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Author's note to the readers: I wrote this little tale with tongue in cheek. It is meant to amuse you, not to terrify you. Please read it in the satirical manner it was intended, and hopefully you will indeed be entertained. HWB
Rekindled Love
My name is Jeremy Adams. I was born and raised in Summertown, a small town a little northwest of New York City. It was an easy commute to New York from there, and a few residents did the commute daily. My dad owned a hardware store on Main Street. His best friend, Max, owned a diner next door, which was the only restaurant in town.
When I was about fourteen, I realized that I was gay, I was certain that there were none others in town like me. That was probably so, but when I was a freshman in high school all that changed.
The only industry in my small town was a shoe factory. After the present manager retired, the owner brought in a man from Philadelphia to run the place. Nobody else who worked there, could do the job, nor did any of them want to. The new manager moved into town with his wife and two young sons. Matthew was in middle school, and Daniel was enrolled in my high school as a freshman. The entire freshman class had only forty-two students. As you can imagine, Daniel and I became exceptionally close friends.
My mother worked part time in Dad's store, and Daniel's mother worked as a bookkeeper in the factory. Matt, Dan, and I were totally unsupervised for a couple of hours after school, until our parents came home from work. Dan and I both considered Matt to be a royal pain in the ass, so Dan and I began to hang out in my house during this interval.
I can't exactly remember how it happened, but Dan and I began to experiment with sex. We were both more than delighted with the results of our research, and by the end of our sophomore year, we were having full blown intimate relations. We didn't exactly know when, why, or how it happened, but we fell madly in love. Unfortunately, our love was doomed after high school graduation.
I went off to Columbia University in New York City. I lived with my paternal grandparents, so my father saved a bundle on housing costs. Dan remained in Summertown. When it became obvious to my father that I was disinterested in taking over the store from him, he asked Dan if he'd like to work for him. Dan was happy to do so.
So, he and I were separated. Of course, we saw each other when I came home on school breaks, but now we had no place to play. My mother developed breast cancer, and died before I finished college. She was home in bed most of the time. Dan's mother decided that she had enough of working in the factory, and she too stayed at home. Occasionally, Dan's father brought work home, and she helped him with it. Little by little, my sojourns home became very chaste visits.
After my mother died, my father decided that he wanted to return to New York to be near to his family, and to me. He sold the hardware store to Dan, and made the terms of the purchase as easy as he could. With my father not there anymore, I stopped returning to Summertown. As much as I loved Dan, life tore us apart.
Right after I got my MBA, I got a job with a real estate development firm. Now twenty years later, I'm a corporate executive with that firm. As far as I know, Dan is still running the hardware store, but I can't be sure. I haven't seen him or spoken to him since he bought it.
Then one fateful day my boss called me into his office.
-1-
Back to My Roots
My boss is not one for small talk, so he got right to the point.
"Have you ever heard of a place called Summertown? It's just northwest of New York City."
Boy, was I glad I wasn't eating anything. I might have choked on the food.
"Not only have I heard of it," I laughed, "I was born and raised there."
"No shit," he said. Now, he was the surprised one.
"What about it?" I finally thought to ask.
"Well, apparently, it's been discovered. It's becoming more and more of a bedroom community every day. New housing developments are springing up all over the place. Our demographics crew have zeroed in on the town as badly needing a shopping mall. We'd like to buy out about twelve of the mama-papa stores on Main Street, and start development as soon as possible. I'm sending you there to make all the arrangements."
"I don't mind that," I said, "but there are no hotels in town, I'll have to commute. I have an old friend who might be able to put me up, but he might be married and have a slew of kids."
"When was the last time you were there?" my boss asked.
"Over twenty years ago, why?"
"I guess you're not up to snuff. There's a beautiful motel just outside the city limits, and a fine hotel right in town."
"What's the population of the town?" I asked. I was curious.
"Just over forty thousand."
"Wow," I shrieked. "When I left Summertown, we had about seven thousand residents. This is unbelievable."
"Well, I'm sure you'd like to see all the changes. I made you a reservation at the hotel starting tomorrow night, and I gave no departure date. Go home, pack what you need, and get going first thing in the morning."
Crazy as it seemed, my first thought was that I'd leave early, and have breakfast at the only diner on Main Street, the one that was owned by my dad's best friend. After breakfast, I would go next door and visit Dan, if he was still there.
I couldn't picture it, but there were now several coffee shops on Main Street. Many of the commuters preferred to have their breakfast, and morning coffee, in Summertown, rather than fight the crowds in New York. I had no idea. I'd be driving in the opposite direction from the commuter traffic, so it shouldn't be a problem to get there for breakfast.
I was filled with joy at the possibility of seeing Dan again, but at the same time I was filled with fear.
"The only thing I need from the office," I told my boss, "is a set of specs and a rendering of the shopping center, if you have it."
"I have it, and it's yours."
I left Manhattan at about 7 AM the next morning, and arrived on Main Street in Summertown just after 8 AM. By design, I didn't have any breakfast before I left, so I decided to visit Max's diner first. It was too early for the hardware store to be open for business, and I didn't want to register at the hotel before check out time. I feared they might charge me for the current day.
My first surprise was that Main Street now had metered parking. When I left, all those years ago, there wasn't enough traffic to meter any part of town. I parked right in front of the hardware store, and walked over to the diner. I wondered if Max was still the owner. He would have been about eighty now, so I doubted it.
My first major surprise was to find a considerably older Max manning the cashier's station. He was also the host, and when I came in, he asked if I wanted a table or just to sit at the counter. People in a hurry usually sat at the counter for quick in and out service. He didn't recognize me, and I never expected him to.
"I'd like a table," I said. "I guess you don't recognize me."
"You're right," he said, "I don't recognize you. Should I?"
"I wouldn't expect you to, but I'm Frank Adams' son, Jeremy."
"Oh my God," he screeched, and he ran out of his station. He hugged me and planted a sloppy kiss on my cheek. "What brings you here?" he wanted to know.
"Business," I answered simply. "Does Dan still own the hardware store?"
"He sure does, but he doesn't open until 9 AM."
"That's perfect," I said. "I'll have breakfast here, and then pop over to see him before I check into the hotel."
"He'll be happy to see you, I know," Max said.
I wanted to inquire as to Dan's marital status," but I refrained. I figured I'd find out soon enough, and besides, it was none of my business.
Max sat me at a table, and said, "Order anything you want, Jeremy. It's on the house."
I lingered until a few minutes past nine, thanked Max, and went next door. The store was open, and Dan seemed to be alone. He was unpacking some merchandise he received from one of his suppliers, and placing each item carefully in a bin marked $10.99. He looked up to see who his first customer of the day was, and he recognized me immediately.
"Jeremy, Jeremy," he yelled. "Is that you? Is it really you?" As Max had done, he gave me a bone-breaking hug. His first kiss was on my cheek. Then he looked me in the eye, smiled and planted a wet one on my lips. I felt his tongue.
"Jeremy, Jeremy," he kept saying over and over. "I usually get here early, and set everything up to make sure we're ready for business. My clerks should be arriving in a few minutes, and then I can leave. Let's go somewhere quiet, where we can talk and catch up. Let's go to my apartment."
This was the opening I was waiting for. "Will any members of your family be there?" I asked, oh so innocently.
That's when things got uncomfortable. He smiled at me and said, "Surely you jest, big guy. You spoiled me for any kind of relation with anyone else, male or female. I loved you too much to get involved or commit to anyone else. FYI, I still love you. I guess I always will."
I didn't expect what happened next. Dan began to sob, loud, racking sobs. This time, I engulfed him in my arms in a vain attempt to comfort him.
He finally got a hold of himself, and asked, "What brings you to town, or I should ask, what brings you home?" he pried.
Once again, I answered simply, "Business."
Where are you staying?" he asked.
"At the Summertown Hotel on Maple Street."
"No, you're not. You're staying with me, and if you object, I've got plenty of rope in the store. I'll lasso you, tie you up, and drag you home."
"I don't want to impose on you," I mumbled. I didn't mean a word of it. This is what I had hoped would happen.
"Bullshit. You're not imposing. I offered you to stay with me. You didn't ask. Besides, you'll be doing me a favor. There isn't much of a night life in this town, especially for a single, gay, man. It can get very quiet and lonely sometimes."
"Okay," I said, "you win." I made it sound like I was giving in reluctantly, but I was really elated.
When the first clerk arrived moments later, Dan took my hand, asked where my car was, and directed me to his house. I never told him, but I'm just as lonely as he is, and I prayed we would make love this night.
-2-
Down to Business
Alas, it was not to be. When I finally told Dan the reason for my visit, he was appalled. I became the enemy. I was the one trying to displace him from his business. He put my bag in a guest room, and he grew deadly silent.
"A shopping mall," he spat out, "will change the whole ambience of the town. What attracts the new comers is just that, a small-town feeling, near the big city. I would appreciate it, if you went to the hotel. I can tell you that Max and I will never sell, but I don't know about the rest of the shopkeepers. Your firm is offering a lot of money. They might be tempted to give in."
"Yes," I said, "the offer is very generous. If you don't sell, we'll convince your city council to exercise their right of eminent domain, and then you guys will get a pittance of what we're offering."
Dan started to laugh. "Good luck, there," he said." I'm the mayor, Max is the vice mayor, and three of the five councilmen are my golf buddies. I worked hard to talk them into running for the council. I even lost golf games on purpose. They'll do what I ask them to. None of them have stores on Main Street, but they don't want to change the small-town aura we offer to newcomers, any more than I do. Everyone in town feels that way, especially the city slickers who are moving in daily. They're moving here because they want to live where they can enjoy a small-town flavor. Look at the ads for the new houses. The builders promise them a laid-back small-town atmosphere. It's the main attraction."
This time I engulfed Dan. I was crying.
"Please, Dan," I begged, "let's bury the hatchet for tonight. I never stopped loving you. I had hoped to prove it tonight. Then tomorrow, let's sit down and see if we can't figure out a solution to the problem, a compromise, something that everyone can be happy with."
I offered Dan my lips, which he snatched at hungrily.
"That seems impossible," he said. "Do you think that we can really find common ground?"
"Silly man," I joked. "That's what they pay me big bucks for. It's my job. I have another incentive also."
"What's that?"
"You, you big nerd. I lost you once, and haven't had a happy day since. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. I swear, we'll resolve this."
Dan smiled. "Would you like to take a shower with me?" he asked.
"Of course," I answered.
Dan took my hand and led me into his bedroom.
We undressed rapidly. We were too old to be coy. Of course, we checked each other out. Time hadn't changed anything. We were still cut and about the same size. We had always been just the right size for our asses and our mouths. It looked like it would stay that way.
"You haven't changed a bit," Dan said.
He was so wrong, but I accepted the compliment graciously. He led me into his bathroom and he started the shower. What a shower it was. We were under the water for two hours. As the water refreshed our bodies, we sucked, rimmed, gave each other golden showers, and played with our asses, but we refrained from coming.
Finally, we dried off and went to bed. I was on my back, and Dan laid down on top of me. He began to kiss me very passionately, but not for long. Instead, he began to slip down my body, and he gave me a trip around the world that I will never forget until the day I die. I yelled that I was going to cum, and we switched. My trip around Dan's world lasted even longer. Finally, Dan produced lube, but no condoms. I could care less.
He fucked me first, but he stopped before the point of no return, and then I fucked him. We were able to go back and forth three times, but alas Dan could not hang back any longer. When he came, guzzling up my insides, he sent me to heaven in more ways than one. I felt his cum inside of me, and I started to cry in pure joy. As if that was not enough, Dan had been massaging my prostate with his ample cock, and we had simultaneous orgasms. That added considerably to my joy, as you can imagine.
It was early afternoon, when we had finally exhausted each other. We fell sound asleep, wrapped up in each other's arms. It was just after 6 PM when we finally stirred, and I felt Dan's lips on mine. Naturally we both woke up, and we were now wide awake. We kissed and fondled for at least another half hour. I was so happy, and I knew that Dan felt the same way.
"I have a suggestion," he whispered in my ear.
"I'm listening."
"Let's take a shower, get dressed, and go out for a real dinner. There are a couple of great restaurants in town, or if you care to take a ride, we can have dinner in New York."
"Uh, uh," I said. "I don't want to waste that much time. Let's have dinner in Summertown."
"Good, and we can discuss your ideas for a compromise."
"That's the most important item on my agenda. I already have some ideas, but I'll have to go to my office tomorrow, and alter the specs of the mall."
"You're going to leave me already?" he asked, laughing.
"Just for a few hours of work, love. I'll be back at the end of the day for more of your loving."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
"I have another pressing problem to discuss with you," he said with a slight sob. "How can we be together?"
"That's easy. I'm surprised that you couldn't figure it out. I'm moving in with you as soon as possible, and I'll commute to New York on a bus, like half the town does now. I can see us having breakfast together every morning at Max's."
Dan's quiet sobs erupted into loud heart wrenching ones. I had to grab him to calm him down.
"I prayed and prayed, but I never believed this day would come. Do you know how happy you've just made me?" he wailed. "Now save my store and Max's restaurant, and I'll give you more loving than your old body will be able to handle."
"I told you. I already have a few ideas."
"Tell me," he begged.
"Not until I've firmed up my ideas with my boss. There is one thing I must do right away. I need to call the architect, who designed the mall, and meet with him tomorrow morning. I need revised plans to present to my boss."
"Please don't let me stop you," Dan said. "When you finish your call, join me in my shower. Oops, I mean, our shower."
I didn't realize how sophisticated Summertown had become, especially with all these New Yorkers moving in. Dan took me to a restaurant as good as anything in The Big Apple. We had a wonderful dinner, made some more love when we got home, and went to bed early. I had a big day ahead of me in New York.
-3-
Common Ground
I got back to Summertown about 9 PM, and went straight home, our home. Dan had been calling me at least once an hour to find out what happened in New York. I assured him, I'd fill him in completely when I got back to Summertown.
I knew that he was going to be relentless, so I got right to the point as soon as I arrived home. I laid the new specs and design for the mall on the dining room table. Immediately, I covered the new plans with the original plans and specs,
"These are the old renderings," I told Dan. "What do you see?"
"It looks like a typical multi-story big city mall, but it's almost too modern. Are you sure that you didn't time travel into the next century for ideas."
"I wish I could travel in time," I said, "but no such luck. Just think, I could alter our lives so that we never got separated."
As I said that, I removed the old plans, and exposed the new ones.
"Now what do you see?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. Tell me about the new design."
"Well, the area behind the stores, that are to be displaced, has never been developed. There are at least two acres back there. We were going to use half of it for parking, and the other half was to be part of the mall. Well, the architect has come up with plans for an outdoor walking mall. There won't be any structure over one story tall. He's designed the stores to have an old-world Dutch flavor, to honor the Dutchmen who settled New York.
"During construction, your stores will remain open. When construction is completed, my company will relocate you, at our expense, into one of the new stores. When everyone is moved in, we'll raze the existing stores, and landscape the front of the walking mall, with beautiful shrubbery.
Every one of your mama/papa stores will still be there in a beautiful park like setting...very small town. Now look closely at the plans. What don't you see?"
"If I can't see it, how can I identify what I don't see?"
"Sometimes, something not seen, should be obvious. There's no parking garage to spoil the beauty. The streets will be built wide enough for street parking in front of the new stores, plus there'll be street parking on Main Street just like now."
Dan started to say something, but I held up my hand. "I have more," I said. "My firm will pay you all the same money that was originally offered for your property, and will relocate you at their expense. You'll have to pay rent of course. If anyone doesn't want to move, we'll offer that store for rent to new tenants."
"Won't the rent in the new stores be exorbitant?" Dan asked. He sounded worried.
"Well, it will certainly be more than you are paying now, but here's the good news. The present store owners will be grandfathered in. You'll have no rent to pay for a year after you occupy the new premises, and when you do start paying, there'll be a twenty-five percent discount from the going rate. Finally, the tenants will never pay maintenance costs. My company has a subsidiary, that will take care of all the maintenance needs."
"This is too good to be true," Dan said as he engulfed me in his arms. "How did you manage it, and how did you get your firm to agree?"
"It was easier than I thought. I showed my boss the advertising material of all the developers. I pointed out that they'd be up in arms about a multi-story shopping mall, as would all the homeowners who had been lured there by the promises of small-town life near a big city. I convinced him that there would be a lot of resistance from the business, and private sectors as well. I also told him that I knew for a fact that the city council would never exercise the right of eminent domain, so he could forget about it.
"Then the architect went over the new plans with him. He nearly creamed when he saw them. He thought that the architecture was truly unique, and very, very beautiful. He predicted that It might even set a trend for future development.
"He admonished me to get back to Summertown immediately, and sell the idea to the town."
"I don't think you'll have a problem when you present the plans, and lay out all the buyout terms in your contracts," Dan said, smiling all the time. "I'll call a town meeting for as soon as possible. I'll make sure all the storeowners are there, and I want you to attend to present your concept.
"Of course, I will. I live here now, too. I'll invite the architect also."
"It's too late for dinner," Dan pointed out, "but if you haven't eaten, I can make you something."
"I'm too excited to eat," I told Dan. "I just want to go to bed and make love to you."
"Be careful what you wish for," Dan said. "Your ass will be so sore tomorrow; you won't be able to sit for a week."
"Promises, promises."
"Yes, it's a promise," Dan said, "and I always keep my promises."
"I've been thinking," I said. "What are the odds that business would bring me back to Summertown, and we would reconnect?"
"Odds had nothing to do with it," Dan said, sounding very philosophical and profound. "It was our guardian angels who did the deed."
I knew I should comment on that statement, but I didn't know what to say. In the end, it didn't matter. Dan was kissing me so passionately that I couldn't speak, even if I did have a smart response.