It was the best time of the year if you were a sports fan thought Jake. That was because the MLB season soon would be into the World Series while the NFL season was just starting and soon would be joined by the NHL and not much later the NBA. Spending his time watching sports on television was a nice way for Jason “Jake” Palmer to forget about work for a while.

Jake was a Senior Claim Analyst for a large insurance company. Watching sports enabled him to forget the duties and challenges he constantly faced at work. These duties were different from he had when he was a Unit Claim Manager and directly supervised Claim Representatives because there were few personnel problems. Now he only supervised claim files that were going to trial. Worrying if his evaluation of the claim’s value or trial outcome were correct was starting to give him ulcers as you never would know what a jury would do. If he is wrong in what he thinks the case is worth, it could cost the company some big bucks. Then again he knew the other side had similar concerns which were why most cases are settled just short of a verdict.

He was starting to think more and more about asking his employer for a buyout package. In a few years he would be eligible to take the early retirement option and the more he thought about it, it seemed like that was what he was going to do.

He had been divorced for last ten years and had no one to worry about except himself. His ex-wife Nancy was successful in her own right as an attorney. She wanted out of the marriage so badly that Jake received the townhome and most of their savings. That she remarried one year later wasn’t really a big surprise and that told Jake she may not have been has faithful to him as he had been to her.

Over time the love making with Nancy had diminished to where it was less and less frequent. From what at one time was great had become a “Why bother.”

Grabbing a bag of chips and diet soda Jake sat down to watch the MLB game when his cellphone chimed.

Answering the phone he heard, “Jake Palmer, I am Paul Cousins, Tom Cousin’s brother.”

Jake’s close friend was Tom Cousins and he knew Tom had a younger brother named Paul.

“Yes, this is Jake and why are you calling Paul, has something happened?

“Yes something has happened, Tom died.”

This was a big shock to Jake and he responded, “What happened?”

“He was found lying on the floor in his living room. They say it was a massive heart attack. The reason I am calling is that I heard the phone messages you left him wanting to get together. I found your name in the phonebook he kept.”

“I appreciate your telling me this shocking news. I don’t know if you know but I would see Tom about every three weeks or so and over coffee we would shot the shit. When he didn’t return my phone calls, I thought it was a little unusual and started to worry.”

“You should know Jake that Tom left me a letter saying that if something like that should happen, he didn’t want any big funeral church service. He only wanted a small service at the funeral parlor. Since he once told me that you were a close friend I thought I would tell you that the service is tomorrow at ten.”

“Are you going to tell any other friends or just limit the service to the family?”

“Just the family.”

“I knew Tom pretty well and I think there are some other people that should be notified about Tom’s passing. Can you bring Tom’s telephone book and give it to me tomorrow? I will contact some of the people who I think would want to know.”

After ending the phone call Jake had time to think about his knowing Tom. He had first met Tom when Jake was hired at the insurance company to work in the claim department. Tom who was fourteen years older than Jake was assigned to train Jake and he did. Over time they had become close friends.

At work a few years later Tom was accused of accepting kickbacks is settling some claims which he denied doing. It couldn’t be proven that he did that, but it was enough to piss Tom off that they would think he would do something like that. He quit the company and in a short time became a very successful independent insurance sales agent. Tom had once said that knocking on doors and doing telemarketing before it became popular were the keys to his success.

Jake and Tom continued their friendship and would periodically meet over a few beers after work to discuss what was going on in their lives. Tom would relate that he was a successful skirt chaser and was not hesitant to go into the details of the relationships he had developed with various women. His descriptions of the sexual activity involving some of his conquests were quite vivid. Tom had never married and was constantly on the lookout for new female conquests.

Tom’s current squeeze Jake remembered for the past six months Tom had said was a Cindy Davis. Tom in talking about her to Jake described her love making ability by saying she was hotter than a firecracker and had the best body of anyone he had ever bedded. Jake did know that Tom had a tendency to exaggerate somewhat when he talked about his exploits with women but his telling of his conquests was interesting to hear.

Admittedly Jake was also somewhat successful in his pursuit of the opposite sex. After listening to some of Tom’s exploits, Jake thought that his encounters with the opposite sex couldn’t compare to Tom’s. Jake was the opposite of tom in that he was rather closed mouth about his involvement with women.

There was a small gathering of some fourteen people at the funeral parlor the next morning. It was a short service over a closed casket. Jake thanked Paul when he handed him Tom’s telephone book. Paul said he could keep it as he had no use for it. Jake left the funeral parlor right after the service ended.

That evening Jake thumbed through this phone book and recognizing some of the names listed. There were a number of names he didn’t recognize, but that was to be expected. What Jake found to be interesting was that next to some of the ladies names in the book were anywhere from one to four stars. Jake could only assume Tom was in some manner rating these ladies. Jake thought it was time to do what he said he would do as to notifying some of these people of Tom’s passing.

He dialed the number for Wally Byrd who was listed has residing in Sedona, Arizona. Jake knew Wally was a college roommate of Tom. Tom had stayed in contact with Wally and had visited him a few times during the years in the winter months. Needless to say Wally was shocked to hear the news as Jake relayed to him everything he knew about Tom’s demise. Wally thanked Jake for the sad news.

The next call Jake made was to Dennis Casey. Dennis for a time was a partner with Tom when Tom went into insurance sales. When Dennis brought his son Mark into the business there was a personality conflict between Mark and Tom which caused Tom to split from Dennis and startup his own agency. While Tom didn’t think it at the time, he later admitted that it was the best thing he did as it resulted in him becoming very successful.

Dennis’s reaction was similar to Wally’s and he thanked Jake for making the effort to contact him.

The only remaining person to contact was Cindy Davis. Jake noticed there were four stars next to her name. Before Jake made the call he closed his eyes and tried to remember everything Tom has said about Cindy. Tom said she had a great body and was an aggressive lover who more than satisfied him. Tom said she was divorced and was fairly well to do. Her ex-husband was a successful investment manager who also had a local television investing show. She had told Tom the reason they divorced was that he was physically abusive to her.

Per Tom, Cindy was no dummy and was not about to take his abuse any longer. She purchased a number of nanny-spy cams and installed throughout her home. It didn’t take long after these devices were installed that they recorded her husband physically abusing her. What was an added bonus was that they also recorded some conversations of him doing a number of things with his investing that the SEC would take a dim view of.

Giving this information to her divorce attorney resulted in Cindy receiving a lucrative divorce settlement. She received the large house, the condo in Naples, FL, and a substantial portfolio of investments that would maintain the living style of comfort she had become accustomed to. In looking for something to do she became a part time realtor and concentrated on the expensive homes owned by her country club acquaintances. She did sell the house she received in the divorce settlement and purchased a condo.

With a little nervousness on his part Jake pressed her phone number into his cell phone. After three rings he heard, “Hello.”

“Cindy Davis?”

“Yes.”

“Cindy you don’t know me but my name is Jake Palmer. I was a good friend of Tom Cousins.”

“Yes, Tom has mentioned you.”

“Well there is no easy way to say this but the reason I am calling is to tell you that Tom passed away.”

“Oh my God! What happened?”

Jake went on to explain the circumstances surrounding his death and the services that had been held per Tom’s wishes.

“It was just last week we were discussing plans to go to Naples. This is bothering me and has gotten me shaken up.”

“Well, I wanted to let some of Tom’s friends know what had happened and if there is anything I can do for you please let me know.”

There was a pause in the conversation and then she said, “There is something you can do.”

“What is that?”

“Maybe we can get together and you can tell me more about Tom than I know. I thought he was a little guarded when we talked and was reluctant to tell me about himself.”

“Sure, that is something I can do. Maybe you can tell me stories about Tom that I never knew either.”

Because of Jake’s work it was agreed that they would meet Saturday for lunch to have this discussion.

In waiting for Saturday to come Jake couldn’t help but wonder what Cindy looked like. Her voice on the phone was pleasant and somewhat interesting. He could hear a touch of classiness in her voice when she spoke with the words she used. That she was the sexual dynamo Tom indicated she was gave him something further to think about. Jake wondered if she really was that or if Tom was exaggerating when he said this.

At the agreed time Jake was sitting at a table in the restaurant watching its entrance door when he observed a single lady enter. She was of average height with dishwater shoulder length blond hair she wore in a ponytail. Facially she wasn’t what you would call cover-girl beautiful but she was attractive. Her figure he could see was slim and trim, with her being of average height. She was looking at the patrons and a smile came to her face when she saw Jake waiving an arm at her.

Her coming to Jake’s table caused him to rise and gave him some other impressions. There was confidence in how she walked. The jiggling of her breasts indicated she was amply endowed. The dress she was wearing was expensive and did not just come off a rack.

Extending her hand to Jake she said, “You must be Jake. It nice to finally meet you as Tom did talk about you.”

“Nice meeting you too. Tom had said he was dating you but he didn’t say that much about you.”

Jake knew quite a bit about Cindy because of what Tom had said, but Jake thought there was no reason to indicate to her that he did. He would just wait to see what she said about herself.

At the table they perused the menu and asked the waitress to give them more time before they ordered. Cindy started the questioning asking about Tom and his history. Jake gave her the full story from when he first met Tom till he received the phone call from Tom’s brother.

After they placed their food order Jake asked Cindy about her relationship with Tom, how they met and also about herself. She gave Jake what he would call was the condensed Readers Digest version which was fine with Jake as he knew considerably more about her than she related.

While they were talking Jake continued to get more impressions of Cindy. She seemed like a very nice person and was not enamored with herself. Her manner of speaking indicated she was well educated. From what she said he surprisingly thought she was about four years younger than him. He could only guess if she was as good of a lover as Tom said she was but something was telling him that she probably was.

The time just flew by and before he knew it, it was a two hour lunch.

In putting his credit card in the tray to pay the bill Jake said, “I really enjoyed talking to you today. I learned a few things about Tom that I didn’t know.”

“I enjoyed myself as well. There are a lot of things you told me about Tom that I didn’t know either.”

“We maybe talked out about Tom but if it doesn’t present a problem I would like to see you again. Would you like to go out to dinner with me next Saturday?”

There was a short hesitancy on Cindy’s part before she said, “Tom did say you were never hesitant about doing things and you’re asking me to go out would confirm that. But yes, I would like to go out to dinner with you as that would be nice.”