Chapter 29 Who is in the Garden?

Brenda could not stop herself from tearing up. Tears blurred her vision, she turned away from him. It was the last straw. She couldn t get on with man he s become. The most painful part was when Dave handed the girl something, and then stood there, kissing her back. If it were another girl maybe she wouldn t have been too bothered but it was the same lady that followed him out of the club the night they ran into each other, they must have some sort of arrangement she s not down with. She turned on her heels hastily, and then left the garden. She could hear him calling to her but she was too distraught to even chance a look at him. She heard him walking towards her but she was beyond caring, she ran as fast as her high heels could carry her not minding bumping into anyone with her blurry eyes; she was too broken by the sight of Dave locked in another woman s embrace. And what was that in the lady s hand, a check because she did a good job of flaunting it in her eyes. Dave played her for a fool all these time. Without thinking she ran to the streets and entered the first cab that stopped for her, giving the cab man instructions to her apartment, the cab drove off.

Dave stood on the street watching the tale light disappear. "What a big mess" he went inside to have a chat with his PA and excused himself. He got to the car park considering which car to pick, he finally chose the car he wanted to surprise Brenda with- A white convertible. He wanted something that suits her person- Elegant, pristine and sturdy. He was hoping he could present it to her after their after-party private dinner, but Rosie came and spoilt things for him with her unwanted presence.

He drove out of the premises and headed for Brenda s house.

***

Greg Lurked in the corner watching all the happenings from the comfort of his car. He was smiling like the proverbial cat that got the Cream. He had remembered seeing Rosie at the club, and had located her. It didn t take much persuasion for her to be convinced to come and trouble the waters of Dave and Brenda s seemingly relationship. He told her that Dave would soon be announced as the official governorship candidate and this was her chance if there was ever any to reap the fruits of all her labor. They all had played in to his hands. And now all he had to do was be a knight in shining armor to comfort the princess in distress. He was certain if he called Brenda she would pick up; not only because she was upset right now. But because she still sees him as her friend, and she would think him honorable for respecting her wishes and most importantly because she was feeling guilty that she caused a strain in their relationship. So she would want to take any olive branch to at least restore their friendship, especially now that she needed someone. But before then he had other businesses to quickly attend to.

He picked his phone.

"Hello, the coast is clear, can you come out now?" Greg said into the phone.

Soon, Rosie voluptuous self came back outside, looking around to see if no one was watching, she slipped into the Greg s car. "You really shouldn t want to meet here, what if someone saw us."

"Nobody can, they both went away."

"So, what s the update?" Greg asked curiously wanting to know how it went.

"Well, thanks for introducing me to this deal. I m a little richer from it" Rosie fanned herself with the crisp bank sheet.

"Well you can be a whole lot richer" Greg explained to Rosie "Do you know how much you can earn, if he became the governor?" Greg could see Rosie s greedy eyes reasoning what he s just said. "All you have to do is to follow my lead."

"Okay, I m in. I won t pass up any opportunity to make more money" Rosie announced snapping her chewing gum.

"Great, so get out of the car, we ll talk more soon." Greg stretched and pushed open the passenger side door for her"

"Okay, talk to you later."

Rosie watched Greg s car disappeared into the night. A small smile curved her lips, and a dangerous glint in her eyes. She sashayed into hotel. She needed to acquaint with some of the staff, even if it meant parting with some of her hard earn cash. She has to know all there is to know about Dave and his lady love.

***

Brenda phone rang again. This time it was Greg, not David who has been calling incessantly for the past minutes. She was not in the mood to talk to anyone at least not tonight, and definitely not a man. In her opinion, all men are scum bags. She got herself into her home and locked the door behind her.

Brenda threw herself on the bed and cried. All the emotions she felt earlier rushed back.

She heard a knock on her door; she ignored it. She was so upset to talk to anyone. After a long while the knock stopped. She went out of her bedroom. She checked the window, without tuning the switch on. She saw Dave pacing in her parking lot. Only that no car was parked there, except his white car. She had never seen that particular car before and it really looked new. Almost like the seat were still wrapped in rubber, but she couldn t be sure. It s none of her business; whatever he chose to do with his money at least he s a billionaire. But he shouldn t toy with her heart the way he might toy with other things in his possession.

She watched him made a move- like he wanted to come back to her frontage but changed his mind; he got into the car and zoomed off.

Brenda sat on the floor and the tears came again. She was really drained both physically and emotionally. She went back to the room took her dress off and lay on the bed. All the exhaustion of party-planning caught up with her, she slept off.

***

Brenda woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. Her head ached and her stomach growled. She felt like she d lost like a pound since yesterday night. Her stomach walls were crying for mercy. She remembered she didn t eat anything since breakfast the previous day. She was too excited about the party to stomach anything. A party that turned into a horror movie before the night ended. And with that she was wide awake. She stretched her hand to pick her phone from under the pillow, where she must have subconsciously hid it to muffle the constant ringing. It was her Daddy calling her this time. It was kind of a relief. But even then she would need strength to talk to her Daddy too. Why are all the men in her life behaving in a manner she couldn t even start naming? The time on the phone says it s just 6:00 Am on Sunday morning.

The phone stopped ringing, thankfully; she went to the bathroom and quickly did her morning rituals. Maybe she could drop by at the church. Everyone needs a form of spirituality; something inspirational to keep them going when the going gets tough. For her, it s going to church. That s the only place she could really feel her peace whenever she was troubled. Although it s been a while she attended but "God is never angry at you when you skip church, he s always welcoming with arms wide opened anytime you get back to him"- those were her mum s words those times she was too sick to even consider going to church. Those words impressed on her since she was like five years old before her mum passed on. So to church she went. She had a quick breakfast, pushing all thoughts of Dave and the night before from her mind. She dressed up, booked a cab and went out of the house when her cab driver honked his arrival.

She got to the morning service early. Something about doing things early appeal to everything she was, Brenda thought. It makes you have a great head start on things; like going to church early, Brenda, worshiped with her whole heart, and then sat down and listened to the minister s words. He was saying something about how God speaks, if only we choose to hear him. He said something about talking to God, and then waiting from him to speak back to you through his words or into your spirit man. Something Brenda needed desperately giving everything going on in her life. The service was over and she was glad she came. She made the decision to sort out the mess in her life by speaking to her father first, and hear what he had to say for disappointing her and lying to her for this long. As for Dave, she was not ready to speak to him. If she would be truthful to herself it s not only about the event with the club lady, but if they would pursue a relationship they needed to sort out everything in the past that was hanging over their heads. And she didn t think she was emotionally ready to dig into all that.

Brenda waited outside the church for her cab driver to arrive; she made a quick call to her father.

"You don t know how relieved I am to hear from you." She heard him over the phone his voice sounded tired. "When you didn t pick up in the morning I thought you were not ready to talk to me."

"Hello Dad" Brenda closed her eyes at the sound of her father s voice. She really missed him.

Just then her Cab driver arrived. "Sorry Dad, I'll call you back when I get home. I m just living the church."

"Okay, I will wait for your call," he hesitated before adding, "I love you Brenda."

"I love you too Dad, but I have to go now, I don t want to keep the cab man waiting. Talk to you soon."

She hopped into the cab, quickly tendered her apology to him. She gave directions to her apartment.

She got home and the first person she saw waiting in the car for her, was Dave Campbell.

She wasn t expecting him, though somewhere in her heart she d hoped for him to show up. Even though she wasn t ready to talk to him, it still felt nice to see him waiting, then she would know he still cared even just a tiny little bit about her.

Immediately he saw her alight from the cab. He got down looking tall and deliciously handsome in a casual wear of light and skin fitted white polo shirt on black denim, complemented by a Nike white sport shoe. He looked tall handsome and ready to eat. Why does he have to be this handsome? His dark shiny crop wave hair sparkle under the bright sun. Get a grip girl. She schooled her emotions by allowing the image of him and Rosie float into her vision again, so as to kindle her waning anger.

Dave knew she was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, the moment she stepped out of the car; Irrespective of the clauses in their relationship. She looked beautiful with her glowing face rarely in need of makeup. She looked peaceful and content, probably because she was coming from church judging by the small bible in her hand. The skirt she wore clung beautifully to her body, accentuating her slim waist and curvy hips, her fitted white shirt tucked into her skirt, held firmly with a gold belt, was slightly opened at the neck to reveal a tiny gold chain, sitting just around her neck. She looked taller, made so by the golden high heeled stilettos. She's simply the woman of my dreams.