Chapter 28

On Wednesday I called Pavel and set up the next installs for early January. Sue had handled the ones while I was away perfectly, and Blake was getting thirty computers ready for Pavel to sell. This was a big chunk, but he was going to sell them at the old swap meet cluster, so he would probably do well.

I went over to New Dawn with Blake on Thursday afternoon, and I had barely walked in when Becky ran up and hugged me tightly. I had Blake give her the keys to the truck, and said that if my guys at the shop needed it they would call her. “We have nothing big scheduled until next year, no reason for you to rent one if mine will just be sitting there.”

“And call us at the shop if you need any help, Becky,” Blake said. “Bunny and the baby are not much help, but I know Abe and Sue will help. And probably Julie and Eve. Just ask us, and we will be along if we can.” She hugged him and thanked him for the offer. “Most of the Geek Crusaders already offered to help. But Blake, I will take you up on that. If nothing else, to get to know you and your wife better. And Peggy might enjoy having another mom and baby around. Wait, did you say ‘Bunny’? That’s cute, but what’s your wife’s real name?”

Blake looked at me and laughed. “Oh, Bunny is her real name, Becky. On her birth certificate and everything. Just be glad you are old enough to have missed having hippies as parents.”

Becky nodded, and they exchanged numbers and she promised to call next week. She then pulled me upstairs where we spent several minutes exploring each other for cavities as she pressed me against the wall in her office and kissed me deeply.

“Oh, and after we leave, go ahead and take a look in the back of the truck. Merry Christmas, Becky my love.” I smiled and kissed her again, then headed back downstairs at a trot. I hugged Mike, and Blake and I headed back to work.

And I knew she would flip when she brought the boxes inside. A brand new 486-25, CD-ROM, 400 meg hard drive, 8 MB of RAM. And finally, the first of the case of Sound Blaster cards I had finally gotten in. Complete with the MIDI box so she could remove the Roland card and work directly from that.

And a note, asking her to play with it while I was gone, and to get an idea if she thought that could be used as an alternative to the current Roland Card and MT-32 setup she was using now, or just a more budget solution for amateurs.

We got back to work, and things were slow other than sales. We only had two techs out, and Abe was spending most of his time in the shop doing sales so I decided to take off. I gave everybody a bottle of Martinelli’s Apple Cider and various baskets from Hickory Farms as holiday gifts, and said to call me if they needed anything. I got hugs and kisses from all, and Julie said she needed to see me in the office before I left.

We went in, and she immediately pulled me in and kissed me! I moaned softly when her tongue slid into my mouth, and I felt her lush body pressed against me. The kiss lasted for maybe two minutes, then she slowly slid her tongue out of my mouth, then pulled back and smiled at me.

“Damn you, and Merry Christmas Pete.” I looked at her slightly stunned and coughed softly. “Julie, what brought that on?”

“Well, let’s just say I met somebody while you were on your little trip with Becky, and it’s starting to get serious. Serious to the point that I knew if I did not kiss you now, I might not get another chance. Our agreement is still on. But just in case I am not single, I wanted to know what a kiss with you was like if I did ever leave. And I know, I would not have been disappointed.” We had another small kiss, then right before I left she pushed me back in and whispered “Lipstick.”

I pulled out a napkin I kept in my desk and wiped my lips off, then saying goodbye again headed on home. I was packed by 3 and decided to hell with it. I called the road information hotline the CHP ran, and they said clear roads up the 395, carry chains but they were not required. Of course, they would give that chain notice until May. I went ahead and shut everything down, sent a message wishing everybody on the BBS Merry Christmas, and hit the road.

I made it as far as Winnemucca and decided to pull in for the night at just after midnight. And in the early afternoon, I pulled up in front of the house. Kim ran out and hugged me, and as I was holding her Grace toddled up and I picked her up and spun her around which caused her to giggle. Hearing her call me “Unk Pete” caused me to grin, and I hugged them both again. I was still putting my stuff away when I heard the front door open and heard footsteps running in. “Pete!”, and then George was in my arms and hugging me. It seems the little twerp grew another inch in just a week or so. I hugged him tightly, then asked him to help me bring in more stuff. Dee was still walking down the hill but we waved at each other as I handed him my poles, and I brought in the boots and skis. I had him put those in the garage, then he had the keyboard as I lifted the monitor and brought them inside and put them downstairs on the desk.

I pointed to the wrapped boxes and told George to start hauling them into Kim’s house, as Dee and I finished unloading the rest of the stuff. She looked at me funny when I picked up one of the two printers I had brought and set it on the desk. “Pete, why a dot matrix printer?”

“Well, I am not going to be here all that much, and these are actually damned good. I get them now from dad’s old work, and they are the ones I used in the military. Hold on a second.” I went ahead and printed off a short letter I had made as a proposal and when it was done tore off the perforations and handed it to her.

“Yes, that’s amazingly clear for a dot matrix. How many pins?”

“Oh, still 9, but it can make from two to four passes, so as you can see they come out very sharp. This will be more than enough for what I need to print here. I got one wrapped for Kim, and I think she will be happy with it.” Dee agreed, and we went back upstairs, and I had the large box with the printer, as she took the gift-wrapped box of paper. Those were the only two George could not carry himself.

They asked how I got there so early as they were not expecting me until the evening. I told them I had left yesterday afternoon, as I saw no reason to wait until morning. “I stopped in Winnemucca just after midnight, so it was a relaxing drive here since then. I can do that trip in a single day, but I prefer stretching it over two days when I can.”

By now we were sitting in the living room, all of us with coffee. I grinned at Kim and asked if I was corrupting her again. She laughed and said that she still drank coffee, just not when Jeff was around. “We have an agreement about that. I can still drink coffee and tea, but only with family.” I pointed out that Grace was family, and she threw a napkin at me and laughed, and said “OTHER family!”

I told them about Becky’s new house, and I saw Kim look at me a bit sadly. “Kim, we still love each other, like you and me. We both know she could never live here and be happy, and I could not stay there more than maybe ten more years and not go insane. We are still kinda dating, but we are also still looking. Oh, and so you both know since you are on the board, she may someday call and ask for a loan. If that is to happen, likely for the purchase of a home, I propose we become the mortgage holder, at half the prime rate. Do you think I would have a problem getting that passed?”

Dee looked at me, and slowly shook her head. “Not so long as it is as high as it is now, at 10%. That means a 5% return, not great but stable. Now if it drops to 3% prime, we might have an issue with a loan at 1.5% interest.” I smiled and kissed her.

“And when was it last that low Dee? When Ike was President?” She looked thoughtful and nodded. “Yes, I think it was around 5 when JFK took office, but I would have to check.”

“She may want to buy that house I think, and I would rather be her financier than a bank. And having a stable investment like that would be good I think, and also help her at the same time. We get higher interest than the bank pays, she pays us lower than what a bank charges. We both benefit.” They both agreed and said they would convince their husbands to also.

They asked my plans, and I said tomorrow I wanted to go skiing. “It’s been a long time, and I want to see how bad I am before any others see me I hope.” They both laughed. They brought me up to speed with what was going on locally. Some more marriages and kids from those we went to school with, Her dad had taken down a buck that had charged him when he was checking the back pasture at the Co-Op range. I asked if he was OK, and Kim told me he was fine. “The buck dinged up the 4-wheeler a bit, Fish and Game came out to check when dad called him. The buck had an arrow in his hip. It was not infected but it must have been hurting him fiercely. They wrote it up as an aggressive animal and signed off. He’s now in the freezer.” We all laughed, and I said I wish people would not do things like that. It was bad to hurt an animal and not finish it off. “Yeah, dad took some pictures of the arrow after they cut it out, they said that was the second one they had seen this year.”

Soon everybody else arrived, and we relaxed for dinner, and I updated everybody else on what had been happening. We were sitting in the living room as my dad, Dee, and I had wine and dad asked me if I really wanted to put a computer store in between my house and the highway.

“Well, I hope to move back here in another decade or so. And I’m still going to be far too young to retire dad. I figure a small place, more to give me something to do than anything else. So long as it breaks even, I’ll likely be happy.” They all nodded. “I would even do a game store, but I’m not going to compete against Kent and Karen.

Jeff asked what else I could do, and I shrugged. “Well, I could do a dive shop, but I don’t think many dive up here.”

“Oh, we have a dive shop already. And a couple in Idaho Falls also. I’m still a reserve paramedic, we call them for Search and Rescue, and some do salvage in the lake if a boat sinks. Plus some miners do SCUBA for dredging.”

“Hmm, I guess I should have thought of that. Well, computers I will do. And in that, I do not care much about competition. Are the computer shops here any good?”

Dee snorted. “Most of them are crooks, and charge way too much. I checked them all out when we got here Pete. We have four. All are little one and two man operations, and charge as much as they can get away with. One charges your bench rates, the others charge almost as much.”

I just shook my head. “I charge what I do, in order to be close to the local rate, and I have rent and other expenses. And I am sure I pay my employees a lot more than they would if they had any. Oh, I can guarantee I will bury them, but they will have themselves to blame. I will be trying to make money, but not stick it to people because I can.”

They all nodded, and Kim told me one of them was a kid we went to school with. “Harry has a shop? The star shortstop? What happened to his joining the Majors?”

“He sat the bench for two years at Montana, then got cut. He could only get a AAA minor team interested, so just gave up. But he got an Associates in computers and opened up when he got home. Been doing it about four years now, he has the best shop in town.” I shook my head and decided I would stop and see Harry before I went home.

Finally, we all said goodnight, and I felt like having a cigar. I poured myself a glass of Scotch, and went out to the bench under the covered porch in front and lit up. Since I had no ashtrays, I had a small saucer on the table as I got the cigar cut and lit, and blew a plume of smoke into the sky.

I could see the sky full of stars, and how quiet it was, just the soft wind blowing across the fields. A few cattle lowing at the top of the hill, and some dogs in the background. It was so relaxing, only a few cars on the highway, and no aircraft. No sirens, no loud music from two blocks away. Almost like I was alone.

I was about halfway through when I heard a car turn off the highway. I stood up and set the cigar in the saucer when I saw the car with only the running lights pull up, then into the driveway. I smiled as I recognized the car, and who was driving. I went up, and when Jackie got out she smiled and gave me a hug. She welcomed me back and asked what I was doing outside in the cold.

I said I was having a cigar and did not want to stink up the house. She seemed surprised that I smoked, and I said I only did it on occasion. She walked to the patio with me and after she sat I joined her, and she took a sip of my drink and pulled a pack out of her purse. I admitted I was a bit surprised she smoked, and Jackie told me she had started a year or so before.

“Well, I did not taste it when we kissed last month. Me, I’m just an occasional smoker, maybe two cigars a month, if that. And never in the house. But I do in the shop on occasion since smoking is allowed there.” She nodded and said she was kind of the same. Always outside, never in her house either.

I finished the cigar as she had a smoke, and we took turns sipping my drink. And of course, I had to tell her about my last overnight trip, and the uproar that had caused in the town. “Cutter got praised in the paper for his fast response the night your dad shot that guy. And he also praised your dad and the others here, saying they handled it wonderfully.” I asked her if anybody was upset that it had happened, and she said nobody that matters. “Most are firmly behind your dad, and the story most tell is that it was somebody who was looking for you, that you were in some kind of dirty dealings back home.” I sighed and told her what we knew of what really happened. She nodded and said that made a lot more sense.

“Yes, Pete is just being Pete and saving a damsel in distress again. So, do I even need to ask?”

“No Jackie, we are not back together. We both recognize that it’s over, she could no more move here in the future than I could stay there. But we are closer than we were before this happened. She’s single, as am I. But we both agree to date each other occasionally until that changes.”

“Nothing wrong with that, at least you have each other until then to keep the hormones in check until you do find the right one. Oh, don’t look at me like that! I talked with Kim, and she told me that you two were as close as you were the last time she was up here, and without saying so implied you were sleeping with her. I do get that and am a bit jealous. There are times I almost wanted to call my ex to come spend the night. It’s not like being with him would have ruined my reputation or anything.”

I snuffed out the smoke, and we both went inside. Once we got in she stopped and asked if this is where it happened. I pointed out the bullet hole by the door, and then to the floor. “I’m really glad now that I asked for hardwood floors. You can barely tell where the patch in the wall is, and the blood all cleaned up. But the sheets my dad used to patch his belly were ruined.” Jackie snorted and asked for her own drink this time. So I poured us each a glass of Canadian Whiskey and we sat together after I added two more logs to the stove.

“So, what are your plans now that you are up here?”

I told her I was going skiing tomorrow, and maybe for half the day on Christmas Eve Day. She nodded and asked if she could join me. I smiled and nodded, but that for the next days after that it would be just me and my family. She nodded and took a sip, and said that was understandable. She was going to spend Christmas Eve and Day with her parents, and her twin was promising to call home sometime and she wanted to be home for that. And that after that I wanted to spend some time with Kent and Karen, and check out a few places in town.

When she asked me where, I said the dive shop for one, and she had little interest. I then mentioned Harry’s shop, and she snorted. “You mean his shrine? It’s like half computer shop where he brags about how great he is, and has things like his jersey and posters on the wall. He’s already kinda going fat. We dated for a bit right after he got back when he was still trying to get with a minor league team. It was only for a month or so. He kept talking about how he was going to leave this little town as soon as he got an offer and never look back.”

I just shook my head. “Hell, maybe I could make him an offer. We buy each other out, then I can come home and he can be a big shot in LA.”

Jackie laughed at that and said he would go broke. “You know his grandma’s old flower shop? That’s where his shop is, he sleeps in her old apartment upstairs. I think if he actually had to pay rent on it he would go broke. She had a stroke oh, four years ago? Five? Somewhere around there. She’s in a home in Idaho Falls now, He came back and just moved in. But you really want to move back here? I thought you were doing good in LA.”

“Well, I am I guess. I make good money, but I’m not really happy. I hate living in the city. The crime, the noise, the traffic, how dirty it is, the expense, how far I have to drive to get to anything like woods or a quiet stream. I was sitting on the patio there just loving the silence. I will admit, LA was fun when I was finishing school there. I was 16, like a party all the time, with lots of cute girls in really short skirts. But I guess I’m over that now. Plus not so many short skirts anymore, it seems that now the fashion is loose slacks.”

Jackie nodded and said here it was still jeans, unless it was going somewhere. Then skirts and dresses not much different than when we were in Junior High. “Unless you go to Billy’s, that is.” I snorted and asked if they were still around. “Yep, just off Yellowstone. Warm pool tables, warm beer, all the shit-kicking music you can stand. Live band on weekends, if you can call any of those groups he books a ‘band’. I go there once a month or so with some friends, but normally jet out by 10. Otherwise, it’s drunk cowboys trying to paw at my titties and ass. If I wanted that, I would still be married.”

I raised my glass and we clinked them together, and she asked if she could join me skiing. I told her she could, but to remember I had not been on skis in eight years, so I likely really sucked. “Good, I might actually keep up then. ‘Really suck’ for you will probably mean we can actually ski together for more than the first fifty yards of a run.” I laughed and asked when and where she wanted to meet up. She turned her body to face me and rested her hand on my shoulder. “Well, I guess that all depends on you, Pete. Do you want to wake me up in the morning, or just have me meet you somewhere?”

I reached up with my hand and rested it on the back of hers. “Well, I will not deny that just waking you up sounds nice. But like I told you last time, I am not going to presume anything. And I like taking things slow, even if we are only dating while I am up here.”

Jackie grinned and leaned forward to kiss me, and she said she would not expect anything else from me. “Pete, I did not get that promise just so I could finally get you to bone me. I will not deny that I do want that before you go back, but I would like to also just know how it is to date you. I have heard from most of your past girlfriends, as well as Kim. All said you were very tender, and never pushed them. That is what I want to experience.”

I reached and placed my fingers gently under her chin and pulled her face towards mine, and we shared a long soft kiss. “Oh, I can push, I just rarely do. At most, I gently nudge, and just go off the cue she returns if it is wanted or not. And there are a lot fun things two people can do that does not involve sex.”

She grinned and cocked her head to the side. “Oh really? Like what?”

I took the glass out of her hand and put it on the coffee table. I then placed my hands just above her hips and smiled. “Like this.” I then moved my hands slowly over her waist and held her there. Then I started to tickle her. And as she had done when she was still 12, Jackie fell onto her back and giggled as I started to tickle up and down her side, legs and arms flailing, but never trying to actually push or kick me away. And I moved up and down her side, sometimes to just under her armpits and getting a nice caress of side boob, before moving back to her sides, then her belly. She rolled over onto her belly and tried to crawl away as she giggled and laughed, and I moved to her back, tickling a bit as she still squirmed, then moving to more of a light scratching, then gentle caresses. Her giggles died down mostly, but a soft sigh came from her mouth. “You bastard, you know how ticklish I am.”