First Class to Portland Read Free Page A

Potential buyers don’t want the owners
here. It makes them uncomfortable.”
    Janie nodded and said goodbye to her realtor. I guess I
will be scrubbing with a toothbrush for the next four days, she thought .
Better get to it!
    *****
    Matt sat behind his glass desk, the official partnership
documents spread out with several ‘Sign here’ tags marking the pages. He lifted
his fountain pen and unscrewed the cap.
    “You don’t have to give me half your company, Matt,” Mark
pleaded for the umpteenth time. “Especially now, after Janie has gone back to
Portland and you seem to be content with letting that be the end of it.”
    Matt looked up at Mark, sitting in the chair in front of
him. “First off, it’s only thirty-five percent. I still and will always
maintain controlling ownership. I have told you for years that it is your
company too and this just makes it official and you a ton richer,” he smiled.
“And secondly, I am not content that she left; I’m pissed off. But she did
leave. I have no control over that.”
    “I’ve never seen you like this.” Mark was worried. “I saw
the way you looked at each other. Whatever it is you feel it is definitely
mutual. I don’t understand…”
    “It’s not fair to her,” Matt interrupted. “If I had known
from the beginning that her husband had died of cancer I would never have asked
her out. She is too emotional and vulnerable and I should never have messed
with that. But after I found out it was too late and I was selfish and
indulged. I’m not proud of it.”
    “He’s been dead for over a year! She was obviously ready to
move on because she did go out with you. I don’t get why you’re being so
stubborn.”
    “Because I would rather die than hurt her,” Matt admitted.
    “Maybe you should have told her how you feel and given her
the opportunity to decide. She left not knowing all the facts and that’s not
her fault.”
    “No, it’s mine.”
    *****
    Tuesday morning Janie was up and out of the house by 8:30am.
She had planned several errands to make sure she gave the realtors plenty of
time to critique her house. It would never make it into a design magazine, but
it was homey and comfortable. Most of the furniture was gone, thanks to the
Goodwill truck, leaving the house simple and open and uncluttered. There were
no photos of the family and no trinkets or knick knacks to personalize it.
Amanda had said it would be easier to sell if the potential buyers could
envision themselves there, and photos were an obstacle in that process. Janie
felt okay about boxing all of it up; it helped with her physical and emotional
cleansing. She hoped Amanda would be pleased with her efforts.
    She pulled into the dry cleaners and dropped off the two
black dresses she had worn in New York. As she handed them over, she was filled
with the memory of Matt undoing the zipper and slipping his hands underneath
the fabric. She closed her eyes and tried to stop her mind but she could smell
him, taste him, feel him and it was all a bit too much. Her eyes filled with
tears and she hurried back to the car before she made an idiot of herself.
    Will I ever be free of him? she thought.
    Her next stop was at the bank . Drive thru this time. Less
embarrassing! She transferred money from the money market account to her
checking account. She could have done it at home on the computer, but she
needed to find errands to run and it took up ten minutes. Plus, she needed to
pick up a new car charger for her cell phone and the electronics store was
right next to the bank.
    After an hour, her errands were completed so she headed over
to her mother’s house. She only lived about fifteen minutes away and she needed
to talk to her about the boys anyway.
    She found her mom in the backyard on her hands and knees
planting rows of pansies. Every spring, Patricia, Patty to her friends, spent
hours and hours and hundreds of dollars filling all the flower beds with
annuals. It was obvious where Janie’s