Chapter 2

Making love to Jill was very enjoyable to say the least thought Tom. It put a bounce in his step and somewhat brought him out of his funk he was in caused by the death of his dear Kathy. Having sex with Jill reminded him how he missed doing that. How to meet some new good looking women now became a constant thought in Tom’s mind.

Tom always had the thought he was a little above average in the looks department. At six foot two and two hundred and ten pounds he knew he had a good physique when compared to most of his male friends. He thought he was fairly good looking when he washed and shaved in the morning and he looked in the mirror. All he had to do to dispel his thoughts on his looks was to see a photo of himself which showed his looks were average or maybe only a little above average. For some reason photos don’t lie and truly showed a person’s age. Maybe he should start dying his hair to look younger he thought as the gray was getting to be the predominate color of his hair

Meeting new women was going to be difficult because he thought somewhat cynically that there wasn’t much what he would call ‘good looking talent’ available among his circle of acquaintances. If he kept his eyes open and let the word be known that he was open to dating maybe something would happen and he would meet an interesting and receptive woman.

Early one evening Tom was at home reading the latest mystery best seller by one of his favorite writers when heard his phone ring. Walking to the phone he thought it probably was another telemarketer as he answered the phone.

“Tom this is Carrie Winslow, I just heard the tragic news about your wife’s accident. Please accept my condolences.”

He remembered Carrie as she was one of the first people he insured when he became an insurance agent. She was a few years younger than him and an attractive lady then. He knew she married shortly thereafter and with her mother’s passing had inherited the bridal store her mother owned. She was successful in the bridal store business and had expanded it to where she had three bridal stores in the western and northern suburbs. He hadn’t seen her in person in about fourteen years.

“Thanks for calling Carrie; it’s a very nice thing for you to do. Things have been rough for a while but while I never will get over it, I think I can start to put it a little behind me. How are you doing and what is new with you?”

“I sold all my bridal stores as I received an offer from a large company that I couldn’t refuse. It was getting to be a little hectic managing the business so I thought I would get out and start to relax. When this unsolicited offer came around it was the opportune time.”

“What does your husband think about that?”

“As in the movie when Gable said “Quite frankly I don’t give a damn,” that sums it up for me. We divorced thirteen years ago which was not soon enough. The marriage hadn’t been good for a long time. The only thing good that came out of it was my only daughter. The last I heard about Steve was that he moved out of the area to some place down south.”

“Carrie, if I may say so I remember you to be a very attractive woman. Can I assume you are beating the men away with a big stick now that you are single?”

Laughingly she said, “Well I have dated a little but I haven’t found anyone interesting. Why, are you asking me out?”

Her response took Tom back a little as he never thought about doing that and there was a pause in the conversation.

Finally Tom said, “Yes I am, it would be my pleasure to take you out to dinner.”

He was rewarded with a pause in her conversation and then she said, “Okay, you can pick me up at six at my place this Saturday. Let me give you my address and phone number.”

After writing down this information and ending the phone call, he started to wonder what he was getting involved in with Carrie. At one time he thought she was attractive bordering on beautiful but who knows what can happen to physical looks over the years. He could only hope that she had maintained most of her good looks.

During the rest of the week Tom played some golf and kept to his routine but he was anticipating his date with Carrie.

What became somewhat interesting was another phone call he received and this one was from Linda Barnes. Tom had known Ray and Linda Barnes for a long time as they were one of his insured’s. Ray owned a number of fast food franchises and had done well financially. Because of their substantial wealth, Ray’s and Linda’s circles of friends were different from Tom’s circle of friends. Notwithstanding that, Tom thought they were nice down to earth people.

Linda came right to the point as to why she called Tom. She told him that among her lady friends there was a common interest to learn about investing. Linda said that the husbands presently take care of managing the finances and investments but should something happen to them the women would be lost on what they needed to do. The ladies she knew wanted to be prepared to take on that task or at least know something about investing so that they weren’t novices in this area. To that end they are thinking about starting an investment club. Since Tom had sold investment products as life insurance, annuities and mutual funds, Linda wondered if Tom could give them some education on investing.

Tom asked some questions about the group and what subjects they wanted covered.

“You should assume that all of us to know nothing about investing. If you were training someone to learn about investing what subjects would you need to cover? I would think; stocks, bonds, annuities and maybe estate planning.’

“Linda, you do know that there are more qualified people than I to teach your group of ladies something like that?”

“We talked about it but those people are usually looking to get some sort of a business from us in doing that and we would rather deal with someone who is knowledgeable but at the same time is not looking for new clients. I suggested you. Will you do this?”

After some more talk as to what presentation equipment would be provided and when and where this training would occur, Tom agreed to teach some classes. Because he had been doing his own investing, he thought he could at least train them in the investment basics and it would be something he would enjoy and feel comfortable in doing this as well as giving him something to do. He also thought that maybe this could be an opportunity to expand his circle of lady friends as well.

Driving into Carrie’s condo’s complex parking lot in this affluent suburban community, Tom had the thought that Carrie had done well. It was an eight story condo building she lived in and her condo number was 801 which meant a top floor corner unit.

Still wondering what she was going to look like after all these years he pressed her doorbell button.

When Carrie opened the door Tom was pleasantly surprised. Not only had Carrie maintained her looks she had also improved on them if that was possible. Her maturity had given her a classiness that was immediately evident.

“Carrie you haven’t changed at all. Let me take that back, yes you have changed and have gotten even more beautiful.”

“Oh Tom if I didn’t know what you did I would guess you were in sales with a line like that.”

She gave him a nice hug which enabled him to feel her breasts pressing against him as well as catching the scent of the provocative perfume she was wearing.

Carrie offered Tom a drink which he accepted. In looking around the condo, he found it decorated beautifully. Also decorated beautifully was Carrie in the form fitting black dress that she wore with a V neckline.

Dinner with Carrie was nice and enjoyable. Each of them talked about what had happened in their lives and what they now were doing. Carrie talked about her daughter who was now married and had given Carrie three grandchildren. The only bad thing about her was that she lived in Dallas, Texas. Carrie did say that she spends about four months of the year visiting.

The time flew by so quickly that Tom was a little surprised when the check was presented.

Pulling the car into Carrie’s car parking lot Tom said, “I want to thank you for going out to dinner with me tonight Carrie. I thought you would be and you were a good date. I had a good time and it has been a while since I did.”

“I feel the same way Tom you are an interesting man.”

“Can we do this again?”

“I am free next Saturday and would be disappointed if we didn’t go out again.”

“It’s a date.”

Carrie leaned over and gave Tom a kiss on his cheek before she left his car. Watching her nice backside walk away, Tom thought that he wanted to get to know her better, much better.

Driving back to his condo Tom thought about Carrie and what she had said during the dinner. Financially she was in excellent shape. The money she had received from selling her bridal shops enabled her to live a comfortable life style. Besides stock and bonds investments, she had taken advantage of the downturn in real estate values and had purchased a condo in Clearwater, Florida and a cottage on a small lake near Madison Wisconsin.