Page 55 of Dick

FIFTEEN

Jess

HE was bald, short, and had a kidney-shaped mole on his chin the size of a dime. With eyes that were filled with excitement and a tone of voice that came close to matching, he explained the dilemma. “A gem like the one you’re describing won’t come easy. Did your husband give you any indication of what he paid for the one that was lost?”

His transparent short-sleeved polyester shirt had two wet spots beneath his arm pits, and another in the center of his hairy chest. Black and gray hair sprouted out of the top of his undershirt, which was easy to see through the opening created by the three buttons of his shirt he left unbuttoned.

“Oh, it wasn’t lost. It was stolen. As sure as I’m standin’ here.” I glanced over each shoulder, squeezed my boobs together with my upper arms, and leaned forward as if telling him a secret.

With his beady little eyes fixed on my tits, he leaned forward.

I cupped my hand around the side of my mouth and pressed the back of my hand against the front of his ear.

“There were some Yankee women in the parlor. From back east. Philadelphia, I heard one say,” I said, forcing my breath into his ear.

He gasped and stood straight up. “God damned Yankees. I’m sorry, but you can’t trust ‘em.”

“Oh, believe me. I’m sure my poor Preston is turnin’ over in his grave. I bet he is. Bless his soul.”

“A diamond like you’ve described…” He sighed heavily and began to drum his fingers against the receiver of a phone that was sitting on the lower counter. “A difficult one to find.”

I reached for the tennis bracelet Dick gave me to wear, and adjusted it on my wrist without looking, making it seem as natural as I could. “Now Preston didn’t share such things with me, especially with it bein’ a gift, but I do know we had it insured for $5,000,000 – but only if it was taken from the home. I’ve already called the underwriter. Now that’s a thief for you. I tell you what, let me give you some free advice.”

I folded my arms underneath my boobs and pressed them up as far as I could without causing them to fall out of the top of the bra. I leaned forward and his eyes fell to my chest. “I’ve got another secret for ya,” I whispered.

With his eyes glued to my awesome cleavage, he bent over and rested his elbows against the glass display case.

“Read the fine print,” I whispered. “Those insurance companies are the biggest thieves of them all.”

“Isn’t that the truth.”

He stood, and I stayed leaning over the glass case, my boobs bubbling out of the new bra and free for him to eye fondle through plunging neckline of the dress.

His eyes shifted back and forth between my tits and my eyes. “A cushion cut, was it?”

I blinked a few times. “Yes, Sir, it was. Five carats.”

“And you’re wanting an exact replacement?”

“Nothin’ in life is exact, is it?” I chuckled. “Now with my blessed Preston gone, I suppose I could go a little larger. In his memory, of course. Back when he got the ring, oil was down at $33 a barrel. Right after he passed, it was just under $100. I sold the field in Harris County right after he…”

Without standing, I paused and wiped my eyes. “I think he’d want me to go a little bigger. And I’ve always said bigger’s better. Preston would just laugh when I did. He had a sense of humor like that. Laughin’ at my jokes, you know?”

He grinned and nodded. “With diamonds and a few other things, bigger is better.”

“Oh, let me tell you how we met,” I interrupted. “That darned Maserati Preston bought me. I’d just as soon have me a big ol’ pickup truck. Bigger is better when it comes to vehicles, and that’s a fact. A big truck just makes me grin from ear to ear. You see, I grew up dirt poor. We had us a trailer house outside of Tomball, Texas, and my daddy told me I’d never amount to a hill of beans. I knew better. I didn’t tell my daddy, because there’s some things you just don’t tell your daddy, but…”

I glanced over each shoulder and bent over the counter again.

Baldie leaned forward, locked eyes with my tits, and grinned.

“I could suck a golf ball through a garden hose, and swallow an axe handle without gaggin’. That’s how I met Preston. I was dancing at the Pink Taco right off of 249 and Spring-Canyon Road, and in he came. He wanted him a lap dance, but I saw that watch he was wearin’ and I just said what the heck.”

I stood up and grinned. “You ever said that? What the heck?”

He swallowed hard. A nod of his head followed.

“Oh my.” I fanned my hand in front of my face. “It’s downright warm in here.”