Hal's Story Continues
Another Greenville story
I had no intention of writing a second part to Hal's story. Then I figured what the heck. Let's see where it goes. This has become the largest cast of characters between the 2 parts and the longest as well as the easiest story I've ever written.. Its a Greenville story and I wanted to get away from ACR based characters.
This story is very dialogue heavy which is a big departure for me. I hope you can follow and enjoy it.
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¿Te estás volviendo gay por lo que te hizo esa perra? Maria asked me one Monday after another date that didn't work out. She had set me up with another friend of hers. Josefina was a beautiful and intelligent woman. We had a nice date, dinner at Luigi's and went to a play with drinks afterwards. I could tell she wanted to "extend" the date but I took her home instead.
When Maria was mad she spoke Spanish. She spoke Spanish a lot. "Gay?, Jesus no Maria I'm not gay, you know that. I'm just not going to jump into bed with everyone I take out."
"It seems like you're not taking anyone to bed lately Hal. You're a nice guy. I hate what that puta did to you. You deserve to be happy. Find a nice woman and start making babies. You're not getting younger and I want to be an aunt."
"Why do we have this conversation after every date. I'm not looking to settle down right now. Isn't Kira and Lita enough for you. How about Hector and Elena? I'm to busy with business to think about a family right now."
"Mierda, You don't do shit around here except get in the way. Me and the girls run everything. You just sign where we say sign. Go be the boss then, I got stuff to do besides trying to play Cupid for you."
"Umm, its my office Maria" I said with a laugh. She gave me a look only a Mexican women can and leaves with a huff.
This is the way its been since Karin and I divorced. I knew I had friends and they had my back beyond being employees. They were the family I didn't have.
I had gotten Jose a company truck to replace the truck he sold when I was going through my troubles. I didn't ask questions because I didn't want to know the answers. He was a friend, a good friend. I had no doubts about that. Sometimes in life you need friends to do things you won't or can't do. He helped me when I didn't know I needed help.
Business was good. We were growing by leaps and bounds as the city experienced a building boom. Jose and Ramon were now Supervisors over seeing multiple sites we were building. Oscar was Vice President of Operations. Maria was the office manager with 8 people working under her. She keeps the place running. Ramon finally married a nice girl who just moved from Wisconsin of all places. Ingrid is way too nice for him.
My business life was great and my social life was also wonderful. Was I dating, kinda. The ladies in the office were always trying to fix me up with this friend or that relative, especially Maria and Jennifer. I had some dates, blind and otherwise. But nothing ever stuck. It wasn't that I was gun shy. Well, maybe a little, I just never found anyone that held my interest.
A lot of my social activity revolved around 2 darling little girls, Kira and Lita 7 and 8 years old respectfully who lived next door with their mother Kim. I had rented Ms. Wilson's house to them when I inherited it. She was recently divorced and had moved from Delaware. She worked for an internet company that did something I did not understand. She was 31 years old, a pixie of a women at barely 5 foot. Auburn hair she keep in a short style that made her look younger then she was. She was always smiling and cheerful. The girls took after her in all ways.
I would get home and they would come running yelling and dancing. "Uncle Hal Uncle Hal, guess what happened today" And I would spend the next 30 minutes on the porch listening to their day until Kim would let me loose or invite me in for dinner.
They started calling me Uncle Hal within 2 weeks of moving in. I had fixed Kira's bike one day. I was cutting grass, I still did both yards even though I wasn't getting the oatmeal cookies anymore, and Kim was in the driveway pretty much looking at the bike holding a pair of pliers. Lita ran up to me and asked if I could fix the bike. It was an easy fix and I had it done in 10 minutes. 5 of it spent explaining what was wrong. Once it was fixed I had to watch them ride up and down the sidewalk of course. Then they invited me to have lunch with them. I looked at Kim and she just shrugged her shoulders in surrender.
It was the first time I had been in the house since they moved in so the girls just had to show me their rooms. Kim had decorated the house the way as only a woman could. It didn't look overly girly but tastefully done. The girls rooms definitely had the girly look. My house looks like I'm hiding from the law. Bare bones minimalist as they call it if you want to be fancy. Once the tour was over we sat down and had bologna sandwiches and chips. It was nice to talk to people who didn't smell like saw dust and curse every other word. The girls talked about their school. They liked it better than their old one in Delaware. They had made several friends.
Kim worked from home mostly, only going into the office once a week. She hadn't met many people. Well anyone besides me really. And didn't know the area at all. Kira piped up asking if I could show them the area. I got roped into giving a tour next week after I did the yards. The girls were excited.
That week I was meeting with a potential new plumbing supplier. Mark Andrews works for Martin Plumbing. He had been after our business for a while and I had finally decided to sign on. We had set up a meeting at Casa Pasta. The meeting went well and I got a chance to know Mark better after the contracts were signed. I noticed a very pretty lady walking in hanging on the arm of a very lucky guy. Mark turned to see what I was looking at and his whole demeanor changed.
It turned out to be his wife with some guy. They looked very chummy. He was ready to go confront them. I grabbed his arm and explained he didn't want to do anything in haste. He definitely didn't want to do something that could hurt him in the long run. I went through the same thing and almost lost everything I had worked for. He needed information. I offered to get some pictures that he might be able to use later.
We talked some more to make sure he had calmed down and we left.
I later heard it was all a misunderstanding and they are happier then ever before. I'm glad some things work out for people. We still do business with them.
That Saturday the girls were up and ready for the tour. Knocking on my door asking if I was ready to go. I told them I had to cut the grass first then we would head out. They pouted and complained. Being a weak ass that I am I put off cutting the yards and told them to see if their mother was ready to go. It was only 830 in the morning. She said she would be ready by 9.
She came out wearing a yellow sundress that fit her perfectly. She never wore makeup that I could tell but she had put on some lipstick today. Right about now you may be wondering if there are had been any flirting or attraction between the two of us. While she's a very beautiful lady inside and out I haven't had any sexual feelings for her. It was more of an Uncle towards a Niece. I was only 5 years older then she was. Its not such an age gap but I wasn't interested in anyone. I haven't been since Karin left me. I've been "with" women since then but nothing romantic. More of a need for physical release. As I said before Maria, Jennifer and other friends have tried to fix me up since then. None have broke through the wall I didn't realize I put up.
Kim has never shown any interest in me besides friendship. We would have dinner over each others house 2 or 3 times a week. Depending on where the girls happen to be. They catch me coming home and its off to the races. They sit in the living room watching my larger TV sometimes doing homework or just relaxing. It took a while before Kim was truly comfortable in them being alone with me and I could understand that. I wasn't entirely comfortable either at first. Last thing I needed was people talking about a grown man with 2 young girls. Luckily most people on the street knew me and I had a good reputation. For the first couple of times I called Kim to let her know where they were and always kept the front door open.
So our sight seeing tour happened a month after they moved in. I didn't take her on I-85 but up New Hope Road towards Cramerton, onto East Franklin Blvd to show her the shopping and entertainment area's. Then down to Belmont to show them the lake area and park. We took the back way into Lake Wylie down into Fort Mill SC and into Southwest Charlotte. Drove through the city, the NoDa, South End, Ballantyne and Uptown area's. Stopped at the Golden Cow Creamery and had lunch. Afterwards drove through Pineville, Mooresville. Mint Hill. Huntersville and finally Mt Holly where we had dinner at Bolton Curbside Cookery. It was a long day. The girls had been excited but by the time we finished dinner they were almost comatose on the ride home.
It gave us the first time to really talk about ourselves. "I married my high school sweetheart, as cliche as it sounds. We were together for 7 years before I realized he was still the same guy I met in high school. He lived in the past. Always talking about what happened at the homecoming game and other past glories. He was happy changing tires all day and had no aspirations for more. I had grown and he hadn't. There wasn't any animosity between us when we divorced. I think he was happy it was over. He sends a check every month but hasn't seen the girls in almost 2 years. They stopped asking for him not even 3 months after he moved out."
I gave hints about my separation and divorce. Leaving out the assault and jail time of course. Talked about my business and how the ladies in the office were always trying to fix me up with someone.
She asked "why aren't you dating anyone seriously? You're a good looking guy, owns your own successful business and seems to be a nice guy."
"I'm not ready to be in a serious relationship yet. Plus I'm to busy so it wouldn't be fair to someone." I replied with my patented answer.
She didn't buy it as much as Maria or anyone else didn't buy it.
After a couple months I was babysitting when she went on dates even though it was few and far between. Like me she was fixed up on dates with a few friends she met at work and some people from the church she started attending. There were times the girls just wanted to stay with Uncle Hal. Probably because I had the huge TV and all the streaming sites so they could watch whatever they wanted, within reason.
Life went on. 2 years later I decided to sell the house to Kim. She got a really good deal since it didn't cost me anything to begin with. The money I got from the sale went to charities like the other money Ms. Wilson left me. The girls were growing up quickly. They still came over but not as much.
I had started hosting BBQ's once a month for friends and coworkers. Usually anywhere from 20 to 30 people showed up. By now Jose, Oscar and Ramon had also become unofficial Uncles. Which made Maria, Jennifer and Ingrid Aunts. Ingrid had a 3 year old and the girls loved to babysit for her. Jose and Maria's 2 kids, Hector 20 and Elena 19 were attending college. Hector at Appalachian State studying to be an Architect and Elena at Catawba College to be a nurse. Oscar and Jennifer never had kids. So they spoiled the girls like they were their own.
Kim had family in Delaware but didn't have much contact with them. Her brother had visited once with his family. Her parents were retired and traveling Europe and Asia.
After all the years the ladies had finally given up trying to find the next Mrs. Green. So these BBQ's were very relaxing for me not having to worry about dealing with a strange woman vying for my attention. Until, One BBQ a strange woman did show up with a girl Kiras age who was 12 at the time in tow.
