No Ordinary Romance (17 page)

Samantha really felt sorry for Thomas, but
her first priority was Connie. "I'm sorry Thomas, my loyalty is to
Connie. Give it a couple of days, let her calm down, and trust that
she loves you enough to realize that you wouldn't use her to make a
deal."

Thomas ran his fingers through his hair,
totally frustrated with the situation. He was tempted to drag
Constantina out of her house and dump her into his car, whisking
her back to his house. "Damn it Sam! In a couple of days, she could
cut me off altogether."

"Sorry Thomas. Don't make this any harder? I
really don't want to call the police."

Thomas gritted his teeth. "I'll do it your
way for now." He got back into his car and drove away.

Samantha gave a sigh of relieve, she
remembered a similar situation with Mike and Jenna last year.
Dealing with men in love, was like dealing with a wounded bear. She
stepped back into Connie's house, she was going to find the
underlying cause of this and get this relationship back on track.
She found Connie on the bed crying, the last time she saw her in
such a state is when Laura died.

"Connie, Thomas is gone. He didn't want to
leave, and I'm willing to bet that he'll be back. Why don't you
pack a bag and stay at one of the condos for a while until you get
your head together."

Jenna sat down in the chair rubbing her
belly. "Yes Con that sounds like a great idea or you could come
home with me and stay."

All of these tears were giving Connie a
headache. "He lied to me; he told me that he wanted me to take the
land for the foundation. All the while, he was planning to get his
hands on my property to make a multi-million dollar deal. I should
have known the way he kept prodding me to make the land swap deal.
I'm so stupid I should have known better. No man has ever wanted me
for me; it was something they wanted from me."

Samantha sent a worried gaze to Jenna before
sitting down on the bed. "Stop it Connie, I won't let you do this
to yourself. He told me that he loves you, and he wanted to barge
in here and take you away. I believe him Con. Why do you believe
that a man like Thomas couldn't want you for you?"

Connie didn't want to believe that Thomas
could use her that way, but men didn't view sex the way women did.
She had to go somewhere and think about her next step. Thomas would
be back, the warrior inside him wouldn't let her hide from him.
"He'll be back, and I don't want to be here when he does. Jenna
it's sweet of you to offer to take me into your home, but I don't
want to add more stress into your life. Sam I'll take you up on
your offer to stay at one of the condominiums. If I stay here,
Thomas will just keep coming back until I agree to talk to him. I
have a lot of thinking to do first."

Jenna and Samantha helped her pack up clothes
for the week. Connie felt bruised, used, and betrayed. She checked
her phone, there where ten messages from Thomas and one from Chad.
She listened to the message from Chad; his grandfather's funeral
was on Monday at 1:00, the First Presbyterian Church in Des
Moines.

"Samantha what time are you
l
eaving
for Des Moines on
Monday?"

"I was going to leave in the afternoon, but I
can live sooner if you like."

"The funeral for Chad's grandfather is at
1:00 on Monday. I'd like to ride down with you if that's okay, Beth
will be joining us."

"Sure Con. We'll leave at 8:00, which will
give us plenty of time to check into the hotel and find the
church."

Connie started crying again, "I never thanked
you two for being my only friends." She felt their arms wrap around
her, and she began to feel at ease.

"You can always call on us Con, that's what
friends are for."

"If you want we can have Allen and Mike go
kick Thomas's ass."

Connie began to laugh at Samantha's
suggestion. "It's good to have friends during times like
these."

***

Thomas was a wreck, he tried to contact
Constantina, but she wouldn't return his calls. He even went back
to her house only to find it empty. He hadn't slept or eaten since
she left him, he'd been walking around like an old wounded lion
with a nail in his paw. If this was love, he didn't need it. He
arrived at his office to see his secretary all in a tizzy. "What's
wrong Caroline?"

"Two gentlemen are here to see you, a Mr.
Archer and Mr. Johnson. I put them in your office."

"Thanks Caroline, please
hold all my calls, this may take awhile." He never met the husbands
of Samantha and
Jenna;
he'd only seen them
from a distance. One was a cop, and the other was a businessman
from Seattle. If they were here to try to keep him away from
Constantina, they would have a battle on their hands.

He walked into his office and shut the door.
"Gentlemen, I can't say it's a pleasure. Please state your business
and be on your way."

"He's got it bad Allen; he looks worst than
you did when you first came to town all hot and bothered about
Samantha."

Allen was staring out the
window when Thomas walked in the office. He had to agree with
Mike's
assessment;
Thomas looked as he'd
been run over by the Husker's defensive line. "Yes he's definitely
in love with Connie. I'm Allen Archer, by the way, my jokester
companion is Mike Johnson." We came here to help you win Connie
back."

Thomas watched the men with narrowed eyes.
"Now why would you be willing to do that?"

"Well it certainly isn't out of the goodness
of our hearts. My wife and her friends are thick as thieves, and
what hurts one of them, hurts them all. Basically, your debacled
romance is interfering with our lives, so we came to help you get
back with Connie."

Mike had to chime in, "what Allen means is,
you look as if you have been put through the wringer, and both of
us know that feeling. Jenna, Samantha, and especially Connie are
the sweetest most caring women, unless you happen to be the men in
their lives. I could tell you stories about my courtship with Jenna
that would give you gray hairs. Now we're expecting our first child
and my wife can't handle any more stress."

Thomas just glared at them, he wasn't a
slouch at 6'2, but Allen had him by several inches. The cop had the
build of like a linebacker. "So what are your big plans to get me
and Constantina back together?"

Allen picked an imaginary piece of lint form
his suit. "Samantha tells me that you forgot to disclose that you
were the CEO of The Chisum Group. Therefore, Connie thinks you
strung her along just to make the land swap deal. Did she leave
anything out?"

Thomas grimaced; Allen made the whole
situation sound like a shady deal. "I didn't tell Constantina about
my affiliation with the Chisum Group because she would have turned
down the deal even though she needed that property to expand the
Cabbage Patch Foundation. I told her that a client owned the
property so her pride wouldn't get in the way. Our women are the
most mule headed women in the city. She found out that I was the
CEO of the Chisum Group and she ran off thinking the worst possible
thing. If she cared about me why would she think I'm capable of
such a thing?"

Allen sighed, he was here at his wife's
behest. He didn't like being involved in the relationships of other
people. He had to admit that Connie has come to mean a lot to him.
If she loved this fierce eyed warrior, he would help the situation
if for no other reason than to have some peace in his own
marriage.

"Love does strange things to people. Out of
the three Connie is the most vulnerable. According to Sam, you're
the first serious relationships she's had as an adult. I think she
loves you, why do you think your betrayal hurt her so much.
Samantha and I were apart for several months, when we met up again
at her brother's wedding we had one hell of an argument before
ending up in bed. Connie internalizes things a lot, she may come to
realize that you didn't mislead her, but in the meantime you need
to become a constant presence in her life."

"So we've come up with a plan to help you get
Connie back. Here's a list of all of her commitments for the next
couple of weeks. Connie hates making a scene. Say if you were to
show up at these events, there isn't a whole lot she could do
except listen to what you have to say."

"So you want me to stalk her. What would your
wives think of that?"

Allen looked at Mike, and they both laughed.
"Where do you think we got the list from? Our wives can't talk to
you because that would be betraying Connie's trust."

"I'd rather you tell me where you're hiding
her. I want to take her home and paddle her little ass for doubting
me in the first place. I'm angry at her for just assuming the
worst; maybe I'll just ignore her until I forgive her."

"You honestly love her don't you? If you
didn't, her lack of faith in you wouldn't hurt so much. Despite
Allen's earlier claims, we're on your side. Not too long ago we had
to battle for the women we love. In addition, we had to deal with
their bossy friends. It comes with the territory man if you and
Connie give it a go and settle down together we're going to know
all of your business whether you like it or not. Don't let Allen's
arrogance fool you; I've come to regard him as a good friend."

Allen stuck out his hand for Thomas to shake.
"Good luck Thomas. If you believe that Connie's worth the fight,
we'll have your back. There's no way you could handle our wives
otherwise."

"We'll see you around Thomas. If we can be of
help give me a call." Mike shook Thomas's hand and left his
card.

"You two are not what I expected."

"What did you expect us to do threaten you if
you didn't leave Connie alone?"

"Allen, I expected you to threaten me to stay
a way from Constantina, and it's the one thing I can't do. Thank
you for stopping by, I'm beginning to feel hope for the first time
in two days."

***

They'd been on the road for hours with no
conversation between them. Samantha hadn't seen Connie this
despondent since Laura's murder. "Did you order flowers for the
funeral?"

"Yes I ordered a floral arrangement and sent
a check from The Purple Feather."

"Do you still have plans to sell The Purple
Feather?"

"Yes, I have three buyers who are interested
in purchasing. I even had one check out the premises and the
warehouse; he was impressed with operations."

"You know we haven't had a girl's night out
in a long time."

"Yeah, not since you got married."

Samantha noticed that Connie suddenly got
interested in the scenery. "Then we should have one before the baby
comes because Lord knows once Jenna has that baby we'll really have
a hard time scheduling anything."

"You don't have to do that on my account,
Sam, I realized that when you and Jenna got married that our
friendship would change."

"Connie our friendship doesn't change,
husbands come and go, babies become your godchildren, but our
friendship will last. Did you think I would give you up because
Allen's in my life now? Jenna's my rock and you're my anchor, where
would I be without my girls?"

Connie couldn't help it, she was becoming
misty eyed again. I never had a friend until I met Laura, and when
we began hanging out with you and Jenna I felt as if I belong to
something bigger than myself like an extended family."

"You're more than just a friend, I claimed
you as my sister." They went a couple more miles when Samantha
dared to breach the awful Thomas subject. "Con, do you really think
that Thomas tricked you?"

"You know Sam; I think Thomas deliberately
misled me about his connection to the Chisum Group because he was
concerned I wouldn't have accepted the deal."

"Is he right?"

"It doesn't matter if he's right. We have a
trust issue and I don't know if we can overcome that problem."

"Didn't you tell me that sex with Thomas was
the best you ever had?"

"Sex isn't everything Sam!"

Samantha snickered at
Connie. "Now you're just flat out lying. Sex and money or
lack thereof is
the top two reasons that couples
break up. I would never suggest that a woman stay with a man for
sex, but do you know how hard it is to connect with a man these
days. Why of course you know, before Thomas came along you were
living like a nun."

Beth couldn't stay quiet. "It's extremely
hard to connect with a man these days. Especially when every little
trick in the world is running after him telling him that he's
brilliant."

Connie nodded her head in agreement at Beth.
"Sex has a way of clouding the issues in a relationship."

Samantha couldn't count on Beth for support,
so she had to be the voice of reason. "Answer me this blue eyes,
can you envision your life without Thomas."

"No I can't Sam. Thomas is a loving and
caring individual, but how will I know that he withheld information
from me for the betterment of the Cabbage Patch Foundation or for
the millions that his family business stood to gain from the
deal."

"It seems to me that his family was going to
make money whether he made the deal with you or not. Connie I'm
behind you one hundred percent, and if you can't see your way to
forgive Thomas, I'll support you. I'm going to tell you what a good
friend told me about Allen. If he weren't worth the trouble, you
wouldn’t be in this state. I want you to think long and hard about
your feelings for Thomas before you toss him away."

"No fair using my own words against me."

Samantha pulled into the parking lot of the
Holiday Inn. "Come on ladies, let's get checked in, and then we'll
make our way over to the church.

***

It seemed as if all of
Warren County showed up for his grandfather's funeral. Chad sat
through the funeral service holding his grandmother's hand. Many
people stood up to say kind words about how his grandfather had
helped them in some way. He looked around the church and spotted
Connie who smiled at him giving him a brief nod. When he saw Beth,
she smile
d at him, and he felt the tension
in his body begin to uncoil. His relationship with Beth was
difficult to explain, he liked her a lot, but he was
twenty-one
. He was
way too young to be
getting serious about a girl.