Chapter 12

“So, are you taking Tina to the Christmas Party?” asked Katie. They were standing at the copy machine waiting for it to warm up.

Sam gave her a funny look. He should have known Katie would have known about him and Tina; she’d been with Busby for over ten years and was fully dialed into the gossip grapevine. Shrugging, he said, “Well, I guess so. I don’t know as I’ve even told her about it.”

Katie stared briefly and laughed. “Sam, you are hopeless. The invitations go out next week. What the hell is going on with you two?”

“What do you mean?” he asked innocently.

“You know exactly what I mean. Are you two serious or what?” she pressed.

Sam gave a wry smile and nodded, then sat down in an office chair while she started making copies. He could see it was going to be a long report and multiple copies. “Yeah, we are,” he admitted.

“So, what’s the big deal?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I just feel awkward about it. I mean, middle-aged boss and his teenaged secretary - give me a break!” Then again, Sam thought, Katie was dialed into everything. It was one of the reasons she was such a great secretary, she knew enough to avoid problems. “You tell me. What’s the take on this around the company? I guess everybody pretty much knows about us, right?”

“Yeah, Sam, in spades.” She smirked, then continued. “Come on, middle aged owner of the company sleeping with his teenaged secretary with the big hooters. Who wouldn’t be talking?”

“Who says...”

She gave him an exasperated look. “Don’t kid a kidder, Sam.” Sam gave a look that admitted the truth of the story, and Katie continued, “It breaks down a few different ways, Sam. First, most of the guys in the company think you’re the luckiest bastard on the planet. Those who’ve met her have told those who haven’t what she looks like, and every one of them can’t wait to see her at the Christmas Party. Is she really...?” Katie raised her hands to the level of her chest and mimed a pair of enormous breasts. Sam made a wry face and nodded. “Well, like I said, the guys are all hoping she wears something really extreme.”

Sam snorted. “And the women?”

“Eh, about sixty-forty. Most of the women are a little sad that you’re off the market, while the rest think it’s absolutely disgusting.”

“Off the market? What the hell does that mean?” he cried. “When was I ever on the market?”

She gave him a screwy look. “Sam, what are you talking about? You’re the most eligible bachelor in the company.”

He gave her a dumbstruck look. “What?”

“Let’s see, single, kids almost out of school, stable family guy, light drinker, no drugs or gambling, corporate bigwig, and oh yeah, really well paid. Sounds like a real loser to me.”

Sam stared at her, his mouth moving like a fish. The concept that he would be considered attractive to any woman eluded him. In over twenty years with Lee, he had never understood, much to her considerable amusement, what she saw in him, and he still couldn’t fathom what Tina saw in him. Finally, he spoke. “You have got to be shitting me!”

“Name another guy around this place like I just described. Hell, if I wasn’t married and old enough to be your mother, I’d chase you around myself!”

A vision of the much older woman chasing him flashed through Sam’s mind and he began laughing. Katie joined in. “What about Mickey?” he asked.

Katie’s boss was the youngest of Big George and Momma’s children. Despite his position as the head of the trucking operation, with the pay to go with it, he had a well-earned reputation as a ne’er-do-well party boy.

It was Katie’s turn to break up in laughter. “Now, you give me a break!”

Sam and Tina had settled into a comfortable arrangement. Whenever he worked in Oneonta they would go out to dinner, and then go back to her apartment to make love before he left for the long drive home. Weekends they alternated between staying at her place or her coming up to Ballston Spa.

Sam’s worry about her meeting his son proved needless. When Sammy, a young man he considered far more likely to raise a young lady’s interest than he, came home for Thanksgiving break, he brought a girlfriend of his own home. Cindy Matsuko was a slim and lovely Japanese-American from Chicago who had managed to captivate the boy. Worldlier than his sister, he had been wondering for a while how long it would be before his father started dating again. The only surprise had been in Tina’s age, but he adapted to it well.

Tina made a half-hearted invitation to Sam to visit her home, but Sam weaseled out and Tina was secretly pleased. She confessed to her lover that she was as scared as he was about meeting her father, who was the same age as Sam. They both firmly resolved to avoid that meeting like the plague.

The day after talking to Katie, Sam worked in Oneonta. That night, after dinner, they went back to Tina’s apartment. She began leading him by the hand to the bedroom, but Sam pulled her in the opposite direction, and led her to the couch. He sat at one end and Tina lay down with her head in his lap. She looked up at him with a smile and reached a hand up to begin removing his tie.

Sam allowed her to take his tie off, and even to unbutton his shirt, but he caught her hand before she could move it lower. He kissed her fingertips and held them to his bare chest, and she looked up at him in curiosity. “What’s up, Sam?”

Sam cleared his throat, then asked, “Well, would you go with me to the Christmas Party?”

“You mean, not just go, but go with you? Like a date?” He nodded. “Sure, I’d love to. What’s that going to be, our ‘coming out’ party?” she asked.

“Yeah, I suppose so. Not that’s there’s much coming out to do. It seems like everyone in the world knows about us.”

She gave him a serious look. “Well, I’m not embarrassed. Are you?”

“No.”

She hugged him and slipped her fingers inside his shirt. “Good answer, Sam.” Sam laughed and caressed her face. Tina asked, “So, what’s this party like?”

“Well, it’s actually a pretty big deal. You see, we really have four company parties during the year. The fiscal year ends in March, so in April we have the Sales Banquet. All the salespeople and all the office staff go to that, and it’s mandatory. You’d need an excuse from the emergency room to get out of it, and even that might be questionable! You’ll be invited to that one.”

Tina nodded, and Sam continued, “The weekend after Fourth of July is the Clam Bake. Big George and Momma throw that up at their camp in the Adirondacks. That’s a family affair, all employees are invited, and everybody brings their kids, and suppliers and bankers and everybody comes. You can get three, four hundred people at that thing.”

“Wow!”

“Yeah, it’s a zoo. In September, just the construction and trucking guys go golfing with the staff out there, along with any of the sales managers who want to go. They get a paid day for that.”

“You?” she asked.

“Nah. I don’t golf. The last one, the big party, is the Christmas Party. That’s company people only, for everyone, and is swanky. It’s not black tie or anything, I won’t be in a tux, but otherwise it’s pretty ritzy.”

“So, who goes?” she asked.

“Like I said, everybody in the company, sales, staff, carpenters, truck drivers, you name it.” Sam’s face lit up and he laughed. “It’s pretty funny. Some of those guys get cleaned up and you don’t recognize them. It’s the only time of the year when they aren’t wearing a baseball cap and Carrharts!” Tina giggled at the thought. Most of the construction guys were nice, crude and horny, but nice, and they all dressed for work in rough clothes.

“What should I wear?”

Sam scratched his head in search of an answer. “Well, that’s kind of up to you, hun. Like I said, it can be fairly ritzy. This year it’s at the Desmond.” Tina had heard of the Desmond; Hillary Clinton stayed there when campaigning for the Senate. “A lot of the women get really dolled up. Most of the guys use it as an opportunity to show off their ladies, if you get my drift, and even the sales ladies and secretaries tend to go all out. It’s like the one night of the year they can show as much T and A as they can and not get in trouble.” Tina’s eyes widened at the last statement and Sam shrugged apologetically. “All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t be surprised by some of the evening gowns and party dresses that some of the women will be wearing.”

“Really?” she asked vampishly. She had worn an oversized and off-shoulder sweater, braless, and long wrap skirt to dinner. She thrust one long leg through the slit dramatically and pulled the sweater down lower off her shoulders, showing some healthy cleavage. “Something like this?” she asked with a sexy pout.

Sam’s eyes widened and lit up with delighted interest. “Well, actually, not quite.”

It was Tina’s turn to look shocked. Tugging the sweater even lower, to the point her nipples began to show, and exposing her legs so that the tops of her stockings could be seen, she asked, “Like this?”

Sam slipped a hand through the gap in her skirt and began caressing her thighs above the stocking tops. His thumb flicked across her pussy. She hadn’t been wearing panties either. Tina squirmed pleasantly in his lap, and he answered, “That’s a little more like it.” Tina closed her eyes, shivering at her lover’s touch, and then looked up at him with desire. “Listen, honey, dress nicely, but don’t do something silly. If you aren’t going to be comfortable with it, do something different. We’re going to be enough of a sensation as it is without playing dress-up.”

Tina sat up and pulled her sweater over her head, then untied the wrap skirt and tossed it aside. Naked except for her stockings and heels, she twisted around and finished undressing Sam. Smiling wickedly at him, she said, “I know, I’ll just go shopping with Lizzie next weekend.”

“Oh Christ!” moaned Sam.

Sam and Tina checked into the Desmond about four. Tina had driven to Ballston Spa and spent the night, but they had decided it would be better to stay the night in Albany. The forecast was mixed, and the troopers were threatening to put up DWI checkpoints. Neither one wanted to chance an accident or being pulled over for one drink too many.

After tipping the bellman, Sam flopped down on the bed. Tina looked at him with an evil grin, then climbed onto the bed and straddled his legs. She had worn dark blue stirrup pants and a large and bulky cable knit sweater which hung down to the middle of her thighs. Smiling wickedly, she asked, “So, the party doesn’t start ‘til eight and we’re here all by ourselves. What do you think we can do to kill the time, Sam?”

Sam was both surprised and delighted by the naughty look in his new love’s eyes. Shrugging, he said, “Well, I suppose we can always drive down Wolf Road and go shopping.”

Tina grabbed the hem of her sweater and pulled it over her head, then tossed it aside. Sam smiled as he saw her big tits jiggle inside her bra. “I don’t think I’m quite dressed for that, Sam. Any other ideas?”

“Well, if shopping is out, I suppose we could always go up to the swimming pool,” he teased.

Tina reached between her breasts and undid the front clasp. She twisted out of the confining nylon and tossed it away dramatically. “I don’t think we can go swimming at the Desmond topless, Sam. You’d better think of something else.”