Author’s note: All legal references are based on my imagination.

When she left me, she never gave me an answer to the question I asked. She just said she had to leave me. She also said she still loved me.

When she left me, she never gave me an answer to the question I asked. She just said she had to leave me. She also said she still loved me.

That was five years ago. She found me again. I had sold my old house, sold my company, and moved to another city. I tried very hard to not leave a trail. All of my assets were placed in a trust with a couple of layers of insulation from me. One trust put its stipend into an offshore account and from that account it went to another trust and repeated once more before it came to me. The only people who knew all of the details were the IRS. I did it to not be found, not to avoid taxes.

She found me anyway.

I am Garret (Rett) Comstock, 31, and a day trader. I received an inheritance from my grandfather when I got my degree. That allowed me to invest in the market. I kept $25,000 for my hobby of small stock trading. I put some of the money in blue chip stocks that paid dividends. I also used some of the inheritance to buy a small, cash strapped business that made fasteners. The company made nuts, bolts, screw, nails, etc. almost all of which are used by someone somewhere every day.

I met Grace Papadakis when she was 19 and I was 21. We dated on and off for a couple of years, and I finally asked Grace if she wanted to marry. She said no, but she said she loved me. If I wanted to be exclusive, we could. She also said that if she ever married, it would be to me. She did say that that the sex was good, and could continue.

After about two years of this, Grace told me she was going on a family pilgrimage to Greece to meet some of her extended family. She said she would be gone for three to five months. She again told me she loved me. She also tried to screw me to death for the two weeks before she left.

She left in late March and was scheduled to be back no later than mid August. We wrote letters and communicated by phone often. By early July all communications from her side stopped. She never returned to me until recently.

I was angry, hurt and confused. About seven months after the last communication from her, I decided to leave town. I sold my company at a decent profit, and moved all of my blue chips into a blind trust. I went to Denver and started over. I swore off women for almost a year and a half. I didn’t date, I kept all communications with women to a minimum. I even refused to tell my family my new location. They would tell Grace where I was if she contacted them.

I bought a new company; and because of my anger, I had I hired only men. I was surprised at how many men were looking for office work as a secretary/receptionist. I had a male administrative assistant, and all of my sales staff was male.

About two years after I moved to Denver, I met a nice woman who seemed to be a little mysterious, and I was intrigued. I dated Anne for about four months before I realized that there was no real passion there. We parted as semi-friends (I have never been able to be a total friend to someone I dated).

I got back in the dating game, and as my business took off, I also hired some women to work for me. It was strictly business. I firmly believed in the Buddhist adage ‘don’t shit in your rice bowl’ or something like that. I did not dive in the secretarial pool.

In spite of my dating I had not found a woman that set me astir. I was not a monk, but I made sure my partners knew that it was only a friends with benefits type relationship. The ladies that could not accept that never got a second date.

Well I was walking in City Park on Saturday morning in June a little more than five years after Grace left when I heard someone call “Rett”. No one in Denver knew that nickname, I turned toward the sound and there she was. Grace had come back.

I walked over to her and she reached out like she was going to hug me. I stepped back out of reach.

Grace looked confused and hurt. “What’s wrong, aren’t you glad to see me?”

“Grace, if you were the last woman in this city, I would move away. I was promised by a certain woman that she would come back to me in 4 or 5 months. Three and a half months later she stopped communicating with me. I was until 5 minutes ago almost over the hurt. Is it still Miss Papadakis, or is it Mrs. something. I waited for 6 months beyond the time you promised to be back before I gave up and sold my company, and moved.”

“My god, I really damaged you didn’t I. I know and knew that you loved me, but I didn’t think that you would still be waiting for me after I didn’t come back. And it is still Papadakis; I have never married. I told you when you asked me that if I married it would be to you.”

“Then why in the fuck didn’t you contact me with a reason to stop talking? Then why in the fuck did you not come back when you promised? Then why in the fuck are you here and not out of my miserable fucking life?”

She started to sob; “I didn’t just hurt you did I? I destroyed you. I’m so sorry.”

“Listen up bitch, you did destroy me. I have had dated exactly five women in five years and most were all in the last six months. Please for god sake get out of my life. You have damaged me very deeply.”

Then she started crying. I turned around and walked away.

Well that little tirade didn’t work. Grace was at the office door before we opened. I was always the first one in so when I refused to go near her my staff was standing outside waiting for me to open the doors. I went in the back and walked to the front door. I pushed the panic bar from inside. After everyone was inside I blocked the entrance and let the door close without unlocking it.

That didn’t work, she called my secretary and made an appointment. When my guy told me of the appointment I informed him that if he did not cancel it he would be looking for another job. He cancelled.

That didn’t work either. Grace showed up at my house. In the morning, Grace was parked in the street across from the gate to the community. Security wouldn’t let just anybody in and visitors had to be cleared and announced. Grace wanted neither action to occur.

I ignored her. I drove to the diner where I eat every morning and asked for my usual breakfast to go. Grace came just as I was paying.

“If I see your face within 1000 feet of me I will swear out a stalking complaint against you. Do I make myself clear?”

She just nodded and left.

That didn’t work either. She somehow got a job with one of my best customers and he insisted that I come to a ‘welcome to the company family’ dinner. I walked in and Grace was smirking. I called my customer over and told him he needed to find another source for his supplies because I would not deal with his new employee.

I left before dinner.

The next day I called a meeting of my senior staff. When they were all assembled I started. “I am going to sell the business, I have a major personal issue that I can’t solve here, I will entertain a buyout from one or any combination of all of you. I will take 45% of last year’s after tax profit. I will also entertain ideas on how I can keep the business but not be here for the day to day stuff. Either way, I am leaving Denver in no more than six weeks.”

Well that silenced the peanut gallery. For about five minutes there was a lot of whispered conversation.

Finally my head accountant spoke up. Jack said; “Why don’t you take the company public, and make it a corporation. That way you could retain the majority of voting stock, and be Chairmen, and appoint a COO.”

“You know, I hadn’t thought of that. I will talk to my broker today. Thanks, I want all of you to know that regardless of how this comes out you will all keep your jobs, I will make that part of any sales agreement and if I find I can take the company public; you will all have stock issued to you.”

I called my broker, and he was very enthusiastic about his firm underwriting an IPO for my company. It seems my little company was getting a regional reputation.

He did say that I would need to have a comprehensive audit done as well as an evaluation of the company. He gave me the names of several firms that did that kind of business. A couple of them were in the city. I wanted more than one appraisal in case there was a big discrepancy between them.

After I made arrangements with the two local companies and one from Lansing Michigan, I told my executive assistant that I would not be in to work the rest of the week and he was to only call me if the building was on fire or collapsed. He laughed and said he could handle it.

I spent that week talking to real estate agents looking for a temporary lease until the mess with Grace settled out. I also listed my house with an agent. Within four days I had a bidding war between two buyers. I asked the agent to let me interview the buyers. I was told that was against the ethics of the local real estate board and probably against the law.

So, I asked the agent to describe the buyers. Buyer one was a young couple that had come into a small inheritance and wanted to buy a house and get out of apartment living. They had the lowest offer, full asking price, and they would pay for all closing costs and inspections. Buyer two was a young single Greek woman (as soon as she said Greek, I guessed it was Grace) who was offering a 7% premium over asking, closing, inspections and realtor’s commission. Her offer was totaled out at 15% over asking.

I countered the couple with the house and contents except my personal things, cooking utensils, china and silverware. I also agreed to pay the inspections and split closing costs. Of course they accepted. The agent was not happy. I pointed out that she had the couple’s offer for a couple of days before the other one came in, and if she tried to stop my acceptance, I would sue her for her real estate license. The law stated that you could not refuse an offer of full price unless the buyer was not solvent enough to fulfill the terms.

After the offer was accepted, I was called by Grace and she started screaming. I had had enough. I contacted my lawyer and asked him to petition the court for a restraining order on Grace.

He said he would get right on it.

The next week the three companies were coming in on separate days to do some of their due diligence. One was coming Monday, another Tuesday, and the one from Lansing on Thursday.

I was busy the rest of the time. I was mending the fence with the customer I dumped. I even offered an extra 2% below catalog for six months. He asked what set me off. I told him of Grace’s ambush. He laughed and said that as soon as I walked out she quit.