2.1. Investments and Improvements
The closing had gone well. The sellers had counted and then accepted the hard cash payment happily. Arrangements were agreed upon by which they could fully receive it and without either party drawing the attention of the Federal Government. He told them he was thinking of running an antique shop at the location, they probably assumed it would be a money laundering front and that was as good a cover for his cover as any.
Bradley was a decent cook, and he often treated Brittany and her mom to the first health-wise, home-cooked meals that either had eaten in years. She came home from work one afternoon to find mushroom and potato chowder heating on the stove. Bradley was sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter and glancing at his laptop. With childlike playfulness, she tip-toed up to the pot and sneaked a spoonful to her lips, then smiled at him and stuck her tongue out.
Brittany hadn't shown any properties today. She had forgone her typical business casual and he couldn't help admiring the way she filled out her breezy yellow dress with its nice floral patterns. Moreover, he knew that deep within her, at that very moment, was a microscopic mass of cells. It was making itself at home in her uterus and her entire body would soon change and give itself over to the nurturing and development of the new life. As he imagined her coming transformations, Bradley rose from his seat and glided towards her, closing her in his arms and kissing her warmly on the neck before checking the chowder and preparing to serve it.
"How was work?" he asked.
"Wonderful! Examined a few of the new properties, I already have some potential buyers lined up, looked into options for expanding the business. Now that you've come in as a silent partner and loaned me the use of your place as office space, I really do think that I can look for a couple of interns to help with the increased workload we're expecting!"
She paused to glance around, and lowered her voice conspiratorially,
"A couple of... young, attractive, highly-fertile interns."
Bradley smiled at her. He took one of the bowls and brought it into the living room, walking around where Brittany's mom was planted and placing it on a folding table beside her.
"Watch out, Ms. Kohl, it's hot."
Melanie Kohl blinked her bloodshot eyes, grunted indifferently, and looked over at the meal. She pressed the remote that controlled her Lay-Z-Boy, brought her corpulent husk into a sitting position, and snuffed out her cigarette into one of the empty beer bottles. Bradley nodded and left the room without comment.
That was an improvement over her earlier interactions with him. She had greeted him with a burning death glare on his first day at the house. She used to screech like a cat beneath a rocking chair whenever he stepped in front of her seat and whatever shitcom she was watching on the TV. She had initially dismissed out of hand the "hippy liberal vegan crap" he tried to serve her, even though his cooking was almost never vegan and not conspicuously vegetarian. Melanie Kohl was in short a very unhappy woman, one deeply unsatisfied with where her life had gone in the three-score years she had spent upon the Earth.
On the other hand, she had stopped smoking and drinking quite so much. She was out of her chair or mobility scooter and back on her feet more often these days, and seemed to take more interest in how much and what type of food she was eating. She had even agreed to use the high-fidelity headphones he had given her, rather than running the speakers so loud that you could literally hear blare of the television while sitting in her driveway. Brittany had been elated at that development, and she relished the quietness in the kitchen as they ate their meal together.
"Speaking of work," he said between bites. "I found a good deal on a flatbed truck not too far from here, which should help out a lot now that we're also in the renovation business. If you're game for a road-trip, we can pick it up today!"
Bradley flipped around the laptop and showed her the pictures from the ad, and Brittany gave a sour expression as she looked at it.
"Eh? Yeah, I can handle a drive, you betcha! In fact, I think I could use it as a way of burning off all the excess energy I seem to have these days."
"Very well. Finish up your chowder and I'll pour some more in a crock for the road."
2.2. "He can do it, she can help."
The ad said it had still been running good when they parked it in the barn. It had been in the barn for so long that Bradley had to chop down a small tree that had grown in front of where they parked it. Nonetheless, it only seemed to take a visit to the local auto-parts store and just a few hours of work before he had the old jalopy cleaned out, cleaned up, and ready to roll. He told Brittany to grab some starter fluid and to spray it in the carburetor. She did so straight away, only a little surprised at the fact that she somehow knew what "starter fluid" or a "carburetor" was. It was late in the evening when they made it back to the storefront, they carried a sleeping bag up on the roof and made love beneath the stars.
