Chapter 3

Jill had only been gone on her extended vacation for two days and Pat was already missing her. Sure missing the love making they did was a big part of it but she was a nice classy lady who he enjoyed being with. That she was a good lover was a big plus as far as he was concerned. What was a little weird was that he hadn’t been with a woman since his wife passed away which was over six months ago and he didn’t miss making love then as much as he did in just these last two days.

There was nothing he could do about Jill being gone and it was time to do his walking exercise. Armed with his Sony Walkman and earphones he drove himself to the town’s sports complex to do his walking on its second floor’s oval track. The building was air conditioned which made for a nice cool temperature as he walked. The only problem that occurred when walking here was that often there would be a group of three people walking which could be men or women, it didn’t matter. The problem was that they would be walking three abreast taking their sweet time as they slowly walked and talked thereby making passing them only possible when the track turned at the corners of the building.

Today Pat was lucky as there were no three abreast walkers. He was walking at a fast pace and listening to the current number three bestselling book. The story was about a book store owner who dealt in stolen books and manuscripts while at the same time he was bedding a number of women. Pat thought it wasn’t much of a story and would go off on tangents in an attempt what Pat thought was to increase the number of pages to an acceptable level in its printed book version. The author had written much better stories in the past which caused Pat to think this story was not reflective of the author’s talent. Maybe he was trying to write a book that could easily be made into a movie which some of his stories had been made into in the past. He knew that after listening to two more CD’s the story would end which was fine with Pat.

After doing his one hour of walking Pat went down to the first floor level were the vending machines where located. He purchased a bottle of water and took a seat by one of the tables that were there all of which were unoccupied.

As he was cooling down and sipping the water he notice a group of ladies exiting from a room where some sort of a group exercise session appeared to have just ended. The one thing Pat had noticed when he first started walking were the ladies who were working out. The tight workout outfits they wore showed what kind of body they had. While some of the ladies had some very nice figures, it was his opinion that the majority had figures that showed why they were exercising. Being overweight or having a set of large hips made him think that for a lot of ladies exercising was a lost cause. Maybe it was good for their cardiovascular system but it wasn’t doing anything to reduce the excess weight they were carrying. They needed to do some dieting besides exercising if they were serious about weight reduction.

Pat knew he was being somewhat brutal in having this opinion but he was being honest in what he thought.

Leaving the sports complex Pat thought of things he needed to do. High on his list was to get the oil changed in his automobile. He would go home, shower and shave and armed with a coupon he had clipped from the paper get this chore done. Laughingly he thought to himself that he had over five weeks to wait till Jill came back and changed his oil. He hoped that doing that was on her to-do list.

Monday because of the rainy weather had Pat back at the sports complex to do his walking. This time he was listening to a book written by another author. He had read a number of books written by this author and enjoyed them all. What was different this time was that the main character wasn’t the long time older male police detective the author had written most of his prior books about. This time the main character was an experienced younger female detective who had pissed somebody higher up off and was regulated to working the night shift. It was an interesting story so far in his opinion.

After his one hour of walking was up Pat went downstairs and purchased a bottle of water from the vending machine. He picked up a brochure from the rack on the upcoming village’s activities and sat down at one of the unoccupied tables sipping on his water as he read the brochure. His attention was momentarily diverted when an exercise class ended and the women poured out into this area.

Pat went back to reading the brochure when he heard someone in a feminine voice say, “Anything interesting in there?”

He looked up and observed a woman standing at the table next to his taking some money out of her purse.

“There is nothing much different from what was in last month’s edition. They are announcing when the date is for their semi-annual recycling day.”

This lady who Pat would guess was in her late forties or early fifties walked over to the vending machine and purchased a bottle of water. His looking at her had him conclude that she was on the tall size maybe five foot eight or more, weighed about one thirty, and had a little longer than should length dish water blond hair she was wearing in a ponytail. Facially he thought she was average looking. Her figure was on the slim side with breasts that if he had to guess he would say they were probably 34B range.

He was back to reading the brochure when he heard. “Do you have much to recycle?”

It seemed to Pat that this lady was determined to have a conversation with him. It was somewhat of a reversal of the situation when he first met Jill. He thought with Jill now temporarily gone he had nothing to lose in talking to her.

Putting the brochure down he said, “My wife passed away over six months ago. After she did I made an effort to eliminate most of items in my townhome that I didn’t need. A number of items were donated but there were items that could be recycled which I did at the last time they had this event. How about you, do you have items to recycle?

“I am going to need to take a good look. I know there are some paint cans and some old medicines but other than that I don’t know. Maybe some old brokerage and bank statements but that would be it.”

He didn’t see a ring on her finger but she could have taken it off before she worked out.

He thought he should test those waters and said, “Does your husband have anything he would want to recycle?”

“My ex-husband probably does but what they would be I have no idea. I have been divorced for twelve years.”

“Sorry but I assumed you were a housewife since you are here at this time.”

“No I am not a housewife. I do work full time has a realtor. I have my own realty office and since I am the boss I can go into the office when I want too. I guess you would call that a perk.”

“So how is the realty business?”

“Actually pretty good as there is a constant turnover of properties and the low mortgage rates have motivated buyers. While I do show homes to clients I am more concerned with getting listings which has me belonging to a number of clubs and associations as well as supporting various athletic teams. These activities generate new clients for my business. But how about you, why are you able to be here at this time?”

“I am here because I need the exercise and I walk for an hour three times a week. To be more specific I am a retired police officer, detective actually.”

“You look too young to be retired.”

“Thanks for saying that. I had maxed out the pension and with my wife passing I thought it was time to quit work and smell the roses as they say.”

“Do you do any work at all or are you completely retired?”

“I have been asked to do some security work as well as being a bodyguard but so far I haven’t accepted any of the offers.”

“The reason that I ask is that I need to attend an association’s meeting tomorrow in a neighborhood which is said not to be the safest. There is dinner involved and I don’t have an escort. I am wondering if I could hirer you to be my combination escort bodyguard?”

Pat was quiet as he thought about what she was asking. There was nothing going on for him tomorrow night. Further this lady seemed to be intelligent and was obviously successful. Maybe in the future he would need the services or advice of a realtor.

He said, “I can do that but there is one condition I will impose before I do it.”

“What is that?”

“That you introduce yourself to me. My name is Patrick Miller and my friends call me Pat.”

The lady started laughing at what Pat said and she replied, “My name is Lisa Adams. You can call me whatever you want but most of my friends call me Lisa” and laughed more after she said that.

“I have seen the large sign by your office with your name on it when I drive by going that way.”

“A business does need to advertise. Here let me give you my card after I write my home address on the back. My townhome is located in the Landings sub-division. Please be at my place tomorrow at five thirty and I will tell the gate guard to let you in. Oh the dress is a little more than casual so a dark suit would be appropriate.”

Saying he would see her at that time he watched her walk away carrying her water bottle and purse. This was getting to be old hat but as she walked away he concluded that she too does have a nice ass.

The next day in his mail was an envelope from the Casino. In opening the envelope he found a note from the Manager thanking him for what he had done. Also enclosed were vouchers for a dinner for two, drinks in the lounge and some free play chips. It was a nice gesture thought Pat.

In getting ready for this bodyguard assignment Pat showered, shaved and dressed while wondering how this assignment would turn out. He wasn’t overly concerned but just wondered how it would go.

The guard at the entrance to the Landings sub-division had Pat’s name on a list which had him raise the entrance gate. Finding Lisa’s townhome was not difficult as the mail boxes were well numbered. Parking on her driveway he could see that the townhomes were attractive and seemed to be solidly built totally with brick and no siding.

After pressing her doorbell button he was presently surprised when her door opened and he saw her. It wasn’t the dark blue knee length dress that was four inches above her knees which showed some very nice legs. Nor was it the scooped neckline of the dress which showed the tops of her breasts. It was her face which stunned him. At the sports complex he must have saw her with probably no or minimal makeup on. Here with all her make up on and her hair being worn down he wouldn’t say that she had become beautiful but she certainly had moved into the very attractive class.

He looked at her directly in her eyes and said, “Wow, you clean up well.”

He could see that she blushed a little at his remark and she thanked him for saying it.

Lisa said they had a little time before they had to leave and offered him a quick drink. He thanked her for the offer but said he would take a pass on it and maybe have one later. Because of how she looked he wanted to plant the seed that she should invite him in when they came back from this affair.

Paul saying they should be going had them leave her townhome. She gave him the address where they needed to go. He was familiar with the area where they were going which eliminated the need to enter the address into his GPS.

On the drive Lisa’s dress slid up on her thighs which presented him with a pretty picture. Her perfume put a nice scent in the air. There was some conversation between them in an effort to get to know the other better. Pat was impressed by some of the numbers Lisa mentioned as to how many people she employed and what her business did in a given year.