Kayli Unknown

Chapter 26 - Jim has an Idea

Jim dressed quickly after the shower. Kat sent him off to open a bottle of wine, and wait for her. She wanted time to dress. She wanted him to wait and want. She wanted time to think – and to settle herself.

She sat at her dressing table. Hair and makeup. And time. He was the one. On again, off again, but always back on again. He was the one. Maybe his wife's situation had changed. Maybe Kat would be allowed a new relationship with Jim – and with his boys. Maybe she would just have him around more. More nights. More evenings by the fire. More Jim. She liked the idea.

She had a dress she'd been saving. Green print. Off the shoulder. Flared skirt just past the knees – on the models. On her five eleven frame, it barely reached her knees. She thought Jim would like that. It was some synthetic material – glossy and light. It flowed around her. It moved as she came to him. Funny, as she crossed the great room, she felt a bit bashful. Shy. Her finger tips brushing the skirt.

He was seated by the fireplace, a bottle of wine open, two glasses poured. His attention on her. She watched him as she crossed the room. And, more importantly, he watched her. And he said the one word she hoped to hear – "Wow."

She sat close, sliding her skirts into place, which is to say, sliding her hands over her skirts while he watched. He quickly had a glass of wine in her hand and an arm around her shoulders.

"Kat, you are one beautiful woman."

"Thank you."

She had his undivided attention. She noticed his wine glass quickly went off to a table so he had another hand to put on her. This one decided her skirt should slide a bit higher. Maybe more than a "bit."

"I'll make dinner for you in a while. Lots of women left food last night. I could microwave leftovers all week."

"I can wait. My plan is to get you very drunk, and then have my way with you."

"My plan is to encourage you."

A fair amount of fondling went on for a while, and then Kat changed the mood.

"Jim, I'm happy to be your lover. Am I also going to be your bartender?"

Jim took a long time to answer. The delay probably communicated more than his words. Whatever decision he had made – or was making – was not an easy one.

"I grew up in that bar. Dad had other businesses, but that bar was his biggest business for the early part of his life. He loved that place. And he had me up there working for him long before I was legal age. I cleaned, I stocked, I rolled half barrels into place. And if he was busy, I got a guy another beer. No matter that I was twelve. I worked there all the way through college. I can tell you stories... But now? Dad will never work again. I am teaching and coaching. I have boys I see maybe two nights a week, and a lover I never see enough."

"Those are all good reasons to close the place." Kat had put her own wine glass down, and was holding his hand. "Now for the reasons to rebuild."

"You know what they are. The same reasons in fifty crossroad towns in rural Wisconsin. The local school goes first. Then the church. When the local bar goes, it's all over."

"You could sell it."

"Who would buy it? You know how much money the place made in a day. No bank would issue the loan."

That pretty much ended the bar conversation. Kat rested her head on his shoulder, and the two of them stared into the fire. Was there a way to resurrect the bar? Kat couldn't think of one. So they sat. His arm was warm around her shoulders, and his hand was doing nice things with her skirt. Time passed. Finally Kat pulled herself away.