Stasis
The break was complete. Sam stopped the investigation into Linda and Charlie. He just didn't really care anymore. Linda called him periodically to let him know how she was doing. Charlie sold his house and car and moved in with Linda. Sam had not put any restriction on what she did with the house so he didn't even make a comment about his old friend moving into his old bedroom. Linda seemed disappointed that Sam didn't make any kind of fuss about it.
Charlie took over taking care of the lawn and the pool which saved Linda a good sum of money. Reportedly Charlie also started his own office and had a few clients. Linda took on a job as the bookkeeper for one of the charities she had previously been on the board of.
Somehow her marital woes had become common knowledge and some of the charities, especially the ones associated with fundamentalist churches, severed their official connections with Linda and Charlie. After hearing that Sam had volunteered to take Linda's place on those boards since he had a lot more free time these days.
Yes, Sam had officially retired. He had more money that he would possibly spend in his lifetime and he had good people hired to make sure that the business continued. He served as chairman of the board and the board only met quarterly.
Temperance and Delight had come to Sam just before his official last day and had invited him to go with them on the European tour. At first Sam had declined believing that they were not serious but just being kind to an old man but when Temperance came into the office one morning she pulled open her blouse and popped her bra up to expose her nicely formed breasts. "Sam, Delight and I are a couple and are committed to each other. Sometimes, though, we like to experiment with others. Occasionally that other person may have a cock. I am not promising constant sex but I believe she and I will make your trip memorable on many levels and we really want you to join us. We have booked an extra room at each and every stop so that you can have your privacy when you want but you will take all the tours with us, just like the larger groups do."
Sam just sat there with an erection that he had not experienced in some time. "But I am fat and old. I don't excite women and probably never will again."
Temperance just smiled at her boss. "Sam you haven't been looking at yourself in the mirror lately. Yes, you are older but you are definitely not fat. You have slimmed down and gained some definition. You need a complete new wardrobe to take advantage of that new body. I believe you will do nicely, and, you soon won't be our boss anymore. So why don't you just enjoy your status as man-toy and come with us."
Sam finally capitulated and joined them on the trip. It was wonderful. Days of touring old castles, cities, farms, vineyards and shipyards and nights where, on occasion, he would entertain one or the other of the pair. On a rare night they would engage in a threesome. They became fast friends instead of co-workers.
After returning from the memorable trip Sam started to go to his new office. He had leased a small office space in a strip mall close to the condo. Even though he wasn't running the day-to-day activities anymore he was more than busy as the chairman of the board of directors.
He needed to meet with various business and civic leaders so an office was good to have. He made an arrangement with Harry to use Delight as his off-site coordinator. He would fax notes to her for transcribing as needed. All appointments went through her for scheduling. When Sam got to his office he would enter and then relock the door so he didn't need a receptionist. He would just unlock the door just before appointments would arrive.
He would then lock the door again while meeting with different clients and leaders. He wasn't afraid of being attacked. More it was a way to keep from being interrupted when he didn't want to be.
About three weeks after returning from his vacation there was a knock on his office door. Sam was not expecting a delivery of anything so he was a little curious as to whom it could be. He didn't even have a name on the door or the directory out by the street.
It was Cindy and Cinda. Sam opened the door but didn't invite them in. "What can I do for you?"
Cindy was a little hesitant as she began her conversation. "I want Cinda to have a relationship with her grandfather. Can you forgive me enough for that?"
Sam kept his face impassive. "How do you propose to accomplish that task?"
"I would like to see you and her go out together regularly. Maybe start with visits to the park and the zoo again. She loved to go with you." Cindy didn't say the "before" part of her prepared statement. She was trying to repair fences without direct references to the break she and her family had created.
"One of the reasons I chose this location was the large park across the street. It lets me go walk anytime I desire without having to drive anywhere. We could go there for a visit."
Sam looked his estranged daughter in the eye. "If Cinda and I go for a walk in the park what will you do in the meantime?"
Cindy almost started to cry. Sam had just let her know in no uncertain terms that a relationship with Cinda did not include her and probably not Doug. She held her head up and sniffed. "I will find something to do for an hour or so or would you like more time than that?"
"No, I think that we will not be too long. Do you still have the same number if she wants to return to you any sooner?"
Cindy nodded. Sam returned the nod with his own and he carefully and deliberately locked his office door before taking his granddaughter's hand in his own and carefully escorting her across the busy street to the park.
Cindy went and sat in her car and watched for as long as she could. Cinda seemed to be hesitant to stay with her natural grandfather for a few minutes until they got to the playground area. Then she was off running to the slide. Now she was yelling for him to catch her as she slid down. He would catch her at the bottom of the slide, swing her in the air and then set her down so she could run and climb the steps and do the whole thing again.
Cindy sat there and watched through tears as she remembered her father doing the same thing when she was so young also. How had she forgotten how much he had tried to be there at all stages of her life? Now she was on the outside trying to reestablish some kind of relationship with her father.
Somehow Charlie Wink, with her mother's help, had insinuated himself into her and her family's life. Her grandmother had not even made a token resistance to easing Sam out of her family life. Now that she had taken the time to reflect on what her mother, her mother's lover, and her grandmother had said, implied, alluded to, and just outright insulted Sam she could see that she had easily been brainwashed into making Sam the villain instead of Linda.
