The Man Who Came from Nowhere

Nick shook his head and slowly undressed before slipping under the sheets. Everything about the room, the furniture, and even the smell of the sheets reminded him of Deni. Then he realized where he was and why and had to smile to himself. A moment later, the bathroom door opened and she boldly walked straight to the other side of the bed wearing an obviously expensive silk nightgown with an oriental motif. She slid under the covers and rolled on her side to face him. He responded by rolling over to face her six inches away.

Timidly, she said, "Last night when you kissed me goodnight, you...you pushed me over the edge; in case you didn't notice."

"I noticed and in case you didn't notice, you pushed my right up to the edge several times last night."

She grinned, "I noticed. You better be careful because if you push me that far tonight, you will never be able to get rid of me."

"Who says that I want to get rid of you?"

"Then let the kissing begin." Those were the last words either of them spoke for three hours although they each muttered a variety of sounds of pleasure during the war of lips. He succeeded in pushing her over the edge three times and confirmed his belief that she was multi-orgasmic. She was very satisfied because he too had crossed the line twice, much to her satisfaction.

Then they fell asleep entangled in each other's arms and slept like babies until late in the morning. He woke up with those memorable lips pressing lightly on his. "Good morning." He said.

"I have never had a better one but we need to get going."

"You sure know how to ruin a beautiful night."

"Not really because we are going to recreate it tonight. My place or yours?"

"Your choice."

"Yours. I want another wonderful breakfast in the morning. And now I know what I need to bring with me." She kissed him and added, "The bathroom is yours while I make the coffee. Then I have to make myself beautiful for the day."

"You don't have to do anything to achieve that."

"Liar but I love it anyway." With the L-word on the table for the first time, they both blushed as she retreated to the kitchen and he disappeared in the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, they switched places. He discovered that she had enough food in the refrigerator to make French toast with some fruit on the side.

When she emerged from the back dressed for the day, she found breakfast waiting for her. "I was planning on taking you to breakfast this morning." She said as she kissed his cheek.

"Your kitchen just begged me to use it; I couldn't say no." He kissed her back.

"You are spoiling me."

"Ok; I'll accept that. Eat."

With breakfast over and the dishes in the dishwasher, they got back in her truck while re-confirming the details for the coming evening. Nick refused to tell her the plans for after dinner which allowed her to engage in a number of feminine wiles to coax the information out of him. Although he shouldn't have been, he was surprised that she was taking a full suitcase and hanging bag for the day. She refused to tell him why.

After another discreet kiss in public, they each went their separate way feeling relaxed and pleased. Nick went home for a pleasant day working on his garden shed while Deni headed west towards Fort Worth where her day turned into a more interesting one than she had anticipated.

At the Farm show, she easily found the booth of the company she was going to see, Peterson Equipment Company. As she expected, she was eagerly met by a couple of salesman who were more than willing to make her good deals on new equipment but who showed much less interest in helping her resolve the parts issues she came to address. They referred her to a rather forceful woman who was the president of the company. After explaining her needs, the woman basically ignored her concerns by saying that they had undergone a recent reorganization and consolidation. She simply told Deni to be patient and that they should have the parts issues resolved within a month or two. Deni left the booth less that satisfied and more than willing to talk to other companies to see if she could resolve her issues.

This led her to the back row of booths which consisted of smaller and less ostentatious booths including the one that Nick had told her about, Leroy Johnson Ag Services. The only person manning the booth was none other than Leroy Johnson himself. He greeted her warmly and listened to her story and concerns before replying, "I can understand your frustration. Let's just say that you are caught in the middle of an abnormal transition with them and there isn't much you can do except wait to see what happens or bite the bullet and go in a different direction."

"If I were a patient person, I might do that; but this is causing us to being without some critical equipment. Let's start with you; what can you do to resolve these issues?"

He smiled and calmly answered, "I can fix your equipment and make them better than new but they won't be with factory parts; I can't get them either. Some things, I can repair but others I will have to make or use things from different suppliers. That isn't a problem unless you have a warranty or some maintenance agreement with Peterson. If so, they will cancel their agreement the moment I touch the equipment."

She looked closely at him and felt that she was talking to an honest man. "Ok, take the gloves off and tell me what I need to know. I am hearing that something is going south with Peterson that doesn't include long time customers in the equation."

Leroy grinned and replied, "Why don't we sit down and talk out of the firing line out here." She smiled and took one of the two chairs in the booth while he took the other. "Peterson was started by the old man and he built it up by making good equipment. But he got older and was successful but also got a little stale. I had started with the company as a repair tech and worked up to be service manager. For a while, things were confused until his daughter married this young guy and Peterson let him run the company. He had a technical background but didn't know our products very much. The thing is that he didn't exactly run the company as much as guided it. He sat down with me and we talked about our parts and service business. He listened more than talked. Then he asked me what I needed to do to be successful. I was thinking about leaving anyway so I told him bluntly what I thought we needed to do. We talked and worked out the numbers. He was really good with the numbers. When we finished, he just said, 'Do it.' It wasn't just me either. He did it with all of the product managers too. This attitude sort of lit a fire under all of us."

"What was this guy's name? I wonder if I met him once."

"You might have but he pretty well let us handle most of the customer contact and stuff. His name was Drake Nicholson. Like I said, he let us do what we needed to do and the company changed from being a nice equipment manufacturer into a leader in our product areas. We had a good ride for about twelve years."

"So, what happened to change things?"

"On that, I can't really tell you much. No one knows the details for sure but there were a lot of rumors kicked around. His old lady was a socialite with no interest in the company. But she went to Europe one time and a week later, Drake came in and said that he was gone. Rumors floated around but no one knew. He just disappeared. When his old lady came back, she was named president of the company and his disappearance was never mentioned. I heard that there was a divorce but that was it. Anyway, if Drake guided the company, she was going to rule the company her way. A lot of people left. I stayed about a year and then left after she told me to raise our service rates and cut out a lot of the things we had been doing. I didn't like it, so I left and started my own company."

"How have you been doing since then?"

"I can't complain. A lot of our old service customers came over to me; so, I have stayed busy. My problem is that the place I work out of is too small. I need to add two more people but have no place to put them. I think about moving out somewhere to get closer to our customers but I haven't found a place that I like and can afford. So many places just want too much rent for a building that a little guy like me just can't afford it."

"Out of curiosity, have you heard from this Drake guy since he left?"

Leroy shot her a suspicious look and then carefully replied, "I haven't seen him or know where he is but he has called me a couple of times just to see how I am doing. I don't tell too many people that because he pretty obviously wants to left alone. But he has encouraged me to continue to do what I do best and that support is important to me."

"He sounds like the kind of guy you want to protect."

He looked at her closely again and said, "Those of us who worked for him would do almost anything for him. His ex has had a couple of people nosing around trying to find out where he is. None of us knows but even if we did, we wouldn't tell her anything. That guy across the aisle was the product manager for the sprayer line. He left and started his own line. He is even more protective of Drake than I am. She is trying to put pressure on him to close his business since it cuts into hers. He is thinking about moving out of the area too just to get away from her bullshit. Ooops. Sorry."

Deni laughed and replied, "Don't worry; I know the words and use them often myself. Listen. This has been very informative. Can I get you to come down and look at what we have and what we might need done? My foreman says that we need to get this equipment running or we will be in trouble when winter comes. And while you are there, I'd like to show you a place and see if it would fit your needs for your business."

"Where are you located and how big is the building?"

"About a hundred and twenty miles east of here. The building is 50,000 square feet and was a manufacturing facility until they got bought out and the new company moved the manufacturing to another place. It is in good shape and can be divided to fit your needs."

"Um...Do you know how much they might rent it for?"

Deni thought and then laid her cards on the table. "I'll be honest with you, my father built the building as an investment and leased it to the company. It is paid for and sitting vacant. When the plant closed, the community lost a hundred jobs and we are looking for new businesses to replace it. If you are interested, I would work out a rent agreement that would satisfy both of us."

"Holy shit. Hold on a minute." He stood up and caught the attention of the man across the aisle. "Krutch, come over here for a minute."

The man sauntered over and asked, "What's up, Leroy?"

"Ma'am, this is Mitch Krutchfield, we call him Krutch. Krutch, this lady has a 50,000-square foot building available about a hundred twenty miles east that she wants to get some businesses into. She says that she will work with people on the rent and could sub-divide it. Are you interested?"

Krutch looked at Deni and replied, "Lady, if you are serious, I'd be very interested in looking at it. I need more room and I kind of also want to get out of town here."

"First, I am dead serious and second, Leroy kind of told me the story and that you need some breathing room. I've got space with lots of breathing room and even more, there are skilled people looking for jobs in the area."

The two men looked at each other and nodded. Then Krutch asked, "When can we take a look at it?"

"You pick the day and time, I will be available."

Leroy then asked, "I'm sorry. I didn't ask. What is your name and where is this place?"

"I am Denise Chambers and here is my card. Call me when you want to come over. I'm ready."

Leroy looked at her card and then gasped, "Are you...I mean are you part of the Chambers Ranch family?"

She proudly replied, "Yes. You may be thinking about my father. He passed several years ago so my brother and I run it now."

"Denise, I know the equipment you wanted me to look at; I've worked on them before. I can make all of them sing and dance for you. Krutch..."

"You don't have to tell me. I sold a number of sprayers to the old...I mean your father. He was a tough businessman but always fair and honest. I loved working with him."

Denise reveled in hearing the respect these two men showed towards her father. "The building we are talking about is on the south side of town just inside the city limits."

Krutch said, "Leroy, I can tell you right now that this would work for both of us. I was in that building a couple of times when the company was still there. They have the fabrication bays that I need on one end and on the other end, they had their offices and part areas. I doubt that either of us could find a better place anywhere at any price. I'm free on Thursday afternoon, how about you?"

"I can work with that. Miss Chambers, if it's all right with you, I'll come down in the morning and talk to your foreman about the equipment and we can meet Krutch after lunch."

Denise stood up and smiled, "I think that we just made all three of us very happy today. I look forward to Thursday. Call me if something changes."

The three shook hands and Denise left feeling as happy as she had in some time. Now she looked forward to her evening with Nick. As she drove to Dallas and her brother's house, she thought about everything she had learned this morning. Then it dawned on her that there were a number of coincidences that were too obvious to overlook. By the time she parked at her brother's house, she had one huge question in her mind; "Could her Nick be this same Drake Nicholson that seemed to be a thread that ran though almost everything that just happened?" Then she asked how she could find out without stepping all over the things that worried Nick.

Her brother was excited to hear about the possible lease of the building and offered to come down on Thursday to talk with them about the lease and terms. As the family lawyer, she let him handle all of the details like that. She also told him about the conversations in town about attracting new business and jobs and also Nick's suggestions about finding and nurturing smaller companies like these two rather than looking for a big one. Her brother agreed that working with smaller start-ups would have a better long-term chance of success than looking for big opportunities. They agreed on a strategy that would work for them and be attractive to the new businesses. Then Denise took a long bath and prepared herself for her evening with Nick.

She arrived at the restaurant feeling especially radiant and looked every bit of an elegant woman out for a nice evening. She was directed to the bar where Nick was already waiting for her. As she proudly walked in, every eye turned to look at the beautiful woman dressed in a yellow floral dress. She felt a strong tingle when her tall, equally well-dressed man stood up to greet her with a huge smile and a kiss.

"My, my, me! You do know how to dress for success; you look stunning."

"Am I showing enough leg and cleavage to satisfy you?"

"Let's just say that you are making me drool along with every other man here."

"I am only interested in making you drool. And I should add that you dress up pretty well yourself."

'Thank you. And for you, I will offer one small improvement." He handed her small but beautiful corsage of yellow roses that almost exactly matched the color of her dress.

She grinned broadly and said with a grin, "It is beautiful and now you get to pin it on me right here in front of all of these drooling men." She thrust her chest out as Nick turned a bright red. "Get busy. You got it for me; you get to put it on and if I feel your fingers wiggle, I will probably cross the line again."

The simple truth was that there was no way to pin the corsage on her without his fingers touching her delicate flesh. It brought back the fear of all adolescent boys that he might accidently pop one of the balloons that so fascinate men and boys. It took a minute but he accomplished his mission without drawing blood but did elicit a number of groans from the other men in the bar.

She responded, "You did very well; you only got me close, which you will take care of later, and are now the envy of every man in the place. Nice work."

"Easy for you to say. Let's sit down."

"Ah; you got close too." He didn't reply but deftly stood behind the chair as she sat down.

In an effort to defuse the moment, Nick changed the subject. "So how was your day today?"

"You, my love, are a coward but a wonderful one. I had a very interesting day and am eager to tell you. The summary is, that I got blown off at the place I went to see and then found the solution to my issues plus two possible new and growing businesses for the town. So, it was a really productive day. And a lot of the reason is because of you."

"What did I do?"

Denise now looked closely at Nick to gauge his reactions as she told him her story. "The company I went to talk to was Peterson Equipment. Ever heard of them?"

"Sure. They make some good equipment."

"I think the words should be, "they made good equipment.'" She could detect no reaction from him. "I met the president of the company, a woman..." No reaction. "She basically told me that they had been going through a reorganization and that I should just be patient for a month or two when they should have their parts things straightened out. That was kind of strange, don't you think?"

Nick's face frowned before he said, "All companies go through transitions and sometimes there are awkward times. But no, that wasn't the right way to talk to a good customer."

"That's what I thought too. Anyway, I left there frustrated and found the guy you told me about; Leroy Johnson. Boy, would he fit in our town."

"What did he have to say?"

"I told him about my frustrations with Peterson and he then told me what he knew. It seems that Peterson had hired his daughter's husband to run the company a number of years ago. He basically turned it around and everyone loved working for him. His name was Drake something; Nicholson, I think he said. Ring any bells?" She eyed him closely but only saw a slight flicker of interest.

"I think I heard the name but never met him."

"Anyway, it seems that one day he just walked in and told people that he was leaving. Then he disappeared. No one knew where he went or what caused him to leave. He said that there were rumors but no one ever said anything for sure." No reaction. "Then Peterson named his daughter as president and that is when things started going bad. Johnson said that he left after a year when she wanted to raise prices and change the way they were doing things." She saw that his eyes had darkened but offered no other reaction.

"Leroy said that he started his service company and that a number of his old customers started using him. He said that he was doing ok but that he needed to expand but that the rent on facilities was too high." Nick nodded in understanding. "So, I mentioned that we were looking for new businesses at home and that there were facilities available at reasonable prices. He got very interested and called another man over who he called Krutch. I think his name was Krutchfield. Know him?"

This time she saw a flicker of a smile but heard the same thing, "I heard about someone with a name like that, I think."

"So, the upshot of all of this is that they are both coming down this Thursday to look at a building I told them about. They both fit exactly what you were talking about; small but growing businesses who are in a business that fits with the community. Your suggestions just fit everything perfectly."

"I am glad that it turned out well for you. Maybe this is the first step to turning the town around."