Chapter 32

Monday morning, March 30

I had Dani to the airport by six-thirty. Pasco, Washington, isn’t quite like big airports where one needed to be hours early before your flight. Ten-fifteen minutes was plenty of time to check in and go through security, but we allowed forty-nine minutes. Her flight was scheduled at seven-nineteen.

We’d been right, last night with the hoop was to be our last memory of our sexual endeavors for an unknown time. That particular part of this actress thing didn’t seem like it would be a lot of fun as we’d gotten in the habit of ‘fun’ nearly every night, sometimes two or even three times, as the last two nights, especially.

Dani had also planned to pack her bags over the weekend. That sure as hell hadn’t worked out. It was why we’d had to get up at five, for Dani to pack all those nice, sexy, new leather clothes, dresses and blouses in a garment bag, and two suitcases of other things, including six, count-em–six, very sexy nightgowns. “Just because I’m not going to be having sex doesn’t mean I don’t want to feel sexy,” she’d told me. Yeah, sleeping in the same house ... alone ... with a sexy hunk that she has a major crush on ... wearing those!

Likewise, her underwear. She took along a few undies that could be considered ‘practical’, but mostly, matching sets of lace and silk. I remember she’d once told me that a woman wearing a matching set is ‘on the make’. So, what was I to make of all those matching sets?

Not that I was complaining, I wanted her to be sexy, feel sexy, to call me at night and tell me how hard it was to keep her hands to herself ... to keep Alan’s hands to himself, too. Especially after they’d both been there working together for a week or two and her lack of sex was having a major effect on her libido. I was hoping she’d be horny as hell, soaked panties every time they were together.

I was a bit more than concerned about how the coming weeks were going to impact my libido, too.

One thing I snuck into her suitcase containing her underwear when she was in the bathroom was the big black dildo I’d bought in Reno. I would LOVE to be there when she discovers that wrapped inside her thong.

Anyway, even at a small airport, once she went through security, there was no point in my sticking around. We kissed one last time, held each other for what seemed far too brief a time (anyone watching may have disputed that), and said our goodbyes. The last thing I said to Dani as she was about to go through security was, “Don’t eat any brownies that Alan might offer.”

She laughed, gave me a quick kiss on the lips, and said, “I love brownies.”

I watched her go through the security check, thinking that I should have snuck some innocent thing, metal, on her so they’d be forced to take her into a separate room to disrobe. I’m bad! And then she was gone. The only thing I could do was return to my car. I imagined the studio was probably paying a fortune for her luggage on that flight.

I drove to an adjoining street where I could see the runways, sat and waited, watching. At precisely seven-nineteen, a sleek, miniature jet, (certainly not one of the big boys from a major airport) powered onto the runway, its engines screaming, and a moment later was in the air, out of sight in minutes.

Jenny had said to come over if I got lonely. Hell, I was already lonely! During our twenty-eight years, Dani and I had never been separated for more than a day or two when one or the other of us had to be gone to some conference. I couldn’t even remember the last time when we’d had one of those. Of course, this couldn’t even begin to compare to Dani sitting by my bedside week after week not knowing if I’d ever awaken again, but still...

I drove home thinking about her flight. She was going to Butte, Montana, which was Northeast of us by way of Salt Lake City, far South. She had a two-hour-plus layover in SLC, and was scheduled to get into Bert Mooney Airport, Butte, at one-thirty-six, a little over three hours total flight time, plus an hour for the time zone change, and the two-hour layover. The ranch is twenty-six miles west of Butte. The studio said there would be someone at the airport to pick her up. I knew there was nothing to worry about, that she’d be well taken care of, but this was so new to both of us. I’ll be damned glad to hear from her that she’s at that ranch.

The house seemed interminably quiet when I got home. Our oldest, Jon, and his wife, Tammy, invited me over to dinner, knowing it’d be my first night alone. At least that was something to look forward to. In the meantime, I had things to do, to keep myself busy

I drove to the Courthouse, the Recorder’s office, and gave them the coordinates of Dani’s grandparents’ farm, discovering that it belonged to David and Loretta Alvarez, and gave an address in Moses Lake. After a little more research, I’d discovered that they owned several tracts of land around Eastern Washington. I wondered why, since, this one anyway, wasn’t in any kind of production, just a tract of land, 247 acres, and an old vacant house and barn to pay property taxes on. I hoped, hoped, hoped that they’d be amenable to selling it.

I did a little more digging at the Courthouse and found their deed. They’d bought it in 2007 for $128,000. It didn’t do anything to allay the mystery as to why they’d bought it just to leave it empty. After I left the Courthouse, I realized I should have followed the deeds back and found out when Dani’s grandparents sold it. Of course, it didn’t really matter, as I had the information I needed, it would have just been curiosity.

Once home again, I looked in the Eastern Washington phone book for a David Alvarez in Moses Lake. Zip, nada, nothing. It looked like I may be driving to Moses Lake, about three hours one way. At least I had an address.

While I’d been looking for David Alvarez, my phone buzzed – a text from Dani. She’d arrived safe and sound in Salt Lake City and has a two-hour-thirty-eight minute layover.

I tried to think how I could get a phone number, then thought about Dani’s friend at school, Karen, the computer whiz who had given Dani the website she’d used to find the information on Leslie, except, I’d forgotten the website. Dani had told me but it went in my right and out my left ear without jiggling a thing in between. I tried to think what Dani had said Karen’s last name was, since I was pretty sure that in a school with sixteen hundred or so kids there’d be more than one Karen on staff. Karen ... Karen ... I wracked my brain, I knew Dani had mentioned it some time ago, it was a funny name – Dunkin Donuts, that’s what I remembered. Except her name was Dinkin, not Dunkin, Karen Dinkin Donuts.

I checked my watch, nine-thirty. It had been about ten when Dani had called her to ask about helping her find Leslie, she’d said Karen would be on a break then, so I had to wait another half-hour.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t just call Dani and ask her, since she’s probably just sitting in an airport lobby, you obviously don’t understand the brain power of a man whose wife has abandoned him, even temporarily. I have nothing to say to you. Except ... I have no freakin’ clue!

While I waited the half-hour, I called the realtor for the store’s building, asking if she’d prepared a draft of the lease yet. She had, so I asked if she’d email it to me. She put me on hold, came back on, and said it was done, then proceeded to tell me the basics of what was in it. It was a bit more than I’d have liked to pay, but the fact of where the building was, in such an excellent location, made it seem more than worthwhile. I told her I’d review it and get back to her.

And then, since she was a very likable person and seemed like she knew her business well, I asked her about the property we wanted to buy, if the owners agreed to sell, would she assist us in the purchase?

I left that phone call very pleased, she said she’d get it appraised if necessary, assist with any paperwork, even help us in negotiating with the owner, all for what seemed like a very reasonable fee. I liked this woman.

The email was on my computer, and I perused the draft of the lease. It seemed very straight-forward and I had enough business knowledge that I didn’t feel there was any need to involve our attorney, that’d save a few hundred bucks spent for telling me what I already knew. There was an option to renew every five years at a nominal, specified increase.

By then it was ten o’clock, so I called Dani’s school, told the receptionist who I was, and asked if I could speak with Karen Dinkin. I had to keep a straight face, not let the humor of ‘Dinkin’ come through my voice. But if she hadn’t had a rather unique name, I’d probably never have thought of it.

“We all were so happy when Dani called and let us know you’d come out of your coma,” the receptionist said.

“Thank you, all’s good now, I’m fine, thank you all so much for supporting Dani while I was out,” I told her, “she told me later how much you’d all done.”

She put me on hold and a couple moments later another woman came on. I recognized the voice, probably from one of Dani’s school get-togethers, I’d gone with her to them frequently. I explained that I was trying to find someone and remembered she’d given a search website to Dani a couple weeks ago but I didn’t remember it, and Dani was out of town for a few days. I didn’t know how much, if anything, Dani had told the school about her new acting gig, and that was up to her to tell them, so I didn’t want to mention it.

Thankfully, Karen didn’t ask any more about Dani, just told me the site was peekyou.com. We had a few more pleasantries, and I thanked her for the information, and for helping Dani during my coma.

I was excited when I went to my computer, opened the site, then saw that I had to create an account, complete with a credit card. Dani hadn’t told me any of that. After entering the information, it went to the search engine, and I typed in David Alvarez, Moses Lake, Washington. One hit popped up along with a box to agree to the fee of twenty dollars or I could pay a fee of a hundred dollars and search for names for a full year, or five-hundred dollars for lifetime searches. Decisions, decisions! I clicked the one-time fee.

And I started reading: David Alvarez, born in 1949, married to Loretta in 1978. His main occupation is speculating in real estate, buying and selling. Well, that was good news, I thought, ‘selling’ of real estate. And it gave a phone number, obviously a cell phone from the number, which explained why it wasn’t in the phone book, along with a home address, the same as the County had. This site was worth its weight in gold, I thought. We’d have to take Karen Dinkin Donuts (the chuckle was safe now) out to dinner, too.

So, I called the number and got a voice mail asking to leave a message, which I did, giving my name and phone number and that I was interested in purchasing a property he owns. It was a little disappointing that I couldn’t talk directly with him, but was hopeful I’d soon get a call back.

My next call was to the contractor who’d done my other store, wondering if he’d been able to put together a cost estimate for that store in Pasco. He said he had been working on it and would have to me by the afternoon. “Perfect,” I told him, “I’m meeting with the bank tomorrow morning.”

That left me with exactly nothing to do except watch the clock, wait for a call from David Alvarez, a call or text from Dani that she’d arrived in Montana, and an email from Wade, my contractor. The morning had actually been fairly productive, I thought. Oh, one thing I could do, prep for tomorrow’s meeting with Leslie, gather together financial documents on my Kennewick store.

At two-thirty-seven, I got the text from Dani, she was in Butte, in an old pickup headed to the ranch with one of the ranch hands. ‘It’s so beautiful here!’ her text said. Well, I was glad to hear that she’d landed safely and someone was at the airport to meet her. But I needed to hear her voice, hopefully, after she’s settled, she’ll call. One more thing to wait for.

I also got the email from Wade, a copy of his cost estimate, $174,000, including everything – removal of old, new flooring, painting, shelving, counters and a sign out front. I could save about $12,000 if I did the painting, but he’d like to be able to move quickly after he starts. So would I, the sooner we can open, the sooner we could start paying the bills. Our original plan was for Dani and me to do the painting, but without her, it’ll take double the time. More, actually, she’s the artist who could give it a little pizzazz. And a hell of a lot less fun!

I’ll need about another hundred thousand for stock, too. Although I could cover that from our business account, but I don’t want reserves drawn too low. The stock in a parts store is a hell of a lot more than that, but many of the manufacturers will consign their product, so I don’t have to pay for it until sold. The thing many of my customers appreciate and are willing to pay extra for is that I make sure our parts and other stock are made in America, except where absolutely impossible. It’s irritating that I can’t get everything from America.

After going through my computer and pulling together audits and tax statements for the last several years, showing our steady growth and profits, I was confident that I’d have enough information for the bank to make the loan, at least the remodel cost, hopefully, the stocking, too.

I tried calling Alvarez again, getting the same voice message. I figured if I didn’t hear from him by Tuesday afternoon, after my meeting with Leslie, I’d drive to Moses Lake. And then it was time to get cleaned up to go to Jon and Tammy’s for dinner.

I was nervous as hell about that meeting with her Tuesday. If it was just a ‘bank meeting’ for the loan, I was prepared for that, not concerned. But what Dani wanted, me to establish a romantic relationship with Leslie, my old high school classmate I’d had a crush on, THAT is what I was scared as shit about. She’d changed so much and the name thing, her nickname she goes by, ‘Elle’, so that neither of us had recognized her before Dani’s discovery.

Dinner at Jon and Tammy’s was wonderful, they’re both great cooks and share the cooking duties. Dani and I are proud of both our kids, how they’ve matured into such responsible adults. Jon’s now managing my Kennewick store since my accident, and our youngest, Jodi, is going to Washington State to be a teacher, inspired by her mom.

Dani called at a little after seven, so I put her on the speaker phone. She was excited, “This is just unbelievably beautiful,” she said, “no wonder they picked this ranch for the movie, it’s at the edge of a beautiful, green meadow, forest all around, just everything so pretty and rustic.” She went on, telling us how big the ranch is, “You’ve heard that joke about the rancher, telling his friend, ‘my ranch is so big I can drive all day without setting foot off the ranch.’ His friend answers, ‘yup, I used ta have a truck like that, too.’”

We all laughed at the silliness of it. But yeah, I’d had heard it a dozen times or so at least.

“Well, I think that’s this ranch,” she said, “maybe not all day, but it goes on forever, every direction.”