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He scoffed. “I hook up with lonely women like me for a night and that’s it. No strings attached. No commitments.”
My head turned around to look at him. “Just like we had sex and moved on?”
“No, not like that. I never shared my coat with any women. Neither have I ever let them beat me at Monopoly.” He kissed my cheek affectionately, sealing the deal that I was… different. I was the special woman in Sam’s life after his mama. And that thought made me feel all warm and giddy. It also made me remember something.
“That photo in your apartment with the girls, you seemed pretty close with them.”
At the mention of the girls, Sam couldn’t contain his smile. “I wouldn’t have adopted them if I didn’t like them so much. Truth be told, I think I liked them more than I liked Celeste. They are so different from her. Probably got the brains from their biological father, whoever he is. They’re smart and genuinely kind. In a way, I don’t mind that I made their life a bit better with my money. But when I think about it, it messes up my head. I gave my last name to those two girls and I barely ever see them.”
“When did you last see them?”
“Four years ago. And only because I demanded Celeste to bring our daughters with her or I wouldn’t sign off on either of our cars that she came back here to sell. I allowed her to take them miles away because she’s their biological mother, but I’m their other parent. I have the right to see them too.”
Okay, maybe I wasn’t Sam’s second special woman. The twins definitely preceded me.
“Seems like you really managed to get yourself in a messy marriage. You must never hear the end of all this from your parents.”
“Actually, we don’t talk about it. What’s there to say? They were the ones who watched my downward spiral when the marriage fell apart. I was going to lose the company. I neglected it, neglected myself, pushed my parents away. It was during that time that scotch whiskey became my favourite.”
“And then you had a wake-up call?” I recalled him once referring to his divorce as a wake-up call.
“That and getting threatened by my dad. He swore he’d stop investing his money in me if I didn’t treat my company as the core of my own world. And from then on till this day, I do just that.”
I knew the company was a top priority in Sam’s life. But no, I was wrong. His company was the centre of his universe. He lived for it.
“What about you?” Sam asked. “Any adopted or biological kids?”
“Nope.”
“Nope?”
“I mean, I don’t have any.”
“I meant it’s never just a nope when discussing kids with a woman.”
“It is with me. I don’t have any and I have no plans of having any.”
Sam was taken aback by my answer.” “Really? You don’t?”
I finished the last of my coffee before answering. “I never really thought that hard about it.”
Ishouldhavethought about it that one time I had that pregnancy scare. But I didn’t. Glad I didn’t have to. Definitely wasn’t ready then. “Honestly, I was never that girl who dreamed of settling down with a husband, raising three kids, getting a puppy and taking care of the flowers in the back garden. Yes, I do miss having a family but I’m not rushing to start my own. Not at this point in life anyhow. I guess I’ve always known what I wanted. I wanted a great career and because I had to delay the start of that, I had to push everything else aside and work harder on just that. That was my only dream. Always have been and still is.”
“Shame. I’m certain you’d be a wonderful parent. One hundred percent.”
How did this conversation turn into this? Talking about hypothetical kids.
This was quite the unusual outcome of the day. Usually, whenever I spent the anniversary day with Joe, we avoided any mention of our lives and just got lost away from our every thought and worry. Today, with Sam, it was different. A heart-to-heart with him was seemingly just what I needed.
“So, scotch huh.” I steered the conversation back to him. “Didn’t peg you as the type of person who’d lament with a drink in hand.”
“I’ll let you in on a dirty little secret of mine. That’s the real reason why I got the bar in my apartment. To curse my misfortunes behind it. Guess that’s how I smothered loneliness. I did that when my lifelong best friend cut me off, did that again when I divorced, did that when my parents left.”
Judging by the loud sigh at the end of his sentence, the last one was definitely what hit him the hardest. “You miss your mama, huh.”
“Like I’m still a little boy.” Sam chuckled mostly to himself. “My Mama would probably smack me on the head if she knew I was frolicking around with my employee. She always told me that’s one line I shouldn’t cross. And dad, he would probably repeat his usual words.” Sam cleared his throat to mimic a deeper voice. “Never let your dick mess with your business, son.”
Great. So chances were that Sam’s parents wouldn’t like me. Add that to the ever-growing list of why-I-shouldn’t-be-more-than-friends-with-Samuel-Webb. Right below the bullet point of ‘he’s already got a core to his world.’ And the second point being ‘he’s a sworn bachelor.’
