Territory Manager

That night I ran the railroad tracks. Actually not on the tracks but there was a flat trail next to the tracks. This was an overgrown area near a small creek. Fairly secluded. I had seen people hanging out down there. I couldn’t tell if they were homeless, doing drugs or what. They left me alone so I didn’t pay much attention back.

This time as I was running I noticed some kind of commotion ahead of me. I muted the sound on my headphones. Immediately I heard the high pitched sound of a child screaming. As I got closer to the group a young blond girl, maybe nine years old ran up to me crying.

“Help, help. They have my sister, they have Violet!” She screamed.

“Wait here.” I told her.

As I approached I saw a younger girl sitting on the ground sobbing as three adult men surrounded her. One had her forearm trying to drag her somewhere. I saw a decrepit tent down the ravine near the creek.

“What the fuck is going on here!?” I yelled at the homeless looking guys.

They looked up, startled by my appearance. And then the one who was dragging the young girl turned toward me. He was dark haired with scraggly dark facial hair on his pale face. An overbite created a wolf-like look. A tattoo crept up one side of his neck.

“Ain’t your business,” he said. “Keep moving if ya know what’s good for ya.” He looked me in the eye and added.

Quickly I pushed one of the guys down the embankment, grabbed the little blond girl and told her to run to her sister. Now I was between the remaining two and the girls.

“You just made a big mistake.” The dark haired guy said to me. He had a knife.

He approached and swiped at me with the knife. I dodged away.

The other guy, bigger with no weapon, came toward me. I cold-cocked him square on the jaw and he crumpled.

That interaction allowed the guy with the knife an opportunity. He swiped again and got my left forearm. Hurt like hell, but the knife became tangled in my shirt and he lost his grip. The knife fell to the ground.

Now it was one on one, me and the dark haired guy. I was injured. But I was also pissed. I resorted to my early golden gloves approach. Hit hard and quickly.

I hit him with my right twice to the face. He swung wildly and I ducked. I hit him once again in the face, that dazed him. Then I took a lesson from Graham McKenzie.

I kicked him in the balls, hard. He collapsed and tumbled down the bank. That was that.

I took off my shirt and tied it around my bleeding forearm and went to find the girls.

They were almost to the city streets when I found them. The older one had her arm around the younger one, Violet. Violet was crying.

“Girls are you okay?” I asked.

I startled them. Violet started crying harder.

“It’s okay. You’re safe.” I told them. “Do you live around here?” I asked.

The older one nodded and I told them I would stay with them until they got to their house. After a moment the older one agreed that I would walk them home.

“You’re bleeding,” Violet told me in her little girl voice, and pointed at my wounded arm.

“I know, sweetheart.” I said. “It’s not too bad.” I told her.

Their house was just a few blocks from the trail where I found them. The trail was a shortcut to a convenience store. That was where the girls were going.

As we walked up the drive the front door of their small house swung open and there stood a confused and angry woman who I assumed was their mother.

I imagined what she saw, her two young daughters, frightened and in tears with a bloody stranger, shirtless, with them. I understood the anger in her eyes.

“April, Violet, get in the house!” She commanded. “Who are you and what the hell is going on?” She demanded.

“Your girls, I saw them on the railroad trail.” I told her. “There were some assho…, um, bad people that were bothering them. I just walked them home.” I told her.

She stared at me, as if trying to decide if I was telling the truth. Then she looked at my bleeding arm.

“What happened to you?” She asked. “Are you okay?”

“To be honest, I’m feeling a little light headed.” I told the woman. “May I sit on your steps for a minute?” I asked.

So I sat. The girls came out and April told her mom her version of the events on the trail.

“… and then, he beat up the bad guys.” April said and pointed at me. “Hey, we don’t even know your name.” April exclaimed.

The woman, Gail, I later found out asked me what happened down on the trail. I explained what I saw and what a dangerous situation it could have been for the two little girls. The mom, Gail, started crying. She was scared for her girls and blamed herself. She felt she was a bad mom. She was quite upset, shuddering at the thought of what could have happened.

“Do you mind if I wash my arm up?” I asked.

And she helped. I got to see their small house. It was neat as a pin. I also took a moment to check out Gail.

I guessed about my age. Intelligent, lean, and attractive looking. Not the more flamboyant look of Crystal, but pretty with wholesome features. Short, curly hair, an olive complexion and in good shape. She was wearing soccer shorts and I noticed her tan, smooth, muscular legs.

I gave Gail my B&B business card and told her if she wanted to go to the police I would cooperate and give my account. She said she would think about it.

I felt like it was time for me to go. I said goodbye to April and Violet and was surprised when I got a kiss on the cheek from Gail.

“Thank you,” She said with a tear rolling down her cheek. “You are our hero.” She told me.

Bandaged and feeling proud of myself I waved goodbye and walked the short distance to my apartment.

Despite my concerns over the problems I was having with Crystal, I felt positive about life after helping these two scared innocent girls.

Much later I began to focus on the problems at home.

When I talked to Janet she said no strange cars in my driveway. That was somewhat of a relief.

On Friday I talked to Oscar.

“No extra cars around.” He told me, “But, last night I drove by later, almost eleven o’clock. The house looked empty. No lights on. Nothing. So I parked up the street and creeped the house. Your woman wasn’t home. I waited a couple hours and drove by again. This time I stayed in the car. I didn’t need one of your neighbors reporting a Mexican prowling around your house in the middle of the night.” He told me.

“House looked the same.” Oscar told me. “One thirty in the morning. Roger, your woman wasn’t home.” He said.

I had to pull over. I had two more sales calls today, but I think I was going to skip them. I sat and thought. Going into this relationship with Crystal I knew there was a risk. I had heard about her reputation but I thought we had gotten beyond all that. I thought about all our good times and for a moment I became emotional.

And then I thought about Dobler. I had seen him looking at Crystal, I was so confident in her, I didn’t think anything could happen. And I’m still not sure it had, but there were a lot of signs. Trust but verify.

As I sat at that rest stop I realized for the first time since I had been given this remote Montana territory, I wasn’t looking forward to going home for the weekend.

All of a sudden I was interrupted by a phone call. A number I didn’t recognize, I nearly didn’t answer.

“Roger?” A voice said. “It’s Gail Calahan, April and Violet’s mom.”

I was surprised by the call.

After some brief small talk she invited me over for dinner that night. She wanted to thank me.

I told her unfortunately I was driving back to the city today.

“Oh,” she said. I could hear the disappointment in her voice. “The girls made you something. Oh well. Maybe we can just drop it by to you sometime.” She told me.

I paused for a moment and thought.

“You know,” I said, “I think I can change a few things and make it after all.” I told Gail.

It was a spur of the moment decision, but there was something about those two little girls and their Mom that made me want to spend time with them. Perhaps it was a way of avoiding the problems at home, but I was now committed. And I was looking forward to the evening.

I called Crystal and made up a lie about a customer event I had to attend at the last minute on Saturday. I told her it was no sense getting home Saturday night and turning around and leaving a day and a half later. I would spend the weekend in Montana.

I was a bit surprised when she didn’t really seem terribly upset by this change in plans. I would have expected her to demand that I come home to be with her. She did ask if I was sure I needed to stay for the made-up customer event. I told her it was important.

She all too easily said she understood.

Though I had no specific evidence of her infidelity, there were a lot of circumstantial signs. I was also pretty sure it was if there was another man, it was Dobler. I began to wonder if the entire plan of me moving to Montana was so he would have a shot at Crystal. Huh, I thought. I’d seen him look at her. And I had seen her look back.

I decided to think about all that later. Right now I was going to think about Violet, April and Gail. These were far happier thoughts.

I brought a bouquet of flowers to Gail. She looked like she had tried to dress casually but nicely for the dinner. Both girls were in dresses. They had made me a cardboard heart saying “Our Hero’. It was very cute.

“I’m never going down to the railroad tracks again.” Young Violet told me.

In fact that was the only mention of the incident through dinner the entire night. After dinner I played soccer in the backyard with the two girls until it got dark.

When we all came in from the backyard Gail told the girls to get ready for bed.

I told her it was probably time for me to head home too.

She grabbed my forearm, the good one, and said, “stay a bit.”

I sat on the couch, slightly confused about where this night may be going. I thought that it had been a good night. I barely thought of my marital problems. More than even Gail, I’d enjoyed spending time with these two little girls. Several times my mind drifted to the thought of what likely could have happened if I hadn’t been on that trail at that precise time.

Gail came out and sat in the single chair across her small wood coffee table from me. That at least defined her objectives for the evening.

“Thanks for staying, in fact I can”t thank you enough for everything.” She told me. “I’m pretty good with people and I have a good sense about you. Tell me more about yourself. All I know is that you are our hero.” She added with a smile.

So I told her about my job at B&B. I told her about Crystal. And then for some reason I told her all about the problems we were having. About the sock, Dobler, and my suspicions. She had this way of focusing as she asked questions that made me feel comfortable opening up to her.

It felt good to talk all this through with somebody.

We talked about her life a bit too. She was an independent marketing strategist. She used to work in-house for a big box retailer. She, her husband and the girls moved to Missoula for his job at the university. Shortly after they moved from Seattle he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Within a year he was dead. That was two years ago.

Gail had several steady clients and with no false modesty she told me she was good at what she did. I believed her. Her biggest struggle was raising two young girls as a single Mom.

She then broke into tears imagining the terrors of her little girls and the horrible men on the trail.

I moved to comfort her with a platonic hug. She hugged me back and there was absolutely no sexuality in our embrace. Don’t get me wrong, Gail is an attractive woman on the verge of beautiful, but sometimes the human connection can override a sexual impulse.

As we stood there, all of a sudden, out marched the sleepy-eyed April.

“Remember to tell Roger about the picnic tomorrow.” April said and then abruptly turned around and went back to bed.

We stood closely facing each other, a slight uncomfortableness in that moment, she looked at me and then shyly looked away.

“We were going to Palmer Lake tomorrow for a picnic. The girls wanted me to ask you to come if you can. If you can’t, that’s okay, I mean it’s short notice…. ”

“What time should I be here?” I asked. And that was that.

The picnic was fun. I just felt so comfortable with Gail and the girls. I would have moments when I just watched Gail. Her attractiveness grew on me. But it was also her warm, intelligent, personality that was so attractive. I had to keep reminding myself I was married.

At least for now.

For the first Monday morning since I had been calling on Montana I woke up in my territory. Despite the problem at home I had a bounce in my step and I was getting things accomplished quickly in my sales territory.

Tuesday I took Gail and the girls out for ice cream after work. I couldn’t help it, I was becoming more and more attracted to Gail. And I loved spending time with the girls.

By the end of the week I decided I needed to see what was going on with Crystal and understand where my life was going. I told Crystal I would be home at the normal time Friday night. I was going to give this a good shot.

That Friday she was home when I got there. That was one good thing, I guess. I tried to act like all was okay. We didn’t discuss my suspicions or bring up any points of potential contact that night. I was warm and affectionate and she responded.

We made love that night and it was sexually fulfilling for sure. Crystal was always good sexually, but the intimacy seemed absent. I told myself we had been apart and maybe we just needed to reacquaint ourselves. But deep down my suspicions of her fidelity made me cautious.

We were having a normal weekend, running errands and doing chores around the house and I decided tonight I would talk to her about moving out with me to Montana. For an instant thoughts of Gail, April and Violet flashed through my mind. It was a confusing thought.

Crystal suggested we walk down to The Regulator and have a drink and dinner. I thought this would be a good place to have our discussion.

By the time dinner was over Crystal had two drinks and had just ordered a third. A little more than normal. I brought up the idea of her moving to Montana. Crystal sat and listened as I laid it out: Rent out our house here. Look to buy something or some land to build in Montana. Consider starting a family.

“But what about my job?” She asked with a puzzled look on her face.

“Come on Crystal,” I said. “You can get that type of job anywhere.” I told her.

“That type of job!?” she asked, starting to get angry.

“You know what I mean.” I offered placatingly.

And then we broke into a full blown argument. I think the alcohol contributed to the intensity. She accused me of not valuing what she did. I tried to explain that our relationship was more important than any silly job.

“Silly!?” she exploded, “Now you think what I do is silly?” She went on. “Gordon certainly doesn’t think what I do is silly. He tells me all the time how wonderful I am. Something I don’t hear much from you!” She added.

Now she was playing the Gordon card. I decided I needed to calm down or things were really going to get out of control. I told her I needed to use the bathroom.

When I came back, from across the room, I saw her furiously tapping away on her Iphone. My guess was she was texting Dobler.

The rest of the weekend was another cold war. Barely speaking, no attempt at trying to resolve things. I was afraid I may lose my temper and say something about Dobler. And if she is innocent I would be falsely accusing her.

With great relief I left Monday morning long before Crystal was awake.

I received an interesting call en route to my sales territory. Graham McKenzie.

After the usual initial banter he came to the point.

“Me and you are mates, Rog, and I owe it to you to tell you that we are going to explore different distribution in your market. Business is way off with B&B.” he told me. “Nothing has been decided yet, but it”s coming.” He said.

“I have an idea though.” He went on.

Basically his idea was this. Can Pac would rent a shipping yard in town. They would lease a truck and a driver. I would hire an office person and a warehouse person. I would sell Can Pac lumber to the dealers in the same market that B&B was in. I would be their distributor. But still, an independent business.

“So, would I be a Can Pac employee?” I asked.

“No mate, listen, it will be your business. We will help you with terms of payment. But you will think up a name and go into business selling Can Pac products, and anything else as long as there are no conflicts.” he told me.

We talked for another hour about the details. I was interested, but I also knew it was a big risk. For the most part I liked my job at B&B, and to leave it it would be a big step. I told him I would think about it.

“You’ve got two weeks mate, and then I’m going to need to do something.” Graham told me.

That week while I was making my sales calls I made very discreet inquiries into the opportunity to buy from a new distribution company that I would run. Most responses were positive. I began thinking a little more about this.

I needed someone to talk to. I knew I couldn’t talk to Mr Bellows. And I couldn’t talk to Crystal even if we were getting along, which we weren’t. Crystal did not have the correct aptitude to be helpful in this type of matter.

I called Gail.

That night I had dinner with her and the two girls. I brought dessert. After dinner the girls played and I talked to Gail about the proposition Graham had asked me about.

We talked for an hour. Her asking me questions, and me providing information. And then she asked me, what she said was the most important question.

“Do you trust Graham?” She asked.

I sat for a moment and thought about Graham. I thought about our history together. And then I thought about his character.

“With my life.” I finally replied.

Gail just sat staring at me head nodding. As if there was nothing more that needed to be said.

I was a long way from a definite decision, but I was getting closer.

The following day I received a phone call from John Gomez, our long time inside salesman, the one who originally helped me get my job at B&B.

This was not totally unusual, but John’s manner was a little off. After some preliminary general discussion. I asked him what was going on.

“Not sure what’s happening Roger, but if I were you I’d try to figure out what is going on with your wife and Gordon Dobler.” he said. “Crystal, Dobler, that guy Darin and the receptionist with the big hooters seem to be going out almost every night.” He told me. “Last night I stopped at that little Tiki dive near the office for a quick drink after work. Those four looked too friendly together. I wouldn’t want my wife hanging on some asshole like that.” He told me.

And he described what he had seen, touching and some kissing. Laughing, sitting closely like a couple. No wonder she never picked up when I called. I guess the mystery of the single sock has been solved too.

I sat and thought for a good long while. Unless there was some extraordinary explanation my marriage was over. I thought about first meeting Crystal, I thought about some of the good times we had. I thought about our vacations to Hawaii and then I thought about all the good sex we had together. I thought we were a team. I thought we had a plan for life together. I became emotional.

And then I thought about Dobler. I thought about him checking out Crystal early on. The negativity and criticism of me at first and then the change where he became ever so friendly. I now knew he wanted me out of the picture so he could seduce Crystal. He wanted to exert himself over me by taking my woman. Apparently it wasn’t terribly difficult.. Crystal, it seems, was all for it.

Where I had sadness thinking about my lost marriage, I now had anger at this egomaniacal asshole. There was going to be a confrontation.

I called John Gomez back and got a little more information. It sounded like Crystal, Dobler and that other asshole Barnes all went to the Tiki Hut virtually every night after work. I did a mental calculation. If I left now I would be there about five thirty this afternoon. Since it was a Thursday none of them would expect me.

I headed west.

During the four hour drive I thought of a lot of things. Many of my thoughts were of Crystal and Dobler, but some of them were about Canadian Pacific and that opportunity. I began to formulate a plan regarding Graham’s proposal. At one point I even tried calling Mr Bellows. That call went to voicemail. I didn’t leave a message.

Five twenty four PM and I pull up outside The Tiki Hut. I am doing my best to stay calm. When I opened the door it took me a moment to adjust to the darkness of the bar. I think I heard them before I actually saw them.

The four of them Crystal, Dobler, Darin Barnes, and Jules the big breasted receptionist sat in a booth. Dobler had his arm possessively around Crystal, his hand dangling over her left tit, perhaps lightly touching it.

“Isn’t this cozy?” I said surprising the foursome.

“Roger!” Crystal exclaimed. “What, what are you doing here? It’s only Thursday.” she went on, disentangling herself from Dobler’s groping.

“Yes, it is just Thursday.” I said. “I heard there was a company party tonight. I decided to attend.” I said, my emotions high and tense.

“Easy Pal, ” Dobler said to me. “Why don’t you just calm down. We’re just having some fun.” Dobler stood.

I glanced briefly at Dobler and then stared at Crystal. She was looking down. Avoiding my gaze, caught doing what a married woman probably shouldn’t be doing.

“So, are you fucking this guy?'” hooking my thumb towards Dobler but staring at Crystal.

She was silent to this but big titted Jules chimed in.

“So what if she is.” Jules said. “You’re out in bum-fuck Montana all week. You expect her to sit home waiting for you?” She told me.

With that Barnes started laughing.

“You fucking bitch.” I quietly, tensely said to Crystal. “I’m trying to sacrifice and make a life for us. And meanwhile you’re fucking this loud mouthed douche! What is wrong with you?” I asked her.

Crystal, was quiet for a minute them looked me in the eyes and said to me,

“I made a mistake.” She said to me.

Here it comes, I thought. Some pathetic apology, how it only happened once, and it doesn’t affect us. How it will never happen again.

But I mistook what she meant about her ‘mistake’.

“Sometimes you realize that you made a mistake with a relationship. I was young and immature when we met. I have matured and unfortunately I need something more in my life.” She told me.

I was shocked by her words. Need something more? I just stared at her, incredulous.

“And this is something more!?” I asked, my finger pointing at Dobler while I locked eyes with Crystal.

Dobler, apparently, didn’t like my finger that close to him and he swatted it away.

Though my focus was still on Crystal, not quite understanding this complete change in attitude. I involuntarily reacted to the slapping of my finger and snapped my hand up grazing Dobler’s chin.

As I continued to look at Crystal trying to wrap my head around this woman who in all likelihood was going to be my ex-wife, I was coldcocked.

Dobler was big and fairly strong. I was completely blindsided by his punch to my jaw. In boxing I’m sure I had been hit harder before but this time I was completely, unknowingly defenseless. He knocked me out.

When I came to, Crystal, Dobler and company were gone. The bartender was patting my face with a cold towel.

“You okay bud?” He asked. “All of a sudden those people left in a hurry and then I saw you on the floor. You okay?” he asked again.

I told him I was okay, but asked for a bag of ice for my jaw. I drove home. I was pretty sure if Crystal or any one of them had been at my house I would have killed them. Fortunately it was empty.

I spent the evening thinking about my plans. I will likely leave B&B. I wanted to at least talk to Ted Bellows, probably Monday. I knew there was no way I could work with Dobler. I was leaning heavily toward taking Graham McKenzie up on his proposal. I was going to dump Crystal. I think I still had the business card of the lawyer Arthur Bellows used when Crystal and I signed our prenuptial agreements.

I took a moment and silently thanked Mr Bellows for making us sign that agreement. I will keep my house and my investment account with all my savings. I wondered for a moment if Mr Bellows had sensed something may go wrong in my marriage.

On Friday and over the weekend I changed out the locks on the doors of the house. I changed the garage door remote code. I then scoured the house for anything that was Crystal’s and put all her possessions in six large black garbage bags. One bag alone for her shoes. On Saturday afternoon I texted her:

“Your stuff is packed in garbage bags. They will be in the driveway tomorrow from nine AM until noon. If you haven’t picked them up by then, they’re going in the dumpster’.

Sunday, when I got back in the early afternoon, the bags were gone.

Monday morning I called Ted Bellows. I explained that I could no longer work at B&B. I said my faith in Dobler’s leadership was gone. That’s all I said about that. I said nothing about Crystal. I thanked him for eight years of mostly positive experiences. I sent a formal resignation letter to Ted Bellows effective immediately.

Later that morning I contacted Robert Patton, the attorney Mr Bellows used for the prenuptial agreement. He said it would not be him, but someone in his office would handle the divorce. I also confirmed with him that I did not have a non compete agreement with B&B.

With that in motion I spent the balance of the week seeing my old territory customers, explaining my plan with Can Pac Lumber. I asked them to keep this information confidential.

When I talked to Henry Lee, the owner of North Idaho Lumber, he said “Hell Yeah” he’d buy from me.

He then asked about my staff. I told them the operation would be a little lean at first and all I really needed at this time was one other office person.

“I’ve got the perfect person for you.” He told me.

It turns out it was his sister, Martha. She went by Marty. Marty was nearly as tall as Henry at just under six foot. She also weighed I’d guess close to two-fifty. But she was smart and personable and at one time had a high level office-accounting job in Chicago. She had just moved back home. I told her, give me a few days. She seemed excited about the opportunity.

I called Graham McKenzie toward the end of the week. I told him I was interested in his proposal. We talked about details for the better part of an hour. I was all in.

“Congratulations Roger, what are we calling this operation now?” He asked me.

“Big Sky Forest Products.” I told him. The name came to me on the spur of the moment.

I called Marty Lee and we discussed the terms of her employment. After reaching an agreement we started the task of setting up an office and putting together the infrastructure of the business. At one point Marty said to me.

“Roger, you go out and sell, I’ll take care of the office.”

I did just that. I was calling or visiting customers and Marty was organizing the office. We worked long hours, but things were coming together.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Ted Bellows had just gotten off the phone with one of B&B’s long standing customers. Not good news. He walked down to Gordon Dobler’s office. Darin Barnes, Dobler’s sales and marketing specialist was sitting in the chair across from Dobler, feet on the desk. It didn’t look like they were discussing business.

“You got a minute?” The younger Bellows asked.

“”Yeah Tab, what’s up?” Dobler said, a half smile on his face, not a care in the world.

“I’m hearing that our ex-employee Roger Winters has started his own business and is now distributing for Can Pac.” Bellows said. “His prices are at least 10% less than ours. If we don’t do something we’re going to lose a lot of business.” He added.

“Tab, relax.” Dobler calmly said. “There is no way we are going to lose that business. Winters does not have the ability to compete with us. In fact one of the reasons I let him go was that he was so disorganized. His salesplan entries were terrible. He graded out as BELOW AVERAGE. Between Darin and I we’ll make sure we don’t lose any business. Guarantee it” the confident Dobler said.

“Well, okay I guess. Sounds like you got it under control.” Bellows said, and left.

Walking back to his office Ted Bellows was unconvinced. And what was that about “letting him go”? He quit. We will have to monitor business closely over the coming weeks, he thought.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Part of my plan for selling the Can Pac lumber was to continue to expand my sales in Western Montana. I found myself there every other week, overnight. I worked my schedule so my overnights were in Missoula. When I could, I tried to get together with Gail and the girls.

Gail and I discussed all that was happening in my life. She knew about Crystal. We talked about that alot. She knew about my resignation from B&B. And she knew, and was helping me with Big Sky Forest Products.

Compared to the marketing strategies she worked on, she could do my marketing with a pen and a cocktail napkin. This was easy for her, but critical to me. When you start a new business you need to establish trust with customers. Little suggestions from Gail were extremely helpful for my business.

Beyond that our friendship-relationship grew. The relationship with her girls grew too. I think at first she was so grateful for my helping the girls that day that she felt indebted to me. It was far beyond that now. We had a close friendship. Not romantic, in fact we had drifted so far into the friend zone, it almost would feel awkward to pivot towards romance. I found her extremely attractive, but she was also so vulnerable. She was a single mother.

I’d have to think about all this. At some point I wanted this relationship to make that romantic pivot. The timing just had to be right.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Sometimes Crystal felt sad that her marriage to Roger was ending. She also was unhappy to realize all those papers that Mr Bellows had her sign kept any of Roger’s money away from her. Gordon had told her she was entitled to one half of his money and also part of the house. But because of the papers the lawyer had them sign she wouldn’t get any of it. The best her lawyer said was she may end up with around ten thousand dollars.

For the most part she was happy with Gordon. When he first came to B&B he always complimented her. She loved that. Telling her how smart she was. How good she looked. How great a job she did. And then he promoted her. And Roger was gone all the time. Gordon became her friend and then it was more than that.

She thought back to the night that Roger had caught them. Crystal knew she had to break up with Roger. She had fallen in love with Gordon. Gordon was so smart and confident. She realized this was the type of man she should be with. Gordon was successful, he was a manager. He was Roger’s boss. She deserved to be with someone like Gordon.

Still there were times she did miss Roger. Roger was a good man. But Gordon was so confident and exciting. Her romance with Gordon just seemed right. Gordon had told her that he had fired Roger. Part of her felt bad for Roger losing his job, but then another part of her grew excited at the thought that Gordon had the power to fire somebody.

As she thought about Roger being fired she thought, oh well, life can be tough sometimes. I really do hope things can work out for Roger eventually.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

My sales grew and we were ordering more truckloads of material from Can Pac. I was having to finance this through my savings.

“For a new business cash flow can be the biggest challenge.” Marty told me. “If there is a way to get our margins up, try to do that.” She added.

I couldn’t increase my margins. Not yet. My sales pitch to our customers was still the same high quality Can Pac material, but at a lower price. We couldn’t provide all the extra things that B&B did. We needed to have better prices. The good news was that sales were strong and the customers seemed to like me. And Marty was amazing, I truly couldn’t do it without her.

One night I was in Montana and called Gail to see if she and the girls wanted to go out for pizza.

“Roger, I’m not sure.” Gail told me.

She sounded distant, not the upbeat tone that she normally had.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

There was a pause on her end.

“Gail?” I said. “Gail, are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Yes, okay let’s meet for pizza. But afterward you and I are going to have to have a serious conversation.” She told me.

Uh oh, I thought.

At the pizza parlor everything was normal. We ate, talked, and laughed. It was just a regular evening. There were times when I’d be talking to the girls and I would glance up and see Gail studying me with a serious expression. I began to worry about the serious conversation.

We went back to their house and shortly thereafter the girls went to bed. I got a big hug from Violet, that was very nice.

When Gail came back to the living room she looked a little misty eyed. She sniffed and wiped her eyes with the palms of her hand. This looked like bad news.

“So what’s going on?” I asked Gail.

She told me a story. Yesterday Violet came home from school upset. It seems a couple of girls were making fun of her, saying she didn’t have a father. April was nearby and heard some of the things the girls said. Including what Violet said back to the girls.

.

“April told me this part.” Gail went on. “When the girls teased her about not having a father, she told them she did have a father.”

At this point Gail stared at me, tears welling up again in her eyes. She paused and took a deep breath.

“Violet told the girls that ‘Roger’ was her father.”

I was stunned. A mixture of emotions. Sadness, surprise, confusion, and I have to admit part of me felt happy that she thought that way of me.

At this point I hadn’t said a word. I was unsure what Gail was feeling.

“Don’t you see?” she asked me. “My girls have gotten close to you, maybe too close. I have to protect them. After their father died we had a tough, tough time. They are just starting to break through. I can’t have them go through another loss of an important person in their lives. It isn’t fair to them.” She told me.

“What do you mean loss?” I asked her, still confused.

“Roger, you have become a good friend to our family.” she said. “But you have a life. In fact you’re still married. You live hours away, you have a new business. You and I have become friends, but clearly that’s all it is, a friendship.” She added.

I sat and just stared at her. I was confused. Then I thought back to my old boxing strategy, not the counterpunch strategy, my original aggressive strategy.

I got up from the couch, grabbed Gail’s hands, lifted her off the chair and kissed her, my arms wrapped around her. She was clearly surprised, but the second half of the kiss, she got into it.

“What, what was all that!?” she asked when we stopped. I still had my arms around her.

“Gail, I think you’re beautiful. We have become good friends, I was just waiting for the opportunity to tell you my feelings. I love your girls, and I will soon be divorced.” I told her. “Not sure how you feel about me, but I really like you. I would love to be a bigger part of your girl’s lives.”

She hugged me and I kissed her again, this time with a little more sensuality to it. We stood there body to body making out. All of a sudden she smiled and pushed me away. I’m sure she began to feel my erection.

“I like you to Roger, BUT,” she said with a half smile on her face, “I’m not sleeping with you until you are divorced.” she proclaimed.

I disentangled myself and reached for my phone.

“What, what are you doing?” She asked with a half smiling confused look on her face.

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m calling my lawyer to speed up this divorce..”

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

This time Arthur Bellows was at the meeting. Ted had called an executive meeting to discuss the state of their business. While the market was up over ten per cent the business at B&B was down close to thirty per cent.

Gordon Dobler and Darin Barnes were also present. Budget documents were in haphazard piles on the conference room table.

“Bottom line.” said Ted Bellows, “We will need to have a radical downsizing if we don’t reverse this trend in the next few months. We are losing market share at a rate this company has never experienced before. ” The younger Bellows stated.

“I’d like to hear what Gordon has to say about our declining sales situation.” Arthur Bellows said.

“What’s there to say?” Dobler said tilted back in his chair. “Your boy Winters is giving shit away. We have operating overhead that won’t allow us to match his prices. Not much we can do.” Dobler added offhandedly.

Arthur Bellows sat silent for the moment staring at Dobler. Dobler had a look on his face as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

The normally controlled Arthur Bellows stood.

“My father started this business forty five years ago. Not once have we had to lay people off.” He angrily stated. “And now the strategy is ‘not much we can do’? I hope you come up with a better plan than this. And do it quickly!” He barked, and then left the conference room.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Wow, Gordon’s in a grouchy mood, Crystal thought. Ever since she’d been living with him he’d always been nice to her. Sometimes he wanted sex too much, but for the most part he’d been really cool.

It all started after they had some big closed door meeting with old Mr Bellows. There’d been some shouting and she’d heard business wasn’t good. That’s what everyone was saying.

Gordon said it would all work out. And he’s always right, she thought.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

We’d been in business eight months now and sales were strong. We were selling Can Pac products to almost all the dealers in the market. We had taken a lot of business from B&B I thought. That was the good news.

The bad news was I had depleted most of my savings feeding cash to the business. I wasn’t sure how much money we were making. Marty and I met with our accountant.

We reviewed sales, looked at costs, and discussed margins. Bottom line, we weren’t making any money. I had just enough cash to keep us in business for another four months. Marty and I left the meeting with a lot less optimism than when we went in.

I felt like I owed Graham McKenzie a phone call. He was a friend and I needed to let him know what’s going on. I explained to him our cash flow problems and the diagnosis by our accountant.

“Listen mate, I think I may have a plan. Hang in there for just a bit, things may work out just fine.” he told me.

When I asked him for more details he said he couldn’t say anything yet.

“Roger, have faith.” He told me.

Meanwhile, things with Gail and I had progressed. Still no sex, or rather, no intercourse, but everything else. She had an incredible athletic body with wonderful tight breasts. Beyond all that we got along great and I loved the girls. I also loved Gail too, and she knew it.

Despite the stress of my business my relationship with Gail was so good it was easy to stay positive.

A few days later I got a call from Graham.

“Listen mate, you’re going to get a phone call….”