Christmas in Cincinnati

Lisa's next step was to look at the ledgers. It didn't take long for her to become concerned. She couldn't follow the entries. It was obvious there were multiple people making entries, however, not many entries corresponded to appropriate accounting practices. The worse part was that the paid totals did not match the city's tax charts. Lisa was overcome with a feeling of dread, the city might be right.

Wilfredo stopped in. "Lisa we are calling it the end of the day."

"Ok. I am going to need a bunch more time. I would like to work on these tomorrow if that is alright."

"Honey you're helping us. Who are we to say what is alright and what is not. You do whatever you need to. But right now we all need to sleep."

Lisa agreed and headed up to Doug's apartment. When she got there she found that he had already gotten ready for bed and was tending to the small artificial Christmas tree. He had spread out the branches to make it look fuller. He also had new lights on it and laid out the decorations better. She looked at Doug and smiled. He said. "It's not a bad little tree. But you're right it needed a little love."

She went to him and kissed him: "Come on let's go to bed."

Lisa went into the bedroom while Doug locked the front door and shut off the lights. When he got to the room Lisa was naked and not yet in her pajamas. He went to her, hugged her and kissed her deeply on the mouth. She moaned softly. Doug was a very good kisser and that always made her feel so good.

He softly pushed her to the bed and laid her down on her back. He moved his kisses from her mouth to her ear, then down to her neck, across her chest to her breast. He kissed and licked each nipple until the flesh on her areola contracted to rigidity. Lisa was moaning and breathing heavy. Sexual pleasure was quickly washing away the stress of the day.

Doug made his way down to her womanhood. He kissed her pussy as well as he kissed her mouth. Lisa cried out then pushed herself up onto the palms of her hands. He wrapped his lips around the area right above her clitoris' hood. His wet tongue ran patterns over the area of smooth skin. This stimulated her clit without having direct pressure on it. The stimulation created enough lubrication that his index finger easily slid into her pussy. While not breaking the rhythm of his mouth he touched her inner walls.

Lisa had her head craned as forward as she could. She was watching his face as it provided pleasure to her pussy. Since they first got together, Lisa had been turned on by every ounce of Doug. He was the kind of man she had wanted in her life. This was the type of relationship she wanted. Watching him go down on her turned her on emotionally and sexually. She took it all in, with her eyes wide open. She memorized his every move and expression.

She was close to orgasm. She was moaning "oh-oh" over and over. She had a light quiver flow over her. Then her hips had a shudder. Then her entire body rocked with a hard shudder. Doug pulled away as she bounced and let out a scream that must have knocked snow off the window sills.

Lisa never took her eyes off of Doug's face. She never closed them or looked away. As soon as he broke the connection he looked up at her. The eye contact during her orgasm made it feel like their souls were touching.

As the waves of ecstasy subsided Lisa grabbed Doug by the head and pulled him up to her. He lay down on top of her, with the sides of their face touching. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and squeezed him as tight as she could.

***

It was just before sunrise on Thursday, December 22nd when Asha met Kris at the steps to his apartment. He came out the front door still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He noticed that she was raring to run. He said with a grin; "You're like coffee, hot, sweet and filled with extra pep."

Not only had she become accustomed to these lines, but she had also grown to like them. They were cute, fun and always original. "Just getting off the night shift will do that to you."

This was going to be a quick run through Kris' neighborhood. It worked because Asha was just getting off of work and Kris had some time before he needed to be in. Unlike Asha, he lived in a residential area. There were some shops and restaurants but it was mostly brownstone apartments.

It was a nice area that had been transformed into something extraordinary by the holiday. Almost all of the houses were decorated. The decorations came in all variations. There was garland around doors, stockings in frosted windows, twinkling lights, Santa's, wreaths, snowmen, and ribbons.

Kris was the first to speak. "The old man has arranged for cabs to bring everyone home after the party. I was thinking I would cab it over to your place and then we could ride in together."

It was funny that he brought up that subject, she was planning to do the same. "I spent the afternoon with Lisa yesterday. Doug is going to change at work and then walk to the party. She was going to cab it in and meet him there. If you wanted to do the same as Doug, Lisa and I could share a cab."

"Yeah, that would work out well. Good idea."

"Thanks."

Neither of them spoke for the rest of the run. They just enjoyed the exercise, the decorations, the sunrise, and the company.

***

Lisa had woken up and got ready for the day with Doug. Lisa was waiting at the back office door as Ann-Marie and Wilfredo arrived about 8:30 am. Ann-Marie was the first to speak. "Look at this. This girl is not even an employee and she shows up early."

"I'll say." Wilfredo added with a grin.

"I have a plan, but I need something." Lisa said more nervous than she needed to be.

"What?" answered Ann-Marie.

"I need six blank general ledger journals. They sell them at the book and office supply store."

"No problem." Said Wilfredo; "Come I will get you some cash."

A little after 9 am Lisa had the blank journals and got to work. Sometime in the night, she realized that she was never going to be able to make sense of the work that was previously done. She did not understand what had been done or why. Without understanding it, she did not know if the ledgers were correct. If she did not know if they were correct, then how could she defend them? The only way she could know if they were correct was to rebuild the work.

She started out with the file boxes. She opened them up and found that they were full of transaction documentation. There was no order inside any box, just hundreds of pages of transactions. She felt fortunate that at least the transactions were identifiable. There was something on each page that indicated which of the three businesses the transaction belonged to.

Lisa meticulously organized all six boxes of documents. She had a pile for Ann-Marie's store, Wilfredo's restaurant and the rental properties. She then collated each pile by date. This took several hours, however, it gave her a level of confidence that data was complete. She did not find gaps in time or key documents missing.

She then took to the task of creating a new ledger for each line of business. She did this for both 1975 and 1976. As she worked, she would occasionally check against the previous ledgers. After a while, she realized what had happened. The three different companies were all mixed up.

The previous bookkeepers, could not or did not understand the businesses and they got the transactions screwed up. Pizza shop transactions were on the store's books, building repairs were on the pizza shops books, sales revenue was on the building's books so there was sales tax collected and paid for on a real estate account rather than a retail account. This made things horribly inaccurate and confusing. It was no wonder the city could not understand it. It stands to reason that they would think there was impropriety going on.

Lisa worked diligently throughout the day. She only stopped to use the bathroom. From time to time Ann-Marie or Wilfredo checked on her. They brought her lunch and dinner. Doug stopped in once he returned from work and gave her words of encouragement.

It was about 8:30 pm when the test of Lisa's work came. She had finished the final journal. She needed to check the bottom line of each to the city tax charts. Sure enough, the total taxes paid met or exceeded city requirements. Her friends had not short paid their taxes, there was no impropriety. They were not going to lose their home or their livelihood.

After the couple closed down the pizza shop, Lisa showed them the results. The look of joy and relief on their faces was indescribable. She had helped people who needed it. This was a loving feeling like none she had ever experienced. It was like giving a child just what they wanted for Christmas.

Ann-Marie asked Lisa to go to the hearing with them. This was not something she was prepared for. She had never done anything like that. Lisa's feelings now turned back to anxiety but she wanted to see this through to the end, so she agreed.

After that long day, Lisa went up to Doug's apartment. She found him dozing on the couch waiting for her. She woke him up and told him how they made out. He seemed just as excited as anyone and gave her a huge hug.

It was not long before they both got into bed. Lisa was on her side, Doug spooned up behind her, wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. They both realized that this was the first night they finished that did not involve sex. As they fell asleep, in each other's arms, they thought that was ok, because this was pretty good too.

***

It was mid-morning of Friday, December 23rd and Lisa was feeling stressed. She was tired from the previous day's work. She was anxious about the 2 pm hearing with the city tax board. Ann-Marie and Wilfredo were good people that were counting on her. Never before, did she have this much responsibility. She didn't pack clothing for the occasion. She was broke and without a job, so it was not like she could just go out and pick something up. It was not long before her nerves were raw.

Doug had come home from work at lunchtime. This way he could leave his car at home, taxi back to work, walk to the party and they could taxi home together. He did not pick up on how stressed Lisa was. After they finished lunch he stated; "You know you do not need to leave here next week."

"What are you saying?" Lisa responded with confusion.

"I was thinking maybe you could stay and live here with me."

"No, I can't do that."

That was not the answer Doug was expecting. "What do you mean?"

Lisa was hurt by his response. It confirmed her worry that Doug did not understand a fundamental part of her. "I mean, I have no job and no money. I would be totally living off of you. I don't want to do that."

Doug feared Lisa would not want to take the next step. He was trying to work through that fear. He mistakenly thought Lisa might be having similar fears so he tried to reassure her. "That is not how I see it. I don't care if you have a job or not."

"I know that's not how you see it." There was rising tension in Lisa's tone. "That's the whole point, isn't it. You don't understand my feelings, how important it is to me that I stand on my own two feet. You don't understand that I want to be self-sufficient because you keep trying to take care of me."

Doug was hurt and feeling defensive. He spent a lot of time thinking about her feelings and she was accusing him of the opposite. "No, I understand that part. But I don't think you understand that I just want us to be together. I'm not 'trying to take care of you'. Besides, you will find a job. You can pay me back."

Lisa answered quickly; "It's not that easy. Look at Ann-Marie and Wilfredo. They are both working and successful, yet they could lose everything. What if something happens to your job while I'm your dead weight? I will pull us both down. I'm not going to let that happen."

Her statements hit Doug hard. If he lost his job that was a very real scenario. How could she have known about that? He had been trying not to let that situation scare him off, yet Lisa was shaking that fear in his face. He said the only thing he could think of to compensate for that fear. "Lisa don't think like that."

That was the wrong thing to say. There was anger in Lisa's voice. "Don't do that. Don't tell me how to think. You are not me and don't understand me, so don't tell me how to think."

Now Doug was angry. He had started this conversation with the best intentions. Somehow it turned and he was getting yelled at. "Ok fine then. If this is something you can't do because I 'can't understand' then forget I ever asked."

This was their first fight, and it was a doozy. Lisa wanted it to end. It had to end and so she shouted; "Stop. Ok just stop. Stop talking."

There was a long uncomfortable silence. Neither of them knew what to say. Eventually, Doug spoke; "I need to get back to work. Do you still want to go to the party tonight?"

"Yes, yes I will be there."

Doug quietly walked out the door.

***

Lisa rode with Ann-Marie and Wilfredo to the meeting with the city. Wilfredo dropped the ladies off in front of the building with the new ledgers and boxes of the now organized documents. They went inside and waited, next to the meeting room, while he parked the car.

Ann-Marie could tell there was something troubling Lisa. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Doug and I had a fight. We never fight and this was a big one."

Nodding with understanding Ann-Marie said; "I had a feeling it was something like that."

"I don't know what it means."

Ann-Marie smiled and patted Lisa's arm. "It means you are both in love. You guys are in love and that means you are scared. Scared because you never felt this way about someone before. Scared that something might happen. Scared that you might say or do something that would screw something up. Scared to let your guard down. All that fear grows and weighs on you. Eventually, that weight takes its toll and then you have a fight over something stupid, like which way the toilet paper should roll, or where to squeeze the toothpaste. It happens, we are human. The fight is not what is important. What is important is understanding that the fight grew out of fear, nothing else. You two are over the moon for each other and that does not happen much. He will do anything to make you happy. You are great for each other. Don't let the fear get in the way of that."

Lisa knew that she was right. She was stressed about a lot in her life recently. That stress really grew out of fear. Fear that she could not stand on her own two feet. Fear of what that meant and how it affected their relationship. If she let go of that fear then she would be letting go of that stress as well.

Wilfredo showed up just as they were called into the meeting room. In the room, there were two city officials, a city accountant and the slimy guy from the other day. The slimy guy was given the chance to speak first. He laid out his case for payment shortages and impropriety.

They then gave time for a rebuttal. Lisa got up, walked over and handed the new ledgers to the city accountant. She sat back down and started speaking. She explained very plainly what had happened. She explained that Ann-Marie and Wilfredo operated three very separate businesses and that the previous bookkeepers found it difficult to understand that. She explained that the lack of understanding lead to poor books and those poor books lead to the cities assumptions. She then explained what she had done to rebuild the books and that they would find these books in compliance.

The entire time Lisa was talking, the city accountant was going through the journals. When she was done, one of the officials asked the accountant what he had thought.

"Yeah, these look way better than that last set I looked at. These are really well done. The totals match where they should. I will need to do some sampling against the source documentation but I am no longer concerned."

The official then asked the group; "Would have a problem leaving these here for us to review?"

"No, not at all." Responded Wilfredo, as Ann-Marie and Lisa nodded in agreement.

The two officials began whispering to each other. The one that had not spoken before said; "Ok then we are in agreement. We are rescinding the tax lien on the building while we review the new and accurate set of books. Should this review satisfy our questions all previous fines will be returned as will any potential refunds. You folks have a Merry Christmas."

There was stunned silence amongst Lisa, Ann-Marie, and Wilfredo. It was like they could not believe what had just happened. The slimy guy slithered out without a word. The city officials shook the hands of all three as they left. The accountant pulled Lisa aside and complimented her on her terrific work.

Once they got back into the hall all three squealed, grinned and laughed with excitement. Ann-Marie gave Lisa a tight hug, then Wilfredo wrapped his arms around both of them and squeezed. "Lisa you have given us the best Christmas present we could ever ask for."

"No you guys are great, I was so happy I could help," Lisa said with giddy excitement.

Ann-Marie then spoke with as much seriousness that she could muster. "Lisa, we want you to come work for us. We do not know what your life choices are going to be. But if you choose to move here, we want you to be our bookkeeper. We will pay you a salary and if you want to live in our building you can do it rent free."

Lisa did not know what to say. It was impossible to get a clear view of her eyes through her thick glasses, but as a tear rolled down her check they knew she was choked up. Wilfredo gave her another hug. "Do not cry little one. It is Christmas, it is a time for joy, not for tears."

***

The Bailey Toys company Christmas celebration was at a party house a few blocks from their headquarters. It was a nice place as far as party houses go. There was a grand front door with a bellhop station and coat check. From there was a long, wide hall, with sets of double doors leading to individual party rooms. This party was on the right. It was a large, rectangular room with a dance floor in the middle. Dining tables surrounded the dance floor and there were drink bars in the back two corners of the room. On the top end of the dance floor was a jazz quartet playing a mix of bouncy Christmas music and soft jazz.

Doug and Kris were some of the first to arrive. They had changed into their formal attire at the office and walked over to the party house. Both men wore black suits. Doug's suit was a three-piece that he accented with a green shirt and no tie. Kris had a traditional two-piece combined with a white shirt and red tie with little Christmas trees on it. They grabbed a beer and started mingling with the rest of the party goers.

Connie and her husband came in soon after. Connie looked great. She had her thick brown hair up. She was wearing a maroon wraparound dress. It was short sleeved but ran down to her ankles. It also had a plunging V neckline that gave the world a good look at her incredible cleavage. They both got a drink and joined up with the rest of the crew.

It did not take Connie's husband long to start a conversation about football with Kris. Connie took Doug by the arm and led him over to a small high top table. With all sincerity, she asked; "What's wrong, you have been off ever since you got back from lunch. And where's Lisa?"

"Oh, she will be here soon. Was I that obvious?"

"Maybe not to everyone, but a woman knows."

"We had a fight when I was home at lunch. It was our first one. I offered for her to move in with me. I thought I was helping, or at least taking some of the stress off. But she got really upset by it, and know I do not know where we stand."