WAITING FOR SUMMER... with high hopes (Part 108g)

Later that day Bret stopped in to bring everybody up to date about his new baby. Seeing him, I actually felt bad about my promotion. When he’d been hired he thought he was going to be Chuck’s assistant and when Chuck died thought he’d get the position... and then I was hired. When it was quitting time I went over to Hobie to ask if anything was “in the works” for Bret. His immediate answer was “no” but asked why I was interested. I explained and put in a good word for Bret at the same time. When Hobie walked away I felt that at least I’d planted a seed in his mind. However, I was still worried about how Bret would take my promotion when he returned.

J J seemed really happy for me as the news traveled throughout the building. He told me that he’d like to buy me lunch the next day but, at the same time reminded me that I promised to introduce him to Artie, the mortgage officer from the first bank I’d worked at. I’d forgotten about it so right after he walked away I called Artie. He was somewhat surprised to hear from me but said that his schedule for the next day was light. Long story short... J J and I made arrangements to take an extended lunch the next day.

Driving through the town I noticed that Judith (the lady who owned the drug store) had a sign up for her new boutique. It made me wonder how Stasia, the young girl who had worked at the bank, was making out with her new life. Artie was waiting for us and with J J being a mortgage officer the two of them hit it off right away. I was pretty much out of it since I had no mortgage background and some of what they were talking about sounded almost like a foreign language. After a while I reminded J J that one of the reasons we were there was to look at the map of the property that Artie’s bank had just made a loan on.

Artie took us up to their Board room where the map of the proposed subdivision was spread out on the table. With Elle and I now working on floor plans for a house, I’d been interested to see just what Artie had for us to see. Seeing it, I knew exactly where it was located. It was part of a farm and had no trees on it at all. Elle had one very basic requirement and that was that we had to have trees. This was certainly not for us. J J, on the other hand, wanted at least a half acre to build on. The subdivision had three different lot sizes starting at a quarter acre going on up to a half acre. Artie told us that the bank had nothing to do with the sale of the land and that a real estate agency located back in the town where my parents lived was the one to talk to. J J, obviously excited about what he’d seen on the map, wanted to stop on our way back to work. He thanked Artie and we were back on the road.

Having worked in the town when I was still in high school I was very familiar with the agency. One of the ladies who worked there would come into the grocery store where I worked a couple of times a week. I hadn’t seen Jennie in about eight years but she recognized me as soon as we walked in the door. She got one of the agents to talk with J J and she and I got caught up a bit. One interesting piece of information was that one of Elle’s high school teachers had retired and was now working there as an agent. He wasn’t there at that time but I told her to say hello to him for Elle. While there J J set the wheels in motion to buy the biggest lot. I almost didn’t believe it because, up to then, he’d seemed to take a long time to make decisions. By the time we left the agency we’d been gone from work for two hours... and we hadn’t eaten.

When I walked back into the bank Trish told me that Edgar, the President, wanted to see me. In my mind, that wasn’t good. Right from the time I’d first met him I had the feeling that he didn’t really like me. As I climbed the stairs it came to me that taking a two plus hour lunch right after getting promoted probably wasn’t such a good idea. Even the prospect of getting an upskirt from the switchboard operator didn’t make me feel any better. I knocked on Edgar’s door and he called me right in. He always seemed to be uptight and this day was no different. He only had a few words to say and it was to tell me to get my picture taken and to get a publicity piece in the local paper. That was it. I was shaking my head as I returned to my desk.

His orders meant that I had to get in touch with the ad agency. I called and Amy answered. I asked for her father and was told that being a Friday afternoon he’d taken off early. Before I could say anything else she informed me that her grandfather was also gone. That left me with no one to talk to but her. I can’t deny that seeing her panties was a turn on but the “baggage” that she carried as far as her reputation was concerned was upsetting. I’d deliberately not asked J J if he’d had any contact with her since moving in to their family guest cottage. I took a deep breath and told her my needs. She was very cheerful, as always, and said that she’d take care of getting a photographer. At that point I took a deep breath and wished her a nice weekend.

While on the phone with Amy a call had come in for me. Trish handed me a note and at first I didn’t recognize the name. It read “call Vic”. Off the top of my head I couldn’t think of anyone that I knew named Vic. When I dialed the number I didn’t recognize the voice. It took a minute for the two of us to get on the same page. It was Elle’s former teacher who was now working at the real estate firm. I knew him from “afar” as I’d not attended the same high school as Elle. But, having lived and worked in the town as a teen I knew who he was and he knew who I was. After we got through the “pleasantries“ he asked if there wasn’t something he could do for me. He knew that J J had put money down on a lot in the new development and wanted to know if Elle and I had any interest. I told him where Elle and I were as far as housing and that we’d decided to build but weren’t actively looking for property. I told him we’d looked at a few houses but hadn’t seen anything that was big enough. I then told him I had to get back to work and he asked that if he came up with something could he call me. He was a nice man so I told him ”OK“.

To be continued...