Chapter 4

I dropped Molly off at the store and headed for my apartment to pack up my clothes and essentials. It didn't take long to load the trunk. I dialed the number of Marina Montague, the real estate agent I had talked to, wondering if she'd be working today.

As luck would have it, she answered on the first ring. I arranged a meeting at her office just before noon and then headed for my old clunker computer. Aser may have denied me my laptop for the holidays, but I still had my Internet connection and a printer. I looked up the properties that I had noted on my previous visits to the various subdivisions and printed out their descriptions. I stuffed them in a soft leather folder that I had been given by one of my suppliers and left for the real estate office.

I'm sure real estate sales people hate vagueness as much as I do, so I had put together a list of 'Musts, ' 'Wants, ' and 'Likes' to give them the basics of what I was looking for. I chose not to give them a tight dollar range as I didn't want to exclude anything that might really be spectacular.

I arrived at her office a little before eleven and found the front door locked but the lights on. I knocked and soon a somewhat stocky woman in her forties came to the door and opened it.

"You must be Mr. Tompkins ... I'm Marina Montague. Nice to meet you," she said cheerfully.

"I didn't realize you might not be open. The locked door I mean," I said with a curious look.

"Oh, I'm the only one on duty today. This time of year it's rare we get any calls, and usually I'm just doing paperwork or looking up new listings ... that sort of thing," she explained. "You'll have my undivided attention."

"Great. Uhm ... here's a list of the things I'm looking for, and here's some properties that I've seen just driving around Reardon that look interesting. Maybe that will help you," I offered.

"Absolutely. Why don't you come on over here to my office and we can look at what you have and what else might be available." And with that, the process was underway.

After about an hour, she had a pretty good idea of what was in my mind, and when she sorted through the prospective properties I had downloaded, she weeded out a couple that wouldn't fit my needs. She added a couple more that she knew about, and we now had a solid list of seven prospects.

She indicated it would take her at least a day to arrange for appointments to see these properties. I assumed that Molly would be working her usual hours on Wednesday through Friday, so I suggested she set the appointments up for tomorrow and Thursday, and then we'd see about Friday. I walked out of the office with some confidence that I was going to find what I wanted.

What I wasn't so sure about was whether it might be what Molly wanted, but that was part of the excitement. What had I learned about her in the last two days?

I stopped in at Bruno's and treated myself to a light lunch instead of heading back to the apartment. I was hoping I was done with that place. I took my belongings back to our old house, hung my clothes up, and put the rest in the drawers I knew were mine. I noticed that some of my old clothes were still there, so I gathered them up and put them in a trash bag, sticking them in the trunk of my car. Maybe the Goodwill could use them.

As I drove through Reardon, I got another brainwave and drove to the east side of town to the Reardon Manor Inn. I wasn't hopeful that I would get what I wanted at this late date, but once again my miraculous string of luck prevailed. I reserved a suite for New Years Eve and ordered a bottle of champagne to be delivered just before midnight. It was expensive, but I didn't care. I got what I wanted.

The hotel had a dinner dance planned for the event and I bought a pair of tickets. All that remained was part three of my plan. Molly needed a new gown, and I needed to rent a tuxedo, again if I wasn't too late. This time, I wasn't so lucky. What they had in traditional black tuxes didn't fit me, and what they had that fit looked more like a suit from a bad wedding party. I would just have to make do with my blazer and grey flannels. Perhaps a new shirt and tie?

I arrived at Molly's shop just after two and walked in to find her. It was obvious almost immediately that the store had been very quiet that day, and it was even more obvious from the looks I was getting that I was a topic of conversation. I was getting the look and the once over as I waited for her to finish up. Molly had a wrinkled smile and a blush on her cheeks as I helped her with her coat.

I was grinning at that stage. I could see that she was a bit flustered, but not unhappy. I took her hand, said good afternoon to the other three ladies, and opened the store door for her. She seemed to let her breath out as we exited, but I didn't comment. When we were in the car and on our way, I asked her how her day had gone.

"Boring. We had five customers all day, and I don't think our sales would have amounted to enough to pay the phone bill. They really didn't need more than two of us. Maybe it'll pick up tomorrow. I hope so. It took forever for the time to pass today."

"Well, cheer up. I have a surprise or two for you." I was driving through town and then pulled into a parking slot near the dress shop I hoped would have what I wanted.

"What's the surprise?" she asked.

"Come with me," I said in a mildly insistent voice. I took Molly's hand and guided her into the dress shop that Marina had recommended. I took a chance that Marina had led me to the right place based on the clothes she had been wearing earlier that day. I think she was flattered that I would ask for her opinion.

"I want you to pick out a nice dress for New Years Eve. We are going to a dinner dance party," I said, leaving her no doubt that it wasn't arguable.

"Jack, this is crazy. You're spending so much money. How can we afford it?" she asked with genuine concern.

"You probably didn't hear everything I told you yesterday about my new job, and my income, and my bonus. You'll just have to trust me that I won't do anything we can't afford," I said almost with an air of dismissal. I wasn't going to argue with her, she was getting a new dress.

As she looked over the selection on the racks, I walked back toward the woman at the back counter. In a low voice I told her why we were here, and would she please recommend a suitable dress for a dinner dance, specifically New Years Eve. She smiled and slowly walked over to where Molly was looking at some of the dresses.

"Can I help you, Madame?"

"Uh ... I'm looking for a dress," Molly answered in a quiet, non-committal tone.

"Let me guess. For a New Years party?"

"Uh ... yes. That's right."

"I think I have something over here that would suit you very well," she said walking to the other side of the store. "Do you have a favorite color, or one that you think suits you best?"

"No ... I like muted tones rather than bright colors."

They chatted back and forth as the clerk took several dresses out and held them against Molly to see how they looked. She offered no opinion but kept looking, and finally seemed to settle on a very elegant, pale blue gown that was simple in design, but I thought would look wonderful on her. The clerk convinced Molly to try it on, and she disappeared into the changing room.

The woman came over to me, smiled and said quietly, "She will look lovely in that dress. You wait and see."

Her confidence was justified. Molly looked striking, and aside from the usual small, fitting issues, she might have been able to wear it right off the rack.

"It looks fabulous, Molly," I said with what I hoped was both enthusiasm and sincerity.

Shopping for women's clothes was never my forte, and I was happy it had been, so far, a relatively painless proposition.

"I like it too, Jack," she smiled.

"Good ... then can I tell the lady we'll take it?"

"Are you sure, Jack?"

"Very!" I signaled to the clerk and she set about marking the minor alterations needed, indicating that the dress would be ready Friday afternoon. I walked to the back counter and pulled out my Visa card to look after the bill. It wasn't as much as I had expected, and I thought when I saw Molly wearing it that she might need some new shoes to go with it. While the woman was processing my card, I quietly asked her about a good shoe store. She mentioned a place just a block further along.

I took Molly's hand as we left the store and she was beaming. Instead of heading for the car, I walked her down the street to the next block and into the shoe store.

"I want you to pick out a pair of shoes that you can dance in and will go with your new gown."

"Oh ... Jack." She started to laugh. "This could take a while."

"Uh ... OK ... I'll just wander next door to the book store, and you can holler for me if I'm not back in time."

My timing wasn't too bad. I gave her over twenty minutes, and by the time I returned to the store, she had narrowed the choice down to two pair. I looked at them and liked the appearance of both of them.

"Do they feel comfortable, the kind that you'd like to dance in?" I asked.

"Yes. That's what makes it hard to decide. They both look and feel great."

"Good! Miss ... we'll take both pair." Again I was using my don't bother to argue voice.

I paid the bill, and we left with Molly toting a large boutique bag with two shoe boxes inside. We had one more stop to make. We walked back toward the car, put the bag in the trunk, and then I steered Molly back into the dress shop The clerk was surprised to see us again, no doubt wondering if we had second thoughts about the dress.

"When we were here a few minutes ago, I saw some top coats that might look good as well. Can you suggest something?" At this stage, I think Molly was a little shell-shocked. I got no resistance from her, and the clerk picked out three possible choices. I thought they all looked fine, but I let Molly and her discuss which was the nicer, and a decision was made. Again I paid the bill, Molly carried the bag, and I was leading her out the door to the car.

When we were in the car on our way home, I tried to explain what brought on this sudden spree.

"Molly, I'm a senior manager at a major business in this town. I'm expected to be visible and look successful. You are my wife, and I want you to be visible and look successful too. This is just the beginning for us. I'm going to show you off to this town on New Years Eve. And by the way, we're staying at the hotel overnight, so we can drink champagne and not have to worry."

I tried to make my comments light, yet serious. I was serious about bringing her out of her shell and showing her off to others. She was a beautiful and graceful woman that I was lucky enough to have a second chance to be with. I was going to make the most of this chance.

She looked at me and leaned over and kissed my cheek as we drove along.

"Thank you, Jack. You are full of surprises, but I like your kind of surprises. We are going to have fun on New Years Eve, before and after," she grinned.

When we got home, I hadn't really had any time to discuss my diet with Molly, and I thought this would be a good time to let her know what I was trying to accomplish. Happily, we both loved cold turkey and we had lots of that. It was low in fat and high on the healthy food list. Molly had a couple of recipes for the other leftovers, and I learned that she too had changed her diet, partly to lose weight and partly to prevent what had happened to my health. We weren't going to have a problem with our food choices.

I also told Molly about my exercise program. It was how my reconstruction had begun and that I was committed to maintaining it. Molly smiled in agreement, promising to join me when she could, especially at the pool. That was a surprise.

For the rest of the week, I was busy with Marina looking at house prospects. I did not tell Molly what I was up to, so the fun would begin on Friday afternoon. Molly's work schedule was a half day on Friday mornings and a half day on Saturday afternoons, along with the full days Monday through Thursday.

She was no longer the junior at the store and had some say in her hours. I had some reservations about her work hours, but I held off in commenting until our lives were a little more settled. She had been exposed to a lot of change and surprise in the past couple of days, and I wanted to make sure I didn't overwhelm her.

During the week, we had begun to slip into some form of routine for ourselves. It would change again when I went back to work on Monday, but we were getting used to being around each other. I purposely didn't throw any more surprises at her for the balance of the week until I picked her up Friday noon. We had already agreed to have lunch at the Paradise Café, and we sat and chatted about our week together as we quietly finished our lunch.

When I pulled out of the parking lot I decided that I'd better tell her what was going on, since I would be heading away from our normal route home, going in the opposite direction.

"Well, Molly, I have another surprise for you."

"What now, Jack?" She looked at me as if she wondered whether I wasn't losing my grip.

"Just sit tight and I'll show you," I said confidently. I was heading to the Rolling Meadow subdivision in Reardon. I had arranged for Marina to leave the back door of one particular house unlocked for me and give me a chance to show the house to Molly. She was reluctant, but since there were no other clients, and the house wasn't furnished, she decided to take a chance.

I pulled up in front of 1511 Rolling Glen Way and stopped the car. Molly was long past being surprised by anything I did lately, and I think she knew almost immediately what I was up to. She looked over at me and just shook her head. I snorted a laugh as I got out and went around to her side, taking her hand as we walked up the front drive to the new home.

"I want your opinion on this house, Molly. You knew I was looking for something better than my old apartment, we just didn't talk about something better than our old house."

We stopped in front of the ranch style bungalow with the two car garage and Molly just gaped at the rock faced entrance and skirt around the bottom of the front.

"That's a bedroom in the front on the left. It would work well for an office I think. The real estate agent left the rear door open for us, so we'll have to go around the side by the garage," I indicated by pointing.

"Oh Jack. It's beautiful. Are you seriously thinking of buying something like this?" she asked in wonderment.

In a serious tone, I replied, "Not thinking, Molly. We will be buying a new home, and I want your opinion on which one. I can't do this without you being involved."

She just looked at me as we walked down the cement steps to the back of the house. The lot dropped almost nine feet from front to back, allowing a walk-out from the unfinished basement. There was a large deck that covered almost all of the rear-facing home, with two sets of stairs giving us access to the main floor of the house. The lot was not landscaped, but featured a large yard backing onto a greenbelt area. With good width, our privacy would be assured.

We climbed the nearest steps to the deck, and I walked to the first door and tried the handle. It opened and we walked inside where I pushed the paddle switch for the lights. We were in the laundry room and walked into the hallway, heading for the kitchen.

As I turned on more lights I heard an audible gasp from Molly. The kitchen was large, with a center island, and featured cherry wood cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and granite counter tops. The floor was cherry as well, and the effect was something out of a show home.

The kitchen opened into a very large room with a huge set of windows looking out onto the back and the woods beyond. Two sets of French doors opened outward onto the large deck. It was the view that caused Marina and me to choose this as the first home to show Molly.

We continued on through the main floor exploring the master bedroom and ensuite, as well as the two additional bedrooms. Molly hardly said a word, but her eyes were the size of saucers as she reached out to touch surfaces and objects, just to make sure they were real. We went downstairs to see what was a completely unfinished basement, housing only the furnace and a hot water heater. The back of the basement was mostly windows to allow as much light as possible. A pair of doors opened to a lower, covered area beneath the deck.

We went back upstairs and Molly returned to the kitchen and sat for a moment on an old stool someone had left behind. She put her head in her hands and was silent for a while.

Finally she looked at me.

"Jack, I don't understand any of this. Did you win the lottery or something?" she asked in a completely serious voice.

"No, nothing that complicated. This house has been listed at $279,000 for over five months, and hasn't sold. If we decided to put an offer on it, I would probably try $260,000. We might get it for that or close. The builder isn't going to sell many homes until spring, and this one has been on his inventory since late August.

He can get some cash now, or wait and hope he can get more later. That's his gamble. As far as we are concerned, we sold our house for $200,000. Not counting fees, we will only be taking on a $60,000 mortgage, not very big in this day and age. On top of that, the interest is deductible on our income taxes, and with any luck we can pay it off before we are very far into our 60's."

"Oh god, Jack, this house is gorgeous. It's got everything I ever dreamed of in a home."

She began to wander through the house again, and I went to the front bedroom to keep an eye out for Marina. We had arranged to view two other homes this afternoon. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get Molly out of this one, if her ooohs and aaahs were any indication.

Marina pulled up behind my car and stepped out. I opened the front door for her and she entered quietly.

"How's it going?" she whispered.

"Judge for yourself."

I walked back to the master bedroom where Molly was looking out the French doors onto the deck and, I suspect, imagining something about living here.

"Molly, this is Marina Montague, our real estate agent. Marina, this is my wife, Molly."

"So what do you think of this home, Molly?" Marina asked with a smile. I think she already knew the answer to the question just seeing the look on Molly's face.

"It's lovely. So new and clean and big. I'm not used to this. There's three bathrooms!" she exclaimed.

"Two and a half, actually, but you're right; there are a lot of features in this home," Marina said enthusiastically.

"Molly, Marina has arranged to have us look at a couple of other homes in this area this afternoon. It'll give you an idea of what the area is like, and you may see something you like better."

"Ok, but I can't imagine anything better than this," she said her voice trailing off as she looked around her again in wonder.

We left 1511 and headed for the next house, a couple of blocks away. It was a conventional lot and a nice home, but didn't have the view or impact of the previous candidate. I knew Marina had set this up to make our first viewing the most dramatic, and therefore the most likely one we would choose. When we got to the third house, it was almost a disappointment. It was a small lot and had a conventional layout with a formal dining room. There was nothing about it that grabbed either of us, even though it was a nice, new, modern home.