Memphis's Ranch Ch. 02

The next day, I didn't get a chance to talk to the other guys till the afternoon. I gathered up the other 4 who were at the club with me that night to ask them about it. Only Wild Bill said he saw a couple of men hanging around watching us. He said he was watching them earlier as they seem to have been watching our girls all night. He said I thought it was because they were so young beautiful and sexy. They never made a move toward any of the 8 girls. Being in a club, drinking beer, and watching females dance is not a crime. Hell all 5 of us have done it before and will probably do it again soon. He was right about what he said.

If these were the 2 men following Amanda (which is a guess by Wild Bill) then he was right about saying them sitting, drinking, and watching the girls was correct. I will have to discuss it with Amanda tonight on the phone. I made it a point to take a few minutes to go to the CO's office that afternoon before leaving for the day to ask for leave for early June. I enter the CO's outer office. His yeoman lets Tom know that I am there asking to see him. Tom motions to a chair as he tells me to have a seat. Being in the CO's office is not somewhere I want to be at any time.

I start by asking him for 10 days of leave in June. My asking for leave never phases him. He gets up, walks over to the door, and closes it behind him then returns to his chair after pulling a folder out of a filing cabinet. Normally my CO calls me Michael, but this time he calls me Memphis. He puts me at ease by saying the leave request has already been processed. I am shocked as I haven't even asked for it yet. Relax son, I need to talk to you about this. You have someone helping your career. You don't know about it yet, but an unnamed organization has contacted the Department of Veterans Affairs with a new job works program that is a twofold program.

First is a promise by the company to hire 20,000 veterans in the next 10 years. The second is the creation of a nationwide college scholarship program to provide an endowment of200 million dollars for veterans of the 5-armed services as well as the Coast Guard. The thought of this being Jim's work instantly went through my head. Tom continues with his talk to me. Officially this is not a bribe to help you. Unofficially, the only thing that the company asked for was that you be given 10 days of leave this year in June and 3 weeks next year to be determined later. The sectary of the navy made several phone calls down the chain of command relaying this unofficial request. The final call from him was to me last Tuesday morning.

I have been expecting you to come to see me every day since then. To say that I am sitting still not moving a muscle in his chair as he is telling me this has me wondering just how powerful the Walton family is. You will not be receiving any promotions from this nor will you be held back from the extra time off. I made it clear from me that you will not be given anything other than the extra days off that you do not earn for yourself. Is that clear Memphis. I feel that I need to reply as I must explain what is going on.

Sir, I never asked for any of this. This is the family of that girl I saved from drowning last month. Her family just officially invited me to their home for 10 days in early June. They are not used to being told no to anything from what I can figure out. Tom said that is who I had figured for this request was from. I did share this with the secretary of the navy when he called me. I know you are not the one asking for this. Your leave for June has been approved. All that is required is to fill in the dates on the paperwork. Just remember what I told you last month in this office that I would make your remaining time in the navy a living hell if you screwed this up by being a dumb ass.

Yes sir, I understand. May I be excused? You are excused Memphis, close the door to my office when you leave. I go out to my truck to drive home. I can't wait to talk to Amanda, I call her while I am driving back to my apartment. My favorite Pizza place has a cell phone number you can text to order pizza to be delivered so I text them at a stop light while I am waiting for the light to turn green. I ordered a large pizza and a 6 pack of corona beer while I was waiting for Amanda to answer. She called me back 5 minutes later. By now I am only 2 blocks from my apartment. I asked her to wait till I was in my apartment before I go into the deep conversation today from my CO. I managed to get inside as we switched to video chat.

About a minute later, I heard the knock on the door. It's the same pizza delivery girl who has been delivering to my apartment. She looks as good as the pizza and beer does. I decided to introduce her to Amanda in the hopes that this would cool her off. I switched the camera around to show both Amanda and the pizza girl each other. I am not hiding anything from Amanda for any reason. Somehow, she knows everything that is going on. An idea comes to mind, I ask the pizza girl her name and age. Lisa is her name, and she is 22.

Lisa, are you looking for a boyfriend closer to your own age? She nods her head yes. A member of my team is named Chad who is a 22 year old single guy in Seal team 3. He just broke up with his girl back home 2 weeks ago when he surprised her in Arizona on a quick trip home. He caught her in bed having sex with an older married man from their small hometown. He has been in the dumps since he got back. I asked her what time she gets off tonight. Lisa replies that I get off at 8.

Do you have a minute to let me text Chad? I do, I made every stoplight on the drive here. I expected it to take about 10 minutes longer than it did so I can give you that much time. I text Chad. Can you be here at 8:30 tonight at my apartment. I want to fix you up with someone. Send me a picture of her is his reply. I ask for permission and take and send a picture of her to Chad. He sends a picture back asking me to show it to her and see if she is interested. She is interested in meeting Chad. I tell them both to be here at 8:30pm. Maybe by putting them together I can get rid of any temptation I might have of Lisa.

Now that she is gone, I turn my attention fully back to Amanda and the events of today. We have about 2 hours of time before Chad and Lisa are to be here at 8:30 tonight. I go into everything that Tom told me in his office as I am eating my pizza and drinking those cold beers that was just delivered. Amanda is quiet, too quiet. Is she hiding something from me? She replies that this sounds like her mother influencing her dad to make all the arrangements. I am guessing this is a discussion for another day. We turn the discussion back to planning the trip in June. She tells me the dates to ask for leave. By the time June gets here in 4 weeks, I will have all the arrangements in place. Leave it all to me. I can open my heart and soul to this woman about anything at any time. We have only known each other for 6 weeks now but she is the ying to my yang.

The door knocks as Chad is 15 minutes early. He is nervous, stammering nervous about meeting a blind date even though he has seen her picture in the text I sent him. Amanda gets my attention, she tells me to hand the phone to Chad and let me talk to him. Chad takes the phone and nods every now and then. Chad takes the phone and goes out on the lanai of the apartment. Lisa knocked on the door seconds after Chad goes outside on the Lanai. I let Lisa in the apartment. She asks to use the bathroom and freshen up. I point towards the bathroom. She comes out of the bathroom while Chad is coming in from the Lanai. They bump into each other which causes Lisa to trip and fall into Chads arms. He catches her and pulls her in close hugging her in one swift motion. Their lips are almost touching. The heat from their stare into each other's eyes is smoldering hot. Chad hands me the phone back as its still on video chat with Amanda.

I introduce Chad to Lisa and vice versa. Amanda tells me to go out to the lanai to talk to her. I leave Chad and Lisa in the room together. I looked back into the apartment about 2 minutes later. Chad has relaxed as they are sitting on my couch talking. I asked Amanda what she said to Chad. She starts talking about Lisa being in a sorority. I asked her how the hell she knows that. She is in the Chi Omega sorority. I saw her earrings. I used my laptop to look her up while I was talking to you on the phone. She goes to SDSU. She is a senior this year living at the sorority house. I told Chad to ask about what she is going to school for, what she wants to do after school, you know girl things. Chad seems nice but he needed something to help break the ice tonight at their first meeting. I told him to take her dancing at the club tonight.

Chad comes to the door of the lanai; Lisa and I are going to Club Marina dancing. Thank you for setting us up. Chad, remember its already 9pm. We have the training exercise at 6am in the morning. Don't drink too much and drive and get some sleep tonight as well. Let me know how it goes in the morning. My phone battery is beeping low battery. Amanda and I have talked for 4 hours tonight less the time she talked to Chad. I say good night to Amanda as she tells me she loves me. 6 weeks and she already told me she loves me several times. I am so over my head with this girl. We end the call as I crawl into bed after plugging the phone up and setting my alarm for the next morning. 4:30am comes too early in the morning. I might get 7 hours of sleep if I can go to sleep right now.

Amanda and I continue talking every 2 or 3 days with lots of texts in between. Twice in the next 4 weeks the seal team has extended training with one being a 4 day and the other 6-day training assignment that keeps me away from her. No outside contact with anyone other than the members of the team. As the first week of June approaches, I am so looking forward to being able to see and hold Amanda in my arms again. I will meet her family soon. I hope they at least like me. On the positive side, I will get to spend 4 of those 10 days back home in Jonesboro as well.

Writers note, I am in search for an editor to read over my story chapters before I post them. If you are interested in being an editor for me or if you know someone who is, please let me know.