Page 14 of The Playboy and the Waitress

I shake my head. “Total city boy, ok. I’ll save you from the mean old mushrooms if you will fix us some iced tea. It will take about twenty minutes for these to bake, and I figure we can sit on the front porch and relax a minute until they are done. As much fun as the last hour has been, it’s been a super stressful day. And thank you once again, Dage… making fun of things is how I deal with stress and I’m not used to anyone helping me out, so I don’t want you to think I'm not grateful for what you did for me today.”

He sighs as he runs his fingers through all that pretty hair of his. “I’m just glad things worked out the way they did, and I honestly hate for you to park the old girl back there again. I’m not sure she will survive another attack like that.”

“I have the next few days off, so maybe I’ll come up with alternative parking before I have to go back. I don’t want to ever go through this again.” I slide the pizzas into the oven and turn around, bumping into him as I shut the oven back. “Oops, sorry, the kitchen is rather small.”

“I don’t think it is, I was shocked yesterday at how big your house is inside.”

“It’s actually more than I need by myself, but it's home. I have slowly remodeled the whole interior these last few years. It took me a while to look at this place as mine and not Mom and Dad’s. But once I did…I ended up tearing walls out so I could make the master bedroom larger and then I turned the back bedroom into a small office.”

“I think you have done well. The place, it’s very cozy. I have walked into people’s homes and was scared to sit down on their furniture; their homes feel like doctors’ offices. I just recently realized my own place seems sterile compared to yours.”

We walk out onto the porch, sitting on the steps, enjoying the last part of this pretty spring day. The air is a little crisp, but the sun shining down on us makes it toasty and comfortable.

“Tell me about your farm here.”

“Ughh, let me see…I own a little over a thousand acres, I have thirty head of cattle and a goat somewhere. The only other features besides the house are three ponds, four barns, and the old sawmill. My dad’s father bought it for fifteen hundred dollars back in the 1800s. It was a prospering and very productive farm when Dad was alive. He planted corn, soybeans, and tobacco. He would hire out help from time to time, but for the most part, he did everything by himself. He was very passionate about farming, and he could talk to you for hours about soil content and what type of cattle that brought in the most pound for pound. He felt like it was his job to provide for us, so mom never worked, and I thought he was going to have a heart attack when I started waitressing.

“It took me forever to convince him that I just wanted to do something for extra money, and I wasn’t going to do it as a career. He wanted me to go to college, but things don’t always happen the way we want them to. He bought me the yellow monster my senior year in high school. She was pale yellow at the time and soooo ugly. We rebuilt the engine and put her back together piece by piece. I was always daddy’s boy, it seemed like.

“Now don’t get me wrong, I was close to Mom too. I would help her around the house and with the garden stuff, but I was simply more interested in the things Dad did. I have been driving a tractor since I was big enough to push the brake down. I was six when he bought me a dirt bike, and we have always had four-wheelers. Dad never accepted the termI don’t know how, if it had a steering wheel he was going to make sure I knew how to handle it. He also taught me how to shoot anything put in front of me. And I know more about vehicles than most mechanics. I spent more time greasy when I was little than I did clean. Dad was always in trouble with Mom about that, it's so funny now that I think back. She would put me in a cute dress and the next thing you’d know I’m under a truck with Dad, filthy.”

“I can tell they loved you very much, you were lucky.”

“Yeah, I never had to doubt their love or support. I think that’s why it was so hard when they were gone. I was so used to having them in my corner if you know what I mean.”

“You mentioned that you rent most of it out now, was it because there is just so much property to take care of?”

“Yes, and no. After I lost them, everything became a chore. I couldn’t be two people at once and it didn’t take me long to realize I was way over my head. Even if I managed to get the fields planted, I couldn’t get the wood in for the winter. So things that Dad did himself I was having to pay for, and at the time we had livestock that had to be taken care of too every day and I couldn’t get to everything, and I really tried. I finally went and talked to a financial advisor and then contacted several of the local farmers, and here we are. I have had multiple people approach me about selling the place, but I’m just not there yet. I'm sure one of these days I may want a change, but it’s home and that’s hard to walk away from. How about you?”

“My story is nowhere near as good as yours. My family had a business and when I got out of college I simply took the job they had prepared for me. Now, I have improved employee work environments, pay, and benefits. Then I revamped the menus with better food quality. Because I feel like, if people are going to pay those kinds of rates to be members they should be served the best we can provide them. I treat my employees well or so they tell me, but it’s still just a job. I have never really found that thing I want to do when I grow up… if you know what I mean.”

“Are you close to your parents?”

“We are very different people, something I have noticed as I got older. There are times I question everything they stand for. I have never had the same likes or passions they do. My sister on the other hand is a replica of my mother, everything is about money and appearance. Me, well, let’s just say I think it’s amazing how two people can be raised in the same home, with the same opportunities and rules, and be completely different. My sister and I might as well be oil and water. We never mixed well together even as children. I can’t say I’m overly close to any of my family.

“Now, I do the job that is expected of me, and I do it well. Or, I wouldn’t have the things I do… but at the end of the day, they’re just things. I have no personal attachments to anything, unlike you and this place.”

I watch him look out over the large field in front of the house and I can tell he is lost in his own thoughts right now. Here is a guy who seems to have it all on the outside, and I wonder if anyone has ever noticed his discontentment. Before I can ask him anything else, I hear the timer on the stove going off. “Dinner is ready, be prepared to be amazed.”

The carefree smile I have gotten used to seeing immediately appears on his face. “You grab the paper plates out of the cabinet above the sink and I’ll cut the pizza.”

Twenty minutes later he is literally licking his fingers. “Ok, you sold me, that was one of the best pizzas I have ever eaten.”

“I'm glad you liked it. I don’t fix them a lot by myself because I just end up throwing them out.”

“Shame on you, that should be against the law or something. And as much as I would love to stay for the rest of the evening, I have got to get some sleep. I have a presentation in the morning… early, and I haven’t even had time to double check its numbers.”

I start gathering up the plates. “I'm sorry, you would have had all that done if it hadn’t been for you taking care of all my chaos.”

“The presentation, I dread…taking care of you was the highlight of my day! But now that you have shown me that you can cook, I don’t know how any others will ever compare.”

“Always the player, ain’t ya? Well, I wasn’t going to bring this up and I don’t want you to feel like you have to accept, but this weekend coming, there is supposed to be a meteor shower and I have the perfect spot to go watch it… if you’re up for another late night.”

“I was just wondering how I was going to convince you to see me again and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Can I text you tomorrow to finalize everything?”

“Yep, anytime.”

“Ok, walk me out so Brutus doesn’t have a fit.”

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