Chapter 13

Trying to undo 2 deaths and all the legalities with money and property that changed hands is like trying to put the air back into a burst balloon. A legal team was trying to make everything as if their deaths never happened, for obvious reasons. Luckily, there were no hostile heirs who received anything from their hastily drawn wills. There were endowments to PolyTech that could easily be undone as no cash or property ever changed hands since they were contingent on the demise of Scott and Betty Hanson. PolyTech was also aware that they would be re-written into new wills for the pair. The 3 properties they bought as the towers were attacked had been under contract with a leasing company for 7 years. That contract would expire soon and lawyers made those parties aware that the contract would not be extended and a new property management agent would be put in place to be sure the homes were kept secure and in good repair when they weren’t occupied by the Joe and Selena.

Joe, especially, was getting itchy to get back into his stock trading. It wasn’t so much to produce income, but rather to fulfill his hobby. As it had been 9 years ago, investing in the retirement homes around the world in their favorite spots had ended his serious speculation in financials. He still liked the joy of the hunt and kill, but big risk was left for those who had yet to achieve financial security. Besides, if Selena decided to continue her Wall Street Global career they, as a couple, would have enough in the game by virtue of her seat and partnership in the firm.

The legal firm Joe had contacted was a partnership that included his original legal attorney for Johnson Construction. His name was Roger Moret and was now part of the firm Murray, Moret and Caribou. Moret had been a personal friend and was one of the first to offer Joe and Selena congratulations and assistance when they returned home. He had advised Joe to let them follow where each dollar had gone since their “deaths” and see where they stood. Joe was quite pleased to find that despite the tremendous ebb and flow of the markets and real estate, they had done quite well. The leased properties turned profits from long term tenants with a low vacancy rate, and even that mostly because of the property in Maine not being occupied in winters. Selena’s parents were cautious on their investments and did little besides pay themselves for maintaining the home and managing funds. They had easy access to millions of dollars, but instead lived frugally in their home where Selena was raised and enjoyed the luxuries of Joe’s place overlooking the city. Essentially, they had paid themselves about 50K a year for the 9 years and had bought 2 cars and had a new pool installed at Joes when the liner and pumps failed.

The way the Hansons paid themselves it was as if they were employees of the Trust and Roger Moret thought they could write it up that way with them being employees of Joe and Selena, caring for the properties. That might make the tax adjustment a little more palatable and of course Joe and Selena could come up with enough “slush” to be sure they never took a big tax hit.

The representative in the US Senate from their district already had gears in motion to waive some red tape to get them passports to Jamaica after hearing the press conference where Selena said she wanted to get away and get their lives back in order. The State Department, Homeland Security, and Office of the Inspector General, were all in concert with the NYS Governor, US Senate, and the US Postal Service to clear their way. Their passports had just been updated prior to 911 and that was making all of that easy to push through.

Selena had been concerned with Joe because he had yet to leave his property since they came home, it had been 3 days.

“Daddy brought the Mustang in to get new tires and stuff for me. He says it runs great after being mothballed all that time. Let’s go for a ride, maybe you can even look for a car.” She said after they both finished with the morning papers.

“Uh, no. I’m fine; I have things to do around here.” Joe answered getting up quickly and going back towards his office.

“Joe, you’re going to have to go out and start to live again and sitting in here or the back yard isn’t exactly you. I made a trip to the mall with my mother yesterday and it was great to get out and breath, see people and begin to get back into it. Yes, a few people stopped and recognized me, but they only wished me well, asked for God’s blessing. One older woman wanted to hug me. All of this will wear off. We were in every newspaper around here and made national TV, but people know we want some privacy.” Selena said as she went to him and stopped his exit by taking his arm.

“I’m not ready yet. My mind is still a little paranoid. Everybody wants something.” He answered curtly.

“Joe, wanting to wish us well isn’t exactly the stuff people get paranoid about. Lick this now before you develop a real problem. We’ve been cooped up for 9 years, and you hardly remember more than a few of them. Get dressed and we’ll go for a ride, stop down at Bishops Park and walk the mile trail. We can stop across from the park at that car dealer, Jerry Cahills. I saw the ad on TV and he still deals in GM and foreign cars. You bought the Roadster from there.” Selena said to him in a tone he understood as being “you’re GOING to do this for me, aren’t you?”

“BMW is making a Roadster, but not like mine with the German M engine. If I ordered one with the M it will be a Z4 and they take over a year to get. I’ve been on the internet ... So pissed I lost my car on top of everything else in that whole deal.” Joe said whimsically.

“That was the least of our worries.” Selena said softly.

“Well, OBVIOUSLY! I didn’t mean it like it sounded. It just fit me so well. We could ride close, get in and out of small places in New York, and you looked so damn good in it!” Joe said making motions with his hands and ending by pulling her close to hug.

Selena turned into him and playfully poked her finger in his chest hairs. “So why don’t you order the car and color you want, with the engine you want, ... and in the meantime go with me to Jerry Cahills and pick out something we both like. When you get your precious Roadster, I’ll keep whatever we you drive until then. OK?”

“What about your Mustang?” “Joe, it’s almost 15 years old and I don’t want to depend on it. I know it wasn’t in use most of that time, but still...”

“I suppose you ARE right. If we did that we could give your Dad the Mustang. He babied it like it was you for the 9 years, the way it sounded. Let’s go and look at cars tomorrow, OK?” Joe said as he tried to break free from her.

“Get dressed, we’re going now.” She said quietly as Joe turned and went to the bedroom to change.

Selena followed him in and said “You know he’s got 3 leftover Pontiac Solstices, one of them almost the color of the Roadster.”

“I don’t know what a Solstice is, and you’ve already been looking, huh, you little brat.”

“I saw it as my Mom drove by and I thought of you and we went back to look. Pontiacs are gone now, but they made this sports car the last year. He has 3 more leftover at full sticker, but we can afford it.” Selena said hopefully.

“What makes you think I would like it? Just get one to replace the Mustang.”

“Joe, when we drove by I saw it, top down and the same color blue as the Roadster, and I got wet thinking of you behind the wheel, seriously. I went and looked at it; it has a hardtop that comes off and a convertible top in the hatchback. It’s sooooo sexy and it screams Joey!” She said getting excited.

“Are you sure it didn’t scream Selena?” Joe asked sarcastically.

“Joe the thought of you keeping it until you got the Beemer Roadster with your special engine just came to me when you said it might take a year to get. I wouldn’t manipulate you. Trust, baby, trust.” She said, a little pissed for him to think that, before she lost her temper a bit.

“If I wanted the fucking car, I would have bought it! I wouldn’t need your approval. Now get dressed and I’m getting you out of the house before you go crazy. You’ve come this far back and I’m not going to lose you now. Mom said Dr Culver warned her you might try to crawl into a shell, and I’m not letting it happen. We’ll go, take the walk, look at the car and then find a place we can make love outside, maybe up near Treachers Park. How would you like me bent over the Mustang with my skirt pushed up over my ass?” She said starting in a decisive voice before turning Joe to the wall and pressing herself to him for the eye to eye proposition.

“That sounds more like us than any ideas I’ve had lately. God, I love you when you take control of a situation ... dirty girl” Joe said as he slid from the wall and rushed to change his clothes.

She let him pass but not before calling him out quickly, “And I’m not a dirty girl, I just love you and have to have you all of the time. Once I see you in the little blue AMERICAN roadster, I’ll bet I’ll be ready to go.”

They both laughed but Selena knew she had to get Joe out of his protective shell. The outgoing lothario may have gotten past having to have every woman he saw, but his dominant personality always kept him in control of all situations. Suddenly he wasn’t so sure of himself.

Selena was ready to go, but still no Joe appeared from the bedroom so she went into see what was holding him up. There he stood in front of the mirror with his face almost against it, looking for wrinkles; trying to smooth the little crow’s feet around his eyes.

Suddenly it hit Selena. Joe at 50 had become worried about his looks, his appeal.

“Joe, you’re still the sexiest man in any room, and could probably have any woman you want. Being vain about your looks will get you old fast.” She said as she put her arms around him and looked from under his arm to his face in the mirror.

“Essy, I still feel 42, but I sure do look 50.”

“Up close in the mirror, you might look even older Joe. Once you get out and in the swing again, in the pool in the summer, in the gym now, and you start getting that good sleep again, you’ll be fine. You have so little gray, and if you want to cover it up, I don’t care. Do you know how sexy I find you?” She said staring at his eyes in the reflection.

Selena pulled at him and they were off. They cruised the main streets of town noting all of the new building they had missed and eventually worked their way to Bishops Park. They parked close to the walking trail and saw almost every car had a bike rack.

“Damn Joey! We can buy bicycles now! Your knees are fixed! We could pick up the bike path here. It splits the park and then goes down to follow the river a bit and back here. I did that all the time when I first started at PolyTech.” Selena exclaimed as she pulled the Mustang in.

“I have a stationary bike down in the garage, unless your Dad got rid of it. I had to stop using it long before I met you.” Joe said looking back and forth over the landscape for people.

“Joe? We could ride together OUTSIDE. Not just for the exercise, but for the fresh air, getting out. We’re not staying cooped up in that house. Let’s get out and walk.”

Selena never stopped talking all through their walk, clinging to Joe as they strolled, sometimes crunching the newly fallen leaves as they filled parts of the path. When they came to the long part of the path out of the tree groves Selena broke from Joe and tugged at him.

“Come on, military pace now. Lucy always said to keep your arms up and elbows tight to your bra line at military pace to give high tits and a round ass. Wow, Lucy, there’s someone we have to get back to. She wrote she’ll be in town next week to see us.” Selena said as she picked up the pace and started breathing heavy.

“The only high tits I want are yours, and I don’t have a bra line. As for the round ass...” Joe laughed as he joined her.

“YOU still have a great ass Joe and this will help you keep it!” Selena said as she saw Joe getting into it, feeling the competitiveness.

Soon they were striding together and breathing together in the cool air. Joe was surely starting to feel invigorated. They were coming to the other starting point on the path, the one directly across from Jerry Cahills Auto Plaza. Selena turned them into a cool down zone with water fountains, benches and stretch bars. They stood and got their breath and got a drink before Selena tugged Joe towards Cahills.

They crossed at the crosswalk and walked to the big showroom window where the blue Solstice Essy had talked about was.

“You go in and check that out. I saw something that caught my eye in the side lot. I’ll be right in.” Selena told him as he definitely had an eye for the blue car that reminded Selena so much of his beloved Roadster.

There were 3 other browsers inside and a bank of 5 unoccupied sales people. One was an attractive 40 something blonde in a blue tight fitting knit dress. She had a thick sales book in her arm held to her chest.

“I see something provocative in blue has caught your eye! My name is Sarah Zee.” She said as she came up and handed him a sales card, like a dog peeing on a tree to mark her spot.

“Uh, Joe. Nice to meet you” Joe said as he looked her up and down, a move that was not lost on her and the fact she dressed for the effect.

“We only have 3 of these left and there’s no dicking around with them, I mean dickering with them. The price is the price. Very rare and not made anymore, but full warranty, 5 years and 100,00 miles by GM and Jerry Cahills. We have one available for test drive and I would love to go out with you. I can show you all around the car and answer any questions.” Sarah said.

Joe’s face lit up and he said “Sure, I’d love to take it for a ride.”

She smiled and winked and said she would be back in a minute as she went to get the key.

Joe continued to look around the car when a second female sales person came up, a younger redhead, but subtly more attractive and business-like than the first.

“Are you being helped? I could get you in a Solstice TODAY. We’re road tested and ready for you to slip into.” She said with a wry smile in a tone the was suggestive

For the second time in a few minutes Joe had been come onto by 2 diversely different personalities. He felt a pudge in his pants and suddenly became aware that he was standing back straight and stomach tightened.

“No, no, no, no, I AM being helped, but thanks anyway.” Joe said looking her up and down as he did the first.

She turned and walked away clicking her heels on the floor to draw his attention to her “walk-away” that was quite pleasing to his eyes. She hadn’t clicked that way when she walked over, but she knew how to draw his eyes as she looked back to catch him checking her rear and smiled at him before disappearing into a cubicle.

Joe turned back there stood Selena, arms folded and smiling a sly grin.

“If you think you’re rolling out of the lot with either of those bimbos, you are sadly mistaken, Mister I’m Fifty and Unattractive. What’s the matter? You finding out that the old magic works?” She asked.

No, no, they just want to make a sale.” Joe said quietly. “We won’t be gone long, just a little test drive.”

“Well, “Blondie big tits” is going to know that you are married to me before she gets you in that car.” Selena said decisively.

Joe smiled and said “Yes dear, you’re right again dear.”

Selena was happy that Joe became aware that he still was attractive and still considered “hunky” but suddenly felt threatened, although she trusted Joe.

“There’s the Mens room, I’m going to hit that before I go out. Don’t embarrass me if she comes back.” Joe said with a smirky smile as he walked away while Selena bit her lower lip.

She had no reason to think Joe would stray, but now it was her own vanity. A separation of nine years, being raped, and giving birth, ... they all left her to think she might be used merchandise in Joe’s eyes. In her heart of hearts she knew that couldn’t be true as she looked out at the silver Solstice Sarah Zee had just pulled into the presentation apron at the front of the showroom.