Chapter 2

We still saw a lot of country in the next two weeks. There was no indecision about my staying when we found a job for both of us in Ohio. We came as a package deal for a convenience store that stayed open all night. Shari was night shift manager and I was the only other employee. We had living quarters in three rooms they let us use in the back. This couldn't have been better.

Cindy even had her own room, but many evenings before work, she would make her way to lie down beside of us. A habit left over from the summer. Shari and I went to work as husband and wife. Shari just said she didn't take my name and I hadn't minded that our daughter kept her mother's name. Two weeks later, Shari was transferred to the morning shift while I was still pegged in on the night shift.

I wasn't comfortable in the space we were living in. Across the highway, there was a small two-bedroom bungalow with a for sale sign on it. I wandered over there and signed the papers as soon as they could be generated. "Shari, there is a little house across from the store. It is for rent and is better than what we have now. Let's move."

"Okay, but I pay the rent. You paid all summer long and gave Cindy and me the best time we ever had. Do you know who to see about it?"

"I'll have the agent stop by. I'll also get some furniture. Nothing elegant, just something we can be comfortable with. Do you want me to sign the lease for it?"

"No, I make a lot more money than you do as helper." I moved our few things the next day. I had to go to work the night we moved in. This left Shari to arrange the furniture. The routine was that I was to get Cindy ready and take her to school in the morning, and then I would come back and sleep for a few hours. Shari would be home in time to pick her up from school and get supper. We would all eat together and then I would lay down until time for me to go across to the store.

Shari and I shared the same bed, much as we had in the motel rooms through the summer. There were only two nights in the week when we were in it together at the same time. But, and this was the big thing I looked forward to, Shari's scent was there when I crawled under the covers. I'm sure mine kept her company as she drifted off herself at night. I was mystified as to why Shari and Cindy didn't sleep in one room and me in the other.

I was answered by Shari, "Does it bother you to have it this way?"

"No, but what about the two nights when we have to sleep together?"

"We did this summer, didn't we?"

"Yes, but that was in a motel room. This is much different."

"Yes, it is. Much, much different. I don't know why you haven't made a move on me, but it is time you did. If you won't make a move, I will. If the outcome isn't satisfactory, I'll move Cindy in here and have her sleep with me. You get to sleep alone in the other room."

I didn't want that! I was a virgin when I married Olivia and Shari was going to be the second woman I would be intimate with. Needless to say, I was extremely nervous.

It went well, except for the morning after our first coming together. "Johnny you know nothing about having sex. You're about as inept as a lover could be and I'm going to change that. You need more experience and I'm going to provide it. Your wife couldn't have taken time to teach you much either. You even tense up when you slide into bed with me.

"So, I'm going to teach you how to become the world's best lover. I'm paying the rent and that is the way we are going to make things even. I pay the rent and you make me happy. I've waited all summer for this. Now kiss me, your education is just beginning."

And it was. I couldn't believe the pleasure this woman was giving me. She taught me how to give her pleasure as well. There wasn't an area of the body that wasn't explored. She even showed me things that she said she didn't particularly enjoy, but I should know about them and how to perform them correctly.

I guess I had repressed my sexual feelings for so long, it took awhile to bring them to the fore. But boy, once they were activated, did I ever enjoy this new awareness of the opposite sex. And it was all directed at my live-in partner. She laughed long and hard with me at each new revelation that came to me. Lying at Shari's side after a particularly exhausting session, she said to me, "You know you could go back to your wife now and she would never leave you. You're good. Hell, you're great!"

"Shari, I will never go back to her. I think I am falling in love with you. I would like to think you have some love for me as well. I know I'm so much older than you so I won't be asking for a life-time commitment. I'm just so glad I stopped and gave you a hand last June. I was running away from a person that was showing me disrespect of the worst kind. I found you. You don't know what a joy it is to wake up with you next to me.

"That is not all. I have two grandkids and I love Cindy as much as I do them. How long can this wonderful feeling last? I don't want it to ever end." There were tears of joy in my eyes.

"Hey calm down Johnny. Nothing has to change. I love you as much as I did my husband. You are the best I have had since he died. Let's go on just as we are for a time. We are making out fine. Thanksgiving is next week and I only have to work a half day. You don't have to work at all. We'll lay around and be happy. It is going to be the best time for all of us."

"I wish I could cook. I never learned how. I haven't had to spend too much of my wages. I think I'll have the dinner catered."

"That's pretty extravagant. I noticed you received a letter from the place you said paid you dividends. Don't you want to use some of that? I'm not prying, but it must be enough to pay for a dinner."

"I'm sure it is. I'll have to look sometime. Hey, we have time to play a game. I bought Monopoly yesterday. I bet I can beat you."

"You're on. Remember though, I play a cut throat game." This became our pastime when we were alone. If Cindy was around we focused all of our attention on her. If Shari wasn't there I was teaching Cindy how to play. It became to all of us a passion. I did cater the Thanksgiving dinner and went all out, hiring the caterers to cook it in our little kitchen where we could smell the aromas that wafted around us.

I still hadn't opened my dividend check. Shari asked about it again. I answered, "I'll use it to buy Christmas presents. I'll even split it with you." I dropped the subject. I was afraid when she found out how much the check was, the happiness I found with her would disappear in a minute.

I came across from the store two days later at six-fifteen. Shari was sitting at the table. She had to be at work at seven. She hadn't made coffee. "Johnny, who are you? First I have to apologize for opening your mail. I was so curious as to how much you were going to let me have to buy Christmas presents with. I didn't think you would mind. We have been so close and have shared everything for so many months, I thought it would be okay. I'm sorry."

Tears were rolling down her face and I went and pulled her into my arms. "I was going to tell you how much it was. I was just afraid it would spoil what we have together and that is the only reason I haven't opened the letter."

"Do you know how much the check is for?"

"Yes. I told you how much the dividend was. It was $1.01. I own 150,000 shares, so it should be $151,500. That's correct isn't it?"

Shari had her head down and nodded. "Johnny, tell me the truth right now. How much are you worth?"

"Exactly, I don't know. It changes from day to day."

"Ball park then?"

"A couple hundred million, maybe. That would be pretty close. I have about $15,000,000 in liquid assets. The rest is in property I have in an industrial park I have developed."

"The store pays you $6.75 an hour. Do you count that in?" This was said with a little bitterness.

I didn't answer and went to the phone and called the store owner. "Shari is very sick today. She will not be able to work." I turned back to this woman I had grown so fond of. "I guess after Cindy goes to school, we had better talk. Honest Shari, I don't want to hurt you. I just didn't know how to tell you what my financial situation is. I have never lied to you."

"Johnny, I feel like I'm losing you and feel so helpless. I have come to depend on you to make me happy. Cindy is going to miss you as much as I am. I'm so poor and you are so rich."

"I guess you are just going to have to get rich like I am then. I was worth a hell of a lot less ten years ago than now. This is the age you are at the present time."

"Yeah, right. You must have had something to start with."

"I did, but you have something. This home, that's a start. Remember the game of Monopoly we have been playing. The person that buys the first property and collects rent is on his or her way."

"But I don't own this property." I got up and went to my lock box and handed Shari the deed to the house. With it I gave her the account book she had been paying the rent into.

"You have been paying rent to yourself, so I would say you are on your way. I did provide the money for the house, but you own it now. You must know why I did this, if you would think about it."

"Johnny, I see you as the same person you were last night, but you're not. Let me think this through. I have a million questions."

At least this woman didn't go ballistic on me. I worried she would reject me outright. That was the fear I had and why I was so reticent about my financial situation. I had lived with her for five months. She wasn't a greedy person and my millions would mean little to her. More of a detriment for our life to continue together, rather than an asset.

When it was time, I went in and roused Cindy, telling her to get up for breakfast and school. I don't know when it started, but now Cindy was always raising her arms for a hug and a kiss on the cheek when she first got out of bed. Just another matter of warmth and closeness I feared I was going to lose.

"Mom, you're still home. Can I stay home today with you?"

"No, not today. Johnny and I have some things to talk about. We'll see you this afternoon." When I returned from taking Cindy to school, Shari was still sitting at the table. I made us breakfast and sat down.

"Johnny, this complicates our life a whole lot. You being rich and everything. Tell me why you didn't tell me more about yourself."

"I didn't tell you because I knew we would be having this conversation when you found out. I don't want to lose you or Cindy, and I'm enjoying going to work at the same place, even if it is for low pay. It is just like a low income, loving family that works together to get along, never expecting too much. A family that uses their love to fill in the gaps where they don't have the money to cover anything but the bare necessities."

"So how did you get so damned rich?"

"I didn't set out to be at first. I think that is why I'm more comfortable with your lifestyle than my own. Being as well off as I am sometimes is a burden. That is why my daughter takes care of my finances. I did play Monopoly as a kid. That started it. Also I'm one to think about things. I thought about the Monopoly game and wondered if it could be a model for one's life.

"When I was fifteen, my father and mother were killed in a car accident. I was left with $75,000 dollars and about a hundred acres of land on the outskirts of a good-sized town. My father and my present father-in-law had been close friends at one time and named each other godfather for their children, never supposing there would be a need.

"Perry, my godfather, made his mark in life by becoming well-to-do through his connection with his wife, Ellen, my mother-in-law. He wasn't happy about having a godson at the time, but had accepted the chore, never thinking he would have to do anything after being named.

He did fulfill his duties, making sure I was fed, clothed and housed until I was eighteen. I was pretty much left to my own devices. We were never close at all and we still aren't. When I was seventeen, I asked him to put the cash that came from my parents under my own control.

"He, of course, thought I would blow it on partying or for a fast car or some such foolishness. I kept things at a low key as far as he was concerned, but I had a mission. This is when my goals changed. I wanted to play Monopoly in real life. I had this hundred acres and I wanted to turn it into money. I watched the papers and when I saw that a company needed land for a new factory, I hired a man to lobby to get the company to build on my property.

"This took months and wasn't finalized until after I turned eighteen and could speak for myself. I proposed that the factory building be built on my property, but instead of selling, I would lease them the land and they would own the building. This gave me a steady cash flow for the next few years. The lease would be renewed every three years.