This story concludes Jack Colton's year. He lost his wife in January, made love to many women through the year and remarried in September. I hope you have enjoyed my stories.
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End of the Year
It was New Years Eve.
I was home alone that afternoon watching a college bowl game, thinking in the solitude of a quiet and empty house. The only sounds came from the TV and the wood in the fireplace cracking as it burned.
We had given our two housekeepers two weeks plus paid time off. They were wonderful people and Catherine and I wanted them to be with their families. They had fit right in to our new family when we hired them and Catherine and the girls enjoyed speaking French on a daily basis with them. We'd see them in another week or so.
Catherine and the girls were out shopping getting a few items for dinner and for tomorrow's breakfast. And who knows what else. Shopping was truly their thing. I had the credit card bills to prove it.
We were leaving in the morning for Scottsdale to enjoy the warmer desert, escaping Los Angeles for a few days.
Catherine and I had started playing golf together so maybe we would get in a few rounds. Or not, depending on how she was feeling.
It wasn't all just going to be fun; I was going to meet with the owner of a luxury car dealership who wanted to sell. My reputation as an up and comer in the world of new car dealerships was growing.
I wanted to be sitting in a nice hotel bar watching the Rose Bowl game so we were leaving early for the drive over. It's a six hour drive.
We were going to stay at the Royal Palms. One of the nicest hidden gems in the Valley of the Sun.
Tom was home sick with a cold and Isabella was still in residence at the Betty Ford Center in Palm Springs.
I had hired two older women, nurses, neither one pretty, but both very experienced, competent and nice to take care of Tom.
I was convinced that Tom would fuck anything female that moved if he could; so I hired the least attractive nurses to deter him.
If either one of them gave him a hand job I was okay with that but given Tom was pretty sick I didn't think he would be able to even get an erection. But his sex drive for new pussy was unbelievably high I wouldn't bet against him.
December was a good month. We had our dealership Christmas party at the country club on the first Saturday night in December.
I didn't want anyone to stress over attending. We had a set start time and an end time so the employees and their families could come and go when they wanted and needed to.
I had sent a letter home to all the employees inviting everybody in the family to the party with all the details and a PS to call me if any questions came up. Only a few called (it was always the wife) and they wanted to know about what to wear and what about bringing the kids.
Catherine and I set it up so that we had a special room set aside for kids to play and I had nurses available in case anyone had a sick child. All an employee had to do was call and we'd send over a nurse so the parents could get out of the house and attend the party for an hour or two.
We had a buffet that never ended and an open bar. But to make sure no one left drunk we had a breathalyzer everybody had to take and I had Uber drivers standing by. Plus two bouncers which it turned out we didn't need.
We didn't have a dress code either. I wore blue jeans and an open necked shirt and Catherine and the girls dressed casually too. People showed up being comfortable and that was the most important thing for me.
I didn't give a speech, we just made sure that we greeted everyone when they arrived and gave them what I called a line card with all the stuff going on at the party.
We had gifts for everyone and of course Santa and his paid elves were there (all were LA area CYNSuits customers).
The next weekend we had the CYNSuits Christmas party in Las Vegas. A smaller group but just as much fun.
The manufacturing company folks had their party on the Saturday night right before Christmas and we had it at the country club. Same program as the dealership but they drank more and we used more Uber drivers than two weeks before. I had four bouncers on the premises just in case.
We mailed bonus checks to every employee's home so that there was a happy surprise in the mailbox two days before Christmas. A second round of checks would arrive in the mail, New Years Eve (today) for the managers.
From my perspective, all of the businesses were doing fine. All were profitable but I was still struggling with the pool and spa cleaning business. It wasn't growing.
I was in talks to buy more dealerships and the land under them.
We still had trouble recruiting good people. I was working on a long term solution but hadn't made any decisions just yet.
As the second quarter of the game started I made a pot of fresh coffee and thought back on the year.
The low point of my year was the death of my wife in January and the high point was Catherine waking me on Christmas morning with the news that she was pregnant with our son and that he was expected to join us in July. She had kept it a secret from me for more than a week.
I don't mind sharing that I was so overwhelmed I cried. Catherine cried with me, tears of joy and happiness.
Catherine assured me our first child would have ten fingers and ten toes. And would be raised in a house filled with love. And that he would be smart as his daddy and maybe even better looking!
When we shared the news later that day with the rest of the family they were overwhelmed just like we were. Marie and Natalie loved the idea of having a baby brother.
As I reflected back on the year, I remembered something that had happened about two weeks after my wife was killed in the automobile accident.
I'd forgotten about it until now, as I sat in front of the fireplace and TV was trying to remember the faces and names of all the females I had sex wife since my wife was buried.
Guys do this, they keep score. Who the hell knows why.
If you read my first story "I Hire Monica the Maid" you will recall was in a fog for many weeks following my wife's death.
This was when I was not in a good mental place; in fact I was barely functioning.
It was all I could do to get out of bed in the morning after not getting any sleep the night before. Expensive bottles of Cabernet and sleeping pills got me to bed but they seldom worked, in combination or alone, to put me and keep me sleeping.
I wasn't eating, I wasn't sleeping but I was drinking a lot. Not a good place to be. Not a good place to stay in. But I didn't know any other way to deal with the pain except for time to pass.
Maybe if enough time passed I'd feel better.
I did pray a lot and I know that God had His reasons for taking my wife away in her prime. He just wasn't sharing them with me. So the word and question "why?" was in my head a lot those days.
It got so bad I checked into a local hotel, thinking a change of scenery would help.
So that I wouldn't go stir crazy looking at four walls I got a two bedroom suite. Maybe having a few more walls to stare at would help me to sleep better.
Thursday night was a bit of an improvement, maybe because it had started raining.
I slept a bit longer before waking up but life still sucked on Friday morning.
On Friday I worked my business, on the phone, email and text. My heart wasn't really in it.
When it came time to eat dinner that Friday night, I had a glass of wine in the hotel bar and then went to our usual place. I needed to be around people. It was still raining and showers were expected the entire weekend so I drove carefully.
For years each Friday night I would head over to a local restaurant and pick up dinner for my wife and me.
My wife was somewhat a creature of habit and always had me get a piece of fish and a salad for her dinner.
I'd switch back and forth between chicken and beef, depending on what I was looking to drink. If it was beer, I'd choose the 'cheaper chicken' (a line out of the Steve Martin movie "Father of the Bride") and if it was red wine, the beef. Usually a steak but sometimes a burger.
I'd place my order when I walked in around 7pm and depart around 7:30. To kill time I'd go into the bar and have a libation.
This was a small chain, family owned. They did an amazing amount of business. The food was of high quality and priced just a bit higher than the competition but not so much so that you would complain about it.
It was a nice place, modern and clean. In Los Angeles County the health department grades eating establishments by a letter grade and this unit always earned an A.
