by Ginny Lynn
“Anyone who saves one of my friends is a friend of mine. Raven Kilmore.”
He shook her hand and smiled back. “Nice to meet you Raven, I’m Conrad Forsythe.”
Raven swept the hair away from my face like when we were young.
“I’ll take you over to my place tonight and let you sleep in tomorrow. I won’t take the chance of Jason waiting at your place tonight. If he’s gone that much off his rocker then you need to be tucked away from him. We’ll deal with him over the phone tomorrow.”
Conrad stood up with his food then walked me to the passenger side of the car with Raven. He shut the car door as Raven got into the driver’s side and started the car. He put his hand on my cheek.
“Be careful, Samantha. And goodnight.”
“Thank you for protecting me.”
“Take care of her Raven,” he said as he looked at her over my head
“I will and thank you for being there when you didn’t have to be,” Raven replied with a sincere smile.
“Goodnight ladies.”
He tapped the car door and waved before he backed away. Raven pulled away and drove toward her penthouse.
“I can’t believe this happened.”
“Thank you for coming to get me. The girls are going to freak when they hear about this. Felicia will start crying and Chaz will want to smack him.”
“As if I don’t want to do both right now?” Raven asked.
“Yeah, you probably do. You’re the coolest headed one out of all of us. You know it, so be proud.”
“Well, let’s get you to my place and I’ll fix us some drinks. You can either talk or you can go to bed, whichever suits you better.”
I knew she wanted the full version of the story.
“I’ll let you know when we get there.”
We rode in silence the rest of the way. Once we got to her place, Raven was true to her word and had me in a chair with a soda in minutes. I told her as much of the story as I could get out. She never interrupted. Both our drinks were empty when I was done.
“You already know how I feel about violence, Sammy. I personally would delete Jason from my life. The decision is yours to make.”
“I don’t believe I’ll be seeing Jason again. I’ll wait until he’s at work and leave a message on his machine letting him know to stay away from me. If he bothers you girls about me, you can say whatever you want.”
“Alright, that’s settled then. Let’s get you in bed for some rest and we’ll call the girls in the morning.”
I got comfortable in the guest room and fell asleep within minutes. I dreamed of a dark-haired rider saving me from a fate worse than death.
* * * *
While making breakfast, we called the girls on conference call. As I expected, Felicia was fighting tears and Chastity was fuming at her old friend, Jason, for turning out this way.
“I never would’ve set you two up if he’d been like that,” Chastity snapped.
“Samantha, are you okay?” Felicia sniffed
“She’s fine girls,” Raven shouted into the speaker from the stove.
“If you had called last night, then we would have come over,” Felicia fussed
“No, we would’ve fussed over Sam and pummeled Jason. Neither was what she needed to happen, Felicia,” Chastity chimed in
“You’re right. Thanks for getting her Raven,” Felicia said with a sigh.
Chastity interrupted. “Oh, what about your tall stranger? Did you get his number?”
Surprised, Raven said, “I didn’t think to ask you that last night.”
“No, I didn’t get it. We only exchanged names, not numbers.”
“I wonder if he recognized Raven?” Inquired Felicia
“Doesn’t every red blooded male?” Replied Chastity
“Guys, he only had eyes for Sammy.” Raven brushed off the idea as she ate.
“Bad luck girl, maybe he’ll look you up.” Felicia was always hopeful.
“At least he was there when we needed him and that’s what counts. I hate to cut out, but I have to open up the store. Love Ya. Bye.”
Chastity blew kisses and hung up. We all got off the phone to do our own separate things. We ate and then got dressed. My cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Please don’t hang up!” Jason said quickly
“You have one minute and then I will hang up.”
Raven heard me and sat down beside me.
“I’m sorry. I had too much to drink last night and pushed too far. I was a total jerk. Say you’ll forgive me?”
“I don’t know if I can forgive you. You went way too far. I don’t know why, but it’s done now. We’re done.”
“Please don’t sound so fatal, Samantha,” he whined.
“Jason, I don’t want to see you anymore. You hurt me last night. You wouldn’t listen to me and acted totally out of bonds. A complete stranger had to step in and help me because you were out of control. It was inexcusable and I can’t be with someone like that.”
“I know what I did was wrong, but you can give me another chance.”
“I gave you chances all night and look how it turned out.”
“I’m sorry. I wish I could change what happened, except I can’t. Please give me a chance?”
“Maybe we can be friends later. Right now I need some space from last night. Please don’t contact me. Goodbye.”
I hung up.
“Are you okay?” Raven questioned
“It seems so, so we’ll see. He acted genuinely upset. Maybe later we can be friends just not right now.”
“I agree with you. Don’t worry about his feelings because you were the one he hurt. Not the other way around. Let’s just move on and not worry about that part anymore.”
She patted me on the back and we agreed. I got my stuff and she drove me home since it seemed safe now that I’d made my feelings clear to him on the phone.
My white cat, Bella, was waiting for me as usual. I scooped her up, glad to see her. Going about my weekend chores got my mind off of my problems. After cleaning, I grabbed a sandwich and settled down to a movie with Bella. Mom called during the final credits, so I told her everything except the gory details of the night with Jason. I knew she’d only worry too much, and besides, I only told her the serious bits of my love life. I realized long ago that I should never divulge too much to a woman who wants me married off.
The next day, there was a delivery of my favorite flowers and a note gushing an apology from Jason. I was going to throw them away, except I hardly ever got gorgeous flowers so I kept them on the kitchen island as a reminder of better days. Things had been less scary when we had first started dating. It’d be a true symbolism of our relationship dying off before it was trashed.
On Monday, work was back to normal and by lunch all the girls had checked in. I told Chastity about the flowers and she thought I should’ve had the messenger send them back to Jason in shredded petals. I just laughed it off. We both knew I wasn’t the type to be so cold-hearted.
I was exhausted by the time I got home. I got a text message from Jason around 8 p.m. asking if I liked the flowers. I decided not to reply back and headed to bed.
Something tragic happened just a couple of hours into the next workday. A truck came out of gear and knocked a load of steel pipes across the warehouse. Several people were hurt, equipment was damaged, and a support beam was cracked. The whole situation compromised the safety of the warehouse. An ambulance came for the injured people and companies had to be contacted about the damages. Once it was cleaned up, I got the warehouse shut down for the day. Corporate was sending someone to investigate. I would need the extra help.
We all knew the driver. He was a regular and didn’t make mistakes. His truck was sent to the shop for service. He was on the dock with me at the time of the accident and thankfully neither of us was in the path of destruction.
Corporate said the warehouse would be temporarily shut down for repairs and an investig
ation would begin immediately. The driver was on a paid leave of absence and the local insurance representative would be by tomorrow to check the damages.
At closing time, I was hanging up from a call with my boss when my cell phone rang.
“Hello, Samantha?”
“Hey Felicia, what’s up girl?”
“Your phone’s been busy for hours and I couldn’t get any answer at your work number. Are you okay?”
“Let me tell you about my day.”
I filled her in on the accident.
“Well, that’s twice in a week that you could have been hurt. Your luck better start picking up or people will call you a jinx.”
“Well, I had to have at least some kind of good luck or I would’ve gotten hurt.”
“True. Call me tomorrow and try to get some sleep tonight. Bye”
I got home in record time, which was amazing considering the day I had. Usually, my bad days lead to traffic nightmares. When I got through the door at 6 p.m. my home phone was ringing and I ran to go get it.
“Hello. Hello?”
No one was there. Just as I hung up it rang again.
“Hello!”
“What a way to greet someone! I heard you had a horrid day, but do you generally yell at people after your fifteenth call of the day?” Chastity asked with a wicked laugh.
“You’re so funny and I’m way past caller fifteen. I guess you talked to Felicia. Either that or you are sleeping with one of the insurance agents that I have a meeting with tomorrow morning.”
“Both, actually. Kidding. No, I spoke to Felicia just after she hung up with you, so she told me the news to save you the trouble. I also agreed with her that your luck has taken an interesting turn this week.”
“It’s bugging me because I know something weird happened with the driver today. I just can’t figure out what it was. He did everything like normal, and yet somehow this time was different.”
“It was just a crazy mistake. They’ll let him off the hook and it’ll all be fine.”
“I know, except my inner voice is telling me something is missing here. I guess I need to give my mind a break for a bit. That reminds me. Are we still on for this weekend? I may need a drink by then.”
“Yeah, we’re still on. Raven will call me tonight on when her flight is scheduled for Spain.”
“Please fill her in on the warehouse for me. I don’t think I can tell the story again. I’ll update you guys tomorrow. Just keep your fingers crossed for me, please?”
“I just won’t cross my legs because that won’t get you anywhere.” She laughed at her old and often used phrase.
“That’s my Chaz. Now let me go so I can go to bed.”
“Good night, girl.”
She hung up. I grabbed a romance novel off the table and fell asleep looking at the dark-haired hunk on the cover.
Chapter Two
I woke up five minutes before the alarm went off. Bella was purring beside me. After hurriedly getting ready and out the door, I made a run to the local coffee shop for my favorite French vanilla cappuccino. I saw Jason’s S.U.V. in the parking lot, so I went through the drive through as quickly as possible, not daring to face him and got away without him seeing me. I hoped he wasn’t there in the misguided notion that he could change my mind. That wasn’t happening.
I pulled up at work just a couple minutes before my appointment with the adjuster. I only got a couple of lovely sips down before a van and a luxury sedan pulled in together.
The van had a rental company’s emblem on it, so I knew it was some people from my corporate office. A tall man got out of the sedan. He had brown hair, brown eyes and that good old American boy look about him. When he reached me, he stretched his hand out to me.
“Hi, I’m Parker Stevenson from FOS Insurance and you must be Samantha Malone. Can I say it’s a pleasure to meet you?”
He smiled as he held my hand
“Good morning, Mr. Stevenson. Yes, I’m Samantha Malone. I don’t know how much of a pleasure it’ll be, so we’ll see.” I said with a small laugh.
His hand was warm and he was looking me over as I spoke.
“Call me Parker. May I call you Samantha? We’ll be handling this mess for two to three weeks so we may as well be friendly, right?”
He let go of my hand, not my gaze.
“Alright Parker, lets get this ball rolling, shall we?”
I opened the warehouse door as the group gathered on the stairway. We made introductions. I had spoken to a couple of them on the phone yesterday.
He stepped aside for me to see who was coming up behind him.
“This gentleman is Fred Sanders. He’s here to work with me on what repairs have to be done.” Parker smiled like a Cheshire cat.
“Nice to meet you Mr. Sanders, I’m Samantha Malone.”
I shook Fred’s hand after he put down his hard hat and briefcase.
Everything had been previously taped off, so we had to walk around the taped support to the dock where it all started. Some of the corporate people stopped to look at the damaged support beam as I was walking Fred and Parker over to the designated area.
“This is where the truck rolled back into the dock, knocking into the dock walls, and sending the load out across the concrete and into the support beam,” I said.
“Okay, let me and Fred look over these things for a few minutes. Stay close, in case we have questions for you,” Parker replied.
I watched them work together for a while as I drank my cappuccino. Parker had shed his jacket and loosened his tie. Fred had rolled up his sleeves. Fred was probably in his late thirties while Parker looked to be about thirty five. They were well built and in good shape.
My cell phone went off in mid-thought.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Samantha, it’s Raven. I heard the bad news about work. How are things going with the big wigs?”
“I’m doing rather well so far. You should see the insurance guy they sent over here. He’s All American Boy meets Cheshire cat. You and Chastity could flip a coin for him,” I suggested mischievously.
“I don’t think so. I called to let you know we are still on for this weekend and we can meet at my place. I’ll drive us in Felicia’s car since I have a shoot early on Sunday morning. This way you can have a few drinks to get over your awful week.”
“I’ll see you Friday. Maybe I’ll invite Mr. Insure Me just to see who wins the coin toss?”
“Yeah, see how far that gets him.”
She was not impressed, but wait until she saw him. Then we’d see.
She hung up and I went to the corporate group to see how things were going. I volleyed between six people for an hour and a half before we all decided to get lunch at a café nearby. I told them to follow me since they had all piled into the van.
Parker grabbed the chair next to mine. By the look on his face, it seemed like the cat had a plan. Then I noticed that he’d positioned himself where I was stuck between him and another wall. Clever.
“Do I need to let you out for the salad bar?”
I nodded. He didn’t bother to move. I stared down at him, waiting for him to slide forward. I didn’t like the idea that I had to press against his back to get my salad.
He smiled, scooted up and said, “Can you bring me back some cucumbers?”
I went to the bar and for some crazy reason; I did get cucumbers and a handful of crackers. He let me back in, but it felt as if he casually brushed against me while letting me over. Parker waited until I sat down before leaning over me to spear a cucumber off my plate.
“Oh, you’re a doll. Sorry for the reach. I couldn’t resist when they looked so good.”
His face was only inches from mine, so I leaned away from him a little.
“If you’ll move your arm I’ll slide the rest of them over for you.”
He looked a little disappointed before he slowly leaned back into his seat. I slid the plate over so he could get them himself.
“I woul
d’ve shared the plate. I guess it’s too soon for that, huh? I must admit that I like having you cornered all to myself.”
“I came here to have my lunch, so why don’t we enjoy it before the soup gets cold?”
“Fine by me. Thank you for my salad bar treats.”
He retreated from battle, momentarily.
We continued to eat without saying too much to each other then got back to the warehouse as another truck was pulling in. Fred greeted the new man and they took an hour looking over the damages again.
Parker stayed on his cell phone most of that time as he relayed information. After all three guys were finished they went to find the corporate people in the conference room, staying there for about thirty minutes. They came back down to tell me the news.
“We have good news and bad news for you, Samantha,” chirped Parker
“Just give it to me and we’ll clean up the mess afterward.”
“Well, the support beam and dock can be repaired without tearing that part of the building down. The problem is, it’ll take several days to get the replacement parts delivered—if there are no hang ups with supplies or workers,” Fred explained quickly.
“Okay. That’s not so bad. What about the workers who can’t come in while we get this done?”
Parker stepped in. “Corporate will pay them since it wasn’t their fault. Speaking of fault, the driver has a witness who saw him handle the truck properly. The driver is back at work right now, with no problems. We’re also checking the security cameras now to see if it was sabotage on someone else’s part.”
“I’m glad the driver’s been cleared. Now what do we need to do about the rest of this?”
“I have two crews to give us repair estimates and they can both be here tomorrow, though at different times. I’ll need you to be here to help me. I’ll feed you for your troubles.”
“I’m here for the long haul and you don’t have to feed me for me to do my job, even if the job description changes a little.”
“Fred, you hear that? Record that for corporate and they’ll have it on the next training tape for new employees.” I didn’t respond, so he continued. “Samantha, I’ll be bugging you a lot so humor me, okay?”