BMB: Version 3-2

"Have you been flirting with someone else?"

"Hell, no!" he exclaimed, stood up, and put his hands in his hair. "Since the day I met her, it's been her. Then, now, and forever, Dad! I'm gonna marry her! I haven't had an itch to even look at someone else! I don't get it! I haven't even mentioned anyone from my past. That's all just old history. And we just fit, Trin and me. I haven't changed my mind or wondered if we were going too fast. And then bam! You yell at her twice in one day, and suddenly, she's not good enough for me because she has a history, and I'm better off with someone I supposedly once dated and was meant to be with, whatever that means."

"Son, sit down," I told him and shook my head. "This has gotten out of hand. But I have a question for you. What's with Brittany? How well did you know her before she came to work here?"

"Hardly," Tommy answered and gave me a disgusted face. "I don't even really know her. She's four years younger than me. I think she was in Bethie's class."

"Why is she putting her arm around you like that?" I asked and motioned at the window to show him how I'd seen it. "And the other day, didn't you let her kiss you when we left?"

"Huh?"

"Tommy, that girl has a huge thing for you," I told him and motioned at the window again. "She just put her arm around you so intimately that I had thought it was Trin. And that day you took her home last week? She said something to you when you opened her door like you do for any woman you drive (which I taught you and am proud that you still do), and you leaned down so she could kiss you. You don't remember that?"

"Yeah, I guess," Tommy told me and shook his head. "Honestly, Dad, I don't pay attention to her. I think she told me she wanted to tell me something and waved for me to lean down so she could whisper something. I didn't feel like playing any games, so I just did it. If she kissed my cheek, I didn't think about it again which is why I don't remember it. She's just a little girl in my mind. And she's not Trin," he added, sat down, and put his head in his hands.

"Come with me," I told him and led him to Trin's office. I pointed at Trin's chair and motioned for him to sit. "You know I don't know crap about computers, but you do, at least enough to look for what I'm looking for. Did Trin's files get erased?"

Tommy opened the drives and shook his head. "Dad, it looks like everything's been erased. Even down to her own personal files. Let me check the garbage. Yep, that was erased too, so there's no getting it back."

"What about the emails?" I asked him.

"Gone," he answered after he clicked on the emails and noted that not only were the inbox messages gone, but the individual files Trin had created were empty too. "Trin didn't have time to do that yesterday, Dad. You aren't thinking..."

I cut him off. "No, son," I promised and put my hand on his shoulder. "Trinity is the most innocent person in this situation. I'm afraid our actions caused her to leave, possibly for good, simply because we were stupid enough to not see what was going on. Come on," I encouraged him. "Let's go tell Bill we're heading out for the day. He can close the shop. We need to figure some stuff out."

* * *

When I woke up at Jeremy's house, I got up from Beth's bed and left the house without saying anything to anyone. I was embarrassed and didn't want to deal with things anymore. I headed home and slept in my bed or laid there being depressed and watching videos on my phone which only made me sad or more frustrated that this is what my life was turning into.

Friday morning, I finally looked at my phone and found that it was close to dying. As I plugged it into the charger, I saw that I had missed some notifications since my sound had been turned off: 27 unread texts and 3 missed calls. The three missed calls were from Tom with short messages pleading with me to call him back so we could talk. Several of the texts were from Tom begging me to just talk to him.

One message was from Officer Dan Quinlan asking how things were going and updating me on the charges which had been made against my mom, the twins, and her two rich friends. The worse part was that the two women actually paid the twins to kidnap me. If money hadn't changed hands, nothing too major would have occurred. And Mrs. Nethers was in more trouble than anyone because she had drugged the casserole. The fact that she was proud of her creativity made it even worse. Horrible woman.

Dan sent another quick message telling me he'd met someone and was really happy with her. She had a similar story to mine, which I took to mean that she was a widow. They'd met at a convention. He promised to call me next time he was free. He had a few questions for me too. I cried after I had read that message. It was the first time I had smiled in the past three days too. I was so happy for Dan.

The final message was from Boss Man. He was asking me to please contact him. I just couldn't talk to him or deal with the crap going on yet. I set my phone down and went back to sleep. I dreamt of Dan getting married, but I was there in the church in all black, even wearing a dramatic veil and holding black roses in hand, and when the minister had asked if anyone had any objections, I stood up and told him that if I couldn't be happy, no one should be!

I woke up screaming. Jen came running in to see what was wrong. When I finally calmed down, she had to reassure me that Dan was fine, no wedding was ruined, and it was just a dream! I cried and cried until she finally called Dan and had me talk to him. I apologized repeatedly. Finally, Jen and Dan just laughed about it. I got calmed down and ended up giving my best effort at laughing too. Dan promised to call back soon and wished us well.

Jen begged me to get up and eat and take a shower and maybe go for a walk, but I refused. I was just too depressed. She checked my phone and grunted as she attended to it. Whatever she typed to whomever she typed it to had been done, and I had no say in it. The worst part was that I didn't care. She finally gave up on trying to get me to function and left my door open so that she could check on me. She knew I wouldn't waste the energy to get up and close it myself. I knew that if I did close it, she'd come back and open it again.

Saturday morning, I woke up and made myself function as a semi-normal human. For the time that I was in the shower, I opened my window and aired out my room. I took a long shower too, letting the hot water wash away all the crappy feelings I had and the dirty depression out of me. I even shaved. I asked Jen to do something with my hair and she practically hugged me when I asked it of her.

I cleaned the house and made a nice lunch for the three of us. Dougie mostly lived with us, so I always included him on everything. I declined the invite to watch a movie with them and sat at the table to read a few things on my phone. I wrote to Dan to apologize for my less than spectacular episode the day before and told him I was so excited about his new special person. I promised to answer anything he asked, and until then, I'd be praying for them.

Jen came in and sat at the table. "Trinny, can you do me a favor?" She looked worried.

"What's the matter?" I asked and took her hand.

"I ran out of tampons!" she exclaimed quietly. "Would you be willing to go get some more for me? Plus, it'll be good to get out of the house. Do you mind? You know the kind I use. It would do us both a favor."

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously?" I asked and gave her the look that goes with a whiny complaint. "Ugh, you'd better be thankful that I would do anything for you." I got up to go grab my purse and took my phone off the table before making my way out to the car to drive to the store for the tampons she apparently needed right that second.

I walked into the store and headed for the section I needed to get Jen's requested items. I thought for a second about anything I would need and then laughed quietly to myself. I'd gotten so accustomed to shopping once a month for the things I'd need for the next month that I knew I not only didn't need anything but had a backup stash for just in case. And since I hadn't had my period in two months now, I really didn't need anything.

I entered the aisle and walked straight to the tampons. Once I had her exact size and quantity as requested, I turned and stopped dead in my tracks. Oh, you have got to be kidding me, I thought to myself. The uneasy feeling I got in my abdomen just then hit me like a freight train. Ouch?! I'd heard of butterflies in the tummy before, but sheesh! I then slapped on a sad attempt of a smile on my face as I prepared to face him.

"Hey, Trin," Tom greeted me. I noted that he had a pack of condoms in his hands. Well, that didn't take long.

"Hi. Oh, good for you," I told him quietly and nodded. Pain resonated again in my belly. What drugs were those butterflies on?

"Oh, good," he said and pointed at the package in my hands. "I was wondering." Wait, what? I looked down at the tampons. If only he knew.

"I, um, I have to go." I hurried to the checkout counter and found there to be a line.

"Looks like we both have to wait, huh?" Tom offered and sniffed a laugh.

"Busy night," I told him quietly and closed my eyes for a few seconds.

I got checked out and headed for the parking lot. Tom was on my heels quicker than I had thought. "Trin. Here, uh, I kinda thought you'd be at Jeremy's house tonight, so I went ahead and told Dougie I'd grab these for him when he asked me to pick them up and bring them over. It's silly to have us both drive to your house. Can you take these back with you?" I closed my eyes behind my sunglasses and shook my head.

"What are they up to?" I asked quietly. "I'm here for Jen. She sent me to pick these up for her. Apparently, it was an emergency."

"Dougie too. So, um, tampons and condoms don't generally get used at the same time, right? Like..."

"No, Tom," I told him and smiled. "We've been set up." I extended my hand. "I'll take those. Do you need the money for them? I can get him to pay me back if you want me to give you the money now."

"No, Trin," he said softly. He handed me the box which I put in the bag with Jen's "emergency" tampons. "I don't want your money. His neither. Um, so, yeah, alright. I'll see you later."

"Tom?" I called out suddenly, surprising myself.

Tom turned quickly. "Yeah?" He appeared to have such hope in his eyes. It made me so sad.

"I'm really sorry," I told him with great sadness. I really was. "Please tell your dad I would never have done anything to mess with his business or with any of you guys. Until 29 days ago, I loved my job more than I've ever loved a workplace. It turned out to just not be a job for me, I guess. And it wasn't just because you were there. It was where I thought I was really meant to be. Thanks for that. Please tell your dad that I will always be thankful for the opportunity."

"You didn't have to quit, Trin," Tom told me sadly. "If you didn't want to see me or work with me, we could have worked something out."

"Tom," I sighed. "This isn't about you. Where I once fit in there, I just don't fit anymore. I was well passed capacity with what I could stand. It was time, unfortunately. God, I wish it hadn't worked out like this. But with two strikes in one day affiliated with my name, and then when he told me that I wasn't to be expected to be given special treatment because I was with you, I just knew something was wrong, and I had to get out of that situation." I put up my hands when I saw that he was going to argue.

"I'm just so sorry. I meant what I said, Tom. I love you. I will always love you. But you deserve better. Someone who I think has had a place in your heart for way longer. Go make things right and have a beautiful life with her. Get married. Have babies. Enjoy all those experiences that couples get to have as lots of firsts together. I did that already. Go do that with someone who has had your heart for a long time and can now give hers back to you too. Have a great life, Tom. I wish you only the best."

Before he could say anything, I walked away. I got into my car, winced at the pain my both my heart and my stomach, and drove out of the parking lot. It wasn't until I'd parked in my garage, turned off my car, and closed the door that I began to sob. Then I began to wail. My heart hurt, yes, but my stomach hurt more. Out of nowhere. What was happening? I was about to get out of the car, but things began to swim all around me. My hands grew numb, and my sight grew dizzy until I didn't remember anything more.

***

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this next installment of the BMB series. I'm so excited to finally be sharing my works. I hope you enjoyed getting to meet a different version of Tommy and Trin. Oh, how I do love them, and with each version of their story, I hope you'll find yourself rooting for them too. The next section will bring us to the final part of this third version. The more I write about them, the longer the versions seem to get.

The basics throughout all the stories will remain solid. Trin is a young widow who lost her husband and two young daughters. That never changes, but details about the loss aren't always as detailed. Tommy (though he's mostly Tom in this one!) and Trin will always be the main couple. Jen is Trin's lifelong best friend, and, as promised, is showcased well this time around! Most other details will be played around with amongst the upcoming versions. Patience and trust, I beg of thee!

All my best to you... I'd better get back to work now! Lots to add so you readers can enjoy! - CILMArae