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Joe laughed at Zimmerman’s light banter before he looked at me. “Morning, Luc.” He greeted me with a peek on my cheek. “Let’s take this to my office, shall we?”
Joe escorted us to the elevator. Then lead us towards the corridor where all the management offices were, including my former office. As we neared the end of the corridor, I braced myself. Of course, Joe’s office would be the closest to Sam.
The distinctive sound of female chatter and laughter could be heard coming from Sam’s office. I wasn’t usually a curious person, but I had to admit that I certainly was in this particular circumstance. While Joe and Zimmerman continued to Joe’s office, I slowed down my steps just enough to get a chance to peek through Sam’s ajar door. And there was Sam, with two tall women, one on each side. But wait. Is that a French accent I hear? And did one of them just call himpapa? Silly me. Those must be his daughters. They finally returned to him. And gosh, even from afar, they looked so beautiful. Probably like their mother, Sam’s ex-wife. And the twins with Sam amongst them, the trio looked like a cutout from a Hollywood magazine.
A hand on the small of my back concluded my sneaky surveillance as Joe guided me into his office.
“So shall we start? I don’t think Sam will be joining us today.” Joe announced as he took seat behind his grand desk.
“Held up by other affairs?” Zimmerman enquired while peering at me with a wink, meaning he was on my side. What he didn’t know was that there were no sides this time. Sam’s other affairs were his beloved girls.
“He had a court sitting earlier and didn’t have time to prepare for this meeting,” Joe explained.
That made me perk up. Must be related to Sam’s car accident. “Court went well?”
“Not quite. His license got suspended.”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind being chauffeured around.” Zimmerman joked before redirecting the conversation to commence the meeting.
A half hour or so later, a quick knock sounded on the door. Sam peeked his head in before stepping inside.
Look at him, wearing that full-on grin. Nobody would guess this was a man being prosecuted by a judge just hours ago. He should be disturbed or at least a little upset. But no. The joy radiating from Sam was brighter than the sun. Bright enough to distract me from immediately noticing his shoulder brace. Though when I did see the brace, I was instantly reminded of the last time I’d seen him. In a hospital bed, patched up and all scarred. Now, his facial injuries were seemingly healed. Although with the way the light hit his forehead, the faint lines of the stitches were still evident. But it wasn’t the scars or any injury that made him appear strangely in my eyes. Surprisingly, it was the first time that I was seeing Sam at the office wearing casual denim and that he wasn’t punctual for a meeting. It was also the first time Sam and I were in the same room since I rejected him. Unsurprisingly, Sam ignored me politely and deliberately refrained from looking at me.
Sam extended a hand to shake Zimmerman’s. “My apologies for not being present at this meeting today, Rolf. Being completely honest with you, I had the most unusual morning and this meeting completely slipped my mind.”
“That’s okay. You haven’t missed much.” Zimmerman moved his chair to make space for another.
But Sam interrupted. “Please, don’t bother yourself. I’m not here to join you. Actually I came to inform Joe I’m taking off for the day. My daughters just returned home so we got a lot of celebration and catching up to do.”
Zimmerman appeared stunned at the mention of Sam’s daughters but hid it well. “Oh, certainly. Not a problem.”
“Joe, take the reign from here?” Sam asked.
“Needn’t ask, boss. Go and enjoy with your girls.”
“I’ll see you this weekend then.”
“Definitely. I’ll bring pizza.”
And with that and a small wave at Zimmerman and Joe, just at them two, Sam disappeared through the door.
Look at Sam and Joe now. Acting like old friends. Like they hadn’t missed out on several years of their friendship. Like they were brothers. Seemed like the incentive they needed to resolve their issues was having the mutual accomplishment of hurting the same woman – me. What a great nudge I’ve been.
“I wasn’t aware Samuel had kids.” Zimmerman expressed.
Joe sighed. A happy sigh for his friend. “Kids? They’re teenagers. Beautiful young women actually who I hadn’t known of their existence either. They were abroad and he hadn’t seen them in years. They were supposed to arrive next weekend, but me being a good friend and all, I made a few arrangements behind his back to fly them in earlier. You should have seen his face when I told him a new client was waiting in his office and found them instead. Can’t even describe the amount of joy that was in one room. He’s probably taking them to see the new house he bought. Said it was as big as a palace. Spoiling them rotten already.”
As much as Joe’s enthusiasm took me by surprise, there was something he said that stunned me the most. “You brought them here? From France? How? Their mother…”
“Wasn’t easy. That ex-wife of his sure is headstrong. Wouldn’t budge. That was until I offered her the equivalent of a few extra months in alimony.”
“You paid her?”
“I owed Sam. When he offered to buy my company, he gave me a new life. A new direction. With the money he paid me, I could return the favour. And what’s better than a heartwarming family reunion?”
Zimmerman clapped at him. “Well done, Joe. You and Sam got one beautiful friendship going in. I’m almost jealous.”
“Thank you. Now, shall we continue? We got a lot more to discuss.”
