians? Who in the hell gave you a license to drive?”

Steve was flustered and nervous but she was right in the dressing down she was giving him.

“I am sorry and you are right, I wasn’t paying attention. Are you okay?”

“Yes I am no thanks to you. Please watch how you drive or you are going to hurt someone.”

He watched her walk away and now had the chance to think about her. She was close to his age and fairly attractive with her shoulder length dark hair. The dressing down she gave him was deserved and it did show her to have a temper. He chuckled to himself as he thought she did have a nice backside in the tight jeans she was wearing has he watched her walked away.

At the end of these buildings and set back from the street he could see signage being put up for the Mary Steiner Medical Clinic. Troy had told Steve that the clinic was being named after John’s favorite teacher. Steve pulled into the clinic’s parking lot and exited his car. He stood and looked at the good size two story building and thought it seemed to be everything Troy said it was.

Walking into the building he saw some painters doing some finishing work and an older lady working a vacuum cleaner on an area rug. She saw Steve and turning off the vacuum walked up to him and said, “We aren’t open yet, maybe in a few days.”

“I am not a patient, I am Doctor Steve Brandle and I guess I will be hanging my shingle here.”

“Oh Doctor Brandle it’s nice to meet you. I am Joyce Weathers and I will be the head nurse here. The grand opening is tentatively set for four days and I hope we will be ready or we will need to delay the opening. When did you get in to town?”

“I just did and saw the sign for the clinic so I thought I would stop.”

“Do you have a place to stay?”

“Not yet, as I said I just got here.”

“Let me call Sally Dodge who is a realtor here and she can show you what is available. We don’t have a motel here but Regina Rodgers does have a B and B if you want to do that.”

Joyce made the call and five minutes later a classy older lady walked in and introduced herself to Steve. She got right down to business by asking Steve about himself and what he was looking for in the way of housing. When he told her there was no wife she seemed to become more interested in Steve. They did a short walk to her office where she perused some listings and taking a few she said she would drive for them to go and see some of these houses that were listed for sale.

As she started to drive Sally turned north and said it was two blocks from Main Street to where Lake Lancer, a two hundred plus acre lake was located. The first house she showed him was a two story cedar sided three bedroom house with a two car attached garage located next to the lake. It had one hundred and eighty five feet of lake front frontage and a boat dock. There was no boat but there was a small boathouse.

The interior of the house was clean, freshly painted and fully furnished. The furniture was dated but that was easily correctable when Steve’s furnishings were delivered by the movers. Steve was interested in this house and loved the view of the lake the large picture window in the living room afforded of it. When Sally told him what the asking price was and then said him what she thought the sellers would take he told her to make that offer. Steve thought there was no reason for him to look at any other houses as this house had everything he wanted.

Sally stepped outside on the deck and used her cell phone to call the heir who was the owner. She came back into the house and with a smile on her face handed Steve the keys to the house saying his offer was accepted. She said that she and an attorney here in town would handle the paperwork to finalize the sale. Because of his asking Sally also gave him the name of a housekeeping and landscape service. Where Steve was going to stay tonight was no longer an issue.

A phone call to the movers had them arrive three days later with Steve’s furnishings. The movers were happy to take the old furniture when Steve told them they could donate or sell them or do whatever they wanted to do with the items.

Because of some electrical and equipment installation problems Joyce said the clinic was not ready to open for another five days. Being a little bored with this quiet small town living Steve decided to check out the country club Troy had mentioned.

Steve’s first impression of the country club was that it was more than he expected it would be. The massive two story clubhouse was impressive. He walked around the clubhouse on its lower outside deck and stopped and looked at what he would think was the golf course’s eighteen hole’s green which was a large island green type. He couldn’t see the tee and guessed this hole was a par five. To par the hole he thought it would be the second shot that was the key. You had to come close to the water without going in to have what he would guess was a one hundred and ten yard shot to the green. The farther away you were from the water the farther the shot was to the green. It was a heck of a finishing hole. He thought if the other holes had this degree of difficulty that must be why it had been selected as a top one hundred golf course.

Walking into the pro-shop he picked up a score card. Off the black tees the course was just over seventy one hundred yards long and had a slope rating of one hundred and forty five. Steve knew he would be playing off the white tees at sixty four hundred yards.

Steve met with Trish Simon who was the assistant manager and in charge of new memberships. After some discussion Steve learned the cost of being a member was substantially less than what he paid in LA. He filled out his application and gave her his charge card for the fees.

Trish said he was welcome to play golf today if he wanted to do that. She did tell him there was a dinner dance here on Saturday. She said it wasn’t a formal dinner dance but the men would be wearing dark suits.

Steve said he would like to attend the dinner dance but in keeping what his application said, he was single and didn’t know of a lady in the area here to bring to this event. Chuckling Steve told Trish he hoped he could correct that situation in a short time.

Trish who was a few years younger than Steve said she had talked a lady friend of hers who is single into attending this function. Trish said that while she personally wasn’t a fan of blind dates herself, she thought that Steve would enjoy meeting her friend.

Reluctantly but with nothing to do Saturday evening Steve told Trish he would attend this function.

He did play a round of golf and agreed that the golf course deserved its top one hundred rating. It was in excellent condition with its tree lined fairways and most holes required lofted shots to the green because of water hazards or bunkers that where located in front of the greens. The slope rating of the course from the white tees was one hundred and thirty six which confirmed its difficulty since a rating of one thirteen is the slope rating for the difficulty of an average golf course.

On Saturday wearing a dark suit and with some worry on his part Steve walked into the ballroom of the country club. He could see that the men were wearing dark suits and the women were wearing a variety of dress to include some strapless cocktail dresses.

Trish who looked good in the red dress she was wearing greeted him and thanked him for coming. She said she hoped he would have a good time and walked him over to a table for eight where only one seat was still unoccupied. She introduced Steve to the people that were there. Steve was in for a surprise when he was introduced to Margaret Barnes or Maggie as she said she preferred to be called.