I was up by 6 a.m. having coffee. I couldn't call Sandy until I collected my thoughts about how to approach her. Since there was a 2 hour time difference, I had plenty of time to think about it. I sure didn't want to call her too early since it was her only day off. I figured I would wait and call between 10 and 11 o'clock my time, which would be between 9 and 10 o'clock her time.
About 7 o'clock I heard Ava coming down the stairs, I was anxious to see how she was feeling this morning. She came into the kitchen smiling and in good spirits which made me feel better. She seemed okay after our discussion of our situation going forward and even encouraged me to follow up with Sandy.
"Good morning," she greeted me as she poured herself a cup of coffee, "would you like me to fix you some breakfast?"
"No thanks, I had a banana and a large glass of orange juice earlier. Where's your new coffee mug?" I asked as she sat down beside me.
"I'm not using that, it's a souvenir, and if I use it over time the picture of the submarine and the print will fade. I have it on my dresser next to my Gateway Arch, I'm starting a collection of places I've been," she smiled and elbowed me for even suggesting she use it.
"Well, I'm glad you are up early, I wanted to talk to you. Now that you have a car you need access to money, you know for gas, etc, so I opened an account in your name and put $5000 in it." She started to protest, I shushed her, "Just listen, don't interrupt me. I can afford it, and if in that pretty head of yours you wanted to keep tabs and pay me back later that's fine. But in the meantime it's your money and if you need more you let me know. Here's a debit card and the four digit code is xxxx," I smiled, but I made sure my tone of voice indicated I wouldn't tolerate an argument.
"Okay, as long as you agree I can pay you back when I'm able. Thanks Lee, I'm not going to let you down, I promise," she said as she wiped moisture from her eyes.
To change the subject I spoke up in a cheerful tone, "You look like you're dressed up to go somewhere this morning, anywhere in particular," I teased her.
She giggled softly as she wiped her eyes, "I thought I would just ride around and check out the area. It'll give you time to call Sandy in private," she said as she reached out and squeezed my hand.
"That's sweet of you but you don't have to do that Ava," I grinned.
"Well now that I have money," she giggled, "I may go by Kroger before I come home and pick stuff I need to teach you how to make Mom's chicken and dumplings with biscuits."
"Sounds like a plan, I look forward to it," and laughed.
"Okay, so I'll see you later, good luck with Sandy," she smiled, stood and kissed my cheek and headed for the door to the garage.
I watched her walk away in a pair of faded blue jeans that hugged her shapely hips as well as the white skinny jeans. She was wearing a sleeveless red top and 3" red strapless heels, her hair in a pony, carrying a red clutch purse.
I sighed heavily, as I heard her car start and pull out of the garage. I was anxious to pursue a relationship with Sandy, yet I wasn't sure how I would ever be able to let Ava go, and not have a sexual relationship with her. Finishing my coffee I headed up stairs to my bedroom, I wanted to dress and look nice when I FaceTimed with Sandy.
As soon as it was 10 o'clock I placed the call to Sandy, I couldn't wait any longer. The phone ranged three times, I was about to panic, maybe she was not anxious to speak to me. The fourth ring she picked up, there was her beautiful face staring at me.
"Hi Lee," she giggled, "sorry Tab was being grumpy and didn't want me to answer the phone. When it rang he leaped on top of it and didn't want me to answer it."
"Sounds like I've got some stiff competition," I laughed. "Tab and I may have to have a man to man talk."
She laughed, "He's only like that on Sundays for some reason. He thinks Sunday mornings are his days to cuddle with me." As she spoke holding the phone where I could see her face, all of a sudden an orange cat head appeared pushing his head against hers and purred.
Frigging cat was doing what I wished I was doing. I chuckled, "Tab," the cat's ears perked up and he looked toward the screen peering at me, "if you'll give me a few minutes with Sandy I'll buy you a box of your favorite treats."
Sandy laughed, "Give me a minute to give him some milk, that usually settles him for a few minutes." She laid the phone down and I could see parts of her bedroom. I heard her baby talking to Tab and in just a second a door closing.
"I'm back," she giggled. "It's so good to see you and hear your voice."
"Same here beautiful, I'm proud of you, sorry you've been having a rough time."
"I believe things are getting better. I talked to a girl yesterday, she called me, she wants to move back to Albuquerque. She has experience in the business and wants a job. If we can work out something she could be my full time assistant."
"Well that's great, it would take some pressure off of you. Let me know if I can be of any help."
"It helps just by hearing from you. Sorry I haven't stayed in touch. You have no idea how many times I wanted to call you, but I knew I needed to do this myself first."
"Sandy I'm going to go out on a limb here, if I'm out of line, just tell me. I felt a connection to you the first time I ever talked to you, but you were married at the time. I would like to get to know you better, and not just as a customer of mine. If that's something....
"Lee," she interrupted, oh shit I thought, here it comes I'm out of line, "I felt the same thing. I don't know if it was because I was so miserable in my marriage or what. I even felt guilty about it for a while. But yes, I know what you mean. I just don't know how it would work, you are in Alabama and me here."
"I think the first thing we have to establish is how strong our feelings are for each other. The rest we worry about later. That is if you're interested?"
"Of course I'm interested," she smiled and bit her bottom lip, "I just wish we lived close to each other. How do we move forward with this distance between us?"
"You have Zoom on your Desktop at work and your laptop, I prefer it over FaceTime on the iPhone, we'll just communicate often until we can get together."
"I hope it's soon, getting together, I mean," she smiles, her finger rubbing her bottom lip in a sexy way.
"Me too, I still need to punish you for tricking me about having a male roommate," my voice husky, my brow furrowed.
She blushes, "What kind of punishment?" Her eyebrow arches, as she smiles.
"You'll see. Text me when you have time for a Zoom talk. And tell Tab, I'm an alpha dog, we trump cats," I smirked.
She giggled loudly, "I will, it was really good to hear from you Lee. Bye."
AVA