Chapter 5

Dan Casey had mixed emotions about flying down to Florida. While he was happy to be leaving the cooler weather up north and heading to the sunny south, he had enjoyed the Saturday night dinner dates with Dana and Kerrie’s periodic layovers at O’Hare. Dana said she would see him when he came back north for the holidays but Kerrie said layovers in Tampa would be a rare occurrence for her. These were two great women and he would miss being with them.

Dee had sent him an e-mail saying that she wouldn’t be down south until after the holidays because of family commitments but she planned on going to the casino when she did come to Florida. That meant to him that she wanted to spend three and a half hours with Dan in a hotel room engaging in sexual activities.

While Dan admittedly had gotten somewhat spoiled by having some very satisfying female companionship. He knew that he could survive here in Florida without sex until he went back north for Christmas and saw Dana. He would just put more effort into his golfing and fishing activities and there was always playing bridge on Tuesday nights.

He thought that the days didn’t go by fast but they did and so did the weeks. He was always a little amazed when he noticed the current day’s date on the calendar.

Fishing had been deteriorating to where now it was only a hit-and-miss situation. It was going to continue to change and not for the better. The water temperature now was down to sixty-six degrees which was expected as it indicated the winter months were coming. An old-timer had told Dan that the bait fish move to deeper water once the water temperature hits sixty-five degrees and the other fish follow which makes for poor fishing. The forecast was for cooler weather.

Despite the changing water temperature Dan decided to take a chance and go to Fort Desoto County Park in the early morning and fish off their ocean pier instead of casting a fishing lure next to his condo. Maybe he would get lucky this late in the season and catch a few Spanish mackerel for dinner. If he got lucky, maybe he would hook into a bonito. Dan didn’t care to eat that fish but he enjoyed hooking one, fighting it, and landing it. It was a lot of fun hooking into this eight to ten-pound distance relative to a tuna as they were terrific fighters. There were people at the pier who were happy to take the bonito off Dan’s hands if he was fortunate to catch one.

Dan knew at a glance he should have stayed home when he pulled into the pier’s parking lot. There were only two other cars in the parking lot which told him that the locals knew fishing wasn’t good. He knew fishing was good at other times when he saw more than twenty cars in the parking lot.

He walked the pier and confirmed that fishing was bad with the two fishermen that were there. The extremely windy weather caused large waves which had clouded the water. It would take about four days for the water to clear assuming the wind didn’t return. After talking with these fishermen for about ten minutes Dan decided not to wet a line and to head on back to his condo.

Dan was thinking about what was on his to-do list while driving back to his condo. At this time in the early morning, there was no traffic on this road which was the main drag that runs through Terra Verde. He observed one bicyclist who was going in the opposite direction. There was a jogger in front of him going in his direction on the sidewalk. The jogger looked to be a female. He saw her take a funny step then stumble and fall down. She tried to break the fall by extending her hands in front of her.

Dan pulled his car over to the side of the road and stopped his car. He exited his car and went to this jogger who still was down.

“Are you all right?”

“I don’t know, my ankle hurts and I have some scratches. I guess that’s what I get for watching that flight of pelicans flying over and not where I was going. I should have seen that little pothole.

“Here, let me help you up.”

She started to stand but she groaned and grabbed Dan’s arm as she couldn’t stand on her right leg.

“Now I’ve gone and done it. To me, it feels like I have a bad sprain.”

“Are you sure it’s just a sprain? How about if I take you to St Anthony’s Hospital and we get that ankle checked out?

“I think it’s just a bad sprain and you have better things to do than to take me to the hospital.”

“Believe me! I have nothing better to do and I think you would feel better if we would get that ankle properly checked out.”

She agreed to go to the hospital but she almost collapsed while trying to take her first step to Dan’s car and she would have if she didn’t hold on to Dan.

Seeing her do this he said, “Excuse me but we are going to do this the old fashion way” he put one arm around her waist and another arm under her thighs and picked her up to carry her to his car. Dan in carrying her guessed that she was about five foot five or six inches tall and she weighed about one hundred and ten pounds.

He got into his car on the driver’s side after she was seated and belted in the passenger seat.

“We should be at the hospital in about twenty minutes. I should introduce myself to you before I start driving. My name is Dan Casey” and he extended his hand to her.

She shook his hand and said, “Molly Ringman, and it’s nice meeting you but this is not under the best of circumstances.”

Dan started driving and thought that Molly was older than she looked when she saw her jogging. He would guess she was somewhere in her early forties.

She asked him about himself during the drive and he gave her the Readers Digest version of where he lived, being retired, a widower, and splitting his time between Florida and Northern Illinois.

He was pulling into the emergency entrance at St Anthony’s before he knew it. He asked the security guard who was there if there was a wheelchair available. A wheelchair was brought out which Molly sat in. Dan had his car valet parked. He pushed Molly sitting in the wheelchair into the emergency room reception area and stopped at the desk to tell the receptionist why they were there.

The receptionist took some information and asked both of them to take a seat to wait for a nurse. There were only two other people in the waiting room.

A nurse came up to them about five minutes later and asked Molly what had happened. After Molly told her about her ankle, the nurse started to push Molly down the corridor. Dan continued to sit in the waiting room.

The nurse seeing this stopped and waiving to Dan and said, “Your husband can come along.”

Both Molly and Dan thought it would be best and save some time if they didn’t correct this misconception so they didn’t say anything to the nurse about not being married to each other.

They went into a cubicle and Molly was able to get on an examining table with the nurse’s assistance. A doctor came in, did a quick assessment, and ordered an x-ray. The nurse cleaned the scratches and applied some antiseptic.

The x-ray technician came in with a portable machine, took a few x-rays, and left.

The nurse brought a bucket with some ice water and had Molly put her injured foot in it. After the nurse left the room Dan asked Molly to tell him about herself while they waited for the x-ray results.

“Well let’s see, I’m married and have one daughter. Like you, I spend about five months a year here in Florida and the remainder in Columbus, Ohio. Both my husband and I are CPAs and we have our firm in Columbus. We started the business with just the two of us and it has developed to where there are a total of twenty people working there. I decided that enough people were working there, so I cut back on my work hours. My daughter graduated from Ohio State, passed the CPA exam, and took my place at the firm this past year. I’ll go back and work there starting March first to help out during tax filing time but I’ll come back down here in September. I do like the warm weather and working out although I think my jogging days are going to have to be put on hold for a while.”

“Does your husband come down here?”

“Yes he does and he’s coming here this weekend. I can only guess what his reaction will be when he sees me and hears about this.”

The doctor came into the cubicle and said, “Good news, the x-ray shows that there’s no break, only a bad sprain. We’ll wrap your ankle and ask you to keep off it for a while. I would think that you should be pretty close back to normal in two weeks give or take a few days. You should start soaking your ankle in warm water two days from now.”

The nurse came in and put an elastic wrap around Molly’s ankle. With that done and after doing some paperwork Molly was wheeled out to the main entrance door. With a little assistance, she was able to get into Dan’s automobile.

“Thanks for taking me here, it was a very nice thing for you to do.”

“My pleasure and it was nice meeting and talking to you”

When Dan parked the car at Molly’s townhouse, Molly questioned how she was going to get up the first flight of stairs. She said that there was a pair of crutches and a cane in the garage when they purchased this townhouse which they kept but their being in the garage didn’t solve the present problem. The problem was solved when Dan picked Molly up and carried her up the steps.

Dan helped her into her townhouse and observed that her townhouse was nicely decorated. He passed on her offer of something to drink. He asked her if she needed anything from the store. She told him she did and was planning on going shopping today but that was now impossible.

Dan gave her his contact card and told her to think about what she needed. He said to send him an e-mail with her shopping list. Dan said he was going shopping later today anyway, so it’s no bother for him to do her shopping. Molly said that wasn’t necessary since her husband would be here in two days but Dan’s insistence wore down Molly’s resistance.

Before Dan left he went into the garage and found the crutches and cane, cleaned them up, and adjusted the crutches to Molly’s size. He left them along with her laptop computer, cell phone, and diet soda, all in Molly’s easy reach.

Dan felt good about being able to help Molly while driving back to his condo. She seemed like a nice person and he knew she felt good in his arms when he was carrying her.

Back at his condo Dan signed on to the net and checked his e-mail after cleaning up and making something to eat. There was an e-mail from Molly thanking him for his help and concern. Her shopping list was reasonable as to the number of items listed in this e-mail.

Dan drove to Publix to do the shopping later in the afternoon. He was able to purchase all of the items that were on Molly’s and his lists. He also purchased a few additional items.

After leaving the store, he quickly stopped at his condo to refrigerate the items that needed it and then continued to Molly’s townhouse.

When he pressed the doorbell button he heard her say, “It’s open, come on in,” through an open window.

Molly was sitting on the couch and she had washed up. She had changed out of her jogging clothes into tan Capri pants and a white blouse. It also looked to him that she had put a little makeup on. She cleaned up well was his thought in seeing her.

Dan placed what he had purchased for her on the kitchen counter. He put the items that needed refrigeration into the refrigerator.

Dan told Molly; “I didn’t think you’d want to cook tonight. I brought some fried chicken, German potato salad and coleslaw. I also purchased a large roast beef sandwich that I put in the refrigerator for you to have tomorrow. I’m sure your husband will take care of you when he comes here in two days.”

“It’s so thoughtful of you to do something like that, thank you.”

Molly used a cane to make it to the kitchen table and told Dan where the plates, utensils, and glasses for the soda were.

Dan thought the fried chicken and Molly’s company were good. Molly was not afraid to say what was on her mind. She had a sly sense of humor and some of her remarks made him laugh.

Dan excused himself after the meal. He told Molly not to hesitate to phone him if she needs anything. She couldn’t thank him enough for what he already did.

During the week Dan didn’t hear any more from Molly. He assumed that things were going well for her. He was leaving in three days to fly back north for the holidays. Dana told him in a phone conversation they had that she would be happy to pick him up at the airport. He would be surprised if she wasn’t planning on staying overnight since it was a Saturday.

He wasn’t surprised at all since Dana did stay the night. Both of them said they missed being with the other. Dana was a little bit on the horny side and Dan along with the ‘2-fer was able to correct that situation.

The holidays were nice. Two of his grandchildren knew the truth about Santa Claus but they didn’t say anything to spoil Christmas for the two younger grandchildren. The amount of food at his daughter’s Christmas day dinner table could have fed three times the amount of people that were there.

Per his custom of avoiding getting too deep in his memories of spending New Year’s Eve with Jenny, Dan had booked his return flight to Florida on that day.

After having his fill of college football on New Year’s Day, Dan prepared his to-do list.

While checking his e-mail he remembered that he had Molly’s e-mail address. Dan sent her a short note saying that he was back in Florida and wondered how her ankle was.

He received a reply from Molly the next day. In it, she said that the ankle was just about normal and she’s doing some jogging but watching where she goes. She said she came back three days after Christmas but her husband stayed in Columbus because of some new customers and a large account that wanted to have a full audit done. She asked Dan about his plans now that he was back.

Dan responded that golf would be his primary activity till the water warms up for fishing. He said he had checked and there was a u-pick tomato place that was still open on the other side of the Sunshine Bridge. Dan said he was going there to pick some tomatoes and afterward he was going to the outlet mall at Ellenton.

Molly replied, “Do you want some company when you go to Ellenton? I was planning on going there myself.”

Dan replied by saying that he was going there tomorrow and would pick her up at nine.

Dan was pleasantly surprised when Molly answered the door after he pressed the doorbell button. She was wearing tight tan slacks, a yellow striped blouse, and high heel platform shoes. He also noticed that her makeup made her look younger than she was. Molly was one good-looking woman. Because of the shoes, she was wearing it was obvious to him that she wasn’t planning to pick any tomatoes but she surprised him. Molly had a change of shoes in a bag that she carried.

At the U-pick place instead of picking they each purchased a large box of tomatoes that was inexpensive and more cost-effective. There were also some other vegetables there that they bought.

Arriving at the outlet mall Dan asked her how much time she needed to shop. She asked for two hours to which Dan agreed and said that he would meet her in the food court when the time was up. Dan only needed about thirty minutes to do his shopping but he had long ago learned that women needed more time to shop than men. He did his shopping, purchasing slacks, three shirts, and a rain jacket, all of which he placed in his car. He went and browsed in a golf store and then continued to the food court where he sipped on a soda while looking at some of the tourist brochures that were there. He knew he had a one-hour wait for Molly.