Finally Getting Love Right (2 page)

Tj’s looked better than usual tonight. She was lucky that she had an in when it came to her favorite spot. Tj’s was owned by Liz’s husband TJ McAdams. He was usually nice and always kept his business in tip top shape. The best thing about Tj’s was that no matter what it was open to her. She had a few vices in life. Those vices being that she loved to drink away her pain when she needed to, she was obsessed with her music store, and then there was her last vice…Him.

She needed to figure out why everything tonight was reminding her of him. It wasn’t Tj’s because the interior had just been done. Maybe it was the note? She took the note out of her purse and read it again. She went as far to smell the paper, not caring if anyone saw her. Still nothing and she was getting the feeling like the anxiety was going to kill her. Liz walked up behind her and startled her.

“Hey” Liz yelled in her ear. “What is that? We are supposed to be having fun tonight. You just look miserable.”

“Well even if I was miserable at least I’d have a reason to be. I will tell you what this is when we get to my house. Speaking of can we go now?” Sam begged.

“You haven’t even been here for an hour yet and you want to leave? I guess we can. Let me go tell TJ that we are leaving. Wait right here.” Liz said disappointedly.

“Thanks Liz.” Sam said thankfully.

She went and stood by the giant column to her left. Leaning against it she let out a deep breath and then she saw him. There was no mistaking it. George Ames was here. ‘How could he be here? Wasn’t he supposed to be in LA or somewhere equally as far away?’ She thought frantically. She looked around to see if anyone else saw him. When she looked back in the direction she had seen him in, he wasn’t there. Maybe she was dreaming it?

“Ok, let’s blow this joint.” Liz said as she walked back over to Sam.

“Yea, Let’s go.” Sam said still feeling a little dazed.

They walked out the door and signaled for the valet to retrieve. Sam’s car. When the valet came back he was driving Sam’s dream car. It was literally a car that matched everything Sam had once drawn up 5 years ago. It was a sleek black Lamborghini Diablo with pink ghost flames and tinted windows.

“Here is your car ma’am.” The valet said to her.

“This is not my car!” Sam started “My car is a black Pontiac g5. Not a Lamborghini.”

“My apologies miss, I have been instructed to give you this note and tell you that you will find your Pontiac at home safe and sound. The gentleman took the valet key that you gave us with him.” The valet turned and walked away as fast as he could.

Sam looked at Liz.

“Who would do this? I would call the cops!” Liz was outraged that someone would have the audacity to do something like this.

“Yea” Sam said quietly as she opened the note. She recognized the handwriting as the same as the note before.

Sammy,

If my memory serves me correctly this is your dream car. It is all yours now. All will be explained tomorrow. I hope you like it.

“Liz, let’s go. I will explain what this is on the way back to my house.” Sam said in a surprisingly calm voice as she slipped it into her purse next to the other one.

“No! We have to call the cops. Someone stole your car Sam! Liz exclaimed.

“Trust me on this ok? Let’s go!” Sam said sternly.

“Fine.” Liz said with a look that said ‘ok lady, you are crazy.’

“Hurry up Liz!” Sam yelled as she got into the car.

The car was just as sleek on the inside as it looked on the outside. There was a note on the steering wheel. She peeled the sticky note off and read:

‘Look in the trunk but not until you get home.’

“Well, put the petal to the metal.” Liz said “so what are you going to explain about? How could you just let someone
switch
your car and then be so nonchalant about it?”

“I have been getting these notes randomly all night. The first one was on my car at the trail, and now the one from the valet. I don’t know who they are from, but whoever it is wants me to meet them back at the trail tomorrow afternoon.” Sam said waiting in silence for Liz’s response as she headed out of the parking lot and started toward her house.

“That is creepy. Is that why you weren’t so upset about the car? What did these notes say?” Liz asked with a deep sense of concern.

“Go in my purse and get them. You will see what I mean when you read them.” Sam said as she turned onto her street.

As Liz was reading the notes her eyes got bigger and her mouth was slightly open like a person would when they were surprised.

“You should probably close your mouth before the flies get in it.” Sam said laughing.

“Do you know who is writing these to you?” Liz asked

“If I did I wouldn’t be so nervous for tomorrow. I thought I knew but there isn’t any way I could see it being him.” Sam said pulling into her driveway.

Sam turned the car off and saw her Pontiac sitting there. She got out and made a bee line for it. After looking it over thoroughly she decided that she wouldn’t get all worked up about whoever did this. She had bigger problems to deal with behind her front door. She popped her trunk and looked inside. There were 5 boxes of all different sizes inside.

“Someone sure loves you.” Liz said with a spark of intrigue.

“Let’s take them into the house. We can put them into the living room and then we will open them after we get changed.” Sam said grabbing the 3 biggest boxes. “Can you please shut the trunk?”

“No problem.” Liz said as she grabbed the remaining two boxes and shut the trunk.

Sam walked up the sidewalk toward her house at an unusually fast pace. She shoved her free hand in her purse, fumbling for her house keys. She pulled her house keys out and unlocked the door. They walked into the empty house slamming the door behind them. An unmistakable echo rang through the foyer and seemed to make the whole house resonate. Sam flicked on the lights and walked into her living room dropping the boxes onto the couch. They seemed to bounce off the first cushion and onto the next with one of the boxes landing cockeyed onto the floor.

“I am going to run up to my room and change. Your room still has your stuff in it.” Sam said as she headed off toward her room. She had mixed feelings about going back into her room after the debacle earlier. She walked into her room, looked around and made an immediate decision. She would call Javier down at J &M Storage and see if he could bring over her old furniture right away in the morning. It didn’t matter to her at the moment what part of her life that her old furniture represented. The blatant fact that Will and Elle had been in here weirded her out to an unnatural extent. She walked into her closet and threw on a pair of sweats and her favorite hoodie.

“You find your wardrobe?” Sam yelled out laughing. Liz had been her roommate when she first moved out of her parents’ house. Somehow along the way Sam had ended up with an entire room full of Liz’s things that Liz refused to take home. She always said that there wasn’t a need for the kind of attire she had in her closet at Sam’s house at her own home.

“Yes I found it. It is not like it has moved since the last time I was here.” Liz said with a sarcastic tone.

They walked back down the hall toward the kitchen. They had a ritual every time that Liz would come over they would dip pretzel rods in melted chocolate, make some hot chocolate, and then go into the living room where they would relax. Tonight was no different than all the other times.

“So shall we open these boxes then?” Liz asked as they walked into her living room with their trays of goodies.

“Yes. I am dying to know what is in them. It isn’t every day that I get to be spoiled.” Sam said with a smile on her face.

Sam walked over to the boxes, set her mug of hot chocolate down, and plopped down on the couch next to them. She picked up the one that had fallen on the floor and sat it on her lap. Liz sat down on the couch across the room and looked at her expectedly. She slowly opened the first box. Inside was the title to the new car she had acquired. There was a long letter as well. The envelope read:

Do Not Read Until You Get Home Tomorrow Night.

“Liz, why would someone bother giving me a letter that I can’t read until tomorrow?” Sam questioned.

“Because whoever it is wants to torture you. Why else?” Liz said “Ok what is in the next one.”

Sam looked at the remaining four boxes trying to judge which one she should open next. She chose a box that looked a little worn and tattered. When she opened the box her eyes got all big.

“No Way!” Sam exclaimed as she pulled a beautiful pink dress out of the box. It was a long evening gown with crystals all over it. “This has got to be a joke. Where on earth would I even wear this to? It is beautiful though.”

“It definitely is.” Liz said scooting closer. “If you don’t want it I will take it. I’m sure I can find somewhere to where it.” Liz was practically drooling over it.

“Next box” Sam said laying the dress over the couch behind her. She grabbed the next box and was almost certain what was in it.

Sam opened the box and said “For how pretty the dress was, the shoes are a lot more casual but a lot more me.” Sam held up the pink and black diamond studded flip flops.

“Whoever is doing all this sure knows you well.” Liz said

“If I had ordered a dress and shoes for myself with no limit on how much I could spend then I would have picked exactly the same things out.” Sam said.

Sam handed the shoes to Liz and went for the next box. She started to open it and then tried to peek inside. She couldn’t see anything. She tore off the top of the box in a kind of excitement she hadn’t felt in years. When she got all of the debris out of the way she was less than thrilled. It was a jogging outfit. The note attached said ‘wear your most comfortable sneakers with this.’

“Ok whoever gave me this stuff must be tailing the wrong person. It looks like someone went shopping and gave the store the wrong address to deliver it to. “

“I know, it is weird. What is in the last box Sam?” Liz said with an unmistakable excitement.

“Let’s find out shall we?” Sam said laughing at her friend.

Sam picked up the last box it was small in size compared to the others. She shook it lightly expecting to hear nothing. Instead she heard a clunk. It sounded like the sound you hear when you shake a jar of shells. She slowly opened the box holding her breath as she did. She lifted the lid and gasped. Inside the box were three things, a conch shell candle, another envelope, and a ring box.

“Well, what is in it?” Liz asked noticing the look on Sam’s face “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“I feel like I have.” Sam replied

Sam lifted the candle out of the box and sniffed it. The candle smelled like the ocean breeze. Sam shuddered slightly. She lifted the ring box out of the box and opened it. She turned the ring box around to show Liz.

“What do you think this is supposed to mean?” Sam said quietly to Liz.

“Who sends an empty ring box? That is like teasing someone horribly.” Liz said.

“I know right,” Sam said noticing the bulge on the back of the inside of the box “What is this?”

Sam took a closer look at the inside lining and found a small tab. Sam lightly pulled the tab and was surprised when the inside lining flipped down. Behind the silver silk lining was a tiny scroll. She unrolled the scroll and read the inscription.

I will love you forever if you will be mine

Sam read it again and then turned to Liz

“It almost reads like the end of some ones proposal. This is very eerie.” Sam said with a shudder.

“I am getting that feeling to. What is in the envelope?” Liz asked.

Sam opened the envelope and took out the letter inside. It read:

‘I know all of these gifts are probably freaking you out. There is a good reason for them though. Try to remember your last vacation and what happened. All will be revealed soon I promise.’

“I am getting mad now. Can we just forget about this and get doing what we need to do?” Sam said frustrated.

“And what exactly do we need to do may I ask?” Liz fired back.

“We need to get all of Will’s stuff out of here. I am having the movers come and move my old furniture back in and all the old out.”

Sam said “Ok I still don’t get why you didn’t break it off a long time ago. I know that you haven’t been happy in at least 3 years.” Liz said sympathetically.

“When I first met Will, he was nice, charming, caring, and thoughtful. When we first started dating he was sweet, he had a job, and he never would have done the things he did. Even with Elle being around with his kids didn’t bother me. Then when he got laid off 3 years ago, he changed. He was never around. He got mean and emotionally abusive, especially when he was drunk. When I came back from my vacation 3 years ago he became even worse. That is when I started suspecting the cheating. I was just too nice of a person to kick someone out on their butt when they have nowhere to go. So I guess I just let him stay because I felt bad. The reality of the situation, I guess, is that I was purposely ignoring the facts.” Sam said taking a deep breath when she was done.

“You are a way better person than I am. I would never have put up with him as long as you did.” Liz said.

“So now you know why I didn’t break it off a long time ago. I was too worried about what would happen to him with nowhere to go.” Sam said as she started to cry.

“Don’t cry.” Liz said hugging Sam. “It will be alright.”

“I know.” Sam said through her sobs. “I just can’t believe I was that stupid.”

“Oh sweetie, you weren’t stupid. You just cared about him when you thought no one else would. It’s not your fault.” Liz said with a slight smile on her face.

“Thank you Liz. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Sam said wiping her eyes with her arm. “Let’s get this done ok?”

“Ok.” Liz said.

Sam and Liz got off the couch and walked toward the bedroom. They grabbed some trash bags from the on suite bathroom and started shoveling his clothing into them.. It took them a total of an hour to clear all of his stuff out of her house. When they were done they threw the bags out the door and slammed the door shut behind them. They walked back into the living room and jumped onto the couch with a sigh.