Chapter 1

This was my retirement house the house I dreamed of and finally got to build. I designed this house as a house you could live in without having to do much maintenance. I told my wife that this was a house I designed for her, but really it was designed for me. I started building this house when I got to 48 years old. I had purchased the property when I was 47. I bought 128 acres just far enough from town to give the illusion of being alone but still close enough to be able to drive to town in five minutes. I built the house on the top of a hill surrounded by tall pine trees; you could stand on the balcony outside my bedroom and just see over the trees. It seemed you could see forever without seeing another living soul. It was an illusion though as town was just over the next hill.

The house was an octagonal shape 40' wide by 40' deep. It had a full basement with 10' walls two bedrooms, an office, full bathroom, laundry room and a set of open stairs that wound around the west wall. The main floor had the kitchen, dining room, living room and another two bedrooms with a set of open stairs that wound around the east wall up to the top floor. The top floor was more like a loft then a full floor; it was slightly more than half of the house deep with a wooden railing that overlooked the living room and the front door. Every direction you looked you could see through windows to the outside. The master bedroom took up most of the floor space with the only inside walls surrounding a walk through closet to a full bathroom with a shower room built in. from the bedroom you could open the patio doors and walk out to a patio that went all around the entire house.

From the kitchen you walk out through a pair of patio doors and straight onto a large deck with a barbeque area in the center with a hot tub off to the side. The lawn area covered in sod stretched about 200 yards to the edge of the tree line. The large four door garage work shop was about 50' feet away from the house. Along the roof line of the garage you could see all of the solar panels that help to provide power for the house. The two wind turbines that supplied the rest of the power were just on the other side of the trees, far enough away so you could not see them or hear them.

I walked around the house looking at all the walls, unpainted walls. The floors still without any real coverings. In the kitchen there stood the pedestal counter with the sink and stove built into it that my wife and I had argued over for weeks, she got her way of course and it looked good there. The huge double door stainless steel fridge with a double door stainless steel freezer standing right beside it. This was the only room in the house that was fully finished because she had gone into excruciating detail about the kitchen and dining room. The dining room wasn't finished yet as she wanted hardwood flooring in there "not laminated I want the real thing" she said. I was waiting to get all of the flooring done at the same time as soon as I figured out the right type of flooring and the right colours. See my wife died of cancer about eight months ago and I am hopeless when it comes to decorating. My wife had always picked out my clothes for me whenever she didn't want me to wear blue jeans with a blue jean shirt.

I had gotten drunk for a couple of months after she died but after that I had thrown myself into finishing this house. I had been living in it for over a month now and was just wandering around wondering how to get it finished and trying to decide if I really wanted to live like this. I am a typical male and had my stuff all over the place. I needed a maid; yes a maid is what I needed.

I spent about an hour cleaning up the house daydreaming about the type of maid I should get. My version was really more of a hooker than a maid I will admit. When I had the house looking decent, not clean but no garbage on the floor or clothes piled in any corners I drove to town thinking I should do some grocery shopping before doing anything else. I must be the worst grocery shopper ever; my idea of food didn't include anything in the vegetable department. I bypassed that whole area went straight to the meat counter picking up steaks and hamburger meat. I could make lots of things with hamburger, I then picked up lots of frozen TV dinners as they were easy to prepare and even I knew how to work the microwave. I picked up lots of bread and buns, thinking it would be easy to make a sandwich if I got lazy and didn't want to cook.

I was leaving the grocery store when I noticed the bulletin board in the foyer, thinking that I might find someone looking for maid work there I stopped and started to read the board. I didn't really see anything there that was going to work for me when a young mother with a small daughter came up to stand beside me.

"Any jobs listed?" She asked.

"I am not sure; I wasn't looking for a job. Just the opposite in fact" I replied.

"I am looking for a job" she said "What kind of position do you have available. I can do almost anything"

"I really need a maid, preferably a live in maid" I replied.

"Well I can definitely clean" she smiled.

"Ok why don't I give you my address and you can come out and see what it all involves" I suggested.

"Ok you live in town right, I don't have a car" she replied.

"No I live in the country, not far from here but too far to walk" I explained.

She looked crestfallen at that news.

"Why don't you let me buy you a coffee and explain what I am looking for then if you think it might work I can drive you out to look around and see if it will work?" I asked.

She looked doubtful but said "ok"

I held the door for her as I watched her pick up two bags of groceries in one arm while balancing her daughter in the other.

"I'll grab those bags for you" I said as I reached for them. I only had two bags myself.

"Thank you" she replied as she passed them over.

I took a closer look at her as she walked past me through the door. She had blonde almost to the point of being white shoulder length hair which framed a well tanned face with a cute little button nose. She wore a windbreaker jacket that came down to her mid thighs, if the bumps in the front of it were any indication she had breasts which were slightly larger than her frame should have but not overly big, probably a large c cup. She was tall maybe 5'10" and slightly pudgy, maybe still carrying some of the weight she would have put on while pregnant. She had on a tight pair of jeans as far as I could tell as her windbreaker covered her ass.

"I'll just put your groceries in my truck with mine so we don't have to carry them around" I said.

She looked at me like she was going to object so I added "I will give you a drive home after coffee even if you don't want to look at the house."

That seemed to satisfy her as she nodded looking around maybe wondering if anyone would notice her and remember who she was with.

I unlocked the back seat of the truck and put her groceries in with mine then locked it back up turning to lead her to a restaurant across the street.

I had been to this restaurant before and had always wondered why they didn't decorate it better. It had been sold several times over the past few years and it seemed as if each owner had just added their own décor to the already dreadful interior. The food was always good though.

I once again held the door as she went through indicating to her to choose a place to eat.

Once we had been seated I extended my hand and introduced myself. "I am Rick by the way"

"Hi Rick, My name is Cheryl and this is my daughter Cindy" she said nodding to the little girl as she was fixing her in the high chair.

"How old is she?" I asked.

"She will be two next month" Cheryl replied.

"Ahh the terrible twos I remember those" I said. "Mine are all grown up, my daughter is 23 and my son is 22."

"Ohh do they live around here?" she asked.

"Not too far, Michele my daughter lives in Fox Creek about an hour away and David my son lives in Edmonton about an hour and a half away" I explained.

She seemed to be relaxing a little knowing I had kids.

"Have you had lunch yet, I am starved?" I asked as I looked over the menu.

"No not yet, lunch is in the back seat of your truck waiting to be cooked" she said with a smile.

"Well order something to eat I am buying" I stated.

I ordered a clubhouse sandwich and fries; she ordered a bowl of soup with extra crackers.

"You need to eat more than that "I said with a frown.

"No I am trying to watch my figure." She stated.

"Ok then it's up to you but don't starve yourself to save me a few dollars." I said.

She just smiled and folded the menu shut handing it to the waitress.

"So tell me about this job you have" she said.

"Well here's the thing, I basically moved out of my parents house straight into an apartment with my girlfriend and lived with her through marriage and children until she passed away just less than a year ago. I have never really had to cook for myself or clean the house."

"Oh I am so sorry" she whispered sympathetically.

"It's ok still a little hard to believe but I am over it for the most part. Anyway I started building a house about a year and a half ago. It is pretty much finished now just needs to have the right colours painted on the walls and the flooring put down and it is done. I have been living in it for about a month now and I realize I have no idea what goes with what so I am at a standstill until I find someone with some fashion sense." I explained.

"Well don't get anyone from this place to help you" she whispered as she leaned forward looking around at the gaudy décor.

"No I think even I could do better than this" I laughed.

She gave a cute giggle as she sat back into her chair.

"So what I am looking for is someone to help me decorate, cook simple meals and keep the house clean. I do all of the barbequing and yard work, unless you want to plant some flowers or something." I stated.

"So this is a live in position?" she asked.

"Well I thought it should be as I get up to go to work at 5:00 am when I am working." I said. "But it doesn't have to be, I mean if you already have a good place, I don't think I would want to have your husband move in so we could try it without moving in."

"Oh I am not married. Cindy is the result of a foolish night and I have never seen her dad since nor do I even know where he is" she exclaimed.

"I am sorry I just assumed" I said sheepishly.

"Make no mistake I love Cindy and wouldn't change that for anything" she explained.

Our food came then so we just made small talk as we ate. Mostly me pointing out some of the travesties of fashion in the restaurant.

"Yes I think maybe a Buddha like that one in the living room" I said with a small laugh.

"Well that would be one way to decorate it" she said doubtfully.

She had been feeding Cindy crackers and soup all through the meal but I could see she was getting fussy as she sat in the high chair.

"I am going to have to take Cindy home and feed her" she said.

"Is there nothing on the menu for her" I queried.

"No I breast feed" she stated with a blush.

"Oh ok I will give you a drive home then" I told her.

I gave her a drive to her apartment building, I handed her one of my cards and let her know I was going to be in town for another two hours if she was interested in coming out to the house. After I let her out I drove out to the house and dug out the car seat I had in the garage for when my daughter came to visit with her two babies. I had bought it for her first one but her in-laws had bought her one as well so I just kept it and when she came to visit I would put it in my truck and steal one of her kids at a time and take them with me as I went to do whatever I needed to do in town. It was kind of my time with them and Michele seemed to appreciate it.