Love Is 20/20 Vision

Authors Note: Again thanks for the constructive criticisms - especially more detail on key people and events. I appreciate your feedback.

The story below continues with a no-contest submission of two more people who also DO NOT live next door. Again, by LW standards, 'hot' scenes are not stressed. But maybe some day.......

Love is 20/20 Vision

Ben Parker lived in a log cabin. The do-it-yourself kit was initially delivered by the manufacturer and unloaded near the space he had chosen for his homesite on the six acres of deeply wooded land. He had bought and paid off this land using a Texas Veterans Loan. After the house was constructed by a contractor and became fully livable, Ben settled into living a backwoods, secluded life in East Texas. He was tall and fit but since he wasn't handsome his name did not appear in any woman's 'pink' book. However, he did marry a high school sweetheart and now they had a 19 year old pregnant daughter 100 miles away in Dallas. His wife, also temporarily in Dallas, had masterminded their relocation to East Texas and she planned to join Ben after they sold their Dallas house and she had received a major annual bonus and would resigned from her company. In the mean time, life went on and Ben integrated himself into his rural neighborhood. At his wife's initial urging also, he had bought a going company and continued to grow that landscape and gardening firm. It was a 15 minutes drive from his cabin to his shop on the Southeastern outskirts of the Tyler area. He commuted to it most days of the week .

He had 2 working leaders and 6 other employees when he took over. His goal was to double in size and profitability in three years. He often wondered if he had done the right thing because after university he joined a corporate owned landscape and gardening company in Dallas as a management trainee. Starting out spading flower beds, after twenty years and many promotions he had risen to become the General Manager for the Corporation's North Texas operation - he was at the top of his game when he resigned.

Martha, his wife, finally joined him a year after he started living in the cabin. In the first week she discovered that she loathed country life. The mosquitoes and the mud and the solitude and the croaking of the frogs at night, while just a nuisance to Ben sometimes, was a show stopper for her. She tried to fit in with the neighbors who were very outreaching at first, but her discontent with the country life, at first hidden, surfaced more and more. So they all very quickly ostracized her. She then found a clerical assistant job for an accounting firm in town, but that only lasted three months and both her supervisor and she agreed that she should resign. She kept remembering her 'glory days' when she had been a bitch-boss office manager for a major oil investment firm in Dallas. The only person to attend her 'going away' luncheon was her supervisor. After 8 months in the cabin, she told her husband, "I hate East Texas and country life." The irony even struck HER that she was the one who instigated their relocation. Ben only replied, "Dear, being my own boss has always been in the back of my mind, and I love it. So I thank you for that and I am so sorry you are unhappy."

Being alone by day was agony for poor Martha. She was on Facebook at least 5 hours per day trying to keep connected with her prior and digital friends but she craved the presence of people in her environment 24/7. They simply were not available and she kicked herself daily because she hadn't even thought about the pains of living with herself before she launched her campaign to relocate them to East Texas. Ben, now sensing her discontent, would go to extra length to please her especially in the bedroom. But even their sex life suffered in that she no longer orgasmed but faked it to make Ben feel better. In time, however, her interest in sex deteriorated to 'no interest.'

One evening at the dinner table a year after she had moved from Dallas, Martha said, "Ben, I am going to Dallas to spend a few weeks with Cindy and her significant other and I am leaving tomorrow." Cindy was their 19 year old pregnant daughter on her second extended relationship with a man - the two had planned for her to get pregnant in spite of both parents protesting. Martha would be sleeping in the baby's bedroom, which was due in 7 months.

Ben was mildly shocked but expected that his wife would soon have to adjust or leave their home and he just accepted whatever she decided to do. His monthly mortgage on the Cabin was very much 'under water' in terms of its resale value and rural real-estate sales had just ground to a halt in East Texas, so selling was not an option. Aware that her unhappiness was now at a breaking point for her, he asked, "Did Cindy and Fred ask you to visit for an extended stay?"

She replied, "Actually, no. I invited myself and the two agreed."

Resigned that she probably wouldn't return because she had grown to hate the backwoods so much they then came up with a plan to pay the day to day expenses for her extended visit. She did not want to visit the country, "ever again," but said, "Oh come, please, anytime you can break away."

The first two months were characterized by their video and phone calls. The number initiated by her, however, diminished weekly. Ben was so involved with the greatly increased Spring workload for his firm, until at first he didn't notice. He tried to make a Saturday afternoon and Sunday 200 mile round trip once a month.

After returning home from the second round trip, he called his daughter at her work number the following Wednesday. She called him back on her lunch hour, and after a few minutes of chatting about health and family matters he asked, "Cindy, will you please tell me what is going on with your mother? My last visit was not fun and something is dreadfully wrong!"

She replied, "Dad, I really don't want to get involved with what's going on with you and Mom, BUT just this morning at breakfast I was screaming mad at Mom for not telling you she now has a boy friend. He is someone who asked her to dance when we three were at a Country and Western dance hall about three weeks ago. Since then he has dated her two or three times per week. This morning she told us she was moving into his apartment and was trying to find the courage to tell you."

There was a moment of silence and then Ben said, "Well, Cindy, I am not surprised as these kinds of separations usually wind up like that. I am sure she is sorry that she was the 'burr under my saddle blanket' to relocate to my rural acreage but I could tell after the first month that it was not going to workout for her. But, dear daughter, I frankly like it here very much and if I were not so busy I would find a girl friend myself - I am very tired of reading Literotica.com so I can sexually relieve myself. At any rate, I do need her address so I can have her served with a divorce petition - rest assured I am not coming to Dallas to vent any anger or frustrations physically."

After she read the address off to him, she said, "Dad. You have such a level head on you - I sure wish I could have taken after you instead of Mom."

He replied, "You just take care of my unborn grandchild and call me if you need any help."

Ben got all his records together and went the next day to see the same attorney who got his business licensed initially. He put his business and the acreage and the cabin kit bank note and about one third of their savings in the petition as his and everything else as hers. Martha was served at her new boyfriend's home in Dallas. Her eyes immediately froze on the 'windfall' 6 digit sum of cash money that would be hers and she signed it without a second thought. She went to the post office to mail the petition back that very day. The divorce process was handled entirely by the attorney and the next time he saw his ex-wife was right after the grandchild came, where he just nodded 'hello' to her and her new Beau without even stopping.

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Tyler, Texas is a very beautiful city from spring through late fall - culminating in the rose festival held every October. It is a delight that would be hard to describe in a few words so I will not try. Known for the commercial roses grown there, many home owners and businesses pride themselves in their flower beds, gardens in general and their rose gardens in particular. Ben's landscape and gardening firm and several competitors thrived in this environment, but it was very hard work at competitive rates with long hours. At the height of the season he seldom got home before 10:00 O'Clock.

But his business was growing so he hired more another working leader and promoted one of his long time laborers to a working leader position and decided to hire a 20-hour per week part time office assistant. After interviewing four other ladies he knew who he wanted to hire. The 41 year old Rachael Copperfield was chosen because her resume showed her to be a college professor at the local university although she was on a two-year sabbatical for research. Moreover, the area under 'other interests' was what riveted Ben's attention. She was a widely known and read poet in academia and was fluent in Spanish, French, and Italian. Responding to Ben's question she answered, "My work is published in a number of books which contain my poems, called anthologies. I am also a frequent lecturer and speaker at college campuses." Ben was immediately fired up with interest in her after she answered. But he almost disqualified her because she was so pretty after he had studied her features sitting across from hm. He had bad vibes about this 100 pound beautiful lady interacting with laborers who rarely wore shirts in the warm months, and whose first language was smutty Spanish.

Still he wanted to hire this lady because of her energy and eyes that showed a very intelligent person. So he asked his primary working leader, who had been in the yard that day repairing power tools, to come into the shop. He said, "Sergio, meet Rachael Copperfield, who is interviewing for a part time job with us. Will you show her the tools we use and explain the daily procedures of each of our four crews?" The two left the shop and Ben sat down and just watched them through the window as they walked around the yard - both smiled a lot. As they approached the door to return he could hear their conversation in Spanish that was a normal conversation. When she was seated again and Sergio returned to his work, he asked, "Ms Copperfield, will you excuse me just a moment?" He went into the yard and asked Sergio's opinion of whether or not working here would be O. K. for her. He replied, "'Mister Ben, she is a super woman. Please hire her." After he said that Ben immediately felt he just might piss off his best working leader and tool yard champion if he did not hire her.

When they were alone again he asked, "Ms Copperfield, do you still feel up to working in a one woman shop that is in a manual labor setting - where everything is dirty and grimy? The shop has a window air conditioner and a primitive heater that warms it in winter plus a uni-sex toilet and thats all the creature comforts I have to offer."

"Very much, Mr. Parker, this is exactly what I am looking for."

She was productive her very first day at work in that she seemed to know how Ben thought and how he did things and where he filed things. After a month, he was so amazed at what quantity of accurate and productive work she performed, Ben started studying her just to learn some of her time and motion secrets, and daily became more enamored with her. After about six weeks, the owner brought sandwiches into the office and gave Rachael one, and took one himself. She thanked him and asked, "Tell me about you, Mr. Ben Parker and I will tell you about me."

"Not much to tell, I work, work, work, and have done so all my life. I have a daughter, a grandson, and I am divorced. I live alone in a log cabin out in the country and I cook my own food that is as healthy as I can find when I have time. And you?"

"I work, work, work, too, and live in a paid off home in a quiet neighborhood near the University, with no children, and I have a husband."

"You are very, very good at paper shuffling in an small office environment. Did you ever consider administration as a career," Ben asked?

"When I was very young, yes. But, I got on a track to become a vanilla, run-of-the-mill college professor of literature - having reached that once lofty goal by politicking, pea-cocking, and even spreading my legs, when for two years Mark and I separated, when the academic playing field called for it. But I also learned early on that so much more can be said using poetry than prose and have been hooked on it and promoting it to a, sadly, diminishing audience ever since. So, if you want to know the soul of Rachael Copperfield, read her poetry - the public library has all the anthologies that contain my work on their shelves - you might see Jane Kyle on the second floor who volunteers there on Saturdays and she will show you the volumes if you are interested."

The moment he heard her say, 'husband,' Ben's immediate question to himself was, ["How am I going to stop myself from falling completely in love with this creature?"] So he resolved to keep as distant from her as he was from any of the other employees. But, he also decided immediately that he would learn all he could about Rachael as an academician via her published works.

Since Ben's degree from Texas Tech University was in Horticulture, his interest in the Humanities in general and literature in particular had been almost non-existent. He did take a couple of required survey courses where there was some poetry but never got interested enough to grasp what it was about. It was Saturday night and Ben sat alone at home after a neighbor had come by to visit and drop off a bowl of home-made chili, and then went on to his own home leaving Ben alone for the evening. He picked up the first volume of poetry and found Rachael's name in the index and opened to that page. He was immediately hooked on poetry after reading three pages of her work. More importantly he was hooked on his part time employee more than he had been before he found out she was married. Fighting the rising conflict going on in his mind, he was resolved again to keep his distance from her.

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One morning early a competitor dropped by Ben's office. They had met once before at an Association of the Chamber of Commerce meeting. When both were enjoying coffee the competitor asked, "Ben, are you interested in buying all my lien-free equipment, assuming my maintenance contracts, and of my six employees I have one who is a good working leader and two who are very good workers who you might be interested in hiring - all U.S. Citizens?"

"Why are you selling out?"

"At my age I have a second home in South Florida that beckons my wife and me, and I have arthritis badly now and can no longer do the physical work I have been doing for 34 years. You are new in this market and have the energy I had when I started -- My first jobs then were pulling weeds out of flower beds as I guess yours were like that when you started. Also, I don't want to jack with the new government red tape unraveling the work place."

"O.K., Joseph. I will drop by to look over your operation in the morning - I will come early while all your trucks and equipment and people will be there. Then I will go see my banker and see if he will float me a loan. You know I am recently divorced so I am kind of in the poor house. "

Later that morning, Rachael came to work. Over a glass of ice tea, Ben told her of the competitors invitation. She said, "You can not afford it, Ben, even if the bank will give you a loan for 100 percent of the market value of his equipment."

"Thanks for reminding me of what I already know but the bank is looking for customers too, so just maybe..."

"Ben, mind if I meet you over at Joseph's yard in the morning, say 6:00 A.M.? I, too, would like to take a look at his equipment and people and book keeping with you."

His mind fired up by her proposal, Ben replied, "Rachael, tomorrow is not your work day."

"Yes, but there is no reason I can not be a volunteer and show up anyway, is there?"

The next day the two met the proprietor and spent two hours looking over all of his operation. After they had finished and Ben and Rachael had discussed it privately, Ben said, "Joseph, I will make you a cash offer sometime tomorrow or the next morning. Thanks for the opportunity to bid and I hope you and your misses will have a wonderful retirement."

Ben met his loan officer that afternoon. It happened that the target company also used the same bank for his operational funds so the officer was very familiar with Joseph's operation. The officer said, "I can only loan you money on the market value of the equipment because this market is almost saturated by lawn and garden maintenance companies." He stated the interest rate and the maximum loan amount that the bank would offer as a final amount after they had dickered on both numbers at first.

Ben drove back to his shop and sat down heavily at his desk. He called Rachael at home and she answered, "Hello."

"You guessed right, Rachael. The bank only offered a loan based on the market value of Joseph's equipment. I know he will sell off his company piecemeal before he will take that small amount and I barely have enough money to meet day to day expenses as it is. So its another opportunity that I am not in a position to take advantage of."

There was a long pause, and Rachael said, "Why not be our guest for dinner tonight? Afterwards, you and I can find some privacy to discuss this further. Say 7:00 sharp?"

"Thank you so much, I will be there and I even have a clean shirt on since I went to the bank this afternoon."

The first thing Ben noticed pulling up in front of Rachael's house was an inclined plane for wheelchair access to the small porch. When he knocked on the door an LVN nurse opened it and invited him into the house, and then showed him to a living room couch. In a few moments a balding white haired gentleman was rolled into the living room in his wheelchair. After offering his hand, he said, "Mr. Parker, I am Mark Copperfield. Once upon a time I was an award winning professor of European Literature Studies and I met a beautiful, energetic 19 year old co-ed in my classroom who hung on to every word I said - which has been a rare occurrence in my classes over the years. For example, when I started describing the 'Center of hell' that Dante penned in his classic, the other students obviously had their mind on pussy and/or cocks while this co-ed focused on every word I said. I am so happy that I was able to seduce, de-flower, and marry that amazing student and now this is 22 years later."

"Well, pleasure to meet you, I....."

Professor Emeritus Copperfield interrupted by holding up his and and said, "Excuse me for interrupting you, but I am a statistically dead person already, so I have no time to waste before I will have become ashes. So please allow me to dominate the conversation. For example, you don't have to tell me about Ben Parker as Rachael is quite certain that you 'hung the stars and the moon.' I already know all your personal secrets and your business secrets - oh by the way, Rachael doesn't need to work but the opportunity you have given her to flourish being productive in a bonafide workplace once again is a priceless 'going away' present for me. I thank you, sir."

Ben was speechless but his thoughts were coming to his mind like a jack hammer. ["My god! that gentleman is madly in love with her more than I am. I must stop thinking about Rachael!"]