Chapter 5: The Offer

The telephone interview with the award winning grounds keeper earned him a face to face meeting. Sid was a little afraid when he'd said that he could only work on the project on the weekend, because of football practice, that it would be a deal breaker. Mister Kline didn't seem concerned about the actual timing of the work and they took a cart over to the sixteenth tee.

When Sid told the course superintendent what he needed to shore up the undermined tee deck the old man smiled.

"That's just the way I'd do it," Carl agreed.

"I'll pay you forty dollars an hour and if you finish it in two weekends like you said I'll add a five hundred dollar bonus."

By the time they go back to the clubhouse it was like they were old friends.

"I'll order the materials tomorrow and give you a call when they're all on site," Carl said as they parted with a handshake.

The high school quarterback went to find Jenny.

"I don't know how to thank you," he said when he located her in the linen closet.

"Well you could start by believing me that noting happened between me and that asshole from Eastern Hills."

The sincerity in her eyes actually did convince him. He sort of pinned his ex to the wall of the clubhouse hallway and realized that she wasn't his ex anymore.

The club's Secretary-Treasurer passed by as they shared their makeup kiss and Mister Dickens got a rather unfamiliar attack of sentimentality.

His high school years had been so brutal and the two athletic seniors were representative of the people who'd made his life miserable over forty years ago; except one of them wasn't. One of them represented the light of his life, the anchor that had enabled him to weather the storm. Without Virginia's steadfast faith in him he wouldn't have made it. He hadn't thought about her that often until recently. Probably not as often as he should have given her impact on his life but now whenever he saw the part time server he seemed to be able to think of nothing else.

Instead of disdain he found that he was happy for them, which came as a bit of a shock. He had affection for the girl that went beyond his usual dirty old man lust. He was even able to swallow the contempt that might emerge toward the football player if that's who she wanted.

Classmates were happy that Sid and Jenny were back together. Walking hand in hand and sharing lunch as they'd done in their junior year. It was the quintessential match.

The lead cheerleader cheered even harder on Friday night when their beloved Rams tangled with the Eastern Hills Bears. Sid had a career game and threw pass after pass into Ronnie Sample's zone. There were no statistics about how many of his twenty completions were in front of, beside and behind the 'kiss and tell' linebacker, even Sid didn't know, but it could easily have been half.

After the game in the jubilant dressing room the coach called him aside.

"Great game Bing," Coach Riglieri congratulated slapping him on the back, "and it couldn't have come at a better time. There was a scout from Tennessee Valley in the stands. He wants to set up a meeting with you and your parents tomorrow."

The head rush that overtook the star quarterback was as big a thrill as he'd experienced with Missus Brown or Missus Stern. It was a dream come true.

"I have to ask my mom when would be a good time," Sidney said as he took the business card from his coach's hand.

"He's staying over at the Paradise Inn and said he'll be in town until Sunday. His cell number's on the card."

The meeting with the college football scout wasn't anything like he'd expected.

It seemed like Mister Richmond was more interested in his family than he was in him. He was hardly in the door when he asked about Sid's father who was conspicuously absent. The suspicious look he gave them was troubling, before they explained that Sergeant Bing was serving in Afghanistan. Although he never actually said it, Sid thought the scout might be thinking that his parents were no longer together and that seemed inordinately important to him.

"I know that you can play football ... I saw that with my own eyes and I've got video to prove it. Your academic qualifications are also documented. What I need to be sure of is whether you measure up spiritually," he informed them.

What followed were several questions about what church they attended, how often, what was their involvement and participation. The scholarship candidate was impressed with how effectively his mother dealt with those queries.

In his thick southern drawl he explained that Tennessee Valley was a Methodist college that placed an extremely high value on the moral fiber of its students. Sid was surprised and grateful at how readily his mom signed the permission to do background checks. When he thanked her later for all her support she kissed him on the cheek and said they had nothing to hide and that she was so proud of him.

Sidney had to concede that the prospect of spending the next four years at the fundamentalist school in the heart of the Bible belt wasn't enormously appealing, but getting one scholarship offer was the most he'd ever prayed for. He certainly wasn't going to turn it down because they were too pious.

Mister Richmond had hinted that once the rest of the scouting staff saw the video of last night's game that they would be making some kind of an offer.

Sid couldn't wait to get Jennifer on the phone and tell her the awesome news.

He borrowed his mom's car and they spent the rest of the day together touring used car lots. With the two thousand he was going to get from the golf course for repairing the tee deck, even if he only got a books and tuition scholarship he could still afford to get himself some serviceable wheels.

Monday morning standing on his deck drinking coffee the clothing manufacturer was pleased to see the retaining wall materials being carefully unloaded beside the tee deck adjacent to his yard. He returned to his bedroom to brush his teeth and say goodbye to his lovely sleeping wife.

"I've got a Board Meeting tonight," he informed her sweeping the red hair away from her face to plant a kiss.

"Oh I forgot," she groaned. "I was going to invite Gwen over for dinner. Eric's going out of town again and she gets so lonely."

"Well I'm sure you girls don't need me around to have a good time."

Julia looked closely into her husband's face for any hidden meaning behind his words. She was relieved to find his expression devoid of sarcasm. She felt comfortable taking the comment at face value.

"I think I will then," she informed him as he headed out the door.

Sid was a master at compartmentalizing his life. He made it a practice to leave work at work. It had been especially necessary in the early days of the business when he and Julia were working closely together. Designing and manufacturing the knock-off clothing could have completely taken over their lives. It was certainly easier now that his wife had business interests separate from his.

So it was that it didn't even occur to him that this would be Melissa's first day until he was nearly at the plant. He couldn't prevent the twinge in his loins, but at the same time he hoped that he could develop a professional relationship with the fashion design graduate. Business pressures and sexual tension could make for an uncomfortable work environment.

'I hope Miz Somers knows how to compartmentalize, ' he thought as he switched off the Benz in front of his factory.

His first stop every morning was the manufacturing area. The plant had been hard at work for over two hours by the time he arrived. As usual he had no difficulty locating Jim Fergusson his day shift supervisor. The floor boss was filling him in on the progress of orders in process but Sid was looking right past him to the auburn haired woman poking the control panel of his state of the art cutting machine. She was looking alternately from the manual she was holding to the LCD screen. The slacks and T shirt she was wearing were a far cry from the slinky dress he'd first seen her in.

He thanked his supervisor for the update and went to greet his newest employee.

Her hair was tied back and Sid was impressed with how fresh and pretty she looked in spite of a complete absence of make-up.

She's really here to work, ' the company owner thought to his considerable relief.

Their greetings were brief. Sid left his cutting machine programmer with instructions to call him whenever she was ready to run the first trial and then went about his usual Monday routine.

Mid morning Julia got a hold of Gwen and invited the abandoned young wife for dinner. Her neighbor accepted the invitation gratefully.

Mondays was the day the maid came in and Julia always hated being around the noise and turmoil so she headed out to do some shopping. The dinner date with the black haired beauty had a different feel to it knowing that Sid wouldn't be there. The decision to invite her forlorn friend had been made with the purest of intentions. Now she couldn't keep the events of the night she'd taken the nauseated junior member of the Country Club home and got her into bed from playing over and over in her head—and her pelvis.

Sid got so wrapped up in the quotation he was preparing for national discount clothing retailer that when the reminder, 'Club Board meeting ... due in 1 hr' popped up he couldn't believe the time. It was already six o'clock.

Shutting down his computer he went into the shop and found Melissa standing at a table beside the cutting machine. She should have gone home a couple of hours ago.

She didn't even notice him when he walked up to her and spoke,

"Trouble?" he asked.

She didn't seem startled, she just turned her head and blew a stray strand of her tied back auburn hair out of her face and said,

"There are a couple of these angles that I can't seem to get right."

The clothing manufacturer looked down at the pieces of fabric the machine had cut laying on top of the plasticized pattern pieces.

"If I set this angle to ten degrees it's off this way," she illustrated by running her finger along the deviation between the fabric and the template.

"And if I set it to ten point one is off in the opposite direction," the fashion designer said replacing one piece of cloth with another. "I can only control the angle down to a tenth of a degree but it seems like it needs to be somewhere in between."

"Well tomorrow's another day ... maybe it will come to you when you're not so tired," Sid gave his first day employee an out.

"But I'm so close!" the pretty young woman said with frustration evident in her voice.

The plant owner was impressed with her perseverance, and looked more closely at the two pieces of material.

"Maybe it's close enough, the person who would know immediately is Julia," he informed the newbie.

Her expression said, 'How does that help?'

"I'll take them home and get her to have a look at them tonight," he answered her unspoken question.

Melissa's disappointment was palpable.

"Couldn't I take them over ... now?" she entreated. "I won't be able to rest until I lick this thing."

Once again Sid was impressed by her dedication.

"Well ... I suppose..." the shop owner tentatively agreed glancing at his watch and imagining what his wife was doing at that moment.

'She was going to invite Gwen Dumas over for dinner so she's probably in the kitchen making final preparations.'

Not wanting to stifle his cutting machine programmer's enthusiasm, he pulled a business card out of his suit jacket pocket, and wrote his home address on the back.

"You know where Fairmount Shores is south of town?" he enquired referring to the luxury housing development surrounded by the golf course.

Melissa nodded taking the card.

"They'll stop you at the gate ... I'll let them know that you're coming when I get there," Sid explained glancing at his watch again. "I've got to go."

He turned and left while the fashion design grad stuffed her samples and the templates into a shopping bag.

"Call home," he commanded the voice activated computer as he wheeled out into traffic.

After the programmed five rings it went to voicemail.

Julia heard the phone ring over the splashing of the water in the shower and made a mental note to check messages when she got out. She allowed her mind to wander to the evening last week with Gwen, starting up a very pleasant little hum in all the right places. Her soapy fingers bumped over her cherry like nipples and Julia groaned and stopped her tantalizing touch.

'This could get out of hand in seconds, ' she realized.

She hung the shower cap she'd used to protect her hair from getting wet on the towel bar and wrapped the bath blanket around her as she walked out into the bedroom. She hit the hands-free button on the phone beside the bed and punched in the answering service pin number before settling at her make-up table.

"Hi hon' I'm on my way to the Board Meeting but you're probably going to have a visitor in about half an hour," Sidney's voice sounded hollow from the hands-free mic to the hands-free land line speaker.

"The woman I hired to program the new cutting machine ... her name is Melissa, is going to stop by to go over some deviations from your patterns. I'll let her explain it ... I just wanted to give you a heads up ... Love ya, save me some dinner."

There was a short silence before the metallic sounding voice of the message service started rhyming off the options of how this message could be dealt with. Julia finished with her mascara and went over to choose delete just to shut the annoying mechanical voice off.

'Melissa ... eh?' she'd always kind of liked the name and if Sid had ever mentioned she hadn't been paying attention.

She didn't dwell on the reflection of her naked body in the full length mirrored closet door. She was pleased with how she'd maintained her figure even after the dreaded four-oh. Other than the predictable extra pound or two on her hips and bum, and an equally unavoidable increased droop in her natural 'D' cup boobs, she still had the figure of the twenty-three year old Sidney Dickens had wooed and won.

Selecting the robin's egg blue spaghetti strap dress from the hanger, she stepped into it and hooked her thumbs in the tiny straps to hoist them onto her shoulders. Adjusting her full breasts into the fitted bodice she arched to pull up the zipper and then smoothed the semi translucent material.

Sid said he like the dress but never failed to comment when she wore it how much it looked like a slip. The irony was that she really should wear a slip under it—but she never did. The silhouette of her lower torso and legs was on display every time a light hit her.

In the kitchen she turned the oven keeping the dinners warm down as low as it would go. The bistro just out side the gates of her luxury community made the best lasagna she'd ever tasted. There were three plates in the oven each with a side of mixed vegetables; a single serving for her and Gwen and a double slab for Sid. With that the fresh garlic bread and Caesar salad intended for four she was pretty sure that even her husband's appetite could be slaked.

There was no need to mix the salad yet and the garlic bread only needed five minutes so the resourceful redhead set the dining room table and took a bottle of rosé out of the wine cooler. She was pouring a glass for herself when the doorbell rang.

She knew who it was, but she glanced at the kitchen video surveillance monitor that was automatically activated by the door chime for a peek anyway. A young woman with fairly long looking auburn hair piled carelessly on top of her head and tied with a scrunchy stood at the door looking around nervously. She was wearing a T shirt and slacks. The short work boots were a nice touch. Melissa's work clothes didn't reveal too much about her figure but the tented T shirt confirmed that her tits weren't tiny.

The downward angle of the security camera wasn't flattering, which was why Julia was taken aback when she opened the door. Melissa's natural beauty gave her pause.

"Hi ... uh, Missus Dickens?" the fashion design grad asked uncertainly.

"Julia," the redhead corrected. "And you must be Melissa ... Sid called to tell me you were coming, come on in."

Julia snuck a peek at the young woman's back side as she passed by.

Turning back toward the pattern making guru the visitor explained her dilemma.

"I'm having some trouble getting the angles on the cutting machine to match your patterns exactly," Melissa said starting to rummage in the shopping back she was carrying.

"Let's take them to my layout room it'll be much easier there," the older woman instructed as she started toward the back of the house. Her new acquaintance paused long enough to politely kick off her boots before following.

The room the builder intended as a bedroom was quite large. Julia had installed a counter with cabinets above and below like a kitchen along one wall. The back wall near the window had a desk and computer while the center of the room was dominated by a large high layout table. She swept aside the fabric she had been working on, clearing the space for the girl to explain her problem.

Laying the material and the patterns out Melissa explained the programming limitations of the cutting machine. Julia took only seconds to respond.

"Go with the shallower angle," she said decisively. "The sewers can easily account for the excess material in the seam."

'I should have known that ... duh!' the younger woman mentally criticized herself.

"Of course how stupid of me," she confessed to the blunder. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time."

"You're a very pretty young lady," Julia complimented as the fashion designer stuffed her samples and patterns back in the bag.

It would have, and should have been just a nice compliment if it weren't for what Vickie had told her.

'Sid is okay in the sack ... but his wife is wonderful, ' the waitress' words came back to her. ' ... she's the real brains of the operation.'

When they'd hooked up at Vickie's apartment the blonde bi-sexual had introduced her to real anal sex and explained that it was Missus D's favorite. The recollection of that encounter made her butt hole twitch.

"Have you had dinner yet?" her boss's wife inquired.

"Uh ... no ... I haven't," Melissa replied truthfully.

She didn't need to be clairvoyant to anticipate the next question and was in fact already working on an answer—decision really. If she wanted to there was no reason not to stay for dinner; so the question was did she want to.

She looked at Julia Dickens, really seeing her for the first time.

'She's gorgeous!' the frustrated cutting machine programmer concluded, and the realization took her somewhat by surprise.

The flowing multi-toned red shoulder length hair beautifully styled in a swept back 'do', her hour glass figure slightly top heavy but mature and womanly, and her face the most breath taking asset of all.

Julia had her back to the windows and as the younger woman scanned her figure she knew the view she was providing in the unlined translucent dress.

While her guest studied her from head to toe she searched the young fashion designer's expression hoping for a glimmer of interest.

"Why don't you stay and have dinner with me?" the redhead offer realizing that it meant Sidney would have to make do with a single portion.

'It'll do him good, ' she thought as she waited for an answer.

'She is the owner of the company I just started working for ... how would it look if I turned down her generous if unexpected offer? And if Vickie is right she maybe more important to my future than her husband.'

"I wouldn't want to put you to any trouble," Melissa responded knowing that it was tantamount to accepting.

"No trouble at all dear, I'd like to get to know you better," Julia assured her guest. "I have a neighbor coming over who'll be joining us."

Melissa scanned up and down the hostess' figure again.

"Well I'm really not dressed properly for a dinner ... I mean with other people, uh strangers ... um..." the young fashion designer knew that she was babbling and not really making her point very clearly.