My Little Slice Of Heaven

"Larry are you trying to tell me something?"

I sat staring out over the stream at the setting sun. Linda's question took me by surprise. I wondered what she was getting at. I thought we were just talking about things in general. Where had this question came from. And whatever happened to the little twerp that used to follow her around? I hated his ass and I had never been introduced to him.

"No Linda. I was just telling you what I needed in a woman I guess. I need someone that understands like you do and that can be happy with the same things I am."

Linda smiled and laid her head on my chest for a moment then patted my stomach. "Good," she said. That's what I wanted to hear."

Once again I walked Linda to her car and followed her until she turned off at her home. Same thing three or four nights a week seemed like. But it was nice. I really enjoyed our time together after her friends left. Hell, I even enjoyed her friends too. They were special and I could tell they loved her and cared about her like I did.

Mom and Dad noticed me sitting and staring into space during the next couple of days. If I wasn't doing that I was making notes and figuring on a pad. To my surprise I was trying to figure out if I could afford to buy the bar and campground. I already felt as if it was mine and I was making plans on what I wanted to change or improve. They finally asked me what I was doing one day at lunch. All I would tell them was I was trying to decide for sure what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Friday afternoon I went to the bar earlier than normal. I wanted to talk to Phil during his quiet time in mid afternoon. I told him I had been thinking about his offer and wanted to discuss it with him. We were still talking when Linda and her friends came in. When she saw us she smiled and came over to our table. She once again bent and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips. She stood beside me and placed her hand on my shoulder while she gently leaned against me.

I looked up and Phil was grinning at me. Linda said, "What are you two doing in here instead of out on the deck where it's so pretty?"

"We're talking about the business Linda and whether I want to buy it and if I can afford it if I do."

Linda didn't say anything else. She just pulled out a chair and sat beside me. She reached for some of the business records. Before she looked at them though she asked, "Do either of you mind if I look at the records. I know I'm only a high school teacher but my degree is in Business Administration with a BS in Education." She turned to me and said, "I might be able to help you with this if you will let me Larry."

Phil and I both told her that was fine and we dove into the records. I was impressed twice that evening. Once with how Linda was able to decipher those records and again at how much Phil made off the little business. Of course the summer months were better but December was another good month because of the liquor sales around all the holidays.

Phil had placed a really good price on the business too. He only wanted "$260,000 for the whole works and another amount for the inventory. We didn't know about the inventory because we would have to take one to determine the value. He did promise he would only charge the wholesale price for inventory though. He thought it would be around $40-50,000 more depending on how much he sold down before we did the deal.

Well, now I knew what I had to come up with. That was a huge chunk for a guy like me that only had about $25,000 in the bank. If I bought the place I could live on my pension though and use all the profit to pay on the loan. I just needed to come up with a little cushion for emergencies and figure some way to get the money for the inventory.

After Phil went back to work Linda and I kept talking. One thing we decided to do was have a real estate agent appraise the business and land to see if the deal was a good one for me. Another was to write up a business plan and begin to see if I could get a loan for some of the funds I would need. Phil had agreed to carry the note for $220,000 at 5%. I could more than make those payments from the operating profit.

A couple of days later after I came home for the evening I was figuring again and filling out my business plan when Mom and Dad came into the kitchen where I was working on the table. They sat down and Dad said, "Son why didn't you tell me you needed money? Your mother and I have several thousand dollars just sitting there that we don't need. Why did I have to find out from someone else that you wanted to buy the bar?"

"Dad how did you find out about that? I haven't told anyone except Phil and Linda. I can't believe Linda told you that."

"No son it was a couple of the guys I work with. They overheard you and Phil talking the other day and told me. I kept waiting for you to say something but you didn't. When I heard you had been in the loan department of the bank today I decided I needed to say something to you before you did something stupid. Now how much do you need to do this son?"

I told Dad and Mom what I had and what I thought I needed. Dad looked shocked and sort of hung his head. "Oh," he said. "I'm sorry son. I didn't think you would need that much. We only have about $50,000 we could loan you. We need to keep a little in the bank for emergencies and so do you."

I looked up at Dad and thought for a moment. "Dad that really might work if you mean it. I have enough in my bank for the down payment Phil wants. All I have to come up with is the money he needs to pay for his inventory. He said he thought that would be between forty and fifty thousand dollars. He is willing to carry the loan for the rest of the business at 5%. Linda and he think I can service the loan from the operating profits of the business and still have a good amount of the profit to keep every year. I intend to use all the profits from the business to pay down the loan and make improvements. I'll just live on my pension. If you can help with the inventory I think I can do this."

My parents and I struck a deal that evening and we all went to bed happy. The next day I went to Phil and told him I would do the deal. He would have his attorney draw up the papers and I would have one look them over to be sure they were ok. We decided we would make the deal effective the first of December.

When Phil had shown me the living area I was amazed. It was beautiful. I felt right at home the first time I went inside even though it wasn't my home yet. Phil even agreed to leave much of the furniture because the house he was moving to was furnished. He asked if I would mind if he stayed in the apartment for a while because he was going to have to kick out a renter to move into his small house if I wanted to move into the bar.

That evening I told Linda I had decided to purchase the bar. She squealed and gave me a big hug. "Congratulations Larry. I hope you're as happy as you think you will be with your new business. When can I see the apartment?"

"How about now," I asked. She smiled and nodded her head yes. I walked over to Phil and asked if I could borrow the keys to show the apartment to Linda.

Phil said sure and reached into his pocket for the keys. He grinned and when he handed me the keys he said, "Why do you want to show the apartment to Linda anyway son. Is there something I need to know about this?"

I laughed and said, "Naw. She just asked if she could see my new house. Hell, I may even get her to help me with some of the decorating after you get what you want out of it."

Phil grinned and said, "That would probably be a good idea son."

Linda loved the apartment. She stood in the kitchen and rubbed the granite counter tops while she looked out the huge picture windows in the den and onto the deck. "This is even better than I imagined it would be Larry. It's about perfect. I think you'll love it here."

I don't know why I did it but I walked up to her and wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her to me. I gave her a gentle kiss and said, "Thanks Linda. I might not have done this if you hadn't talked me into it but I think it was the right decision. I know I like the apartment and I'm pretty sure I'll like running the bar and camp. Phil has some great employees and they have all agreed to stay."

A couple weeks later Linda came into the bar and sat with me as usual. She seemed quiet and withdrawn, sort of unhappy. After her friends left I reached and took one of her hands. "What's wrong Linda? You seem unhappy tonight."

"The management company told me I had to move out of my house today. The owner has decided to move back to town and wants to move back into their house so I have to go. Jessie says I can live with her until I find a place but I will miss my little house. It's just the right size for me and is so close to the school I can walk to work easily."

The first of December Phil managed to move out and give me possession of the entire premises. I moved in the same day. That's not too hard to do when everything you own will fit in the bed of a pickup truck. That evening after her friends left Linda and I went up and sat on my deck instead of on the one at the bar. We sat together on a padded swing and just rocked enjoying the quiet and watching the sunset. It was a little cool but not bad for the first of December.

Over the next few weeks it seemed we adjourned to my place every evening Linda came to the bar. Just before Christmas I had my arm around Linda and we were sitting listening to music and talking. I gave her a gentle kiss and said, "Linda I can't go on like this any longer."

I felt Linda tense up. She looked up at me and said, "What do you mean Larry?"

"Linda I want to take you out on a date. I want to see if we can be a couple, you know, see where that would lead us. I loved you when we were in high school. It was probably puppy love but I did love you and I want to see if we can do that again. I haven't seen anyone else I care as much about. I want to see if we can build a future together."

Linda relaxed back against me and smiled. "Larry what do you think we've been doing? What are dates anyway?"

"Well, uh, you take someone you like out to get to know them better. You see if they like the same things you do and if you think you can make a life together with them if you got married."

"Larry did we like the same things when we were in high school? Haven't we talked a lot about what we like now and how we want to live our lives here in Wheatland? It seems to me like we've been doing the same things we would do on a 'real date' right here in your bar and on your deck." Linda smiled and continued, "I would enjoy going out for a nice meal with you sometimes and maybe even seeing a show but it's not something I have to have Larry. Just being with you is enough for me."

I was shocked. I had never thought about what we were doing in that context. Linda was really right. What we did with each other could be considered a date but darn it I hadn't thought about it that way. I thought I was just spending time with my friend, someone who I really, really liked to be with. Hummmmm. I wonder if she thought we were dating. I was going to have to ask her sometime.

The next week I spent a lot of time thinking about what Linda had said. I thought she might be right but it still didn't feel right to me. After all I hadn't spent a lot of money on her and we hadn't gone to somewhere nice. Oh, sure I had begun refusing to let her pay for her drinks and snacks and stuff but so what. Then I thought oh, I was still charging all my other friends. Hummm.

I decided I needed to take Linda out somewhere else so about once a month or so we would go to a larger town nearby for a nice meal and sometimes a show. All those trips were really fun and we both enjoyed the nice meals but something just wasn't right about the trips. We always came back early and ended up in my house cuddling and kissing.

After school was out Linda took to spending almost all day at my place with me. She worked right alongside me and seemed to get put out with me when I commented on it. She really got pissed when I tried to pay her for the work. "Dammit Larry. I didn't come here to ask you for a job. I like to be with you and I don't have anything else I have to do so I'm here. You need these things done and if I help you then you can relax more and we can spend more time together."

I was happy. Perhaps for the first time in my life I was really happy. I was even happier than I had been in the Army and I loved the Army. The night of my birthday in June Linda and I were on my deck watching the sunset. We were snuggled together exchanging gentle kisses from time to time. We had been swimming earlier and were still in our swim suits. Linda had just came back from the bathroom and started to sit beside me again

I don't know what I was thinking about but when she started to sit I reached out and grabbed her. I pulled her down on my lap and wrapped my arms around her. Instead of the gentle kiss I usually gave her I slapped a hungry lip lock on her. Linda twisted and pressed her breasts into my chest. She moaned as I kissed her. I was gently rubbing her thighs from her knee up almost to her crotch. The crotch of her bottoms was wet looking. That seemed strange. It had been a long time since we were in the water.

After several kisses I leaned back and pulled Linda against me. I looked out over the river and said, "Linda this is my little slice of heaven. I've been thinking about my life here now ever since we talked about how I wanted to live it. I have been thinking really hard about things since we talked about dating and finding out about each other. Linda I think I've been an idiot. You were trying to tell me all along that I wasn't seeing things straight."

I looked at Linda's face. She was looking at me with her arms wrapped around my neck. She had a quizzical look on her face. "Linda," I said. "I know now what you meant and I think I know what you've been afraid of for the last several months. I hope I don't ruin what we have but I have to know something Linda. I need to make my life perfect and I need you to help me do that."

Linda looked at me with trepidation and said, "Larry you know I will do anything I can to help you. What can I do?"

"Linda, I love you. I want you to marry me. Will you do that for me? That's all I want from you that you're not doing for me now. I want to be with you always and love you forever. I'm tired of you going home every night and being alone here. I need you in my life 24/7 to make it perfect in every way. I'm sorry I don't have a ring for you but I wanted you to help me pick it out. If that isn't what you want though I can go find one by myself if you will marry me."

Linda smiled and leaned in to give me a kiss. "Yes. Oh, yes. I've been praying you would ask me that. That's all I can see that I need to make my life perfect too. As for the ring, we can do it either way. I would love any ring you wanted to give me but if you want to go pick it out with me I would be very happy to do that too."

Linda and I married August first so we could take a honeymoon before she had to return to her teaching job. She continued to help me in the business for the rest of our lives just as did Phil's Sophie. With her love I quit having the flashbacks gradually and grew to love her more and more every day. We had two boys and when they grew up the oldest followed me into the Army. The youngest went into the Navy. Both are making a career of the service. Both of them had listened to their mother however and finished college. They are officers and make us and the whole town very, very proud of them. I just wish we could see them more.

Life is good here in my own little slice of heaven. Life is especially good when I am with my angel.