Rummates Pt. 11

"You know, I was planning on sending you that very recommendation," Walden agreed. "I'm being serious. Come to my office and I'll show you the breakdown I was working on."

"Well, it's approved. Get started on it," Gordon said. "Where's Penelope? Our Uber will be here in ten minutes. No offense but I am not folding myself in half to get in your car again."

Ellie and Lizzy loved their new condo and loved their new room. Walden smiled; they'd also loved his DeGarde, Louisiana apartment and had loved their bedroom at that small, cramped apartment. They were absolutely thrilled that their bedroom also had their very own bathroom. Walden discovered that he'd neglected two vital purchases when he'd stocked this room so after dinner, they again got into Walden's car and drove to the local Save-Well store and purchased bubble bath and baby shampoo. Walden also bought car seats; the girls were not old enough to be in a vehicle without car seats.

In the morning, Walden found out there was a huge difference between a lazy, leisurely Saturday or Sunday and cooking breakfast and getting two girls ready for school and making and packing two school lunches and getting himself ready for work and getting everyone out the door and to the school on time because he didn't know where their school bus stop was yet and finding where the school was located, which was compounded by the fact he'd forgotten what the school's name was.

The next morning was no better, except this time he did know where the school was located. Walden still did not know where Brown Avenue was, which was where their school bus stop was located. The third day, he did know where the bus stop was.

On their second day of school at Christine Temple Whitman, Ellie had met Angela Skelton who was her best friend in the whole wide world. Lizzy loved Mrs. Franklin and guess what, Mrs. Franklin's first name was Lizzy too.

And while Walden was struggling with single parenthood, Ann Proust suddenly went from being an efficient, dependable executive assistant to being scatter-brained, almost lackluster in her job performance. She also seemed to spend a great deal of time texting someone.

The modifications to the breakroom and adjoining office space was not without some inconveniences and Walden did think Ann's distracted demeanor did not help. He went from being able to rely upon her expertise to having to navigate much of the contacts for the labor himself.

Wallchester University was delighted to send over lists of recent graduates in the Early Childhood Development and in their Education fields. Souladou County Vocational Technical School also sent a few hopefuls from their child care and from their culinary programs. And again, Ann was very little help in the selection process and in the hiring process.

"You know what? It's working out," Walden decided. "I'm getting to know Commonstead, Souladou County. It's working out."

Walden also bit the bullet and called Bianca's cell phone. The call went directly to voice mail; Walden did not know if patients were allowed to have cell phones in the DeGarde CDU, but did know, legally, he could not withhold contact information from Bianca. She needed to know where Ellie and Lizzy were, needed to know how to contact him, contact the girls. So, when he got Bianca's generic voice mail, he left all the information.

"Mr. Donaldson?" Ann said on the fourteenth of November. "I'm putting in for a transfer to the Baylor Lake Headquarters."

"In Louisiana?" Walden asked, surprised.

"Yes sir," Ann agreed.

"Is, is it something I've done?" Walden asked, trying to think of what he might have done to upset the woman.

"No, no sir, it, it's me. I've fallen in love," Ann said, blushing hotly.

"Love? But, headquarters?" Walden asked.

"I, you know, I was married for thirteen years to David; we had to get married, Evelyn, you know," Ann said. "And, when David came to me and admitted he'd been having an affair? I always wondered why I wasn't more upset. And I tried the bar scene, took a bunch of guys home; I almost got married, Johnny was a good man, but..."

Walden wondered what all of this had to do with Ann's desire to transfer from the North Atlantic office to the Headquarters in Baylor Lake, Louisiana. He tried to make eye contact with Ann, but she was busily looking at a spot in the left corner of his office.

"Then, when Penelope walked into my office," Ann whispered.

"Well, I've got a house in DeGarde I can...oh holy shit!" Walden said, then grabbed his cell phone out of his suit jacket's inside pocket.

"I mean, I never even thought I might be gay," Ann continued to talk as Walden waited for Ethel Gerrard to transfer his call to Penny Jones.

"Penny, hi, Walden Donaldson here," Walden said.

He authorized Penny to have one Gary Pasteli removed from his home. His name and Bianca's name were listed as the owners of the home; Gary Pasteli was not listed on any paperwork associated with the domicile.

"And, Bianca Donaldson did willingly vacate the domicile..." Penny mused. "So...according to this? The house can be sold and the proceeds split per Judge Guillory's ruling."

"I love lawyers," Walden laughed. "Yes, Mrs. Jones, you have my permission to act in my behalf in the sale of fourteen ten Marie Avenue, DeGarde, Louisiana."

"I mean, I suppose we'll be living in Penelope's condominium; do you know if the Lambert Condominiums are nice?" Ann asked.

"They are very nice," Walden smiled. "I'll put in your request right this minute.

"I, God, I wonder how Evelyn's going to take this?" Ann mumbled to herself as she let herself out of Walden's office.

Somehow Gary got word to Bianca, even though it would be another two days before she'd be allowed visitors. In an effort to stave off the pending legal action from Walden and the very aggressive Penny Jones, Bianca checked herself out of the CDU, against medical advice. Unfortunately for her, this move prompted her re-arrest and incarceration in the Baylor Lake Lockup on the DUI charges where she would be remanded until she either posted the bail or until her trial. Her home was currently under the stewardship of Penny Jones so she could not use 1410 Marie Avenue as collateral for her bail. And, because she was regarded as AMA, Bianca could not sign herself back into the DeGarde CDU in an effort to avoid jail.

Gary Pasteli was angry, was resentful at Walden Donaldson, but short of driving up to Commonstead, New Jersey to beat up Walden, there was nothing he could do. Losing his free housing, Gary moved back into his father's home. Moving into his father's home was also free housing, but because of Gary's previous visit to the DeGarde CDU to get off of meth, Gary's father did not allow Gary to drink in his home.

While Bianca sullenly chewed her way through the slightly stale white bread bologna and American cheese sandwich, while Gary snuck a few drinks in his bedroom in his father's house, Walden was sifting through the mountain of resumes for the position of Executive Assistant. Ever since putting in for her transfer, Ann had reverted back to being her usual efficient self and he hoped to find a suitable substitute.

(Ann still spent an inordinate amount of time texting, though. Walden let it slide; he'd been in love a few times and knew how exciting it could be.)

"Your search is over," Ann announced, bustling into the office, a crisp white resume in hand.

"Oh thank God," Walden sighed, holding out his hand.

"She's got training from the county Vo-Tech, has two years' experience with King Sanitation, and..." Ann said, holding the resume just out of Walden's reach.

"Give that here," Walden demanded.

"By the way, employee morale? Through the roof since you put in the day care after school program," Ann said.

"Ann," Walden demanded.

"She is desperate to prove herself; she's here before you get here and doesn't leave until you leave the building," Ann continued extolling the applicant's virtues.

"Ann, give that here before I tell Gordon to transfer you to the Alaskan office," Walden threatened.

"We don't have an Alaskan office," Ann said, handing Walden the single sheet of paper.

"Sydnee?" Walden asked, reading the name at the top of the paper. "The girl at the front desk?"

"Mm hmm," Ann said.

"Well, shit. Now I need to find a receptionist," Walden agreed, again beginning to sift through the resumes.

"Nope. Evelyn's coming in tomorrow to interview for that new vacancy," Ann said.

"Evelyn? Your daughter Evelyn?" Walden asked.

"Mm hmm," Ann said.

"Um, you, how did she take the...you know?" Walden asked.

"My moving? Not happy about it but that's only because it means she either goes to live with David and his wife Patty. That makes wife number three. Or is it four? Or, she has to find her own place," Ann said.

She turned in her office chair and smirked at Walden. Walden looked up from Sydnee Poor's resume.

"My being gay? Didn't bat an eyelash," Ann admitted. "Said, 'oh, okay, so what's for dinner?'"

"Kids," Walden agreed.

Penelope Hebert did contact Walden regarding Bianca's trial. Bianca would have to attend driver's safety classes, forty eight Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, perform two hundred hours of community service, plus pay some pretty hefty fines. Then, and only then would she be eligible to apply for the reinstatement of her driver's license.

"In other words, for right now, it'll be damned hard for her to get custody of Ellie and Lizzy," Walden deduced.

"Mr. Donaldson, I wouldn't be too sure about that," Penelope warned. "You'd be surprised what some judges have ruled. For now? Keep them in good health and in good spirits and keep your own nose clean."

"Oh, and thank you for stealing my Executive Assistant," Walden quipped.

"The pleasure is all mine," Penelope laughed.

The bus dropped his daughters off right in front of the building and the two security guards, Noel Farmer or Doug Schaeffer watched the five girls and four boys from bus stop to front door of the King Building. When the bus for Livingston High School dropped off the seven girls and one boy, Doug and Noel kept a watchful eye from bus to front door. When St. Andrew Catholic School dropped off the two girls and three boys, Doug and Noel kept a vigilant eye on the students. Then, when the last child safely entered the building, Doug or Noel would turn and give a friendly wave to Walden's window. Even knowing they could not see him, Walden returned the wave.

Many of the employees would greet their children in the break room, sit down and have a snack with their children, listen to the escapades of their child's day, then return to their own day. At the end of their work day, they would collect their child or children and when the last child left, the child care employees would clock out.

"Mr. Donaldson?" Francine Turner said from the doorway of Walden's office.

"Yes, Ms. Turner?" Walden smiled, grateful for the break in trying to make heads or tails out of the latest bureaucratic nonsense coming from Trenton.

"Mr. Donaldson, I, I just want you to know, my Ronnie? He, he's you know, he's on the spectrum," Francine said, wiping at her eyes.

"Oh! I, is, is there anything I can do for..." Walden asked.

"You already done it," Francine said. "Instead of him going home and sitting in his room doing nothing 'til I get home, he comes here and gets to play chess with Charlotte, Charlotte Stollmeyer."

"Charlotte, oh! The cute little brunette?" Walden smiled.

"He wants to buy her a Christmas present," Francine smiled through her tears. "Because you started this program, he, my baby, he has a friend."

Abruptly Francine turned and left his office. Walden smiled as he wiped his own leaking eyes. Sydnee came into his office a moment later with a cup of coffee. She slid the box of tissues from the corner of the desk.

"I see Ann taught you well," Walden smiled.

"Yes sir," Sydnee smiled and returned to her desk.

Returning to their condominium, Walden and Ellie and Lizzy first made supper. At seven and five years of age, both Ellie and Lizzy were learning the basics of cooking. Walden had gone online and bought some tools used by blind persons to assist in meal preparations. With the knife guide, Ellie was able to slice carrots, even though carrots were horrible and no one liked them. Lizzy was able to use the deep bowl to break then whisk eggs for their fried rice. With the stackable measuring cups, Lizzy and Ellie were even able to measure out rice, or mashed potato flakes or flour or corn meal.

After supper, they sat at the table and went over their homework. Usually, Tara or Gwen, the two Education majors that Walden, King Sanitation had hired helped the girls with their homework, but Walden still felt better if he physically looked at their school work.

After their baths and bedtime, Walden would use Ellie's or Lizzy's IPad and send Bianca a text message, asking her to call them or text them. He'd given Bianca is new cell phone number as well as his office number. But, night after night there would be no response. Day after day, there would be no phone call.

There was no call on Thanksgiving. There was no call on Christmas. There was no Christmas card so Walden went out and bought the girls cards and signed them, trying to forge Bianca's handwriting as best as he could remember her sloppy scrawl. He did the same thing when Lizzy turned five then when Ellie turned seven.

Gordon King's performance bonus to Walden Donaldson was a staggering amount of money. Walden had to look twice to make sure he was seeing the numbers correctly. Calling Gordon, he discussed splitting the bonus with his employees and Gordon told him that it was Walden's money. If Walden wanted to split it among his employees, he could. If he wanted to keep every penny of it, he could.

When spring was promising to finally make its presence known, after a brutal, well, to Walden it seemed to be a very brutal winter, the school sent a form home with Ellie regarding their soccer program. Ellie whined and wheedled and reminded Walden that she'd been very, very, very good at Soccer when they lived in Louisiana and she'd be very, very, very good at soccer here in New Jersey. She'd probably be the best soccer player in the first grade, maybe the whole school.

Walden remembered it all a little differently. Ellie and a bunch of other kids had just milled about on a grassy field, watching a black and white ball pass right by them. Only one or two of the kids actually took the time to try to kick the ball. The goalie on Ellie's team often sat down and watched the game, the sky, his mother and her boyfriend du jour.

But with a cheerful smile, he signed the consent form and sent it back to the school with Ellie. He found out when the tryouts were and scheduled to be present to watch, to cheer his girl on.

The coach of the soccer team was a young, tall and lanky red head. With a big smile, she introduced herself as Coach Harrison, then had the girls practice passing the ball to one another. After making them all run from one goal to the other, then back again, she blew her whistle and ended that day's tryouts.

"Daddy, you seen me?" Ellie bubbled, running up to where Walden and Lizzy sat.

"Sure did. You are a natural born soccer player," Walden smiled, watching the nylon shorts of Coach Harrison creep into the crack of the girl's buttocks as she and her assistant gathered up the soccer balls.

The fourth day, Walden actually spoke a few words with Coach Harrison and learned that her name was April. She was a recent graduate of Wallchester; her major had been Education with a minor in English.

After the first game, a game that they lost, Walden took Ellie and Lizzy to Frankly Franks. After their second loss, he took them to Wally's for a pizza.

"Coach Harrison," Walden said after their first win of the season. "We're going to Wally's. For pizza. Would you care to join us?"

After the girls split a 3 Cheese Delight and Walden and April shared a large Hawaiian, April asked Walden where he was taking her for their first date. Walden smiled and promised her a night she'd never forget. In his car, driving home, he called Sydnee on her cell phone and asked her where he should take April.

"Carlton? Mm, about ten miles north, on seventeen there's Mama Sicily. Best authentic hand rolled pasta and homemade sausage; I think Mama even bakes her own cheese. Then, to the left? Ball room dancing. To the right is a live band; they usually play top forty stuff," Sydnee said.

Lorrie, one of the child care specialists came to the condo to baby sit Ellie and Lizzy. As they already knew her from Daddy's work, the girls didn't mind having her there with them. Lorrie was dutifully impressed that Ellie and Lizzy would be helping her make their supper and they were busy when Walden let himself out of the condo.

April's slinky top let Walden know that April was not wearing a bra. Her 28A breasts did not require a bra for support, but her half-dollar coin sized areolae and hard nipples did need some camouflage.

To his surprise, April opted for Ballroom Dancing. Walden had taken two semesters of Ballroom Dancing when he'd been a student at Connelly College simply because his degree dictated he have at least twelve hours of some form of Physical Education. He'd done six hours of Ballroom Dancing, three hours of Jazz Dancing, and three hours of swimming. He had done all four courses for one reason and one reason only; those classes were crammed to overflowing with girls.

"Dinner, dancing, you are my kind of guy," April husked into his ear as they performed a slow waltz.

"Oh yeah?" Walden asked, smiling as she molded herself to him. "And you are my kind of woman."

Across the street was a Becky's Brownies and they had a large, gooey brownie apiece with fresh ground coffee. In the chilled air of the small shop, Walden could not keep his eyes from gravitating from April's warm smile to her hard nipples.

April's kiss at the door promised more, so much more. Walden promised they would do it again; the food had been phenomenal and the dancing had surpassed the meal.

"Next date? It's my choice," April whispered hotly, kissed him again, then unlocked her door.

True, April Harrison had no boobs to speak of, but her ass and her legs were fantastic. The heat from her kisses also had him fully erect, painfully erect as he walked down the flight of stairs to his car.

"They were wonderful; they always are," Lorrie said when Walden paid her for the night's work.

The morning brought many questions about what Daddy and Coach Harrison did, where they went, were they going to see each other again, would Miss Lorrie be back? Walden told them he and Coach Harrison had eaten bookers then watched their toenails grow.

"Mr. King on line three," Walden heard from Sydnee and he pressed line three.

"It's been six months," Gordon cheerfully reminded Walden. "I sent you up there to clean up the last guy's mess and I'll say you cleaned it up and then some."

"Do I want... Do I want to come back? To Louisiana?" Walden asked himself when Gordon proposed the suggestion of getting Timothy Higginbotham up and running, then transferring back to Baylor Lake.

"I'll even let you have Ann Proust-Hebert as your EA; Sheila's retiring this August," Gordon sweetened the pot.

"And, thanks to the screwed up legal system, I'd probably lose primary custody of the girls to a rum soaked slut," Walden thought. "And we'd be right back to playing the games of her doing whatever she could to interfere with my weekends."

He thought of April Harrison's beautiful smile and her incredibly sexy body and the heat of her kisses. Returning to Louisiana, he would once again endure resenting Gary for stealing the love and affection he'd once had with Bianca.