Start Me Up. Victoria Dahl

opened the door of the tiny Main Street office. “Hi, Helen!” she called to the tall blonde at the back of the room.

      Helen Stowe looked up from pouring coffee, her big hair bouncing with the movement. “Hey, Lori! What can I do for you this morning?”

      “Oh, I just had a couple of questions. How are you doing? I thought you were going to meet me and Molly at The Bar last week.”

      Helen shrugged as she took a seat at her desk and waved Lori over to the chair that faced it. “You know. I just got busy.”

      “We’re dropping by on Friday. Why don’t you come along?”

      “Oh.” Helen’s heavily mascara’d lashes fluttered. “I don’t…I would, but…If…”

      “Helen.” Lori sighed. “Did you break it off with Juan?” Juan was the manager and bartender of The Bar. He was also ten years younger than the newly divorced Helen.

      “No,” she whispered, the quiet word trembling in the air. “He…” One fat tear escaped her lashes and tracked an ashy line down her cheek.

      “Oh, Helen.”

      “He said he was tired of hiding our relationship!” Helen gasped. “He said I was ashamed of him, but I’m not! It’s just…” That one tear was just the first of many, and Lori’s stomach sank.

      “I’m so sorry, Helen.”

      “It’s my own fault,” she said, as she yanked open a desk drawer and pulled out a box of Kleenex. “I never should have started dating him. He just doesn’t understand what it’s like to be a fortysomething woman dating a younger man.” She leaned forward, eyes a bit wild. “Do you know they have a word for it now? They call women like me ‘cougars’!”

      “Yeah, I’ve heard that.”

      “It’s mortifying!”

      “Well, it’s kind of trendy, actually.”

      “Trendy?” Helen screeched. “Do you know what Juan’s mama would say if she found out? She’s been after him to start making babies for years! If he brought home some dried-up old floozy like me, she’d probably call the priest over to perform an exorcism!”

      “Helen,” Lori said softly.

      Helen blew her nose and hiccupped.

      “Do you like Juan?”

      Her face crumpled again, and Lori had her answer.

      “If you really like him, don’t you think you should give it a chance? Give him a chance?”

      Though her tears continued to flow, Helen shook her head. “My husband left me, Lori. He left me after twenty years of marriage. I can’t go through that again, and you can damn well bet your ass that Juan would leave in a few years. Hell, I’m about to enter menopause. He probably doesn’t even know what that word means. ”

      Lori sighed. “He’s a nice guy.”

      Helen straightened her spine and took a deep breath, setting her impressive cleavage quivering. “Yes, he is. That’s why I’m not going to tie him down to an old biddy like me.”

      Though she didn’t usually think of old biddies as buxom women who wore stiletto heels and shirts cut down to there, Lori gave in and nodded. Juan’s mother probably wouldn’t approve of the heels and cleavage, either. Having grown up in Mexico, she likely had some pretty conservative ideas about women, at least with regards to her youngest son.

      “Now, I’m going to go freshen up,” Helen announced, “and when I come back, we will discuss your real estate needs.”

      Wow, that sounded official. Lori looked obligingly over the photos of available properties until Helen returned, pink nose powdered and eyelashes freshly coated in mascara. “Now, what can I do for you, Lori Love?”

      “I’m afraid I’m not looking to buy anything, but I did have a question about my dad’s property.”

      “Yeah?”

      “Chris Tipton’s been in touch a few times about buying the land and some guy I’d never heard of called on Monday. Has anyone else contacted you?”

      “Oh, sure. I’m sorry, you said you weren’t interested in talking about it, so I didn’t call you.”

      “It’s okay, honestly. I’m not interested, but I am wondering what all the fuss is about. Who else has asked about it?”

      “Hold on.” Helen spun her chair to a tall filing cabinet and riffled through until she found a thin file and pulled it out. “Here we go. Someone from a company called Anton/Bliss Developers called last month, and there was a call from The Valiant Group in the spring. Other than that…I see I noted somebody called to ask about the land last week, but didn’t leave any information. The other two left numbers and asked me to contact them if you ever showed any interest in selling. Should I call them?”

      “No,” Lori said quickly. “But will you give me their names and numbers?”

      “You’re not going to try to do this on your own, are you? Because, honestly, these are some big companies, and whether you use my agency or not, I’d recommend consulting an attorney and—”

      “I’m honestly not looking to sell right now. But I’m beginning to wonder if I’m sitting on oil or something. Have you heard anything?”

      Helen shrugged. “Not a thing. I’ll keep my ears open, but it’s a beautiful spot and there’s a lot of rich folks around here.”

      “Yeah.” Still…her dad had bought the land for less than seventy thousand dollars. It had been just as beautiful then, and there had been just as many Aspen people around.

      Helen offered her a paper with the information.

      “Thanks. If I ever do decide to sell, I need to know just how much it’s worth to these people.”

      “Why don’t you sell it, Lori? Your dad’s gone now and, correct me if I’m wrong, but you were never interested in running the garage, were you?”

      “I just…” Not wanting to think about her dreams and her fears and her money problems, Lori shook her head. “It’s complicated.”

      “All right.” Helen patted her hand, her smile conveying sympathy and maybe a little pity, too. Great. “I’ll call you if anything else comes up. Let me know what you find out.”