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When he saw that I was hesitant to accept the bag, he opened it himself and picked out one of the items. A book. Easy recipes for the hopeless cook.
Despite my body shaking with the dread of facing this moment with Sam, I smiled. He got me a cookbook. A well-deserved jab at my lack of kitchen skills and a reminder that I won’t have a personal chef anymore.
Sam inched the bag towards me again. “Open the other one.” He said with a smile of pride at his next choice of gift.
My hand reached into the bag. Pulled out a small display box with the cutest plush coffee cup with a big smiley face and bright blue eyes embroidered on it.
“Thought of getting you an actual coffee cup but I didn’t want you to break it during an argument with your new boss. This one, it will never break.”
And it would forever remain as a memento of your former boss.
“Thank you, Sam. You didn’t have to buy me anything.”
His gifts must be meant as farewell indeed. He really was letting me go. Maybe this wouldn’t be too hard after all. He was only being a gentleman and politely saying goodbye.
“When are you leaving?” Sam asked. His tone was void of any more jokes.
“In a few days. I’m only moving my stuff today.”
“Need any help?”
“No, thank you. I hired movers.”
I was all ready to move. Boxes were packed and labelled, the rental car was returned, the apartment lease was signed off with an accompanying hefty penalty. All that was left was for these few minutes to pass until I left this office for the last time.
Sam nodded. For what was possibly the first time in his life, Sam seemed unsure what to say. “I… I owe you an apology. I’m truly sorry if it seemed like I intruded onto your life.”
“That’s okay. Actually, I should be thanking you. I wouldn’t be doing this big step if it wasn’t for your intrusion.” I widened my smile at him to reassure him.
“Glad to know that you’re happy.”
Happy? Was I happy? I had no fricking idea if that was even another one of the emotions I was feeling at that moment.
“I must also apologize for cheating on you.” Sam continued. “It’s time I surrender my poker face and admit to my crimes. I cheated on every casino night.”
“I know.” A chortle escaped my lips without command.
“We had fun, didn’t we? Our late-nights. I’m going to miss them. Might not miss your potent cocktails, but I’ll definitely miss everything else.”
“You can go back to your Scotch now.”
“Yea.”
Even though he was stealthy, I caught him peering briefly over my shoulder. When his head bowed down right after, I followed his gaze. To his desk. At the whiskey tumbler modestly filled with the golden liquid. A half bottle of scotch was beside the glass.
“It will be so dull here without you now, sunshine.”
Now I understood why the scotch. To tame his loneliness. It was probably one of the reasons why he persisted with me to stay. So he wouldn’t be alone.
“I know someone who could keep you company here. I know him to be an amazing friend. As do you.” I didn’t need to mention names for Sam to understand who I was referring to.
“But he’s not you.” Sam raised his hands towards me but halfway, he hesitated and dropped them. Like he was afraid to touch me. “I’m going to miss you more than anyone else who stumbled into my thirty-five years of life.”
This time, it was I who closed the remaining distance between us. My hand grazed Sam’s arm in the most tender caress. He was stiff, like he was fighting his own body to ignore my touch. “I’m sure you’ll survive without me. You’re getting your daughters back. And you’ve got your company. It’s all you need, right? The core of your world. As long as you’ve got that, you don’t need anything else.”
“Is that what you think?”
“You say that yourself.”
