Finally Getting Love Right

by Jamie Nichols

  “Well that part is obvious. I don’t quite forgive you but I don’t hate you. I think it is mainly due to my hormones though because I would have just forgiven you normally.”

  “I understand that.” Sam said.

  “How much longer until the newest member of the Hughes family is born?”

  “Maybe 2 weeks. Three at most.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  “Believe me, I can’t either.” Charlee said rubbing her belly.

  The girls laughed about everything that had happened. After they went home, Sam sunk into her couch. She was going to read a book, but she fell asleep before she could even pick it up. She was having a coincidental dream. She never dreamt, at least not that she could remember. Sam dreamed about marrying George. It was such a beautiful dream, that when she woke up, she shed a tear.

  Sam was slow getting ready today. She knew she still had one more round of apologies today, and was not sure she was up for it. She sulked around for a good hour before she made her first phone call. It was Saturday, so she knew everyone would be still at home. She decided that she would apologize to Max first. She was the closest to him after all.

  “Hello?” Max said answering the phone in a confused tone.

  “Hey, Can you come over to my house please?” Sam said

  “What for?”

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “Fine. I will be right there.” Max said hanging up.

  Sam went into the living room to wait for Max. She couldn’t figure out what her dream had meant last night. While thinking about that, Max arrived.

  “Hello?” Max said walking in without knocking.

  “That was fast.” Sam said looking at him with a puzzled glance.

  “Yea. Charlee told me about last night. I was already on my way here when you called. Dillon, TJ, and Jeffrey are on their way as well. We were hoping to surprise you.”

  “Why would you want to surprise me? I have been so horrible to you all.” Sam said shocked.

  “We figured that you must have been feeling pretty awful to act the way you did.” Max said.

  “I am so sorry Max.” Sam said seriously.

  “It is ok. I forgive you.” Max said. The pair chatted about how her store was doing as well as her recovery. It did not take long for the other guys to arrive.

  “Hey.” They said in unison.

  “Hi guys. I just want to say that I am so sorry that I was an idiot.” Sam said hoping they would accept her apology.

  “I forgive you Sam Sam.” Dillon joked. “Everyone has their days.”

  “This is true.” Sam said giggling.

  “I wasn’t even aware that you had done anything wrong.” Jeffrey said choosing to make it seem like he had not noticed her imploding.

  “Seriously?” Sam asked seriously.

  “No. I forgive you.” Jeffrey said with a smile.

  “To be totally honest with you,” Tj started “I was offended. After I went home I realized it wasn’t like you to do something like that. I forgive you.”

  “Thank you guys, it means a lot to me.” Sam said smiling.

  Sam said goodbye to the guys and was still smiling when she closed the door behind them. It felt good to apologize to all her friends. She was genuinely surprised at how they all forgave her. She had thought that it would take a lot more to get their forgiveness. She was glad that her friends supported her. Sam would not have been able to fathom losing everyone over her own stupidity.

  Over the next two weeks, Sam worked hard in her physical therapy sessions. She had gotten stronger inhumanly fast. She was finally ready to give the crutches back. She felt a strange feeling of sentiment rush across her when she handed them to Sherry. George would be home in a few days, and she was looking forward to surprising him. She had definitely surprised herself in these past few weeks.

  .

  CHAPTER 14: REUNIONS

  George stepped off the plane and felt the warm breeze. He had told Roger to call Sam and tell her that he was going to be in Tokyo longer than expected, when in reality he was coming back a few days early. When he was in Tokyo, he found himself missing Sam more than he ever had. He felt like a little girl when he would see couples walking around holding hands. He just hoped that he could convince Liz and Kylee.

  Sam was not convinced that George would spend an extra 6 weeks in Tokyo. Roger had seemed too eager to get off the phone than try to convince her that he was telling her the truth. After deciding that she was going to confront Roger in person, she called a cab. Sam was determined to find out why he was lying to her. The cab took too long to get there, in Sams opinion. She jumped in and told him where to go.

  When Sam arrived at the Hotel Ameslee she was all pumped up to yell at Roger. She walked in with her head held high. She was stopped in her tracks by Roger when she got to the door.

  “Miss Samantha, What are you doing here?” He asked suspiciously.

  “I want to know why you lied to me.” She spat angrily.

  “I did not such thing.” He said calmly.

  “Then prove to me that he is not coming back for another 6 weeks!” She said still angry.

  “Ok then.” Roger said escorting her over to his desk. George had foreseen her trying something like this and had sent a fake email.

  “What is that?” Sam asked as Roger printed the fake email.

  “This is the email I received from Mr. Ames not more than an hour ago.” Roger said handing her the paper. It read:

  Roger,

  The issues here are more extensive than anyone could have imagined. I have to zone a new lot before I can come home. Please call Sam and tell her it will be at least 6 weeks before I can see her.

  -Mr. Ames

  “I am sorry for not believing you Roger.” Sam said as she turned on her heels to head out of the hotel.

  “Miss Samantha,” Roger said calling after her.

  “Yes Roger?” Sam asked turning around.

  “Here are your keys.” He said handing her the keys to her only remaining car.

  “Where did you get these?” She asked starting to feel angry again.

  “They have been here for a while Miss Samantha. Your car was picked up this morning. Did you not notice it not in your driveway?”

  “No, I did not notice that it was gone. I have been kind of single minded lately. I definitely need to snap out of it. Why was it picked up?”

  “It was scheduled to be cleaned and waxed. I was about to return it when you arrived.”

  “Thank you Roger.” Sam said as she turned to walk out the door.

  Sam came face to face with her own demons when she saw her Lamborghini. She was not sure she could drive again but she did not want to pay the return fair for the cab. She decided she would at least try and if she got too freaked out she could call someone to come and help her. She slowly got into her car, hesitating before she put the keys into the ignition.

  Sam took her time going home. She drove no more than 30 miles an hour, which also made her trip longer. She knew she was overly cautious. Usually, she would have just gotten over her fear of something and just did it, however, with all the trauma she had been through she could not bring herself to this time. When she arrived home, she headed straight for her kitchen. When Sam was upset about something, she tended to bake.

  Sam was in the middle of mixing up her last batch of cookie dough, a mere 5 hours later. She had made 15 cakes, 12 batches of muffins, 10 batches of cupcakes, and this would make 13 batches of cookies. She would need to call everyone to eat it all. Sam didn’t care though, she was just glad that it had taken her mind off of her heavy heart. She placed the cookies into the oven, when she was startled.

  “Hi Beautiful.” George said standing in the kitchen doorway.

  “What are you doing here?” Sam said excitedly, almost jumping up and down.

  “I wanted to surprise you. Although, it seems that you have a surprise yourself.” He said looking at her feet.

  “Yea, w
ell you know me, quick to heal.” She tried to joke.

  “I think that the answer is you just couldn’t stand that cast anymore and not being able to walk I am positive had an effect on it.”

  “That is true.”

  “I am happy to see you.” George said walking toward her.

  “I am glad that you came back.” She said smiling as he kissed her gently.

  “I missed you.

  “I wish that you wouldn’t leave again. It has been crazy here without you.”

  “I can’t promise that. I think that I get what you mean though. A simple I missed you too would have worked.”

  “I am sorry. I missed you too. I love you.” The words slipped out before she could stop them. It would not normally have alarmed her, but what scared her is that this time she meant it.

  “I love you too.” He said sincerely.

  “How was Tokyo?” She asked.

  “Lonely. I know this may seem strange to you but will you go steady with me?” He asked looking her dead in the eyes.

  “Steady?” Sam asked questioning his word choice. It could mean so many things and she wanted to be sure that she could find out which meaning he meant.

  “I want us to be monogamous with each other.” He said confused by her confusion.

  “Ok.” Sam said smiling still trying to maintain her composure.

  “I have to go. I will see you tomorrow though. You look like you need the sleep.” George said as he kissed her again and walked out the door. He had some business to attend to. Sam was surprisingly calm when he left. She managed to drag her tired body into her bedroom and fall asleep.

  “What is this about George?” Liz asked as he walked over to them. He had begged the girls to meet up with him at Tj’s. Kylee, Pepper, and Charlee had reluctantly agreed to do it.

  “I know that I messed up.” He started trying to make sure that everyone could hear him. “I am sorry for that.”

  “You did not ask us down here to say that.” Kylee said sarcastically.

  “No I did not.” He replied sheepishly.

  “Why did you cheat on her?” A hormonal Charlee asked.

  “It was the first time it happened so I wouldn’t be out of practice. I hadn’t had sex until that night since I left her at the beach.”

  “Why not?” Pepper asked intrigued.

  “I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

  “You swear you will never do it again?” Liz asked seriously.

  “I swear.” He answered.

  “How can you guarantee that?” Kylee asked slyly.

  “I will personally hand you the knife to cut my penis off and then pay for it to be mounted for you.” He said to them being dead serious.

  “Seriously?” Pepper asked even more intrigued than before.

  “I would never joke about things like that.” He said making sure they all saw his eyes.

  “I believe you.” Liz said after seeing how serious he was.

  “Thank you.” George said.

  “So why are we here?” Liz asked gently.

  “I asked you all here to ask your permission to marry Sam.” He winced as he finished thinking one of them would punch him.

  “Why didn’t you ask her mom?” Kylee asked curiously.

  “We all know that they are not close. If you ask Sam who her family is, she never includes her mother. She would tell you that all of you are her family, and that you four are her sisters.”

  “Ahhh.” The girls said in unison. He could tell that they thought he was being sweet.

  “So what do you say?” He asked.

  “I say, You had better treat her right and never wrong her. If we can agree on that, You have my blessing.” Pepper said all too quickly.

  “Ok, Yes.” Charlee said choosing to keep her answer short.

  “I want you to know that telling you she was in the hospital was the hardest thing I ever had to do. That being said, you reacted in a way I didn’t expect a cheating pig to react, which upped my level of respect for you. I will be watching you, but you have my blessing.” Kylee said not even taking a breath.

  “Liz?” George asked as she was the only one who had not answered.

  “When Sam got out of the hospital and apologized to us she said something that caught my attention. She told me that she loved you. Coming from Sam, especially after what she has been through, I know she means it. I hope that you don’t hurt her again. I am with Kylee on this one. You have my blessing but I will definitely be watching you.

  “Thank you girls. You have no idea what this means to me.” George said smiling.

  “How are you going to propose?” Charlee asked.

  “Actually I need your help with that.” He said slowly.

  “What do you need our help for? You have already proved that you know how to throw a party.” Pepper said naively.

  “I have arranged for an event to be held at the Waterfall on Saturday. The problem is that I have no connections when it comes to who I would need to invite. Oh, and what to put on the cake.”

  “Easy enough. You need to get a white cake with black fondant and pink paisley designs on it.” Kylee shot off faster than anyone could even think about it.

  “Why do you say that?” George asked curiously.

  “I know her favorites. You could even do the decorations the other way around and she would still love it. It has to be white cake though.”

  “Ok, I will order that tomorrow morning. Can you guys get everyone there?”

  “Of course.” Liz replied.

  “Thank you. One more thing though. Can you please not tell her?”

  “Why would we ruin the surprise?” Pepper commented slyly.

  “I meant make sure everyone else knows not to tell her.” He replied.

  “We can do that. Do we invite her mother?” Kylee asked.

  “We probably should. Just tell her we are celebrating Sam’s recovery and that it is a surprise.”

  The five of them made plans about how to get Sam to the venue without her knowing what was going on until they got there. When they had finished, they all headed home to sleep. The girls spent much of the next three days calling everyone that they could possibly thinking of. When all was said and done, the guest list had a total of almost 200 people on it. When Saturday arrived, the girls split off into position. Pepper left the house early to meet up with Kylee and Charlee to greet the guests and show them where to go. Liz called Sam to set the plan in motion.

  “Hello?” Sam answered the phone a hint of depression in her voice.

  “What is wrong?” Liz asked concerned.

  “No one is around. I went to see if Pepper wanted to have breakfast with me and she has been gone all morning.” Sam said

  “Don’t worry about it. I am sure she is just studying or something.”

  “Probably.” Sam answered.

  “Will you go somewhere with me?” Liz asked trying to mask her excitement.

  “Sure.” Sam said skeptically.

  “Thank you. I need you to drive though.” Liz said trying not to laugh.

  “Where are we going?” Sam questioned Liz.

  “Your favorite place.”

  “Ok. I will be there in a minute.” Sam said hanging up on Liz.

  Sam arrived at Liz’s home five minutes after she had hung up. Sam couldn’t help but to wonder why Liz wanted to go to the waterfall. She decided not to ask her. Sam wanted to find out when she got there. Liz got into the car with a grin on her face. She could tell Liz was trying desperately to hide something. The car ride to the waterfall was quiet. When they got there, the parking lot was full except for one space that had a sign on it. The sign read:

  Reserved for Samantha Nicole Lee

  “Why is there a sign?” Sam asked piecing together that there was some kind of surprise going on.

  “You will see.” Liz chuckled.

  “Seriously, you know how much I hate surprises.”

  “That is true. You will just have to get o
ver it. Let’s go.” Liz said leading Sam down to the waterfall. When they were about 10 feet from where you could see down the steps Liz stopped Sam in her tracks. “Time for the blindfold.” Liz said grabbing a black ribbon from one of the trees.

  “No. A surprise is one thing; I am not wearing a blindfold.” Sam said sternly.

  “Yes, it is by request. I promise it is worth it.” Liz said sweetly.

  “It better be.” Sam said bitterly as Liz tied the ribbon around her eyes. Liz led Sam the rest of the way and untied the blindfold.

  “Surprise!!!” Everyone yelled.

  “What is this?” Sam asked genuinely.

  “I won’t tell you. You need to go to the cave.” Liz said smiling.

  Sam slowly walked down the wooden steps admiring the crowd of people that had gathered. She noticed three flat screen tvs set up around the area. She could only imagine what they were for, she hoped they weren’t going to show some weird movie about her. She made her way through the path that the crowd had made to the cave. She ducked behind the falls and saw who was responsible for this gathering, George.

  “Hi Sammy.” He said sweetly.

  “Hi. What is all this.” She asked smiling as he pressed a button on a cord that had been run through the waterfall.

  “Sammy, I know you are probably a little shocked by this, but it is for a good reason.” He said teasing her with why she was really there.

  “ I am a little I suppose.”

  “I know that this will seem like it is coming too soon but I can’t live another day without asking you this question. I do not want an answer now.” He said pausing for suspense. “Will you marry me Samantha?”

  “I..” She started but then stopped because she did not know what to say.

  “I will not accept any answer that you give me today. I am taking you on vacation, you can answer me after that or whenever you are ready after that.” He said smiling.

  “Ok.” Sam said trying not to cry.

  They enjoyed their evening. The flat screen tvs ended up being a prop to make her wonder what was going on. She was amazed by the cake he had gotten her. Sam was whisked around the area talking to everyone. She had seen her mother once, but Blair made no attempt to talk to her. Sam would usually have been disappointed, but she just did not care tonight.