For Sam: A new-girl small town cowboy romance

Chapter 44 Tommy

We have to be close to wrapping up this meeting soon. I know I threw them all a curveball when I shared the license I purchased so we could select a movie that would draw more of a crowd, but we’re thirty minutes past the scheduled ending time so I won’t get extra time with her tonight.

Not that I mind having an excuse to sit next to Sam and have my hand on her leg under the table as we scroll through the top ten titles again. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if she’d be okay with any sort of contact, but after her leg rested against mine for half the meeting, I resituated myself so my left arm wasn’t on the table anymore. When she started to blush, I pulled my hand back, but she knocked her pen cap off the table right away and grabbed my hand, setting it right back on her thigh before reorganizing her things on the table.

And I’m still trying to contain my smile as I quietly flip back and forth between two pages in my notebook whenever Sam is looking at the screen or taking notes. Thankfully, she’s just as attentive during this meeting, even with my fingers tracing circles on her thigh, shifting the fabric of her skirt every now and then.

Hank removes two more titles from the list and we’re down to one animated film, two action-adventures, one tear-jerker, and four rom-coms.

“Tommy, what do you think about what’s left?” Hank asks me.

“I think something light but a little romance is a good call since we’re specifically doing a date night theme and it’s an eighteen-and-older crowd. Keep it PG-13 and we hold off on booking Jesse and his barbecue until family night where we’ll start things earlier. We talk to Sarah about putting together her more dessert-like baked goods.” I do my best to not look at Sam when I share my top choice for title, because it’s the one we watched together the first time I was in her apartment. “I’ve seen that one it’s a good one.”

“Okay, does anyone else have another option they’d like to consider from what we have left?” Hank checks with the group.

Everyone else shakes their heads.

“Alright, we have our film. Would someone like to talk to Sarah about what she could supply for about fifty people?”

Sam raises her hand. “I can connect with her tomorrow,”

“Great,” he says, looking at his notes. “I think that was everything we needed to cover tonight. Our office will handle publicity campaigns, but feel free to start sharing what we chose and cross your fingers the weather’s clear so we won’t have to reschedule. Thanks, everyone.”

Without making it obvious, I think everyone in town knows Sam and I are dating at this point even though we haven’t been out in public on a date yet, I take my time pocketing my notebook and pen. Sam’s writing down the last details from the meeting and is in the final color-coded highlighting phase. It hasn’t taken me too long to figure out that blue is something she wants to remember and yellow is an action item. Or, if she’s using colors that would clash with those highlighters, details are green and action items are orange. Instead of using sticky tabs for her notes, she puts paper clips where they would sit, flagging the information she needs to find quickly on the side of the page rather than the top. The only thing she doesn’t have with her at meetings are those sticky notes that are transparent so she can add details over her original notes without crossing out what was there. It’s fucking adorable.

Everyone else heads out while I offer to stack their chairs so the cleaning crew can vacuum, so it’s just the two of us and Hank, who is shutting down his computer when Sam looks around.

“Oh, I didn’t realize I missed them leaving,” she says, a little frown on her face.

“I promise they’re okay,” I say as Hank tells her to not worry about it.

She nods and gains back a little confidence. Her habits for social protocol are definitely top tier, but she seems to be giving herself a break instead of having nerves linger in her expression after she missed something.

“Is there anything you need a hand with?” she asks her boss who shakes his head.

“I’m all set, you head out, have a good night, and I’ll see you at the office.”

“Okay, you, too,” she says, checking her space as I stack her chair. “You all set?”

“I am,” I say, smiling at her as we walk out together. One day it’ll be okay to hold her hand in mine as we leave places. I hope.

“What time do you have to wake up tomorrow?” she asks once we’re in the truck.

Sighing through my nose, I start the engine and get out of the parking lot. “Too early so we can get most things out of the way before mudding.”

“So you can’t come up tonight?”

“I shouldn’t,” I say, holding out my hand. Sam tucks her tote next to her feet and her fingers slip into mine. Raising our hands, I kiss the back of hers and notice her perfume again. I make a mental note to add it to my list in a minute.

“What footwear should I have tomorrow?”

“Shoes you don’t care about and a spare. Make sure you dress in layers and have dry clothes, too. We usually all strip off an outer layer and toss those clothes in a bucket of water to get most of the mud off and then bring it all in to wash. While we’re all waiting for the clothes, everyone showers and we meet back in the living room for drinks and watch something.”

“I can do that,” she says while nodding with conviction. “Can I bring something for everyone to eat afterwards?”

“Of course, anything you’d like.” I give her hand a squeeze. “It’s never fancy, I promise, so you can show up with nothing or an entire casserole.”

“So I should bring an entree?”

“No, you don’t have to do that. Avery usually bakes cookies, Matt might have something in the oven before we go out, and then we raid the fridge for snacks.”

“How about something easy while watching a show, like popcorn?”

I know she’s going to keep trying to think of the right item to bring, and no one ever thinks to bring that, so I say as I release her hand, “That would be perfect.”

She reaches into her bag and pulls out her planner, jotting a few things down. As she’s finishing up, I park in front of her building and shift so I can get my notebook out of my pocket. Once I get to the right page, I add “perfume” to the bottom of the list, tear out the full page, and fold it in half.

“No pressure, but I thought you might like this for what to leave in my room. They’re just ideas,” I say, holding the list out to her between two fingers. She takes it while looking a little puzzled. As she reads it, realization appears in her features.

“You made me a list of things to pack to keep at your place?” she asks with a mix of happiness and a little caution.

“I did. You can do whatever you’d like with the list but sleeping with you in my arms for a few minutes might have me addicted already, so I’d like you to be able to stay whenever you’d like.”

“And you wrote a list so I wouldn’t have to…” She lets the sentence trail off unfinished.

“Guess what to bring? Nope, I wanted you to know you can leave as much as you’d like for a variety of situations, including going to work from Landen Acres.”

She smiles and we both lean in at the same time, her hand cupping my cheek and mine at the nape of her neck as we slowly kiss. Taking our time and feeling this moment as we keep taking steps to open ourselves up to this being it.

At least I hope we’re both on that page.