Unknown (16 page)

“Ohhhh.” The competition in Dallas was the following week. If she went then she’d miss their weekend together.

She gave him a rueful grin. “Exactly. I don’t want to miss the competition, we’ve both been looking forward to it so I told her no.”

It warmed his heart that she’d put their plans over something like the
Vogue
shoot, but he couldn’t in good conscience let her pass it up. “So how hard is it to get the cover of this magazine?”

Samantha pulled her knees up to her chest and placed her chin upon them. “Next to impossible. There’s only twelve a year with every model in the world begging for the spot.”

“Then it would be safe to say it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing?”

She nodded. “Yeah. But I don’t want that anymore.”

He could tell by the hesitancy in her voice that she was lying. “Darlin’ just because you live with me here in
Farmland doesn’t mean you can’t still have some of the life you used to.”

She laughed at the term
Farmland
and lifted her eyes to meet his. “But nothing with Mom comes without a price. And I’d miss the competition.”

Despite his disappointment over them missing the weekend he had planned, he wanted her happy and they could reschedule. “There’s tons of competitions. That doesn’t seem to be the case with this
Vogue
thing. Darlin’ I want you to go, spend the week with your mother and when you come back, we’ll sign up for the next competition.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him and crinkled up her nose. “You really think I should go?”

“Why not?”

“Yeah.” She chewed at her lower lip as she turned to face him. “I don’t know. I guess maybe I just don’t trust my mother.”

“What’s she going to do, really, lock you in the attic and not let you out?”

Laughing she gave his shoulder a little swat. “Hahaha. Yeah, I get it. I have nothing to lose and as soon as it’s over I can come right back.” A gleam of excitement shone in her eyes. “Hey, maybe you can come with me?”

“I can’t. Not for a week. And not if we’ll be going to the next competition.” Seeing the excitement in her eyes over the
Vogue
shoot scared him. A small part of him feared she’d never come back. But when it came right down to it this would be a good test; if she came back then what they had was for real and her statements that she wanted to be there were genuine. The longer he thought about it the more he thought this was an excellent idea.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

She smiled wide, giggling, and threw herself into his arms. “Ohmygod! I’m going to be in
Vogue
!”

~*~*~*~

“Oh sweetheart, I’m so happy you decided to come back.” Virginia Wilkes wrapped her daughter into a warm embrace.

Samantha’s body tensed against her mother as she let out a loud puff of air. “I’m not back, Mother, I’m just visiting.”

Her mother stepped back and waved a dismissive hand at Sam. “Yes, yes. Well, we’ll discuss that later honey. For now let’s get you settled back in.” Samantha didn’t bother to bring anything with her, in fact, she intended to rent a U-Haul and bring much of her stuff back to Idaho.

“I didn’t bring any bags with me.”

Her mother frowned. “Oh. I see.” As quickly as the frown appeared, it disappeared, replaced with a smile. “No worries, you have tons of clothes and we can go to 5
^th
Avenue and do some shopping.” Her mother’s eyes scanned her appearance, wearing her Walmart jeans and graphic t-shirt. “First thing is first. We need to put you on a juice cleanse immediately. Not to be hurtful dear, but you’ve gotten fat. It’s going to be hard, but with a strict regimen this next week we should get you in decent enough shape.”

“Mother, I’m not fat.”

Her mother rolled her eyes and motioned for her to follow into the small penthouse ballroom. “Come. Follow me. I need you to inspect the decorations for your coming home party tonight. I’ve already invited all your friends.”

“What friends would they be? Certainly not anyone around here unless you’re flying people in from Idaho.” She’d become quite close to Gina and a number of other women in town. For the first time she knew what a true friend was and realized how shallow her relationships with people in Manhattan really had been. She had no desire to fraternize and play nice with the people who claimed to be her friends and then abandoned her.

Virginia huffed loudly and shook her head in indignation. “Oh please Samantha. Stop being so damned melodramatic.”

Walking with her mother into the ballroom she scanned the room decorated very elegantly in gold and silver. It brought a smile to her lips when she mentally compared this set-up to the barn dance decorations.

Seeing the smile on Samantha’s lips and assuming it was due to the beauty of the room, Virginia smiled as well. “So you like it?”

Samantha fingered the fine linen tablecloth and eyed the crystal centerpieces, filled with fragrant roses and carnations. There were ten tables with eight place settings each already set up. Eighty people attending her “welcome home” party, but none of those eighty was willing to help her when she was sent to Idaho. The whole idea disgusted her. They were all a bunch of hypocrites. She wanted to refuse to go, but knew she needed to play nice.

One week and I’ll be done with the Vogue shoot and I can get back to Connor and the farm
, she told herself. It had only been six hours and she already missed Connor. Over the past three months she’d spent virtually every minute of each day with him and she liked it like that. Some people would say it was unhealthy, but it felt right. She suspected a week without him was going to be sheer torture.

“Well, do you like it or not?”

“Yes Mother. It’s spectacular, but I’m sure you knew that already.”

Virginia shot an annoyed glare her way, but immediately softened. “You know what we need to do?”

“What’s that?”

“Shopping. The party is formal so we need to find you a gown right away.”

Samantha laughed; the last shopping trip she’d been on was Walmart. She wanted to tell her mother not to bother, that she’d use something in her closet, but as much as she hated to admit it, her mother was right, she had gained weight, roughly ten pounds, just enough that she knew nothing in her closet would fit properly. She was sure she was already the gossip of the Upper East Side, she didn’t need to give them any more reason to sneer.

“So honey, are we going?”

Samantha nodded. She had no choice. “Let’s go.”
 

~*~*~*~*~

Samantha felt like she was going to vomit as she looked down on the small ballroom from the second-floor balcony and saw all the glamorous people. Each and every one were phony to the core. How dare they come to her home on the pretense of being her friend?

Gathering her courage, she made her way down the staircase that led to the first floor. As people noticed her descending they became quiet and all stared. It made her nervous. What were they all thinking? As she reached the last stair the guests began to clap. At one time she would have relished the feeling, but now it felt weird.

“It’s about time you got down here Samantha,” her mother hissed in her ear. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

“I was getting ready. My god, Mother, calm down.”

“You know appearances are everything, I would have thought time at the farm would have made you appreciate something like this.”

Just the opposite,
she mused looking out into the sea of faces, all watching her and her mother.

“I’m so glad to see you back!” Serena, a beautiful, tall, slender woman came rushing up to her, pulling her into a warm embrace. Serena was
supposed
to be her best friend; three months of not calling told her otherwise.

Serena was followed by Natalie, a stunning black woman who was becoming a rising star in the modelling industry. She’d also been a good friend for years. “You look incredible, Sam!” Natalie stepped back and eyed her. “Is that Vera Wang?”

Samantha pasted a smile on her face.
I’m not going to let them see there was a change in me. Not going to let them. As far as they need to know, nothing has changed.
“Yes it is.”

She became more and more saddened as the night wore on. People approaching her, giving her hugs, claiming how much they missed her. It saddened her that she’d spent so many years confident these were her friends and that they’d turned their backs on her, but another part of her was angry. They all acted like she’d willingly gone away on vacation and that everything could go back to normal – just as if she’d been sent to rehab. Although if she was honest with herself, before Idaho and Connor, she would have acted the exact same way. Not a single one apologized or attempted to make up some excuse. None. Not that it surprised her.

It was going to be a long, long week.

Chapter 18

“What?” Connor met William’s stare as he set his bottle of beer down onto the bar.

William grinned. “It’s only been five days, man.”

“I know, I just…” He missed her. They’d become a team. She opened up to living on the farm and they’d become a team. She spent most of her time roping and practicing for the competition, which he had no doubt she would have won, but she also helped out. A grin suddenly spread across his lips.

“What’s so funny?”

“Remember when we had her retrieve the eggs from the chickens in the coop?”

William laughed. “She kept attempting to stick her hand under the chicken, but then would pull it back thinking they were going to bite her.”

Connor laughed along with him. “But she did it. She tried really hard.” She’d tried so hard to impress him and she’d not only impressed him, but stolen his heart in the process.

With his laughter slowing, William gave Connor a pat on the shoulder. “She changed, Connor. She isn’t near the same woman who showed up screaming she was kidnapped.”

Connor was hit by another bout of laughter.

“I know. But what if she remembers how much she loved her life in Manhattan? What if she decides she’d prefer her food prepared for her by some chef instead of having to coax it away from chickens or harvest it from the livestock?”

“Then you move on, man. You move on.”

Connor thrust a hand into his hair and sighed. “I don’t want to move on without her.”

“Then you either go to New York and drag her back kicking and screaming, perhaps resenting you for ruining her big chance at something she’s always wanted, or, you have faith she cares enough for you and life here that she does as she says and comes back.”

“Yeah.” Grabbing his beer, Connor took another hearty swig, drinking down the remainder of the bottle.

“Think of this as a good thing. When she comes back it’s because she wants to be here.”

“Yeah.” Connor motioned for the bartender and ordered another beer, number four for the night.

“Where’s your old woman Hudson, she dump your ass before she ends up like the last one?”

Connor’s entire body froze hearing Mark’s voice behind him.

You promised Samantha you wouldn’t do anything
, he reminded himself. Between the beers and the tension within him already, following through with his promise to Samantha was going to be a test of willpower.

“I think you should move on brother,” William responded.

“Can’t speak for yourself Hudson?”

“Move on Mark,” Connor said, accepting a new beer from the bartender and passing him a bill in payment.

“Not so tough when you’re not trying to impress some bitch huh?”

Connor was off of the bar stool, turning to face Mark, and slamming his fist into Mark’s smirking face before Mark or anyone else in the bar for that matter knew what was going on. Unlike the previous encounter, Mark didn’t go down as easily.

Pulling his fist back Mark returned the blow, catching Connor on the left side of his jaw. A wicked pain flowed over him, but he refused to allow it to stop him. With a low growl, Connor tackled Mark and both men fell backward onto the closest table. Bottles and glasses went sailing through the air, spilling the contents and shattering on the wooden floor. Patrons of the bar watched in shock and amazement as the men traded blows while falling onto the floor.

Connor barely felt the blows he was receiving to his face and stomach as his primary focus was to hurt the other man. It wasn’t until he was pulled from Mark by a couple pairs of powerful arms, saw the bloodied state of the other man and felt the warm blood flowing from his nose and metallic taste in his mouth that he began to feel the pain in much of his body. Mark, being held back by Jeff and one of the town’s deputies, glared at him as he spit out a mouthful of blood.

“This isn’t over, Hudson.”

“It is over, Cooper,” the sheriff stated, standing between Connor and Mark. The sheriff turned to face Connor and shook his head. “I really expect better than bar brawling from you Connor.”

“Yeah, well, maybe you don’t know me as well as you think, Sheriff.” Truthfully the sheriff knew him extremely well, they’d grown up together and he and Grant Thomas had been close friends all through school until he moved away.

“What I do know is that you two are going to be spending a night or two in lockup.”

“Is that really necessary, Sheriff?” William asked from behind Connor.

“This is the second time these two have gotten into it.” The sheriff’s gaze caught Connor’s. “Don’t think I didn’t hear about the tussle you two men had at the barn dance a while back.”

“He deserved it then and deserves it now Grant,” Connor growled.

“The end result’s the same.” He motioned to the men behind Connor and then those holding Mark. “Put them in separate cars, men, and take them to the station.”

Unlike Mark who began yelling obscenities, Connor didn’t bother to fight as the deputies guided him out of the bar and placed him into the back of the sheriff’s car.

~*~*~*~*~

“Mother, shouldn’t we be getting ready to leave for Italy?” They were supposed to be having the shoot the following afternoon, but from her knowledge her mother hadn’t begun packing or even mentioned when they were catching the flight.