CJ Fisher Finds Love

Sam kept wiping the tears from her eyes as she drove home with a broken heart. Cursing herself for falling for another player. His betrayal hurt more than the mental and physical abuse that she endured at the hands of Jonathan. A hundred knives piercing her heart would not hurt as much as what CJ had done. She might not have believed Donna if he hadn’t shown up when he did, it only confirmed her story. Her feet felt like they were made of lead as she dragged herself from the car and into the house, locking the door behind her. Her knees gave out from under her and she sank to the floor, covering her face with her hands she wept. Her head hurt, shoulders shook as she cried a river of tears.

She wasn’t sure how long she had laid there, on the floor when she heard a loud banging on the door. She heard CJ’s voice yelling through the door and she got to her feet, leaning against it.

“Sam, Sam open up and let me in. I know you’re in there, I’m not leaving until you talk to me. Come on, baby. I swear I never called her, she was lying to you to try and break us up. Tell me what I can do to fix this.”

“Just go away,” she screamed through the door.

“I can’t, you are a part of my life and I can’t live without you.”

“You’re going to have to because we’re over. I will never be able to trust you, I want nothing more to do with you. If you ever had any feelings for me that were real then you’ll respect my decision and go away.”

He leaned his forehead against the coolness of the door. “I love you, Sam.” He waited, hoping that by confessing his love for her she would open the door and believe that he was an innocent victim of Donna’s evil plan to break them up. When she didn’t he pleaded with her again. “Baby, I love you, let me in.”

“Just leave, please,” she cried out.

With a heavy heart, CJ turned and walked away. He could hear her crying, her sobs broke his heart. He couldn’t lose the only woman he had ever loved over what that lying bitch had told her. He could only pray that once she had time to think she would realize that Donna was not telling her the truth. At home, he opened a bottle of whiskey and poured a large shot into a glass. He was exhausted from working and the drive home, sitting on the sofa and feeling sorry for himself continued drinking until he passed out.

Not having heard from Sam after several calls to her Dakota and Parker went over to check on her. The kids were still at a sleepover with friends. As far as they knew CJ hadn’t come home from volunteering. They were shocked to see her when she opened the door. Her eyes were almost swollen shut, her face red and blotchy and her nose red. It was obvious she had been crying for hours.

“My God Sam, what’s wrong?” Dakota asked, following her inside. They went and sat in the other room, She looked at Parker. “Go make us some coffee.”

Sam curled up on the sofa, pulling the blanket up to her chin.

“Honey, tell me what happened, is it CJ? Has something happened to him?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Dakota put her arm around Sam’s shoulder. “Whatever it is I’m sure it’s not all that bad and maybe it will help to talk about it.”

“It’s CJ. I went over to his place last night, to surprise him. He said he wouldn’t be home until late and that he’d see me today. I was going to tell him I’d move in with him but when I got there Donna was already there, wearing nothing but one of his shirts. She told me he called and asked her to meet him at his place.” Sam wiped her tears away. “He lied to me, said he wouldn’t be home so that he could be with that bitch.”

Parker walked in, having heard what was being said handed Sam her mug of coffee. “Was he home when you got there?”

Sam looked up at him and she was surprised to see he was angry. “No, but he showed up ten minutes after I got there. So what she told me must be true, he planned on spending the night with her and then come see me in the morning. We’re through, I’ll never forgive him.”

Parker’s chest puffed out, his lips pressed firmly together as he got to his feet.

“Where are you going?” Dakota asked but had already guessed.

“Out, I’ll be back soon, stay here with Sam.” With that said he walked out, jumped into his truck and headed to CJ’s to give him a piece of his mind.

When he got there he marched right in, not bothering to knock he called out his name. “CJ, where are hell are you.” Getting no answer he headed into the living room, stopped and shook his head when he saw CJ passed out on the sofa, an empty whiskey bottle laid on the floor. Going over he shook CJ. “Wake up so that I can knock you down.”

CJ opened his eyes, grabbed his head and let out a loud groan. “Stop yelling Parker, my fucken head is killing me.”

“Just look at the shape of you. Wait here, I’ll make a pot of strong coffee and then you can explain why you broke Sam’s heart.”

Hearing her name his head shot up, causing the pain to ripple up his neck and into his head, making him wince. “Sam, you’ve seen her. How is she?”

“How do you think she is? The girl is devastated. How could you do that to her?”

“I didn’t do anything, Parker, it was a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding, are you crazy? She finds you with Donna when you told her you weren’t going to be home. You really blew the best thing to ever happen to you.”

CJ shook his head. “No, no it wasn’t like that. I had no idea that woman was here.”

Parker sighed loudly. “Let me make that coffee and you can tell me all about it. But I swear CJ. If you’re just screwing around I’m going to be pissed off. Dakota is with her, trying to comfort her and let me tell you my wife is really mad at you right now.”

Coffee was made and with two of the hottest and the worse tasting drinks he’d ever had was finally starting to feel human again. He explained everything to Parker right down to where she slapped him, saying they were through and how he threw Donna out wearing nothing but his shirt. “You should have seen the look of hurt and betrayal in Sam’s eyes. It’s one that will haunt me for the rest of my life.” He placed his head in his hands. “What am I going to do Parker?”

Parker felt bad for his friend and knew he was telling the truth. “First of all, you need to give her some space. Give her time to calm down and I’m sure she’ll then listen to you.”

CJ snickered and looked up at Parker. “That sounds like the same advice I gave you when Dakota showed up on your doorstep. Did you listen?”

“No, I didn’t. It’s easy giving advice but taking it is harder. Whatever you do don’t push her too hard or you’ll lose her for good. Get yourself cleaned up and have something to eat. I’m sorry pal but I have to go pick up the kids. Come by the house later if you want someone to talk to.”

CJ gave Parker a weak smile. “You sure Dakota won’t try and beat my ass?”

“I’ll talk to her,” he said, laughing he left CJ to clean up. He didn’t want to say anything to him but he had a gut feeling it would be a long time before Sam talked to him, if ever.

CJ showered and then made himself some toast. He tried phoning Sam but she wasn’t answering. Since she had call display on her phone she would have known it was him. He thought about taking Parker’s advice to stay away, giving her time but he couldn’t. Grabbing his keys drove to her place. Her car was at home so he knew she was there. He knocked on the door over and over till his knuckles hurt.

“Sam, I know you’re in there, we need to talk.”

“Go away,” she screamed through the closed door. “I never want to talk to you again.” She leaned against the door, wishing he would just leave and when she heard his car drive away she sank to the floor, shedding more tears. Her morning was spent with Dakota who tried to persuade her to talk to CJ, saying there had to be a reasonable explanation for Donna being at his place. She didn’t believe that CJ would cheat on her, saying that he had deep feelings for her and was possibly in love with her.

With a lack of sleep, Sam got ready for work the following morning. She had thought about calling in sick but decided against it. She was not going to let what happened stop her from living, she would learn to live without CJ and his touch. Being a small town they were bound to run into each other, but she would avoid him as much as possible.

Just before the lunch rush hour started she saw CJ walk into the diner and turned to Crissy. “I want you to take his order.”

“But he’s in your section and you know Ward won’t like it,” Crissy wined.

“I don’t care if Ward likes it or not. If you won’t serve him I’ll walk out and I won’t come back.”

“OK, OK, I’ll serve him. So what happened between you two?”

“It’s just over. I’m going to take my break now, let me know when he’s gone.” She turned and fled into the back room.

“What can I get you, Mr. Fisher?” Crissy asked him when she went to his table.

CJ looked around. “I thought this was Sam’s section.”

“It is but she went on her break.”

He knew that Sam had seen him and that was why she decided to take her break. Laying the menu down he stood up. “Never mind, I lost my appetite.” Shoulders slumped he walked out and headed back to his office.

Sam was so glad when her shift ended and she could go home. First, she had to stop at the store and buy a few groceries. Paying for the food and with packages in her arms she headed out of the store and was grateful when someone held the door open for her. That is until she looked up and saw it was CJ. Her heart felt like it stopped beating, he looked tired and had dark circles around his eyes but he still looked so damn hot.

“Sam,” her name was barely a whisper falling from his mouth. “Can I help you with those?” he asked, pointing to the bags she was carrying. He wanted so badly to take her in his arms, to kiss her beautiful lips and tell her it was all a mistake, that what she thought wasn’t true. He got no answer from her when she pushed her way past him and out the door without looking back at him.

It was a shock running into CJ so soon, just seeing him she wanted to break down and cry. She had fallen hard for him in such a short time and he betrayed her. She had talked to her mother earlier that morning and told her everything. Her parents wanted her to sell the farm and come stay with them. But she wasn’t going to let CJ or any man take away her independence. She was more determined than ever to make a home for herself in the place she loved, in a place she had always dreamed of spending the rest of her life in. It would take time but she was convinced that a time would come when seeing CJ wouldn’t have a devastating effect on her. Maybe someday they could be friends. It was only a matter of time before he found someone else, or maybe end up with Donna.