Courtesan Ch. 31

I smiled when I saw him. "Did you have a good time buddy?"

Kirby shook his head. "You know Timmy, I have to say that if it wasn't for the fact that I'm losing my store, my life would be nearly perfect right now."

I laughed. "Unfortunately that's a pretty big if"

"You won't get an argument out of me about that." Kirby smiled. "But it sure does feel like things are starting to look up. I really can't explain it Timmy, but I have this feeling that everything is going to work out okay."

Behind him Tonya said, "That's because he has good friends and if he'd actually give them an opportunity to let them help him, I think there might be an even better chance that everything will work out all right."

Kirby turned. There was an expression of frustration on his face. "Tonya we went over this last night. There isn't any way I can keep my self respect if I take money from you. I got myself into this jam and I'll get myself out of it."

Elvira rolled her eyes. "Spoken like a complete moron."

Tonya laughed. "Yes, but he's our moron and he's the most loveable moron I've ever met."

She walked over, put her arms around Kirby's shoulders and hugged him. "Kirby honey, I understand why you won't let me give you money. Even though I respect you for making that decision, it still frustrates me. I want so badly to be able to help you and I can't."

Elvira walked over and hugged Kirby from the other side. "I wish you would let us help you financially. Both Tonnie and I have money." She sighed. "But if we can't, we'll still be here every day to help you with the store." She stared at him. "And let's be very clear about this big boy. You are not going to pay us! If you can refuse to take our money, we can refuse to take yours."

Tonya nodded. "I plan to be here every morning this store is open." She giggled. "I love working here."

I shrugged. "I'll be here too. Kelly likes to sleep late and this is pretty good early morning entertainment."

Kirby quietly said; "Thank you, you're good friends. I don't know how much longer I'll actually be able to keep this store open, but while it is open I think we're going to have some very enjoyable mornings."

Tonya, Elvira and I all nodded in agreement.

Grinning at us, Kirby said; "After the store finally does close, we're going to have to find some place else to meet."

Elvira looked at all of us. "You can all come to my house. I'll make the coffee, but someone else has to bring the doughnuts."

Tonya shook her head. "If I start having a doughnut every morning I'll weigh three hundred pounds by Christmas. In my business it's very important for a girl to keep her figure."

She gave Kirby a playful squeeze. "My big baby here also needs to start watching his weight. Now that I've found him I don't want to lose him to a heart attack or a stroke."

I glanced at Kirby. There was a huge smile on his face.

We were all quiet for a moment. It wasn't an awkward silence. All four of us were simply enjoying the pleasant sensation of well being that comes when you realize that you've just forged or strengthened a bond of friendship with other people.

Tonya finally broke the silence. "Timmy did you and Kelly have a chance to talk about the house yesterday? Mandy, Kelly, Keisha, Antoine and I all talked about it Saturday night after the party at Eagle Lake ended." She shook her head. "Timmy, I love the idea, but I'm afraid it may not work. A tiny bedroom just won't be enough personal space for any of us."

I smiled at her. "I know, but I had another idea. When I told her last night, Kelly thought it was pretty good."

"What is it?"

"Maybe we could find a smaller house, one with all the communal living space that we want and enough available land so that we could build an addition."

Tonya thought for a moment and then her face lit up. "Timmy, that's a fabulous idea. We could each have our own little apartment."

I nodded. "Yes, it could almost be a dormitory."

"A very luxurious dormitory." Tonya was grinning.

"I'm a little worried that it might be too expensive."

"Timmy money is not an issue. I have lots of money, so does Mandy. I'm also certain that Martin would be very willing to increase our budget. He really wants this to happen."

She giggled. "I can't wait to tell Keisha, Mandy and Antoine. Timmy we have to call Barry and tell him about your idea. I can't wait to start looking at more houses. I'll also tell Martin about the new plan this afternoon. JTandR has a whole property development section. I'm sure he can help us find an architect."

Tonya stopped. She'd suddenly realized that Kirby and Elvira weren't part of the house plans. There was an awkward moment of silence and then she timidly asked, "Has Timmy told you about our plans to buy a house?"

Elvira smiled. "Yes he has, in fact all of you were talking about it when you were here Saturday morning. It sounds like a wonderful idea."

"That's right." Tonya thought for a moment and then she said, "Ellie, everyone likes you. I could talk to Kelly, Keisha, Mandy and Antoine about the idea of you moving in with us."

Elvira put up her hand. "No Tonya, it's all right. I appreciate the consideration, but I'm not yet ready to move out of the house I shared with Max." She smiled. "But I certainly would enjoy being invited to some of your parties. I could bring Wolfie, that way I'd have an old guy as a playmate."

Tonya grinned. "Ellie, from now on you're going to be invited to every party I'm involved in planning."

She turned to Kirby. He was nervously staring at the floor. Very gently she said, "Cookie, maybe sometime in the future, after we get to know each other a little better, you and I might end up sharing one of the apartments at this house."

"I think in the meantime Cookie should move into my house and live with me." Elvira looked at Kirby. "Sweetie, I know you like Tonnie and I can tell that she likes you, but you only met each other two days ago. It's important that you take a little time to get to know each other."

Kirby slowly nodded his head. "As usual Ellie, you're right." He smiled at Tonya. "I think I should move in with Ellie, at least for a while, but I certainly would enjoy being able to spend some of your free evenings with you."

Tonya leaned over an kissed his cheek. "You can have every one of them. In fact, I'm free tomorrow night and I was wondering if you might like to go to a movie."

Kirby looked at her and nervously asked, "You mean like a date?"

Tonya and Elvira both started laughing. Tonya said; "Yes silly, that's exactly what I mean."

"I umm, I haven't been out on many dates."

"Kirby honey, I haven't either. I've been stripping and working as an escort since I was eighteen. That life didn't leave much time for real dates. I went out a lot when I was stripping, but most of those guys just wanted to take me to their apartment so that they could get into my panties."

She laughed. "I want you to understand that you're going to get lucky every time we go out and a lot more times when we don't go out. That should allow us to be able to relax and enjoy each other. Sweetie I'm looking forward to going to concerts, movies, art galleries, baseball games and anything else that might interest either of us."

"Tonnie that sounds wonderful, but I don't know if I have enough money to..."

"Kirby, I know this is going to be hard for you, but honey I'm rich. I've worked my ass off as a hooker for the last twenty years. I never had a pimp and I never did drugs. I saved every penny I earned. Sweetheart, it's finally time for me to enjoy the fruits of all that hard work and you just happen to be the guy I want to enjoy it with. Get used to it buster, you're dating a rich broad and you aren't going to get to pay for anything."

Smiling sheepishly, Kirby said; "That is going to be hard for me, but I'll try."

Tonya gently kissed the big man's forehead. "Kirby, I think that you and I are going to have a wonderful time together."

I glanced at the clock. It was five minutes past ten. "Hey everybody, I have to run. I promised Ellen that I would be at the Crier office by 10:30."

As I was grabbing my jacket out of the storage closet, Tonya called to me; "Hey Timmy, when I get to the office today, Martin is going to ask me what kind of a car he should buy for you. What should I tell him?"

I stopped. I knew what I wanted but I was ashamed to admit it.

Kirby looked at us. "What's all this about buying cars?"

Tonya smiled at him. "One of the perks of working for the firm is that they like to reward their productive employees. One of the ways they do that is by purchasing nice cars for us to drive."

Kirby nodded. "Your Mercedes Benz for example."

"Yes, the firm purchased that for me. The partners want to buy a car for Timmy. They feel responsible for some of the pain and anguish that he had to endure during the past year. I think they view buying a nice car for him as one way they can try to compensate him for what happened."

"So he could buy any car?"

"Within reasonable limits. I don't think they'd be willing to buy him a Rolls Royce or a Bentley."

Shaking his head, Kirby said; "Shit Timmy, I know what I'd tell them."

I smiled at my friend. "What would you want Kirby?"

"A big Lincoln just like the one's they send over here to pick you up. I would love to drive a great big luxury car like that."

"That car would be too big for me. I'd never feel comfortable driving it."

Kirby laughed. "I know I sure would."

Tonya poked his side. "Well, if you're a good boy Santa might just get you one for Christmas."

Kirby looked at her in alarm.

She laughed. "I told you, you're dating a rich broad. Get used to it."

Turning back to me, Tonya said; "So Timmy, it's decision time. What should I tell Martin?"

"I can have anything I want?"

"Anything within reason. Do you want a Jaguar like Mandy's?"

I shook my head. "No what I'd really like is a little SUV like a Ford Escape or a Jeep Liberty or maybe a Subaru Forester."

"Timmy those aren't very fancy cars."

"I know, I guess I'm just not a very fancy guy."

Tonya smiled. "Timmy honey, if that's what you want, I'll make sure that's what you're going to get. Are you certain?"

"Yes, that's what I want."

"It's probably going to be a very luxurious version."

Grinning at Tonya, I said; "I guess I'll just have to make do."

It was 10:25 when I walked into The Crier office. Ellen was sitting behind her desk working on the proofs for the next issue. When she heard me come in she looked up.

As soon as she realized it was me she stood up and walked around her desk. "Timmy thank you so much for coming. It really is important that I get De junior back into school this morning."

After giving me a quick hug, she plopped down on her desk and sighed. "Timmy I don't know what I'm going to do. Kathy has a tuition payment due at the University next week and I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to pay it. She's trying so hard. She's working thirty hours a week at Benny's Pizza Palace, but she still needs help and we haven't heard from her father in more than a year."

She looked at me. "And it doesn't stop. Sarah is going to the homecoming dance Saturday night. Timmy it's a formal dance. I had to buy her a two hundred dollar dress. When did homecoming become a formal dance? Timmy how many formal dances do you need in high school?"

Shrugging, she said; "I suppose I could have said no, but she has a new boyfriend. It seemed like this dance was really important to her. Sarah is a good kid. She works twenty hours a week at Peterson's Superette, plays volleyball and earns straight A's. It's hard to say no to her.

I sat down on the desk next to Ellen. I didn't say anything, I just picked up her hand and held it. Ellen responded by laying her head on my shoulder. As she leaned against me I realized that she was crying.

I kept holding her hand and let her cry. She needed the release.

After a moment she sat up, rubbed her eyes and sniffled. "Timmy do you want to know the really awful part?"

I still didn't say anything. I just held her hand and listened.

She took a deep breath and then she said, "Last week I had to cancel our health insurance. I have two girls of child bearing age. It was costing me $1250.00 a month. I can't afford it."

Ellen looked at me with a frantic expression. "Timmy, my children don't have health insurance. What's going to happen if one of them gets really sick? What's going to happen if Kathy or Sarah gets pregnant? They're good girls, but they're young. Kathy's twenty-one and Sarah just turned eighteen. You know what it's like. The temptation can be so hard to resist."

She was silent for a moment and then she said, "Dewayne was a drunk and he cheated on me all the time, but he was good with the kids. They miss him, especially De junior. He's so angry right now. He doesn't understand why his dad left him. I don't either." She smiled at me. "That damn stripper he was so hot for dumped him the minute they got to Vegas."

"When was the last time you heard from him?"

"Not since the stripper's pimp beat him up and made him get out of Vegas. That was over a year ago. I'm sure he's still in LA. I assume that he's managed to hook up with some cute little chippy. He always does."

Ellen paused, after a second she said; "Timmy, what am I going to do? I'm losing the paper. It's the economy. The small businesses in the area are struggling. They have to cut back. They can't afford to buy ads in The Crier anymore. Small business advertising is our life blood. Those revenues are now less than half of what they were a year ago."

"This probably won't help very much, but you don't have to worry about paying me for a while."

"Timmy I can't ask you to work for nothing!"

I smiled at her. "You don't have to ask, I'm volunteering. Kelly is back at her job and she's earning a good salary. It's more than enough to support us."

Ellen laughed. "Timmy, have you become a kept man?"

For a very brief moment I wondered what Ellen would think if told her that I was actually Kelly's slave. The thought sent a little tingle of excitement rippling through my loins. I took a deep breath and quickly collected my wits. This was not the appropriate time to reveal a personal secret like that.

Instead I smiled and said; "No, I'm not a kept man. Kelly understands how much I enjoy working at this paper and she also knows how rough your life has been since Dewayne left you. She's willing to try to help you in any way she can, and forgoing my salary is very easy for us right now."

Ellen patted my hand. "Thank you Timmy, you're a good friend."

We sat together silently for a minute and then she stood up. "I guess I'd better be getting to school. De junior is going to meet me there. Our appointment with the assistant principal is at 11:00."

Ellen put on her jacket. After she picked up her purse she turned to me. "Timmy, thank you so much for coming in this morning. I really do appreciate it."

"I'm happy I could help."

"And thank you for listening to me. I guess I needed to cry on your shoulder for a few minutes."

"Ellen, you can use my shoulder anytime you need it."

She grinned at me and said; "Timmy, you're wonderful, thanks for being my friend". Then she turned and hurried out the door.

As soon as she was gone I walked over to my desk. I had some advertising copy to edit. I chuckled as I sat down. I now had two jobs and I wasn't getting paid at either of them.

It was just after noon when Ellen returned. When she walked into the office I looked at her and asked, "How did everything go?"

She shrugged and in a quiet voice answered; "Fine, there weren't any problems. De is back in school." Ellen's response was automatic, almost robot like. It was apparent that her mind was preoccupied with something else.

She hung up her jacket, walked over to her desk, sat down and silently stared at the wall.

I watched her for a moment and then I asked; "Ellen, what's wrong? Did something happen at school?"

She shook her head. "No everything at school was fine."

"It's obvious that something happened."

Ellen closed her eyes. It was clear that she was thinking. Finally she sighed and said; "I'm sorry Timmy, that was rude of me. I didn't mean to ignore you. I'm just so surprised and a little puzzled."

"Why? What happened?"

"When I was driving back here from the high school I got a call on my cell phone. It was from a man named Allan Barkley. He told me that he represents a group that's interested in buying The Crier. He wanted to set up a meeting with me. Timmy why would anyone want to buy a dying neighborhood shopping flyer? It doesn't make any sense."

"Are you going to meet with him?"

"Of course, if they really do want to buy the paper and their willing to pay enough so that I can settle my debts it would be a wonderful stroke of good luck."

"Do you really want to sell the paper?"

"No, but I think I'm going to lose it anyway. If someone buys it at least I might be able to get out of debt."

"When are you going to meet with him?"

"Three o'clock this afternoon. He's coming here."

"Will you call me after the meeting is over and let me know what happened?"

Ellen smiled. "Yes, of course I will."

I quickly finished editing the last of the advertising copy. Ellen had been correct, there wasn't very much of it. As soon as I was done I said goodbye to her and left to go home. I was curious to see this man who was interested in buying The Crier, but I was even more interested in getting home to see Kelly before she had to leave to go into her office. She'd spent Saturday night at the party at Eagle Lake, but this was going to be the first time since we got back together that she would be spending the evening entertaining a businessman at The Calvert Hotel.

As I drove home I remembered that cold lonely evening two weeks earlier when I followed my wife to The Calvert. That night I had been certain that Kelly was going to leave me for another man.

When I pulled my car into our garage I was happy to see that Kelly's Mercedes was still there. I didn't think that she would have left already, but I knew that she was supposed to meet with Tonya later that afternoon so I wasn't certain.

When I walked into the kitchen I didn't immediately see Kelly so I called out; "Hello, I'm home."

"I'm back here."

I followed the response. It had been faint and came from the direction of our bedroom.

When I got to the bedroom I saw that the bathroom door was open.

"I'm in here Timmy."

I stepped into the bathroom. Kelly was seated on the edge of the bathtub. She was naked. I stopped for a moment and stared at her. My wife was a beautiful woman. Seeing her naked body always made my pulse race.

She was shaving her pussy. She looked up at me and smiled. "Hi Timmy."

I answered her. "Hi Kelly." And then like a fool, I stated the obvious. "You're shaving your pussy."

Kelly giggled. "That's very observant of you." She was making fun of me.

Shaking my head, I said; "I'm sorry, that was a stupid thing to say."

She smiled. "It's okay, you don't have anything to be sorry about. I shouldn't have teased you. I forget that it's been a long time since you watched me get ready for a date. Ever since I started working as a hostess I've made it a point to always shave my pussy before I entertain a man. When he touches me there I like to be nice and smooth for him."

"I didn't see you shave Saturday afternoon before you went to the party at Eagle Lake."

"I did it at Eagle Lake. I have my own bedroom and private bathroom there. Remember, when I left here I was wearing jeans and a tee shirt." She laughed. "It's a good thing too. The dress I wore to the party would have gotten me arrested if I'd tried t wear it in public."