Chapter 3

The weather the following week was terrible. Severe thunderstorms with high winds blanketed the area. Tornado warnings were issued and one was spotted in the adjoining suburb that did do some minor damage. The bad weather was the subject of many conversations.

Paul’s phone rang and in answering it he heard, “Paul this is Pamela White. I was hoping you could do a favor for me.”

“What is the favor?”

“I just received a phone call from Arlene Davis. I don’t know if you know her but she became a widow just over two months ago. She is presently at her daughter’s house in Tampa, Florida. At any rate, Arlene said her neighbor, June Parin called her to tell her that she noticed a window on her townhome was damaged by the storm. I was hoping you could go over there and take a look. Her address is 17 Fisher Lane and the neighbor lives at 15 and has a key to the townhome.”

“I can do that and I will go now. Can you call the neighbor and tell her I am coming.”

“Will do and stop by to tell me what you find.”

Paul met with the neighbor who gave him the key to the townhome. She pointed out the damaged window. Before Paul entered the townhome he walked around the outside to see if there was any other damage but he didn’t notice any. He did give a good look at the damaged window. Inside the townhome, there was no obvious damage. Giving back the key to the neighbor he walked over to the business office and asked to see Pam.

Pam heard he was there and called out to him to come into her office.

He was standing in front of her desk that she was sitting behind and heard her say, “What did you find?”

“Something must have hit the window and cracked the glass. It is a double-pane window and only one pane was damaged. I didn’t see any other damage to the outside of the townhome nor did I notice any damage to the inside of the townhome. Here is the size of the glass of the damaged window. If Arlene will phone SunLight Glass Company who is familiar with the townhome windows here and give them that information along with her credit card they can replace the window. You can give her my phone number as well and have her ask SunLight to phone me when they are coming out and I can go there to let them in and see that they do the job. You might have the neighbor drop the key off here for me to be able to have it when I need it.”

“Thanks, I know Arlene will be glad to hear what you just said and pleased that you will see that the repair is done. Do you know her?”

“I know who she is but I have never met her. That being said, have you thought about my invitation for dinner?”

Pushing back a little from her desk she said, “Will you please close the door.”

He did close the door and wondered why she had asked him to do it.

Paul could see that Pam was wrestling a little with what to say to him and she finally said, “Your invitation to go out to dinner is nice and it was unexpected. I do however suspect that you were hoping that dinner would lead to something more.”

“Being honest about it, you are an attractive woman and I thought or hoped that going out to dinner could be the start of something.”

“Paul, you can stop right there. Going out to dinner with you isn’t going to lead to anything more. Can I have your word that what I am going to tell you will be held in the strictness of confidence?”

“You have my word.”

“Okay, here goes. Men have never been my preference for someone I want to be involved with or intimate with. I prefer the company of women. Going out with you would be a dead-end street for you. I am sure you would be more successful in your pursuit of the opposite sex say, with somebody like Lana. I am not saying anything you don’t know but you are a good-looking guy who I hear several women residing here would like to get to know better. Unfortunately, I am not one of those women.”

He was surprised by what Pam had said but he responded, “I will not say anything to anyone about what you just said. I will however keep the fantasies I have about you and us doing all those nasty things forever in my mind. From now on when you see me I want you to think about what I am mentally doing to you.”

She laughed at hearing him say that and she giggly responded, “Will you please get your butt out of here as I have work to do.”

Walking back to his condo he thought about what Pam said. It was different strokes for different folks which had him understand and accept what she said. He also thought that he was not being the good neighbor Pam thought he was when he volunteered to see that Arlene’s window glass was replaced. Arlene was one good-looking lady and from what he saw she had a very nice body. Now that she was a widow, maybe she missed the company of men and Paul thought he would like to help in filling that void if it existed. He was hoping that Arlene in some way would be expressing her thanks to Paul for seeing that her window was fixed. If she did he wondered how she would go about doing it. He knew he would enjoy it if she similarly expressed the thanks in the way that other women had.

Paul didn’t spend all of his time thinking about women and having sex with them but he had to admit that he did spend a good amount of his time doing that. He didn’t think there was anything wrong as he did like having sex as most normal men did. Based on the escapades he had with some of the women here in this complex he thought they too liked having sex.

Dinner that night at the complex was nothing to get excited about. The entries were a fried chicken leg and thigh with a potato casserole or spaghetti and meatballs. Paul opted for the spaghetti and meatballs. He sat at a table with three ladies that he had done repairs for. They were nice and funny but the looks they were giving Paul made him feel that he was prime meat that was on display. He was tempted to put a move on Wanda, one of the ladies there but decided to take a pass and didn’t do that.

Paul finished his dinner before the ladies as he didn’t have the coffee and cake for dessert. He wished them all a pleasant evening. In leaving the dining room and standing by the elevator when he heard, “Any plans for tonight?”

Turning he saw that it was Gloria Miles who asked him the question.

“Nothing planned. There is a football game on the tube between two ranked teams and there is also a hockey game at the same time. Thank God for the remote because I plan on watching both of those two games by doing a lot of switching channels.”

Laughing Gloria said, “I do have a television that has a remote and I could use some company tonight. Why don’t you come to my condo and we can have a few drinks while you watch the games.”

Paul agreed to do what she said. He had done some work in her condo when he installed a chandelier for her. She was very appreciative of him doing that and had amply rewarded him for doing that work. Her body was decent and she was good at giving head. It was a different sensation he experienced when she did this because she would remove her dentures.

Watching the two games turned out to be not the epic battles that had been advertised. He munched on the potato chips and honey-roasted nuts Gloria had provided. The flavored vodka and tonic drinks Gloria had mixed also tasted good. It wasn’t until both games were no longer in doubt that Paul realized he had consumed three drinks. He was starting to feel the alcohol affecting him.

Toward the end of the games, he noticed that Gloria had put on a housecoat which he thought nothing about at the time. Now as she took a seat on the couch close to him he wondered if he was expected to compensate Gloria for the drinks and munchies. Chuckling to himself it looked to him that the shoe was now on the other foot as to who would be doing the compensating.

It turned out that it was him and he didn’t mind doing it. She wasn’t wearing anything under the housecoat. He thought she might have been watching too many videos on the internet which either piqued her curiosity or lowered her inhibitions. He thought that because after some kissing was done on the couch they went to her bedroom.