He stopped speaking and I stared at him.
He had noticed me walk across that dining room.
He wanted me when I walked across that dining room.
Ohmigod!
Sam interrupted my mental freak out with, “Now, we past this?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
He studied me.
Then he stated, “Look of you, honey, you’re gonna search for some other f**ked up reason I’m with you and I gotta say now, I don’t know how much more straight I can be about that.”
I didn’t either.
“Uh… yeah. You were pretty straight,” I agreed quietly.
“Did what I say penetrate?”
“I might, uh… need coffee and to get over jetlag and then, um… maybe it’ll sink in,” I told him honestly.
His lips twitched.
Then he muttered, “I’ll be here when it does.”
Then he turned around and disappeared in my bedroom.
Memphis yapped then bounced down the hall and disappeared after him.
Sam was going to have company in the bathroom while he showered. This was Memphis’s way.
I kept still and staring.
I’ll be here when it does.
Okay. All right.
Wow.
Wow.
I forced myself to turn and lurch to the coffee discovering Mom or Paula had made sure we had fresh milk for which I decided to buy them both a yacht that was how grateful I was.
I was leaning with my h*ps to the counter when Sam came in wearing another long-sleeves rolled up near to his elbow, button up the front shirt (this one chambray), jeans and boots. He was followed by Memphis who I was getting thought Sam was the shit even more than she thought everyone was the shit. She didn’t even follow Cooter around with that kind of devotion. Then again, Cooter didn’t do pull ups and pushups that she could misconstrue as playing with her.
He came right to me, touched his mouth to mine and I smelled his aftershave. Then I decided that he smelled so good, the second Vanessa smelled him she’d spill all of her secrets. Then he told me he’d be back as soon as he could and he left.
The second the door closed behind him, his words repeated in my brain.
I’ll be here when it does.
He watched me walk through that dining room and he wanted me.
Thomas had said, I’ll remind you of this moment, when the beautiful Kia doubted her power over a powerful man…
That intensity Sam had was partly about his history but it was mostly about me.
Me.
Sam watched me walk through that dining room and he wanted me.
Thus began my multifaceted freak out because firstly, I didn’t know what to do with that intensity directed at me, my problems and Sam’s clear dedication to eradicating them which included Sam throwing serious money at accomplishing this feat. I also didn’t know what to think about the fact that Sam still wasn’t sharing. He seemed to, talking about his childhood not only to me but mentioning it to my Dad. But he didn’t share much, just nuances then he moved on. It was also dawning on me that I might be a little bit of all right which was something I hadn’t considered until Thomas said what he said and now definitely after Sam said what he said.
And lastly I was freaking out because I was falling in love with him. I knew it. And I knew from his words and deeds that he was committed to exploring what we had so maybe he was getting there with me too. But I also knew from his lack of words that he was holding back and holding back didn’t exactly say exploring what we had or falling in love because to start falling, you had to trust the person you were falling for to catch you.
I mean, I didn’t know, I was new to this, but I suspected I was right that everyone needed to trust the person they loved to catch them, even ex-commandos.
So, as I went about my morning, showering, doing the getting ready gig, unpacking, starting laundry and dealing with putting an ad in the Boothe County Gazette for my yard sale. Then I sat down and made a list of things to do. Then I unearthed some of the boxes I’d collected prior to going on vacation from the garage. Then I commenced in going through my kitchen and stuffing boxes full of all my crap, marking the box with bargain basement prices as well as tacking a piece of masking tape on furniture and repeat with the marking it gig.
And all the while I did this, my mind was consumed with all of this as well as Sam being with Vanessa which, I didn’t lie, I really did not like. Not because Sam might get creative with (and in trouble for) extracting information from her. Just because Vanessa was a bitch. She was a bitch in high school, she was a bitch after high school and she was a bitch after she got married to Milo, who was a good guy but who, even after they tied the knot, she made no bones about letting it be known to anyone who wasn’t Milo that she’d settled for him and was not pleased with the track her life had taken.
And, of course, there was the fact she put a hit on me.
It was two seconds after I realized I was seriously hungry in a hunger pains gnawing at the lining of your stomach kind of way when the front door opened and Sam walked through.
I was standing at the kitchen table now covered in filled boxes, so when my head turned that way I had a direct line and the instant I saw him, I went still.
Sam didn’t.
He stalked through my living room and into the kitchen, Memphis, who greeted him noisily at the door, yapping at his heels.
He ignored her, stopped and his enraged eyes scorched right through me.
“That bitch is a f**kin’ bitch,” he growled and I pressed my lips together.
Well, clearly Sam’s yummy aftershave didn’t work.
I forced myself out of my freeze and turned fully to him.
“What happened?” I asked carefully.
“She called the cops before I got up to her door.”
This wasn’t surprising.
“Did you get in?”
“Oh yeah,” his tone was scary, “I got in.”
Eek!
I pressed my lips together and waited.
Sam continued scowling at me.
Finally, I prompted, “Well?”
“Oswald is right now takin’ her to the Department. I wasn’t wrong. She’s got more. She’s coverin’ her ass. I know this because she was belligerent and not in wronged woman way, in a hidin’ somethin’ way. Ten minutes after I got in, the cops came. Five minutes after that, her attorney showed. He’s shut her down.”
“So you didn’t get anything?” I asked.
“Nothin’ but the fact that bitch sees, lives and breathes green. She hates you, baby, so jealous, it consumes her and me showin’ at her door only intensified that.”