and hit it off. I saw her every day for the entire week of the show. By the end of the week, I was in love, and so was she. At least I believed so at the time. She said she was from Oklahoma, her parents were gone, and she had no other relatives. That statement alone made me want to jump in and protect her with my life. I talked her into coming back here to Baltimore with me. I didn’t have to do a hard sell. She wanted to come. Two weeks later, we got married by a justice of the peace. Sara arranged the whole thing.”
Nikki reared back and stared at Conover, who just glared at her. “She actually said she had no relatives.”
Conover’s hands fluttered in the air. “She said she was all alone in the world now that her parents were gone. I had no reason to doubt her. Besides, I was hopelessly in love, and I admit it.”
Maggie’s tone was sour when she said, “But now you’re divorced. What happened, if you don’t mind telling us.”
Conover got up and walked over to the counter to pour himself a second cup of coffee. He looked questioningly at Nikki and Maggie, who shook their heads.
Conover was back at the table, his eyes staring off into space. “The first year was pure magic. It was everything a guy could want plus more. I thought my life was perfect. Oh, we squabbled, but we always kissed and made up. Nothing serious. Sara did hate this kitchen, though, but she wasn’t much of a cook, so it really didn’t matter. I like to cook, so I didn’t really mind. Sara never got a job once we moved here. She liked to sleep in, go out to lunch, shop, do all the girly things you women do. You know, facials, manicures, pedicures, that kind of thing. I indulged her because it made her happy, and if she was happy, then I was happy.”
“What went wrong? You said the first year was wonderful. What happened in the second year and the third year?” Nikki asked.
Conover blinked as he knuckled his eyes. “I’m not sure. Whatever it was, it was subtle and just crept up on me. It started off with her going back and forth to Oklahoma to, as she put it, settle her parents’ estate during the second year. She’d stay six weeks at a time. Here’s the kicker, she’d call me almost every day, and I never knew and still do not know the name of the town where she lived. She referred to the town as a pimple on the butt of a monkey, explaining it was no place anyone wanted to live and that those who did live there couldn’t wait to leave, just like she had. For some strange reason, that seemed to satisfy me.
“My business took off like a rocket. I was so busy I didn’t have time to worry about Sara and her trips and how distant we’d become. I guess you could say the bloom was off the rose by then. The wild passion sort of went south. I was working seven days a week, sixteen, eighteen hours a day to complete my commissions. At night, I was exhausted and more often than not fell asleep in the recliner. Sex was not on my agenda. Sara said she didn’t mind. When she was home, she’d spend her time reading or watching television. Thinking back, I was content. And stupid.”
“What drove you apart in the end,” Maggie asked, as she tried to get a mental fix on the man sitting across from her. She thought he was just what she was seeing, a really nice guy trying to get by who got taken by a fast-talking floozie. (She loved that term, floozie, and used it as often as she could. It was also one of Annie’s favorite terms.)
“No one thing comes to mind. We drifted apart, I guess. The beginning of the third year, I had a trade show. Sara always loved to go to them, and she actually boosted my sales with her positive pitches on my behalf, but that year she didn’t want to go. It was three days in Memphis and four days in Nashville, Tennessee. I thought she’d love it there, Nashville and all that, Sara loved country western music, but I was wrong. I was away for a whole week. We spoke at least once a day, though. Usually