Unknown - Sally_s Secret Lover

«Another hot one,» he sighed. «We sure do need some rain awful bad. All my sweet corn is just dryin' up … just parchin' under that sun.»

«Is that what you raise out there, corn?» Ray asked, waiting for his boss to come around to the purpose of his visit.

«Oh, I raise a little bit of this and that. Main thing, course, is my beef cattle. I'm just a gentleman farmer, and I guess that's a good thing, because it's hard to make money at farming these days.»

The girl appeared with two large cokes and Blodgett nudged Ray's elbow. «Look at that,» he said in a husky undertone, «Just look at that sweet little ass on that child!» It was true that the girl's nylon mini uniform barely cleared her tender, youthful buttocks. Ray had actually been too busy to notice her nubile figure before. Blodgett opened the lower desk drawer and brought out a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey he kept there. He added a generous slug of the amber liquid to each coke.

«Course you got yourself something a lot nicer than that right upstairs,» he continued in an aggrieved tone. «Why, man, you're practically still on your honeymoon. But when you get to be my age you sure will appreciate those cute, raunchy little teenagers, let me tell you!» he pushed one of the drinks toward Ray.

«I don't like to drink in the store,» Ray said doubtfully as he picked it up. «You know – old ladies come in and smell it on your breath, they spread it all over town that you've taken to drink.»

«You're a smart man, Ray,» John Blodgett said admiringly. «Yes sir, always lookin' ahead … a damn smart man. You know, I just got the bad news the other day that I'm gonna have to cut down on the brew myself. Yep, just found out that my blood pressure's gone sky-high. Old Doc wasn't one bit encouraging … said I'm headed straight for a heart attack if I don't slow down and take things easy. Fact is, that's why I stopped by.»

Ray Denham had a sudden premonition that something might be wrong, just from the way Blodgett's guileless blue eyes were roving over the shelves of pharmaceuticals and avoiding his face.

«It looks like I have to think about retiring long before I'm sixty- five,» the older man continued, «or sort of semi-retiring … I'm only going to keep hold of the properties that'll work for me without me working on them … see what I mean?»

Ray shook his head and waited to hear what was coming next.

«No, I reckon you don't. Well, take this store, for instance. Since you took over it runs pretty smooth, I certainly got to admit that, but there's still the bookkeeping and figuring the taxes. I want to get shut of it. Instead of taking in a partner, I've decided to sell out, Ray – the whole works.»

There was a moment of absolute silence. Then Ray took a hefty swallow of the sweet, whiskey-laced cola. «T-the building, too?» Blodgett's stunning announcement had caught him so suddenly that it was taking him several seconds to assimilate the knowledge and what it would mean for him.

«Oh, not the building. You won't catch me selling a piece of prime real estate that's right on the square. No, I mean the inventory, all the fixtures, the good will … everything that's inside these four walls. Then I'll give the buyer a long-term lease …» he smiled at Ray. «You know, I was really lookin' forward to us working as partners … carrying out your ideas for remodeling … but when I got the word from Doc I knew I just had to think of my health first. And there's Lauralee

– I don't want to up and die and leave her a widow.»

«Yes … sure,» Ray said, his mind going inevitably to Sally's worried questions, nothing in writing? You only have his word for it? He felt curiously light and hollow, as if the support had been knocked out of him. How could he tell her? How could he ever tell Sally?

«Have you, uh,» he cleared his throat, «have you set a price?»

Blodgett settled himself firmly in the wooden chair and tilted the creaking piece of furniture back on two legs. «Well,» he crunched the ice from his drink loudly between his teeth, «I'm thinking in the neighborhood of fifty thousand, Ray.»

«F-fifty?»

«Think about the inventory. You know yourself what's sitting here in the inventory.»

Ray knew. He also knew that much of it, including the last big drug order, was not paid for yet. Still – perhaps it was a fair price. Although it seemed an astronomical sum, especially since Blodgett had promised to make him a partner as soon as he had $5000. By putting $200 in the bank every month, he had already saved $2800, he was more than halfway there … but now he wondered whether Blodgett would have held to the bargain, after all? «B-but, John, over the next few years your profits from the store will be much more than that. I can run everything – you wouldn't have to spend any time here at all unless you wanted to.

«There's something in what you say,» the big man admitted, «only the thing is, Ray, that I'll be spending my winters in Florida from now on … buyin' myself one of these condominium apartments right on the beach, and me and Lauralee are fixin' to go down there just as soon as l get everything straightened out here. Now those apartments cost a heap of money and I got to raise some cash … ever'body thinks I'm a real rich son of a bitch … I don't complain, but the fact is it's all tied up in real estate. Naturally we couldn't sell the farm – it's the old Quigg place, belonged to Lauralee's folks since God knows when – and we'll live there summers or whenever we take a notion to come back to town. And like I already said, I don't want to part with any property in the business district. 'Bout the only thing left is this drugstore.»

«I see,» Ray nodded, trying to control his wildly spiralling doubts and thoughts, «How much – how much time will I have, in case I could maybe make some kind of deal to buy the place?»

«That would please me very much, if you see yourself in a position to buy. Well, I hope to get down there to Florida around the first of November … so that leaves about two months. I, uh, I already had one offer, Ray, and they agreed to meet that price I mentioned. I won't say who the offer was from, but it's a big chain of discount drugstores.»

As Blodgett sipped his drink and continued to unfold the story, Ray Denham felt a rising anger that blotted out caution and made calm speech impossible. «Look here, John,» he pointed out, «you know I graduated at the top of my class. I had my choice of jobs and this was the lowest-paid of all, but I took it, for just one reason. I wanted to own my own business, and that's what you promised me – and I thought you'd be as good as your word!»

«Now hold on, son …» Blodgett tried to protest, but Ray plunged wildly on, raising his voice so that he could be heard throughout the store.

«Now you tell me that you've been dealing behind my back to sell the business right out from under me! Why, I don't think you ever had any intention of keeping our agreement; you just wanted to hire a cheap pharmacist!»

«That's enough, Ray,» Blodgett's voice was still mild, but his pale blue eyes glittered with a cold light and his florid face had reddened to a deeper shade. He stood up. «You better simmer down before you say something you're going to regret later on. I know you're disappointed and I'm not sayin' you don't have maybe some right to be. But I had no way of knowing my health was going to fold up on me, so to speak. Why, when I brought you down here I was lookin' forward to us running the store for years to come, and I'll be very happy if you can raise the money to buy me out. You're well thought of here in Quiggville … you and your little wife … and if I was you I wouldn't want to spoil that reputation by gettin' all hotheaded. I'll be talking to you later.»