Back in Business (closed)

The house was a mess. The contractors were doing their best to salvage what they could, but it had been decades since anyone had lived in the place. Everything needed replacing. The walls were ripped open so the electrician could get in, the old cypress paneling was stacked up in the corners. The sun shone through the plastic tarps that hung in the doorways while they were stripped down and refinished. It would be weeks before he could properly move in, so he was staying in a motel on the highway.

He could have sprung for one of the nicer places in town, but staying out on the edge of things kept people from talking as much. Or maybe it just kept him from hearing about it.

Ten years ago, when he left town, everyone had written him off. They'd been sure he would end up in prison or an early grave. He was the rebel of his high school class, the doper, the one with the ink and the piercings. The truth was that his reputation had always been a bit overblown. He'd been a kid, trying to figure out who he was, as loudly as possible. Once he left, he found out he wasn't quite what he had been told he was.

The mansion on the hill had been empty since he was a kid. In the old days, they used to break in to get high, sometimes he'd get a girl up there. The graffiti was still on the walls when he took a walk through with the realtor. The fact that she remembered him from high school wasn't lost on him. He made a much lower offer than he should have gotten away with. Then he said "Cash."

He knew the story would be spreading, that Andy Thompson had bought the mansion on the hill. He knew people would wonder. Let them, he thought. He didn't have anything to hide, but it would be funny to see what they imagined.

The downside of staying in the motel was that he had to eat every meal out. He swung into the coffee shop to grab a coffee and a muffin and he saw her. She looked good. Better than he remembered, standing there, looking at her phone, waiting for her latte or whatever.

"Hey you," he said, stepping behind her, a little too close to be casual. He was wearing worn jeans and a misfits t shirt that showed the elaborate ink on his arms, scuffed motorcycle boots. He needed a shave and his blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

Has this really become my life?

That was the thought that was constantly turning through her head as she looked down at the message that was on her phone. Her husband, the man that she loved, was cancelling yet another dinner with her. The long, slow sigh that escaped her lips was disappointed but she supposed that it was nothing new. "Sorry, Gennie, there will be other times. I'm just busy right now. Go out and buy yourself something nice." With a disgusted snort, she deleted the message, struggling to keep the disappointment from becoming too much.

Genevieve Porter was the hometown golden girl. She had worked for absolutely everything that she had in her life. Her father was an alcoholic and her mother had died of cancer when she was just seven. Money had always been tight and with no support, she had been left to drift through life. She had been a straight A student, the one that would make something of herself some day.

She had a moderately successful writing career even though her publisher was now pushing her for another novel. When she had first met Luke, the man who would be her husband, she was inspired to write those silly little love stories that middle aged women ate up by the dozen. He swept her off her feet in college, showed her a world of support and love that she'd never had before. But as his own law career took off, she found herself sinking. That muse that had been there was gone...maybe never to return.

Genevieve gasped as a voice sounded next to her ear and she took a step away, looking up from her phone. The stranger behind her looked oddly familiar. Her blue eyes narrowed slightly, head tilting to the side. Her hand nervously pulled on her green dress, a sudden realization dawning.

"Andy?" She murmured softly, the suspicious look on her face lifting, replaced with a luminous smile as she hurried forward to wrap him in a tight hug. "Wow. Look at you. You look fantastic."

"Fantastic?" he said, his grin widening as she hugged him. He slid his arm around her waist and held her close. "Wow. Thank you. I always thought you were supposed to be smart, but I'm not so sure you know what that word means." He let her go, winked, and stepped back, looking her up and down, appreciating the slender figure tastefully displayed by her stylish clothes.

"You look," he sighed, and then grinned. He took her left hand in his, fingered her wedding ring. "Let's just say I already hate whoever gave you this." He looked at it. It was quite a rock, but he wasn't about to be put off the scent by a wedding ring.

"So if you won't tell me you're trapped in a loveless marriage, how about you at least let me buy you a coffee?" He turned his head to the barista and asked for a large black coffee for himself and whatever Genevieve was having.

"It's still Genevieve, right?" he said. "You haven't started letting people call you Genny or anything like that?" He looked down, and chuckled, pretending to realize he was still holding her hand. He let go, grinning at her a little sheepishly.

"Well, listen," he said. "I'm in town for a while. Honestly, you're one of the only people I missed from here, and I would love to get together and catch up sometime." He shook his head, looking at the floor for a second. "You can even bring your husband if you want."

"Call me, OK?" he said, and took out a battered old wallet. He slid a twenty onto the counter to pay for the drinks and took a business card out. All it had on it was his name and the number of his cell phone. He swept her up in another hug and kissed her cheek, whispering in her ear. "I missed you."

Andy had always been the man that could make her laugh. In high school, he was the one that she wasn't suppose to be friends with, the one that no one was suppose to be friends with, but she had always enjoyed his company. He was smart, he made her laugh, he was so unlike the rest of her friends and seemed to understand her completely.

She actually blushed as he fingered her wedding ring. The diamond had been so over the top that she never felt truly comfortable wearing it. Luke was the kind of guy that liked to show his wealth and her ring had been no exception.

"His name is Luke. We've been married five years now. Not Genevieve Omstat anymore. Porter. Kind of boring, I know." She was babbling, talking before her brain really thought about it.

Before she knew it, Andy was paying for her latte, sheepishly letting go of her hand. She blushed again, lowering her eyes as he asked if it was still Genevieve. "Well, my husband calls me Genny. Not that I like it, but it's something that he's always done."

Andy was always like a whirlwind, a force of nature, someone that she looked up to. She gave him a smile as he passed her a business card and hugged her tightly. His lips pressed against her cheek briefly before he murmured that he missed her. It had been so long since someone had said those words to her. She held him tightly and smiled, her very soul feeling brighter as he pulled away and they parted.

"I definitely will. My husband is usually busy, but maybe we could go out for dinner some time. O'Kelly's is still open. We're old enough to drink now and they've still got the best burgers in town." She murmured.

He nodded his head as she talked. He liked the way she was speaking, so softly, so intimately, as if they were alone. He liked the way she blushed when he touched her ring. As if they were planning an affair, which he was fairly certain is exactly what they were doing.

"O'Kelly's, holy shit," he said. "That takes me back. I don't know, though. The old man banned for life when I tried to pass off that fake ID." He chuckled, smiling at her. "I bet he'll let me back in if I ask nice, though." O'Kelly's was a local institution, and the owner had a reputation for a quick temper, but also for forgiving. Andy had never gone back in to O'Kelly's because he had left town a few weeks later. He took a step back and looked her over again, not hiding the hunger in his eyes.

"How about tonight?" he said. "I have to get up to the house to make sure everybody's got everything they need, but my dance card's wide open evenings. You can have me whenever you want." He winked.

"Eight o'clock?" he said. He knew the longer she had to think about it, the more doubt would creep in. He wanted her to say yes before she had a chance to question in.

There was the offer for dinner. The meal that would take place that night at 8. She was nervous about saying yes. She really needed to work on her novel and she did her best work at night. Still, she was suppose to be going out with her husband and he had stood her up yet again. She had no plans...but it didn't seem right to go out with Andy...

"8 would be fine." She said softly, looking at him and noting the way that he looked at her with that same hunger and passion he'd always had. "I'll meet you there. I have to go and get some work done this afternoon or else my agent will blow her stack."

It would be fun catching up with Andy, finding out what he'd been up to since he left town.

He got there early. He hadn't planned on it, exactly, but the crews were wrapping up by six and by seven thirty he'd showered and thrown on a clean shirt and jeans. He sat at the bar and sipped on a beer and talked to the bartender, a guy he'd barely known who had been a few years behind him in school. The dinner rush was winding down when it got to be eight, and he started looking for Genevieve.

There was a lot he wanted to ask her about. Once upon a time, they'd been close friends, but he'd left town so suddenly after graduation ten years ago, and he'd never looked back. He wanted to know about her life, but there was a lot more he wanted that he wouldn't get by asking. He'd seen it in her eyes when he asked her to dinner. He just wondered if she knew herself what she was. He had a feeling she didn't, but he was looking forward to teaching her.

Genevieve had debated all afternoon about going to O'Kellys. She needed to tell Luke but each time she went to do such, she kept thinking about how much she hated the fact that he was too busy to be there himself. She let the issue go. He didn't need to know what she was doing for dinner. He probably wouldn't even care.

She had spent much of the evening looking over her racks of clothing, trying to decide on the most appropriate thing to wear. Her closet was lacking in nothing, but she also knew that Andy wasn't the kind of guy that would be impressed with a designer dress. She happily pulled down a pair of dark denim jeans, a comfortable long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of black leather boots. Luke would have died if she'd worn that kind of outfit to dinner...

At 8 on the dot, she entered O'Kellys, her hair pulled back in a youthful ponytail, a light dusting of makeup. The moment she saw him at the bar, she smiled. It was like returning home as she slipped into a chair next to him, ordering a beer and setting her purse down on the bar.

"I can't tell you how happy I am to be here." She said in her sincere, soft voice, reaching over to place her hand on his upper arm. "Thank you for inviting me."

He leaned over as she sat, slipping his arm around her waist, kissing her cheek.

"I'm glad you decided to come," he said. "Sorry your guy couldn't make it."

"Not that sorry, though," he said, giving her an unmistakable once over. "I don't think I'd let you out of the house looking like that, if you were mine. Certainly not to meet another man." He smiled slyly, leaned close, whispered. "He doesn't have a clue, does he?"

When the bartender approached, Andy ordered for both of them.

"Two of the special burgers, all the way," he said. "Two more beers, and two shots of Jack."

He grinned at Genevieve as the bartender put the order into the kitchen and got pouring.

"So, what's good in your life, these days?" he asked. He was pretty sure he knew the answer wasn't going to involve her marriage or her family. He had known she was different when they were in school, known there was something about her that called to him, but he hadn't known what it was. Now that he'd gone out into the world, he was pretty sure he knew.

The bartender came back with their drinks, and he lifted his shotglass and clinked against hers. "To old friends, and fresh starts."

"Yeah, he's been busy lately with his work." She commented quickly, placing her purse on the counter next to her elbow. "So, he couldn't make it. But, that's alright. It just gives us more time to catch up."

She actually blushed as he wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek intimately. He had always been the kind of guy that made her feel special. It made her feel sad that no one else had ever seen just what a nice guy Andy was.

"Really? This is the kind of look that gets your engine going?" Genevieve murmured, laughing softly. "My husband would have died if he had seen me going out like this. Designer names are more his speed."

She took the beer that was brought gratefully, taking a swig as Andy ordered for the both of them. He had always been brunt, to the point, taking charge. She actually liked that about him. He would always give her an honest opinion when she asked and she had valued his advice. Perhaps if he had been around when she was about to get married, she would have never gone through with it...

"Hmmm...the good in my life? Well, I finally became a published author." She said, grinning at him as if that were a big secret. "Not the kind of things that I wanted to write, but at least it's something."

As the tender came back with their drinks, she took hers and clinked it against his glass. "To old friends." She agreed, taking a swig and letting out a breath as the slow burn found its way down to her belly.

"And what about you? How has life treated you?"

Given the invitation, he gave her another looking over, and then shrugged, grinning. She did look good. Still not quite like his fantasies, but then, he didn't really expect her to be. Not yet, anyway, but with a little gentle encouragement, he was fairly sure she might come around.

"I'm not saying I wouldn't change one or two things," he said. "Nothing we couldn't get done in a minute or two with a pair of scissors. If getting my engine running was what you had in mind, I'd be happy to show you how."

He listened as she talked, learning about who she had become. He was surprised, but he shook his head, chuckling at himself. Ten years had changed him in so many ways he could hardly get his head around it, and he'd lived it. He shouldn't be surprised that she had grown up as well.

"An author?" he said, his eyes opening wide and his grin broadening. "Published, no less? I don't care what kind of thing it is, that's really something to be proud of." He took the opportunity to give her another hug and another soft kiss on the cheek. "So what is it? Is it the kind of thing you had to publish under a pseudonym so your neighbors won't know what a little pervert you are?"

He winked. He didn't want to make her too uncomfortable, but she seemed happy to be here with him. They knocked back their shots and he gave the bartender a nod. The glasses were refilled.

"Me?" he said. "Life's been good to me. I think I really needed to get out of this town to figure out who I am, but...." He shrugged, grinning. "It's a voyage of discovery that never ends, you know? For now, I'm renovating that old mansion on the hill, you remember that old place. I never got you to go up there with me, did I?"

"No, I publish under my maiden name. Can't have a lawyer's wife associating herself with filth." She said with a shrug, giving him a sweet smile as she listened to what had happened to him after he had left town.

"Well, I'm glad that you found something that made you happy. I was really said when I heard that you had moved away." And she had been. She had cried for days when she found out that Andy had simply left.

Glancing down at the shot that had suddenly been refilled, Genevieve felt herself relaxing. It had been so hard to relax lately, but with Andy, it just felt natural. He didn't pressure her. He didn't demand things of her. Best of all, she could simply be herself when she was with him and that felt amazing.

"Nope. Never went there with you. I always heard it was the place that the guys took girls who were interested in a quick fuck." She muttered, giving him a wink. "Of course, I don't think I ever saw you with any other girl but me in high school."

“I'm glad to know it's filth,” he says, grinning playfully, and if his voice drops a little lower, making her lean in a little closer, maybe he was just trying to be discrete. “I always knew there was a dirty mind hidden away in there somewhere.”

“The truth is I never really thought you'd want to hear from me again,” he said, surprised at her reaction to his leaving. He had never thought he was that important to her, or to anyone, for that matter. “You were off to college and a life of success and happiness and I was supposed to be headed for the gutter.” He shrugged. Things were different now. He didn't need to prove anything to anyone here anymore. Except maybe one thing to one person.

“You know, I never understood what you had against girls who interested a quick fuck,” he said, with a playful leer. “Now I'm not saying it's as good as a nice, long, slow all-night, every-room-in-the-house fuck with candles and roses and handcuffs. I prefer that, too.” He paused, looking at her carefully, and spoke softly, teasing her with his words. “But you can't tell me a good, quick fuck wouldn't feel good. Let go of some of that stress, get that goofy smile on your face and get that walking-on-air feeling you get from a good, hard cum. You telling me that wouldn't be nice?”

He was practically touching her forehead with his by then, and he leaned back a little, smiling. He picked up his beer and took a healthy drink. “Getting warm in here.”

"Of course I missed you." Genevieve murmured as Andy looked completely blown away by her confession. "You're my friend, Andy. I care about you a lot. No one had any idea where you had gone or what had happened to you."

He had always been a charmer and she couldn't help the smile that tipped her lips as he teased her. She simply shook her head and looked down at the shot that was between her fingers as he leaned back to take a drink of his beer.

"It's been a long time since I've had anything like that." She murmured, grinning at him as she placed her hand on top of his gently. "But I'm married and as much as my husband frustrates me, I don't know that I can take that step."

"I don't know that I can" was a long way from "I can't."

Andy grinned and turned his hand, twining his fingers around hers. Genevieve was a strong woman, and proud, but he could tell that strong was something she felt obliged to be, and that if she could just find someone to let her be weak, she'd never look back. He was fairly sure she knew that he was that someone. He just had to let her get her guard down.

"You know you can take that step," he said softly, letting his breath warm her ear. He touched her cheek, gently. "People take it every day. You're too smart to punish yourself for the rest of your life because you married the wrong man. How can he neglect you, as beautiful as you are?"

Then the burgers came, and he sighed and leaned back, letting go of her hand. He gave her a long looking over and a wolfish grin. He picked up his burger and turned to her.

"Are you really going to spend the rest of your life frustrated and miserable because you're afraid to try to be happy?" Then he took a big bite.

"I'm a long way from being miserable, Andy." Genevieve murmured as their food was delivered. "There are women out there who have husband's a million times worse than mine."

She gave him a smile as she took a bite of her own burger. "But I'm happy that my friend has returned. You've definitely brightened my life a little bit."

"How about after dinner we take a little drive up to your new house and you can show me around. I know you've always wanted to get me up there."

"A long way from miserable," he said, "can be a long way from happy, too." It wasn't a question, and for the first time, he lowered the cocky smile and gave her a look of sympathy. Just for a moment. Then he returned his attention to the burger.

He grins at her suggestion that they go to the house.

"Of course I'll take you up there," he says. "I was starting to wonder if you'd ever ask. You want to ride with me or follow me in your own car?"

"How about we take yours? You can always bring me back to get my car when we're done." She suggested, looking at Andy with another smile. "And of course I would want to see your new house. I have to see if you have good taste."

She couldn't help but tease Andy. He was such a kind soul and she enjoyed being around him. And anything to get them off the subject of her marriage would be extremely welcome. Surely walking through his house would give her an escape from what was haunting her.

Andy smiled and left money on the bar to cover their meal. He led Genevieve out to his pickup and opened the door for her, helping her in. As he started the truck, he looked over at her and gave her his mock-serious face.

"You understand its a work in progress, right?" he said. "So you have to watch your step, and only some of the holes in the wall are meant to be decorative."

He drove up to the house, listening to the radio, making small talk about the places they passed. When they got to the site, it was dark. They could only see what was lit by the headlights. He leaned over to get a flashlight out of the glove box and smiled at her again. Then he killed the engine and hopped out, walking around to help her out, gesturing with the flashlight.

"Right this way, M'Lady."

"My knight in shining armor." Genevieve teased, taking his arm as he me the way into his darkened house with the beam of his flashlight looking out for pitfalls and perils.

Her boots crunched over discarded building mateorals and she kept a tight grip on Andy as they entered through the open front door. She was surprised that he had bought this place. It had been vacant so long, vandalized, and nearly a hopeless cause. She could see the love and care that he was putting into it though.

"I think you've got yourself a keeper here, Andy." She said, looking up at him with a wide grin.