Ann: A Love Story Ch. 67

It was turning out to be one of the busiest weeks of my life, and it was driving me nuts. I was working more hours in a day than I'd ever worked as the manager of the department, going in around 7:00 each morning, and not leaving until at least 6:00 each night. And it seemed like when I finally DID get off of work, there was always something to do. Most of it had to do with the upcoming wedding...not that that was a bad thing. But that meant that Ann and I didn't have any alone time to speak of.

And THAT...was a bad thing.

~*~*~*~*~*~

When I'd gone back to work on Monday, I settled down with Kevin, and began the arduous task of training him. Dad was taking care of working with Tommy on the production side, teaching him while learning the process himself so he'd be better able to support the department. And he was quick to pull Howard out of his new maintenance role if he needed a quick answer on something...the weight of his VP position pulling rank on the few times that was necessary. And that was huge. It was going to be a big enough chore to teach Kevin the ropes in two weeks. Having to also train a new production leader wasn't something I'd anticipated.

First, I had to give Kevin a crash course in what we did; contrasting it against the services the main plant offered that he was more accustomed to. That proved to be pretty easy. Kevin was a quick study, and he seemed to grasp the concept of what we were doing as a department, and the processes that we were using to cultivate new opportunities with our customers. It was the customers that were going to be the challenge.

We had three main customers that were driving the department. Two large ones that we'd had for a while, including T-S Incorporated, where Mark worked. And now, we had the even larger customer that we'd just landed. But, in addition to those, there were around a hundred smaller ones. They didn't send in the steady orders like the other ones. Most would send in just one or two a month, but those jobs helped to fill in the production gaps.

Those customers were just as invaluable to the success of the department as the big three, as I started calling them. And their needs were so varied, that it took a lot to grasp the subtle differences that made each of them a unique challenge. And that meant teaching Kevin in the idiosyncrasies of the customer base was going to take some time.

Since the production department worked unusual hours compared to the rest of the world, it changed how I trained Kevin. We spent our 9:00 to 5:00...well, our 7:00 to 3:30, dealing with the day to day production issues, scheduling the department properly, and going over the routine paperwork that came with the position. Then, we'd use the time from 3:30 to 6:30 calling customers in different time zones, introducing Kevin to them and assuring them that the transition would be smooth and painless on their end. It was also a way for me to thank each of them personally...so those calls, given the number of customers I'd acquired over the years, were taking a lot of time.

I left work on that first Monday feeling totally drained. I was almost to my house, driving on automatic pilot, when it occurred to me that I'd insinuated to Ann that we'd have dinner together. She'd even said that she'd wait to eat, not caring what time I got there. I ended up going around the cul-de-sac at the end of my street, and heading over to the Franklin's house, pulling in front a little before seven.

When I knocked on the door, Ann answered, and she had this odd look on her face. "Neil, are you okay?"

"Yeah...why?"

"You look like you've been hit by a truck."

"That good, huh," I chuckled.

"Come in...let me make you something to eat."

"You don't have to go to any trouble, Ann. I..."

"It's not trouble. It's love. Now get in here," she said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me into the house.

I took off my shoes at the door, and followed her into the kitchen, sitting at the little table in the breakfast nook her parents had there. Ann made me a sandwich, and got out some other things for me to munch on, and we sat together.

"Aren't you going to eat?" I asked.

"Huh...oh, shit! I was supposed to wait on you, wasn't I," she said as she put her hand over her mouth and smiled. "I'm sorry, Neil."

I let out a little laugh and said, "I guess none of this day is turning out like I thought it would."

Ann put her hand on mine, her eyes showing a little sadness. "Ooooh...I'm sorry, baby. I..."

I smiled and said, "Don't be. I never said it was bad. In fact, I can't tell you how amazing it is just to be with you at the end of a long day."

"Aw...that's sweet. But I know you wanted..."

I turned my hand over, taking her palm in mine and squeezing her hand. "You know...right now, this is what I want. Just being with you."

And I meant that. Yes, I was still horny. But in truth, I was more exhausted, and just being in the presence of Ann and feeling her love was uplifting at the moment. And I thought that maybe once I ate...I'd get some energy. So, when I finished eating, and Ann asked what I wanted to do, we found ourselves downstairs on her parents' old, beat up couch in Marlin's trophy room. It was still a little strange being around all those stuffed animals that he'd hunted, sort of feeling at first like we were being watched. But the room was warm, and cozy, and we were alone. Ann was curled up next to me, the two of us underneath a big old afghan, watching television.

I had thoughts of us as teenagers, sitting on that same exact couch, and what it would have been like to just sit there necking with Ann as my High School sweetheart. Ann must have had the same thought, because she turned and started kissing me, her hand finding my chest. But then we heard the distinctive footsteps of Marlin making his way down the stairs, and Ann turned her head, giggling like a nervous schoolgirl afraid she was going to get caught.

Marlin just stopped in for a moment to say hi, before heading back upstairs, but that kind of changed the mood, and Ann sank back into me as we settled down to watch an old movie. The next thing I remembered, Ann was waking me up, and asking me if I wanted to just sleep there on the couch. We'd both fallen asleep...the exhaustion from our trip finally catching up to us. I must have drifted off shortly after Marlin left, because I didn't recall anything about the movie as the credits rolled across the little screen.

As much as I wanted to stay there, and just be with Ann, I knew I needed to get home so I could get ready to do it all over again the next day. Ann walked me to the door around 11:00, and she said, "I'll make it up to you baby. We'll have some fun tomorrow."

"Believe it or not, Ann...I had fun tonight. It was perfect just to be next to you on the couch like that. You know...we don't have to have sex EVERY night."

"I know we don't HAVE to...but that doesn't mean we shouldn't!"

I laughed as I kissed her goodnight. "Okay, babe. I'll see you tomorrow. Want to do lunch?"

"I can't. I'm meeting Penny at Tina's. She called this evening. She wants to get her...'hair' done. And she wants me to be there so she doesn't chicken out. Want to come and watch?" she asked with a wink.

I laughed again and said, "I think that would be incredibly dangerous. How about dinner...we can go out."

"We're already going out. We've got a lot of things we need to do for the wedding that I won't be able to do once you leave."

"Really...like what?"

"Tomorrow night we're going to see the minister and set our wedding date," she said...her voice full of excitement. "We need to be there at 7:00. Can you make that?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, baby."

~*~*~*~*~*~

I didn't miss it, but that didn't mean I didn't cut it very close. I'd left work so late I didn't have a chance to go home and shower...I had to go straight from work to pick up Ann, and then we drove straight to her parent's church. If it weren't for living in such a small town, we would have been late.

And Ann let me know it. She was tense; visibly upset when I pulled into her driveway, her foot tapping on the concrete as she stood at the end of it waiting for me. It was as angry as she'd ever been with me, but she wasn't saying anything when she got in the car.

Well, other than, "We're going to be late, Neil."

"No we're not. We'll be there in five minutes...and we've got seven," I said as I backed out and shoved the car in first gear.

We parked in the paved lot of the church less than five minutes later, and we were inside with a minute to spare. But that didn't stop Ann from being anxious. As we waited on a little bench seat outside the Pastor's office, Ann was fidgeting with her purse.

"Ann...I'm sorry."

"It...it's okay. I forgot how fast you can get to places here. I was just worried for nothing."

"Well, I WAS late getting to your house, babe. I'm still sorry for making you wait, and worry."

I moved in to kiss Ann on the cheek, but I saw the Pastor walked out of his office out of the corner of my eye. I stopped, and he laughed.

"Don't stop on my account. It's always great to see people in love," he chuckled.

I gave Ann a quick peck, and then we stood up. "Neil Thomas," I said holding out my hand.

"I'm Pastor Kane," he said holding out his hand. He was in his middle 50's, with silver hair and a big, broad smile. His glasses gave him a studious look, but he didn't look the part of a Pastor, standing there in a sweatshirt and jeans, along with a pair of Reebok's.

"This is my fiancée, Ann Franklin," I said, introducing Ann.

"Ann...I've heard so much about you. I know your parent's are really proud of you, and they're so happy for both of you. Come in to my office...let's sit down and have a little chat."

We talked for well over an hour, with Pastor Kane asking us both a lot of questions about our background, and how we came to be engaged. Having been through that kind of thing with my first marriage, I knew what to expect. He was doing his job, making sure in his mind that Ann and I weren't rushing into anything, which I'm sure it must have seemed based on the story of our courtship we shared with him.

What I hadn't expected was when he said, "So, Neil...I understand you're divorced. Would you mind telling me a little bit about that?"

I know I shook my head a little, shocked at question. Not that he shouldn't be asking it...again, it was part of the territory. I should have expected him to broach it. It was more of the fact that we were in town, and I knew he'd been the Pastor at that church for about 5 years.

"You DO live here, don't you?" I asked with a defensive laugh.

"Yes...why?"

"My divorce wasn't exactly a big secret, Pastor Kane. I was the talk of the town for about six months."

He let out a little laugh and said, "Funny thing about the rumor mill, Neil. It tends to stop when it gets to clergy. When people are talking about something they probably shouldn't be talking about to begin with, they tend to stop in mid sentence when they see me. It used to bother me, but now I actually have fun with it. It's amazing how you can get people to volunteer to help around a church when they're feeling a little guilty. Anyway, I haven't heard about what happened, and I wouldn't have believed what I heard anyway. Most rumors are wrong...they only have enough truth to get them started and then the take on their own life."

"Well...you must be the only one in town that hasn't heard about it," I sighed.

"I don't need to know everything, Neil. I just want to know a little of what you went through, and how your heart has healed since then."

So, I told him. I edited out the nasty parts regarding my ex, trying to be as gracious about what I'd gone through as I could. And the truth was it wasn't all that hard. I was holding Ann's hand at the time...and the anger and bitterness that usually came with the subject matter just wasn't there. It was like some metamorphoses came over me, and what used to be so difficult to talk about came easy to me. Ann gave me strength, and perspective. And all of that came because she gave me love.

Pastor Kane smiled at me, and said, "I have to tell you, Neil, the way you first acted when I mentioned your divorce, you made it seem a lot more devastating than that. I'm a little surprised you're not more unsettled. In life terms, it really hasn't been that long since your divorce was final."

"Is that a problem?" I asked, thinking he was questioning my love for Ann...or that he really might have concerns about this being kind of rebound relationship and we were rushing into marriage.

"No...not at all. I'm sure there was more to it than you're letting on, but you're taking the high road, which is really commendable. And I don't think there's any doubt that you and Ann love each other."

"So...we can get married?" I asked sheepishly.

"Of course," he laughed. "Let's set a date!" He grabbed his desk calendar and leafed through a couple of pages to get to December, humming as he went along. "Marjorie has down here there you're looking for a Saturday in December, right?"

"Marjorie?" Ann asked.

"She'd the church secretary. You're mother gave her two days you were looking at...is that correct?"

"Oh...yes. The second and the ninth."

"Hmm...well, actually, both of those will work. Which one would you prefer?"

Ann practically choked when she blurted out, "The sooner the better!"

Pastor Kane chuckled and said, "This isn't a shotgun wedding, is it? I know Marlin hunts."

"No...but I've already done one tour of duty living with my parents. I'd like this second one to be as short as possible," Ann said, squeezing my hand.

"I think what Ann's trying to say is that we've already been apart once for a few months, and we don't want to be apart any longer than we have to this time," I said with a smile.

"Yeah...that too," Ann laughed.

Pastor Kane nodded and said, "Okay...the second it is. And trust me Ann, I understand. I moved back in with my parents' right after Seminary, and it wasn't easy for me either. But I'm sure you'll be fine...you just need to have a little faith."

Ann smiled and nodded, and a few minutes later, we were on our way. It was well after 8 and we were both starving. As I drove, Ann was busy doing some deep thinking, and finally she let out little sigh and said, "Neil...we're getting married in 75 days."

"I know...it seems like forever."

"Forever? How the hell am I going to get ready for a wedding in just 75 days!" she said in a panic.

"If anyone can pull it off, Ann...it's you."

"Sure...but that means we're going to have to do a lot the next two weeks, because you'll be leaving, and I want us to do as much of this as we can together."

"Okay, babe. Let's go get a bite to eat and we'll figure it out," I said with a smile.

~*~*~*~*~*~

We went to a little tavern on Main Street. It was pretty much a dive, but it had really good food. Ann and I each had a much-needed beer as we tried to plan out what we needed to do over the next few days. But after a while, she finally threw up her hands in frustration and said, "I can't think straight right now. We need to talk about something else!"

"Are you okay?" I asked, putting my hand on her arm to try and calm her down.

"I'll be fine, Neil," she said after taking a deep breath and another swig from her frosty mug.

I chuckled and said, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah...I'm just a little keyed up right now."

"Ann...I've never seen you like this. What's bothering you?"

"I just thought I'd have more time...that's all. I knew how many days it would be, but when I did the math in the car, it..."

"Ann...we can put off the wedding a little long..."

"FUCK NO!" she snapped as she cut me off, making a couple of heads turn in the bar.

"Ann...I'm not saying we have to...I was just..."

"I'm sorry Neil. I know we can do this. I'm just getting worked up right now over nothing. Like I said...I'm not thinking straight. Let's talk about something else."

"Sure, Ann. I just don't want you to be stressed."

"Well, I can't promise that. But I love you for being worried about me. So...is there something else can we talk about...please."

"Well...you can tell me what happened with Penny today," I grinned.

Ann snickered and said, "Wow...I forgot all about that."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Ann said she had met Penny out in front of Tina's shop, and they walked in together. Tina was waiting inside, and she was surprised that Penny actually showed up. In fact, Tina was even more surprised that she actually had a customer that was requesting to not only have her pubic mound styled, but colored as well.

The three of them went to the back of Tina's shop, and Tina closed the door for privacy like she always did if she was doing a bikini wax. But this was something different entirely. Well, not all that different. But it was still a new service that Tina was looking to provide, and Penny was going to be her first customer. Penny just didn't know that.

Ann said that Tina and Penny hit it off really well, and a big part of that was Tina's bubbly, infectious personality, because it put Penny at ease. Penny had worn a short skirt, and she was nervous about just getting naked...so Tina told her she could keep it on if she wanted. When Ann told me that, I couldn't figure out how that would make that much of a difference. But Ann said that just the idea that Tina suggested it made Penny relax, to the point that she stripped below the waist. So, Tina had her sit down on a towel on the reclining chair at the hair washing station.

Ann laughed and said, "So, Tina's getting her stuff together, and Penny's sitting there, and she asks me to get her purse...which was more like a suitcase. The thing was huge."

"Really...why?"

"I think it's a Mom thing. She said she had everything in there...included a camera," Ann snickered.

"A...camera?"

"Uh huh...a Minolta...35mm. And she got it out and handed it to me."

"You're kidding!"

"No...seriously. I guess Garrett and Penny had a little argument about the roll of film we gave them."

"Oh...fuck. Is everything okay?"

Ann waved her hand at me, brushing off my concern. "It's not what you think. It wasn't about what we did together. Penny was still so excited about our day together she even told Tina all about it. She and Garrett loved it."

"Wait...so if he's okay with it, why were they arguing?"

"Because Garrett doesn't want to wait...he wanted to send the film off to Rose as soon as they got home from their weekend because he wants to see the pictures. But Penny is a little more frugal. She wants to send more so they can get the discounted price. So she talked him into giving her a week, and they'd take some more pictures and then send them in."

"So what did you take pictures of? Tina taking care of Penny?"

"Yeah...in more ways than one," Ann giggled as she took the last bite of her big juicy burger.

My eyebrow arched quickly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Pretty much what you think it means. First Tina re-trimmed Penny's pubic hair...she made it into the shape of a diamond. Then she waxed the area around it, along with her pussy. Then she colored her hair...a really bright, deep red. And I took pictures along the way...kind of a before and after...along with what Tina was doing in the process. And I could see through the camera just how wet Penny was getting, not to mention how big her clit was."

"So what did you do?"

"Me? I didn't do anything...other than take pictures. Tina was the one that did it."

"Did what?"

"She made her cum," Ann said, being coy.

Instead of getting frustrated with the lack of information Ann gave me, I just smiled and said, "That was nice of her."

"You don't want to know how?" Ann said, a little surprised by my lack of interest.