AllFreeNovel
Share Us
No wonder he had to cancel tonight. His meeting with the lawyer won’t be a brief one for sure. I’m sure Sam will remain there with the lawyer making him read every document and existing law if necessary to make sure that if there was a way, they’d find it.
“That number I called you from, it’s my new temporary number. I took out my anger on my phone too. Had to get a new one.” Sam crouched in front of my seat again. He took my hands, which I hadn’t realized I was hiding pinched between my thighs. “Please don’t be afraid of me. I’m not going to hurt you, Lucille.Sheis the only one who could trigger that masochistic big bad monster. That’s why I called you to my office.”
“To tell me that?”
“To make the monster go away. Because just looking at you, my day gets brighter, sunshine. ”
I tugged one hand out of his clutch, and used it to touch his face over his frown lines, to flatten them with my soft caress as if that would make his worry go away. The anger that was his eyes before had vanished and now I could see the shadow of his worry. His marriage, as brief as it was, as meaningless as he said it was, seemed to have changed his life completely. The residue of it was still clung tightly to him. And with two daughters, it might always be.
My fingers went into his hair to adjust it. It was all askew from the hundred times he must have run his hand through it.
Sam picked up my tablet from nearby. The screen was all brightly lit up. Lucky drop. Then Sam’s big hand appeared before me, inviting me to accept his help to stand up. I accepted it. But he didn’t let my hand go. Neither did I move. And it was possible that the time stopped and nothing made a sound except for our heartbeats.
I cleared my throat. “So, I understand you’ve got some baggage to take care of. And until you deal with that, you don’t have time for any complicated stuff with anyone. That includes with me.”
“Everyone’s got baggage. Including you.”
“Seems like you need to unpack or pack yours more than anyone. We should go back to being two professionals. You are my boss and I love my job here. I have no intention of handing in my resignation yet. So I think it would be best to end whatever was happening between us.”
He probably thought I had proposed this because I did regret what happened, like he had assumed before. But no, I didn’t regret anything. I didn’t regret a single second with this man.
“Is that what you want?” He asked me with a stoic face.
I didn’t answer. If I did, it would be a lie. So I simply nodded. The gesture made the lie seem much smaller than words would have.
“It’s what’s best, right?”
Again, I nodded.
Sam didn’t move or speak. Then he took out a key from his pant pockets. The key to my office.
I took it from his hand. And without another moment, I made my way out of his office.
Once in the shelter of my office, I took a deep breath. Now that was an unexpected turn of events.
What the hell was I thinking to take it against him like that today? Yes, I knew exactly what I was thinking. I thought I had passed the stage where a man would outright ignore me or take me for granted. But what I hadn’t considered was the fact that Sam was nothing like the other men.
Today, Sam had a full-blown shitty day and I made it worse by throwing gasoline at the fire. Poor Sam. He got one hell of a knotted situation to scramble through and I had to step away before the knot got tighter and more complicated. Too bad for me. I was starting to get used to him, get used to our secret unlabelled escapades. But I must give him his space. I’ll sure miss what we had but I cared for him far too much not to.
Shutting closed my laptop, I decided against continuing on the project I was working on before Sam cornered me into his office. I had no focus. Instead I packed up my stuff.
As I waited for the elevator, a deep sigh escaped me without my own acknowledgement. Oof, what a day! I’ve witnessed, digested and done far more than enough for one day.
Two pairs of footsteps sounded further behind me. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Sam and Martin Bailey, the Finance Director whose office is closest to Sam’s and who was probably the one who knocked earlier.
They stopped outside Mr Bailey’s office. “My apologies again for interrupting you, Martin. Now don’t stay here too late, alright, or your wife will bite my head off if you’re late for dinner.” Sam told him before he walked off down the corridor.
That was when I noticed Sam had his laptop bag worn over his shoulder and his coat folded on his forearm. He was leaving early too. Great, then I guess I’ll be sharing the elevator ride with him.
As Sam stood next to me waiting for the elevator, I peeked behind me. Mr Bailey was still outside his office, inquisitively looking at Sam and me. So it was really him who knocked. And who probably heard parts of our bellowed conversation. Realizing he was caught spying, Mr Bailey went inside his office, shutting the door behind him.
Now why was this elevator taking too long to come up?
“Your boss insists that you properly say goodbye before leaving the office.” Sam looked at me with a conceited glint in his eyes.
“It’s past five. The boss card has expired,” I lowered my voice, conscious of the other employee still on the floor. “and I would have properly said hello if you didn’t cancel our after-hours meeting.”
“No, you wouldn’t have.” Sam leaned down slightly to whisper. “My mouth would have kept yours shut for most of that meeting.”
