No Easy Hope - 01 (4 page)

“That would be just fine, Gabe, and please call me Eric.” I smiled as I replied.

I turned to Kristina, and I would not have been surprised if she had started jumping up and down and clapping her hands in excitement. She was looking at receiving a substantial commission. The cabin sat on over two hundred acres of land, and the price tag was in the high six-figures.

“Well, pretty lady, I think we just made your job a lot easier.” I said.

She gave me a smile that made me feel warm all the way down to my toes.

“Yeah, I guess you did. Tell you what, when we get back to town I’ll make a few calls and see if we can set up a closing date.” She said, beaming.

We filed out of the cabin and I followed them over to their car. I thanked Gabriel for being such an easy guy to work with, and endured the pain of another one of his handshakes. Then I turned my attention to the lovely Kristina.

“It was really nice meeting you.” I said. “I hope I get to see you again soon.” She took my hand and covered it with both of hers.

“It was very nice meeting you too, Eric. I definitely think we’ll be seeing each other.”

I stepped back as Gabriel folded his massive bulk into the passenger’s side of the car. Kristina paused just before getting into the driver’s seat and favored me with another glacier-melting smile.

I was glad that I ran into them when I did. It would have been a shame to waste my time getting the place cleaned up, only to realize that I could have sold it without getting my hands dirty. I got into my truck, turned my satellite radio to a folk music station, and backed out onto the narrow road. As I drove toward the highway, I began to wonder about Gabriel’s sudden offer to buy the property at its list price. He must be a wealthy man to be shelling out damn near a million dollars in one sitting. A man with that much money could buy a nice two-story colonial or something down in Morganton. Why would he want to spend his money on a ratty old cabin out in the middle of nowhere? The place did not even have a working toilet. After a few moments of pondering, I shrugged and dismissed the thought. My goal was to sell the property, and I had done just that. The man could be a damn drug dealer for all I cared, as long as his check cleared. A few days later, Kristina gave me a call to let me know that she had set up a closing date.

“That’s great,” I said, “Although I have to admit that I’m looking forward to seeing you again more than I am to selling the cabin. Do I really have to wait until the closing, or could I take you out to dinner tomorrow night?”

“Dinner would be really nice, but if we’re going on a date, we should wait until after the closing. Conflict of interest, and all that.” She replied.

Score!

“I understand.” I said. “Until then, I’ll just have to look forward to the closing.”

“So will I. Goodbye, handsome.” She hung up.

I’ve always had good luck with women. My old man was a good-looking guy, and I am pretty much his spitting image. Back in those days, I was very active (not to mention well fed) and spent a lot of time at the gym and the dojo. I had a decent physique in spite of my frequent indulgence in alcohol; a habit I picked up after my parents died.

A couple of weeks later, I made the drive back up to Kristina’s realty office for the closing. Gabriel was already there lounging in the lobby, his massive bulk straining the legs of a plush red chair. He gave the poor little piece of furniture a reprieve as he stood up to greet me when I came through the door. He held out a massive paw, and as I shook his hand, I was again reminded of his immense strength.

“Nice to see you again Eric.” He said. “Are we going to wait for your agent to get here before we start?”

“Bruce will be joining us by conference call.” I replied. “Honestly, I don’t think the little jerk deserves his commission considering that he hasn’t had to do any work for this sale. I’d rather spend that money taking your agent out to dinner.”

Gabe laughed, and gave me a wink. “She is a beauty, ain’t she? You gonna try to get a piece of that?”

I laughed, surprised by his candor. “God I hope so. If I strike out, maybe you should ask her out.”

“Oh hell no, not me. I’d break that poor little thing in half. I like my women with a little more meat on them.”

I heard the sound of high heels clicking on tile and a moment later Kristina came around the corner.

“Mr. Riordan, it’s good to see you again.” She said. “Thank you for coming today, I know it’s a bit of a drive for you.”

“No problem at all.” I said.

“Should we go ahead and get started with the closing?”

“After you, sir.”  I motioned for Gabriel to proceed ahead.

Kristina turned to go back down the hall and Gabriel followed. The closing went as painlessly as could be expected. One of the assistants for the attorney handling the transaction came into the office and went over the paperwork with us, pointing out places to initial and sign. I had to resist the urge to stare at Kristina’s legs as I worked. She was wearing a light blue blouse and a short gray skirt. The skirt showed off her sculpted thighs. At one point, she caught me looking, and stared me straight in the eye as she shifted in her seat and crossed her legs the other way. She took her time doing it, and gave me a little smirk as she smoothed her skirt down.

I looked away and tried to concentrate on filling out paperwork to stifle the stiffening feeling in my groin. Gabe caught my attention as he reached for a bottle of water sitting next to him on the table. I glanced up, and he was smirking at me. I got through the rest of the closing by focusing on what the office assistant was saying, and making a conscious effort not to look at Kristina and her killer legs. As we finished the last of the paperwork, I stood up and offered a hand to Gabe, bracing myself for the bone crushing pressure I was about to feel.

“Gabe, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you. What do you say I buy you lunch as a thank you?” I said.

“Sounds like a winner. I skipped breakfast this morning. I could go for a bite to eat.”

I looked over at Kristina. “Care to join us?”

“Not this time, I’m afraid. I have a lot of work to do in the office today. Could I take a rain check?” She replied.

“Okay, but, I’m gonna hold you to it. You owe me one meal, my treat of course.”

“You have my number. Give me a call.” She gave me another gorgeous smile as she picked up a stack of papers and brushed past me out of the little conference room. I was admiring her petite backside when Gabe leaned over and whispered,

“Down boy.”

I turned to him as the office assistant opened the door for us to leave.

“Did you catch that thing with the legs?” I asked in a low voice as we left the office.

“Yeah, I caught that. To tell the truth, I was having a hard time not staring myself.”

“I’m going to ask her out tomorrow. I’d have to be an idiot not to.” I said.

We went out to the parking lot, and I offered to drive. Gabriel agreed and climbed into the passenger seat of my truck. We went to a nearby sandwich shop, and Gabriel recommended their meatball sub. I ordered us a couple of beers, even though it was only one-thirty in the afternoon, and Gabriel and I sat in our booth munching on sandwiches and making small talk.

After we finished our food, we ordered more beer and talked about movies, girls, food, sports, and everything in between. I was happy to find that Gabe was an avid mixed martial arts fan. We both had the same favorite fighters, and lamented the demise of the Pride Fighting Championship. It was a rare thing to find another fan who liked the sport as much as I did, so I decided to invite Gabriel over to watch the next ultimate fighting event.

“You know what Gabe, you’re a pretty fucking cool dude. We should hang out again.” I said. “I still have a house right outside of town. There’s a pay-per-view coming up soon, and I have satellite at the other cabin. You should come over and watch the fights.”

“I might just do that. I haven’t seen any fights in a long time. You got my phone number or email address?” He asked.

We both got out our cell phones and exchanged information. We left the sandwich shop and I drove him back to his truck at the realty office. He thanked me for the lift, and said he was looking forward to watching the fights. I told him to give me a ring if he needed any help moving in to his new home and waved as he drove away.

A couple of weeks later I went back up to Morganton to my little vacation house, and gave Gabe a call. When he arrived, I gave him a tour of the property. He was impressed with the outdoor fireplace that doubled as a grill, and with the mini fridge in the living room that I had stocked with a two cases of beer.

We turned the TV to a network station airing the preliminary fights. I was impressed with Gabe’s knowledge of the martial arts, especially his understanding of grappling.  I told Gabe that I was a purple belt in Jiu Jitsu, but had not trained for a while because my instructor died a few weeks earlier in a tragic car accident. Gabe nodded solemnly when I told him about Luis, and how good of a teacher he had been. He was only forty-two when he passed; far too young for a great person like him to be taken from the world.

“Seems like you’ve suffered more than your fair share of loss lately.” Gabe said, his Kentucky accent becoming thicker the more he drank.

“You’re telling me.” I said. “You know, you should probably avoid getting too friendly with me, you might be the next one to drop.”

Gabe chuckled.

 “I’m too damn ugly to die. At least you know how to find some humor in it. Losing people, that is.”

“Yeah, well, you either learn to laugh or you lose your damn mind.”

“Amen to that.”

A moment passed in silence. “You ever lose anybody?” I asked.

Gabe’s eyes grew distant.

“Yeah, too damn many. My old man died in a coal mining accident. I was about eight when that happened, and my mom and I moved in with my uncle Aaron in Louisville. Mom died from cancer when I was eighteen, and Uncle Aaron had a heart attack when I was twenty-three. I got no other family.”

“Damn, dude, that’s tough, I’m sorry to hear that. I know how you feel though, my only living relative is my uncle Roger, and we hardly ever talk.”

Gabe shifted in his seat for a moment then decided to change the subject. “Whatever happened between you and Kristina?” He asked. “Did you ever take her out on that date?”

“Yeah, we did the whole dinner and a movie thing a couple of times. I got a little tongue and over-the-sweater action on the second date. I called her up to take her on a third date, thinking that I’m finally going to get her in bed, and she tells me she can’t go because she has a date with someone else that night.”

“No shit?” Gabe let out a derisive snort. “Fuckin’ women.”

“Yeah, no kidding. I told her to have a nice life and deleted her number from my phone.”

“That’s too bad for you man, I bet she would have been a tiger in the bed. She has that look, you know what I mean?”

“Don’t I know it. She was a great kisser. You know what that means.”

Gabe gave me a sidelong glance and pushed his tongue against his cheek, making it bulge out to the side. I snorted and handed him another beer.

We spent the rest of the evening watching the fights, and making jokes at one another’s expense. Anyone listening to our conversation would have thought that Gabriel and I had known each other for years. We felt comfortable around one another, and quickly settled into an easy camaraderie. Gabriel drank at least a gallon of beer, and swayed unsteadily as he stood up from his chair after the fights were over.

“Shit, man, I’m not sure I can drive home.” He said, as he stumbled toward the bathroom.

“Don’t sweat it dude, you can crash in the spare bedroom.” I said, thinking about the man that killed my parents. I did not want Gabriel driving drunk.

“Cool. ‘Preciate it.” Gabe called over his shoulder as he shut the bathroom door.

We both woke up the next morning nursing hangovers. I drove us into Morganton to get some grease and cholesterol to soak up the booze in our blood. After breakfast, I drove back to my cabin and Gabriel climbed slowly into his truck. He invited me to go shooting at a firearms range with him the next day, and I happily agreed. I had not been shooting in years, and I looked forward to knocking the rust off my marksmanship skills. I went back into the cabin thinking that it was nice to have a friend, for a change. I had been spending too much time alone, and needed to do something social once in a while.