Chapter 4

It was a tired Ed that returned home from his first afternoon as Chairman of the Board of the Fusion Foundation. He noticed the strange car parked in the driveway, and realized that Kim Green had beaten him to the house. Hitting his head with the palm of his hand, he realized that he hadn’t let anyone know that she was coming. It was even worse since he had left her with the mistaken impression that she would be sleeping with him that night.

Entering the house, he was met by Cathy with her ever-present notepad containing the messages for him. She said, “Hello, Ed. Just a few items for you. I called the University to let them know that you were tied up this afternoon, and wouldn’t make there. They wanted me to let you know that they are looking forward to discussing your return to the faculty, there.”

Although she didn’t say it, he knew that he should have called her and let her know that he was going to be unable to meet with the department chair. He said, “Sorry, I really should have called you.”

Cathy smiled knowing that there were a lot of things that he should have done that day, but she wasn’t going to bring that up at the moment. She said, “We’ve made arrangements to interview individuals for the new staff positions tomorrow; but you will need to talk to Bob, tonight.”

Ed wondered why he would need to talk to Bob, but replied, “Okay.”

Glancing down at the list, Cathy said, “I’ve confirmed the meeting with Jim to work out details for your will tomorrow morning.”

Ed had forgotten that little piece of business and wondered when he would get a break. Frustrated, he said, “Find a time for me to go out into the desert.”

Cathy added that item to the list with a smile. She could tell when things were starting to get overwhelming for him because he would put a halt to everything and demand that time be set aside for the desert. She asked, “Will four days be enough?”

“If that is all that you can arrange, then it will have to do.”

“Kim Green arrived around six, saying that you had invited her for dinner at seven. She apologized for being early. I provided a guest room for her so that she could freshen up a little prior to dinner.”

Ed frowned as he thought about it, particularly since the guest room would further re-enforce the idea that he was going to sleep with her. He said, “You probably did the right thing.”

“Pardon?” asked Cathy in surprise.

“She has expectations that aren’t going to be met this evening,” replied Ed.

“Oh.” The explanation did not enlighten Cathy in any fashion since she didn’t know what the expectations were, nor why they wouldn’t be met. She looked down at the last item on the list, the one item that she had no clue what it was about. She said, “Walt and George want to talk to you.”

“Okay,” said Ed, “I’ll talk to Walt and George in ten minutes in my room. After that, I’ll have them send Bob to me. When I’m done with Bob, I’ll deal with Kim. I’ll take a short swim and meet her in the dining room at seven.”

Cathy nodded and said, “I’ll send Walt and George down to your room.”

“Great,” said Ed as he turned to leave. He paused and turned to look at Cathy. With a wink, he said, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“I know,” replied Cathy as she headed to her office.

Smiling, Ed headed to his room. He hoped to have a minute of peace before George and Walt arrived. As he approached his room, he was disappointed to find that Walt and George were waiting for him by the door. Putting his hand on the reader, the door opened as he said, “Come on in, guys. I understand that you want to talk to me.”

The pair of men followed him into the living room, feeling uncomfortable about being in there. They very seldom entered Ed’s room. Looking around, it was the same as always. It was filled with furniture that would have been new in the fifties, but looked very dated in the modern world. In many ways it reflected Ed. He had manners that would have been considered completely normal in the fifties, but seemed old fashioned. Turning, Ed asked, “What’s up?”

Walt looked to George, allowing the older man to take charge. George said, “We’re proposing to Sarah and Cathy tonight.”

“It’s about time.”

The response was not what they had expected, but Walt continued on by saying, “We’re wondering about living arrangements.”

“What do you want to do?”

Licking his lips, Walt said, “George and I were thinking about buying a house.”

Surprised, Ed looked at the two men as he considered the impact that would have on running the household. It meant that Cathy wouldn’t be available at all times and that the men would have to have actual work shifts. Of course, hiring additional people wouldn’t impact things too much. Shrugging his shoulders, he said, “That’s not a bad idea. You might want to keep your rooms here just in case you have to be here at night.”

George asked, “You aren’t upset?”

“Why would I be upset?” asked Ed surprised at the question.

“Well, we get an inheritance and then move out. It doesn’t look very good,” replied George.

“You’re getting married and it’s time that you started thinking about starting a family. I wouldn’t want to do that in someone else’s house. I wouldn’t expect that you’d want to do that. Now go and propose to your women,” replied Ed making a motion like he was herding them out of his room.

As the pair of men walked to the door, Walt turned to Ed and said, “Thank you for understanding.”

Smiling, Ed replied, “I think you’re going to be very happy being married to Cathy and Sarah. They are good women and love you. I’m very happy for all four of you.”

The two men left, closing the door behind them. Ed pulled off his robe and went into the bathroom to wash his face hoping that it would wake him up and allow him to regain his focus. He had just finishing drying his face when there was a knock on his door. Knowing it was Bob, he went to the door and opened it saying, “Come on in, Bob.”

Bob followed his naked boss into the living room and looked around at the furnishings. While his coworkers were taken aback by the furniture, he was taken aback by the lack of an entertainment system. Bob waited until he had his boss’s attention and then said, “You’re going to interview new people tomorrow.”

“Yes. Of course, you and the rest of the staff are invited,” said Ed. Ed stopped his trip to the bedroom to pick up a clean robe and turned to face Bob wondering what was the problem. He knew that Bob was fully aware that the staff would be included in the interviews the next day.

“That’s not quite what I was wanting to talk to you about. You know the jewelry shop that you gave me years ago?”

Ed nodded as he remembered it very clearly. Bob had made the wedding rings that he and Marguerite wore. Bob was very talented in creating gold and silver jewelry. He answered, “Sure, I remember.”

Bob looked down at the floor and said, “Well, while you and the rest of the family were living at the Druid College, I built up a rather significant business.”

“That’s great.”

This wasn’t as easy as Bob had hoped it would be. He hemmed as he tried to figure out what to say next. Finally, he blurted, “I’ve been making almost a million a year in sales.”

The announcement impressed Ed, as he was not aware that Bob had been so successful with his part time business. As he thought that, he realized that Bob was hinting that he would prefer to do it full time rather than part time. He suggested, “I guess with that kind of business, you’d want to pursue it a little more intensely than in the past.”

“Yes,” replied Bob relieved that Ed understood.

Ed walked over to Bob and extended a hand saying, “I wish you the best of luck in your efforts. As a small business owner, I know how tough it is to make it. If you need any help, you can count on me. I’m sure that Cathy or Lynn will be more than happy to help you with your books and taxes.”

The offer was overwhelming. Bob shook Ed’s hand as he said, “I guess I’ll move my stuff in with Marguerite.”

“Why?” asked Ed.

“I don’t expect you to provide room and board for me if I’m not working for you,” replied Bob.

Chuckling, Ed said, “I’m not going to risk having a grumpy Marguerite trying to poison me because she’s upset with you. Keep your room.”

Bob relaxed and accepted the offer. With a smile, he said, “Marguerite will be happy to hear that.”

“I’d like to commission you to create four wedding rings,” remarked Ed.

“Four wedding rings?”

“Yes. George and Walt are proposing tonight to Cathy and Sarah. I figure that would make a nice gift for them. Make them with four diamonds, with pairs of common color and cut,” answered Ed.

Bob was grateful for the commission and would do his best to make sure that Ed was proud of his present. He replied, “I’ll get to work on it right away.”

As Bob turned to go out the door, Ed said, “I’d still like you to come with us tomorrow to interview the new staff members.”

“Sure, I’ll be happy to do that,” replied Bob.

“Great.”

Bob left the room thinking that he was going to have to do something for Ed, but he didn’t know what he could do that would express his gratitude. He was whistling as he headed off to talk to his wife to let her know what Ed had said.

Ed glanced at the clock and saw that it was about fifteen until seven. He headed into his bedroom and threw on a clean robe. He still had to deal with Kim, but Kelly and Ling would support him in that. They were wonders at getting to the roots of problems. He would have about ten minutes to swim and work some of the tension out of his body before meeting Kim in the dining room.

The swimming pool was not empty. Kelly, Ling, and Kim were swimming the length of the pool using slow languid strokes as they chatted in an amiable manner. Ed looked at Kim taking in her naked body. She was a very attractive woman, with a body sculpted by years of exercise. He asked, “Do you mind if I join you in the pool?”

Kelly answered, “Come on it. No splashing.”

Dropping the robe on the chair, Ed stood by the side of the pool for a second before dropping his body into the pool. The slight pause had given Kim a chance to see his cock and the sight took her breath away. She couldn’t believe the size of it despite the fact that Kelly had described in great detail.

Ed rolled over onto his back and floated in the water allowing the weightless feeling to relax his muscles. With a sigh, he said, “That feels so good.”

Ling drifted past as she said, “Rough day?”

“You might say that, if you’re prone to understatement. First you guys make me the Chairman of the Board. Then I have to fill out paperwork all afternoon, followed by a horrible press conference. The real zinger was when a past failure came back to haunt me this afternoon,” replied Ed.

“A past failure?” asked Kelly surprised to hear Ed say that.

“Yes. Years ago a woman used the Fusion Foundation to hurt her ex-husband with the result that she left a legacy of hatred instilled in her child. Today, that child was in my office,” answered Ed. The odor of chlorine tickled his nose although it wasn’t strong enough to irritate the eyes or nose. For Ed, the smell of chlorine in the poolroom, the odor of spices in the kitchen, and the dryness of the desert air meant home.

Kim hadn’t said anything as she thought about the day Ed had. She hadn’t realized that he might be exhausted by the day’s activities. She said, “I didn’t realize that your day was so rough. Would you like me to come back some other time?”

Putting his arms into the water above his head, Ed brought them down to his side pushing his body through the water with one powerful stroke. He answered, “No. Please stay for dinner. I would like to talk with you afterwards. It’s a little cold to be up on the roof tonight, but I think you might enjoy a walk through the atrium garden.”

Ling, from the other end of the pool, said, “Kinky. A little Garden of Eden action. Nice move.”

Laughing, Kelly retorted, “Kim, you had better watch out for the trouser snake. It’s a big one.”

Kim blushed as she thought about the size of his cock. Ed groaned and threatened, “If I wasn’t so tired, I’d swim down there and dunk you.”

Laughing even harder, Ling called back, “I’ll ask Marguerite to provide some apples for you to snack on.”

Realizing that they weren’t going to let him get away from them without lots of teasing, he said, “I tried that fig leaf trick and it doesn’t work. I couldn’t find one big enough to hide everything.”

Kelly burst out laughing and had to stand up. It took her a minute to calm down as she kept imagining Ed standing in front of her with a little leaf stuck to the end of his cock. She glanced at the clock and said, “It’s after seven. Marguerite said that dinner would be ready around seven thirty. If we’re going to look pretty for dinner, we had better get dressed.”

Floating on his back, Ed said, “You all look pretty, dressed or and undressed, made up or natural. In fact, I can’t think of an occasion when you didn’t look pretty.”

All three women froze where they were and turned to look at Ed. He wasn’t paying any attention to them as he relaxed in the water. A tear came to Kelly’s eye as she looked at him knowing that he said exactly what he meant, and meant what he said. She couldn’t imagine anyone receiving a nicer compliment. She looked over at Ling and saw her own face reflected back at her.

Kim was stunned that a man would say that. She went over to the side of the pool and lifted herself out of it. Her movements broke the spell holding Kelly and Ling in the pool. They followed her out of the pool and went over to the stack of towels. As Kelly handed out the towels, she said, “I suggest that we do something special for Ed this week.”

Wondering what her wife had in mind, Ling asked, “What?”

Glancing over at Ed floating in the water and the look of bliss on his face, Kelly answered, “I don’t know. Let’s talk about it while we’re getting dressed.”

Kim was sure that she wouldn’t be included in the discussion and picked up her clothes to head to her room to put on her make up and dress. She was surprised when the two wives grabbed her and led her away.

In the water, Ed was totally unaware of the activities in the hall. He rolled over and started swimming the length of the pool in a nice even breaststroke. Reaching the end of the pool, he turned and swam back. There wasn’t much time so he limited his workout to five laps. It wasn’t enough to tire him out further, but was enough to relax his muscles.