Lettie's Wager

The old buildings on that street were magnificent brick-built structures with enormous windows, wood floors, and spoke of a prosperous age gone by. With a little bit of TLC, those buildings would still be magnificent in a hundred years. JD's son, Tyler, who had been off in Atlanta as a sous-chef at a Michelin three-star bistro, was tired of city life and his wife was pregnant. He decided to come home to the county to open up a farm-to-table restaurant in the county. Tyler was going to capitalize on trend of day-trip voyagers coming out of Augusta and Atlanta, looking for a taste of country life.

Lonnie, owner of Lonnie's Barbecue was going to relocate his restaurant two doors down from Tyler's restaurant, and was partnering with his niece to set up a high end coffee, pastry, and ice cream shop. The Howard family was going to convert the old supermarket into an old-timey five and dime. JD wanted me to move my shop into the old Farmer's Bank building. Part of Uncle Kevin's store was a display cabinet of 'the guns that won the west'. JD thought it would give the city slickers something exciting and rustic to gawk at while they were waiting for their tables.

At first, I was very skeptical. One of the things that made the gun shop profitable was that we didn't have to pay rent or a mortgage on a building. In the back of my head, however, I knew that the shop's main weakness was that it was out in the boonies. I knew we'd get more traffic if we were centrally located and had better parking. What sold me on the idea was when JD walked me through the old bank. It was a mason-built building from a different era that gave it a sense of gravitas. The fixtures were all brass, the teller counter would be perfect for floor sales, and the enormous thirties-era vault was still in perfect working order. The merchandise could be stored there with little risk of theft. The county had assumed ownership on the bank for default on taxes. I could purchase the building for what was owed in taxes if I agreed to run the store in the building for ten years. The amount of taxes was thirty percent of the assessed value of the building.

I talked it over with Lettie, my employees, and my siblings. We didn't see a downside. My sister, who managed the family trust, allowed me early access to borrow money against my future share of the trust. I bought the bank building and moved my store there. It was the best business decision I ever made.

***

As part of what Meadow calls "trust work", Lettie and I worked hard to be a lot more open and transparent with each other about what was going on in our heads and away from home. We went through a series of questions every night that forced us to expose our secrets. Using the list, we learned how to talk about things that were uncomfortable topics for us.

I gave everyone Black Friday, off, so they could spend a longer Thanksgiving weekend with their families. I was at the shop alone. Florence Benson, an old high school friend, dropped by the shop for a chat. In high school, Florence was an insecure skinny blonde who was your proverbial late bloomer. For a period of time in high school, Florence was Lettie's main rival for my affection.

As a grown woman, Florence had grown into an archetypical blonde bombshell. Think Kate Hudson with a friendlier smile.

We had a great time catching up. She went away to Carnegie Mellon to study, of all things, musical theater. Apparently, she grew into her adult body in her freshman year and was quite successful there.

She just finished a twenty-four-month run as a performer for Wicked on Broadway. First as a swing performer, then later as an understudy to Glinda. Most recently, she was cast in the role of Elphaba in the Wicked traveling production. She returned home for Thanksgiving to spend time with her family because she knew she wouldn't get to see them for a while once she went on the road.

Around 4:00 PM, I invited Florence to come eat dinner with Lettie and me. She politely declined and surprised me by propositioning me for sex. She told me that for years, she thought of me as was the one that got away. She promised she would be discrete and that no one in the county would ever know. I'm ashamed to say that I was incredibly tempted. Florence was smart, talented, beautiful, and her grown up body was to die for. Most of all, her interest in me was utterly flattering. She could have anyone she wanted-- her most recent boyfriend had been an outfielder for the New York Yankees. Of all the people on earth she could be interested in, I was the one she couldn't get over. It took all of my willpower to politely decline.

What helped me was that I knew in just a few hours I'd have to answer the question from Lettie would ask me whether I'd been tempted that day. After Florence left, I closed the store, went straight home and immediately told Lettie exactly what happened. I thought there would be anger, jealousy, and hysterics. Instead, she was delighted I refused and tried her best to convince me that I'd made the right choice.

She flat wore me out that week. She made me come twenty-nine times in the next six days. She worked hard to make it an even thirty, but I was too pooped to pop. Every night, she kept coming after me until she could no longer suck me hard again. Every time, right when I came, she whispered into my ear, "my cock." Lettie was ferocious and insatiable.

Four months later, Lettie came home after a business trip to Atlanta. There, she went over Everpart's books with the external auditors. She told me right away that Wade Banks, the account manager of the external audit team, had propositioned her. Lettie knew Wade for years and considered him a good friend. She mentioned him previously and I knew all about him. He was an extremely attractive guy who was a young widower.

Lettie said that after Wade had been devastated by the death of his wife, she went out of her way to be a friend to talk to when dealing with his grief. During a dinner on the latest trip, Wade told her that he was in love with her and asked he if she would be the first woman to make love with him since the death of his wife. She admitted in shame that she was extremely tempted. The attraction to her was that she knew what a nice guy he was, and she felt an earnest desire to help him heal and move on. She said, "It took a lot of willpower to say no, but I did. I knew I would have to answer questions about being tempted when I got back. I wasn't going to lie to you about it and that helped me refuse."

Following her example, rather than getting jealous or upset, I decided to reward her for her good decision. I flat wore her out that week. Every I gave her an orgasm, I made her say, "Andy's pussy" as she came. I was afraid Lettie might find it demeaning, but she loved it. She said it really turned her on. She still does that for me when I make her come.

The more we practiced honesty about difficult topics, the easier it became. We had learned how to fight temptation together rather than separately. We had learned how to be honest when we were dealing with psychological trauma from her bet with Teague. We were closer than ever.

I ended up selling Pa's vintage ski boat to WC. His "one time" in June was enough to get him totally hooked. After the third weekend he used it, I told him to just keep the boat at his house. I will confess that seeing Pa's boat always made me maudlin, and having it out of my garage was a relief.

When WC felt guilty about using it so much, he made a generous offer on it. I used the money to take Lettie and me on a second honeymoon to Disney. Lettie had always wanted to go there. I'm not sure about the rest of the year, but for eight days in February, I can personally attest it was, in fact, the happiest place on earth.

***

When our year was up, I was sad but thankful. On our last night, we took an overnight trip to Atlanta, and I took her out to a fancy dinner to celebrate. I wore my best suit and a tie. Lettie wore her latest little black dress with her fancy red lingerie underneath. Her new little black dress was even more spectacular than the one she ruined by vomiting on it.

While we were waiting for our after-dinner coffee and dessert, she visited the restroom. When she returned, I did the best I could at expressing to her what the year meant to me and how grateful I was that she gave it to me. I formally accepted her explanation from a year before. I was finishing up when she put her fingers to my lips and shushed me.

She said, "Andy, allowing you do what you did this year was the biggest wager of my life. You could have been abusive and made me miserable. You think you were the lucky one, but I can honestly say that I won. My gamble paid off big time."

She put my forefinger on her tattoo. Just below "ride or die" it now said, "forever."

She leaned into me. I smelled peach cobbler.

I felt something slide into my lap under the table. I put my hands down there to figure out what it was. It took me a moment to realize she'd handed me her red satin panties. They were soaking wet.

She asked me. "What do you want to bet that we can keep this going?"