I was lucky my parents were not home. There was not much they could do about it, as I have now graduated and was eighteen. I did not want to cause more problems. They already had enough.
Most of the next day, I spent time thinking about Jason and how we made love. I thought I might be falling in love with him, but after my last boyfriend, I would not give my heart away easily.
That afternoon, Jason called me and said, “Hey, beautiful. We could go out tomorrow night if you wanted to. I am not sure you will like this idea, but what would you feel about a hayride? The farm near your house has one, and afterward, they have an old-fashioned country dinner.”
I said, “That sounds great. What time are you thinking?”
He said, “Would two o’clock be, okay? They have rides and dinner all day and night long.”
I replied, “Perfect. I will see you then.”
He picked me up, and we went to the farm. I had not been here since I was a little girl. I remember feeding the animals and how much I enjoyed it.
The farm had grown a lot, and there were more animals. They had ostriches, cows, horses, pigs, and various chickens. The food smelled out of this world, and as we walked by the bakery, all you could smell was the freshly baked pies.
We had our choice of sitting in the seats or jumping in the back on top of the hay. We chose to sit in the hay. The ride was a lot of fun. They stopped under the shade of trees, and they passed out some fresh apple juice. They had a pond, and we stopped and watched all the ducks land and take off. We drove down the middle of a huge cornfield. The whole ride only took about ninety minutes, it was a lot of fun.
Afterward, we went to the restaurant and had our dinner. We had pot roast, corn muffins, and a salad. The food was excellent. I wanted the recipe for the pot roast.
The whole day was so romantic. I knew he was taking my heart, and I was powerless to do anything about that.
Afterward, we went to his place. We were both stuffed from all the food we ate.
Jason said, “Anna, this may be hard to believe, but I am falling in love with you. I know we have not known each other very long, but I love everything about you.”
I could feel my heart pounding with love for him.
“Jason, it is not hard for me to believe because I feel the same way about you.”
He came over to me and sat beside me, and we began kissing—deep, passionate kisses. I could feel myself getting wet, and I wanted to make love to him.
He opened his eyes and said, Let’s make love.”
We went to his bedroom, and we took our clothes off. We stood next to his bed naked and kissed. He held me so tight as we kissed. I never wanted to leave his arms.
I could feel love in my fingers and in my toes. The way he held me was everything to me.
We fell back into bed, as we kissed. He put a pillow below my head. He gently spread my legs and then ran his tongue between my breasts down to my mound. He licked my clit and slid a finger into my pussy. My head bucked back on the pillow.
I screamed, “Oh god, don’t stop. That’s my spot, Jason. Shit, this feels so good. I am going to cum.”
I filled his face with juices. I wanted his cock now.
I said, “Jason fuck me. Please fuck me now.”
I felt his cock slide in me. He slowly went in and out as he kissed me. I could taste myself on his lips.
I watched his cock go in and out, and it glistened with my juices.
He rolled me over and said, “I want to see my cock slid in and out of your pussy as I look at your starfish.”
This was my favorite position. His cock went deeper into me, causing me to have more orgasms.
His pace picked up, and I knew he would soon cum.
I felt a splash of his cum as he came in me.
I fell flat onto my belly and said, “Jason, that was magnificent. I feel so good. I am relaxed, satisfied, and most of all loved.”
He said, “You took the words out of my mouth.”
I looked over at the clock, and it was ten thirty. We had been making love for four hours.
I said, “Jason, that was the best day of my life. I better get home. I don’t need my parents to ruin this by me being late and them yelling at me.” I got dressed, and he drove me home. He walked me to the front door and kissed me goodnight.
……………………………………………
Two days later, I was back at work during the afternoon shift. It was nice being out of school and not having to worry about getting up and being able to work all the shifts.
I was back in the kitchen cooking when JR and his wife Ellen walked by. This was a rare sight, as she hardly ever came to the restaurant.
Five minutes later, Harold walked by, and I asked, “What are you doing here? I thought this was your day off?”
He replied, “It is my day off. JR wanted to have a meeting, so here I am.”
He did not sound so happy, but he was probably mad he had to come here on his day off.
Not even five minutes later, I heard some yelling and screaming coming from JR’s office.
The door opened, and Harold walked by me and said, Good luck.”
JRs wife left out the back door.
JR approached me and said, “So Harold told you about Marion. What did he tell you?”
I could tell by the tone of voice I was in trouble somehow.
I said, “All he said was he thought your deceased wife was a ghost here. The reason he said that was because these toilets here flush themselves. I have seen that happen a few times, but I don’t believe there is a ghost here.”
JR said, “Good, that is bullshit. Marion is not a ghost. There are no such things. Did he tell you I was made a suspect in her death when I was grieving my loss?”
I replied, “He said something like that I don’t remember.”
JR said, “I am only going to say this once to you. You will be fired if I hear you talking about this to others who work here. I warned Harold and told him I would fire him if he told anyone about this again. All this talk upsets my wife, and I will not put up with it. Do I make myself clear to you?”
I said, “Yes, sir.”
He then stormed out of the restaurant.
I stood and thought about what he said but was unsure how to take it. Why was he so mad at me? Because I see toilets flush by themselves. Because I uncovered the silhouette?”
I returned to work and tried to put it out of my mind.
I was off the next day, and when I returned for my night shift on a Wednesday, Jason was working, too. We always talk on the phone and text messages, and he sends me love notes.
When I arrived, he pulled me aside and said, “I heard there was a dust-up of some sort here the other day, and you were involved. What happened?”
I looked around to see if anyone was in earshot and said, “I can’t talk about that right now. I will tell you after work at your place.”
I went to his house after work to tell him what happened.
We sat on his couch, and I said, “I am not supposed to talk about this. JR told me that if I did and he found out, he would fire me. I don’t care about him. What I care about is you and us. First, I don’t know why he is so mad at me. A few months ago, I heard the toilets flush by themselves, and no one was there. This has happened several times now. Harold told me that it was a ghost. The ghost of JR’s late wife. I also uncovered while cleaning a picture of his wife engraved on the lobby floor, and JR told me if I ever picked up the rug covering it, he would fire me.”
Jason said, “I don’t understand any of this. Why is he so mad?”
I replied, “The only thing I can think of is he was a suspect at the time of his wife’s death, and the case has never been solved. He told me his wife gets upset when anyone talks about it.”
Jason said, “Fuck JR. Let’s make out.”
He came over to me and kissed me. I loved being held by Jason and kissing him.
A few minutes later, we headed to his bedroom to make love.
This time we fucked in every position that he knew. Doggie style, missionary, reverse cowgirl, and what turned out to be my new favorite was cowgirl.
I loved watching his face as I rode him. The feeling of his cock in me, and I controlled the rhythm. If I saw him looking like he was close to cumming I would stop. I wanted it to last.
Jason said, “Stop doing that. I want to cum in you, Anna.”
In the final push on top of him. I heard him grunt and felt cum in me.
I laid on top of him and we kissed for several minutes.
I said, “I better get dressed and get home. I don’t want my parents to be mad at me.”
He walked me out to my car and kissed me good night.
…………………….
The next day at work, I was in the kitchen cooking, and Fran came back there and said, “I need to talk to you.”
I was surprised. She barely had a word to say since I became a cook.
I replied. “Sure, Fran, what’s on your mind?”
She said, “Not here, let’s go into the walk-in cooler. I don’t want anyone to hear this.”
I followed her into the cooler, and she said, “I am retiring next week. No one knows this. I have not even told JR yet, but I will today.”
I said, “Congratulations, I am happy for you.”
Fran said, “Thanks, but that’s not what I want to tell you. I heard about the other day with JR and how mad he was. I worked here at the time of his wife’s death. She was the most wonderful person you could ever meet. This place was a gold mine when she ran it. I know for a fact that JR was cheating on her. I saw him and Ellen his wife now fucking in the office. They never saw me, but I sure saw them. I was going to tell Marion about it, but before I could, she was murdered.”
I said, “Why are you telling me this now?”
She said, “Because you work here, and I think JR is the murderer, and you need to watch your back. I don’t know what he is capable of. I have not always treated you that well, but I like you, and respect you, Anna.”
To say I was shocked would be an understatement.
I replied, “Thank you, Fran. It was nice of you to say that. I will watch my back. Thank you for sharing that information. I wish you the best in retirement.”
Fran said, “We better get back to work now.”
That was frightening what she said, I thought.
……………..
Saturday came, and I had the early shift along with the dishwasher. Gina and Jason showed up at their scheduled times at ten AM.
This was by far the slowest day I had ever worked there. I sent the dishwasher home at twelve-thirty.
At one-thirty, we did not have a customer in forty-five minutes. The weather was awful and was to blame for the slow day. It was cold, and the sky was gray. The wind howled at gusts up to forty-five miles per hour. It was also raining off and on.
It was just Jason, Gina and me. We all sat down at the bar on some bar stools. Jason went through the swinging bar doors to get us all a Coke. We were telling jokes, and then we heard the front door open. Gina grabbed a couple of menus and went to greet the guests.
She returned, sat down, and said, “It must have been the wind that opened the door. No one was there.”
We all sat back down at the bar then suddenly the swinging bar doors opened leading into the bar, but no one was there. We all then heard footsteps on the wooden slats behind the bar. They were slow and you could hear each step. Still, no one. We just watched with our eyes in disbelief. My heart was pounding.
Then, all six of the draft beer taps were turned on one at a time, and the beer splashed everywhere. Still, no one was there. Then we heard more steps and a stack of glasses near the end of the bar were knocked on the floor and broken. We heard the slow footsteps again, and the swinging doors opened once again. I felt a whisp of the wind. Almost like something passed through or bye me. A minute later, the front door opened.
It was dead silent as we looked at each other.
I was shaking like a leaf and scared to death.
Gina said, “What the fuck just happened? Did everyone see and hear that?”
Jason said, “I sure did, but I don’t believe my eyes.
I said, “That had to be Marion.”
Gina asked, “Who the fuck is Marion?”
Gina knew nothing about the legend of the place, let alone the story of Marion.
I said, “I am not supposed to talk about this, but many here think JR’s deceased wife roams this place as a ghost.”
Gina said, “What? Ghosts? You must be kidding.”
Jason said, “No, Anna is not kidding.”
Gina said, “That’s it. I am done with this place. As soon as I can find another job, I am out of here.
None of us moved for thirty minutes except for Jason he turned off the beer taps. We remained silent, wondering about what we had just witnessed.
None of us had answers, only questions.
The front door opened again, and Gina said, “I am not going up there.”
Jason said, “Stay here. I will go see.”
He came back and said, “Gina, you have some customers. I gave them menus.”
The rest of that day, all of us were uneasy. I was scared to be in the kitchen by myself. When the night dishwasher showed up at four, I was relieved.
…………………………………….
Three days later, Gina came into the restaurant and gave her one week’s notice.
She walked by me and whispered, “I got a job at “Smugglers”. I will put in a good word for you.”
The following night, Gina returned and asked me, “What time are you getting off tonight?
I said, “At seven. Why do you ask?”
She said, “I don’t know if you want to do this, but I got you a tryout at “Smugglers”. They want to see if you are a good cook. I told them you are the best here. You can show up after you get off here.”
I said, “Sounds good. Will you be there?”
She said, “Yes, I will. Now I will tell Jason they need a bartender in the worst way.”
I showed up, and the third customer I cooked for sent me a twenty-dollar tip. That’s all the chef needed to see, and they offered me a job on the spot.
I took the job. It paid way better, and I would not have to deal with JR, ghosts and Marion.
The next day, I went to “The Belle” and told JR, “I found another job and I took it. It pays better, so this is my two-week notice.”
JR said, “Get out, you ingrate.”
Jason followed me over there two days later.
…………………………………..
Three weeks later, Mike, the dishwasher, showed up at “Smugglers” and asked to talk to me.
He said, “I am not sure you watch the news, but “The Belle” is gone. I was there last night, dumping trash out back, and there was an explosion. The new cook was almost killed and in the hospital. JR and his wife both died in the explosion and fire. No one else was hurt. If you were still there, you may have been killed. The restaurant is nothing but ashes now. The fireman told me that they thought there was a gas leak and that caused the explosion.”
My face must have turned pure white at this news. I said, “Thanks for telling me this, Mike. I am glad you are okay.”
All I could think of was whether Marion had something to do with this. I would never know, but I hoped everyone was at peace.
…………………………………
Ten years later. I was proud to open my third restaurant, “Anna’s Bistro.” We serve fresh homemade soups made from scratch. Salads with homemade dressings. A large variety of fresh sandwiches and drinks. Everything we do is fresh and made from scratch.
I just made Mike the manager at the newest location. Gina manages another location and has been in that location for five years. She also was my bridesmaid. Ruben is a paid consultant. He helps with all the recipes and continues to develop new ones.
No one knows what happened to Harold after the fire. He just disappeared.
Jason and I have been married nine years and could not be happier. Jason has a job at a large retailer as a manager.
The site where “The Belle” was is been turned into an apartment complex. The name of the complex is “Bell Gardens”. None of us would ever rent there, let alone go there.
I have never gotten over “The Belle”. What I saw and what happened still haunts me. I have told this story to many friends. Some laugh and some roll their eyes. There are also those that know me well and believe me. Do I believe in ghosts? My better judgment says no. What I saw says yes – or should I say, what I did not see.
