Chapter 20
TWENTY
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
Sam hadn’t seen him since he’d fallen asleep that night in Valencia and now they were on the other side of the world. And Wolfgang was just standing there. The hopeful smile falling from his face.
“I thought you would be pleased.”
The nerve of the man was lighting every fire in Sam’s being. Thankfully they were completely alone. The party seemed to be getting into full swing inside. Sam wanted the safety of people while he got his head together.
“Is Claudia going to appear now to make it complete?”
Wolfgang moved closer. “Sam, please. We need to talk.”
Sam drained his glass of wine. “You can talk by dialling numbers into a telephone. It’s really clever. Or you can get your point across by writing a letter, emailing or sending a fucking pigeon. Why do you have to be here? Now?”
It pissed Sam off that Wolfie scrubbed up so well in his pinstriped shirt and jeans. The fabric clinging to all the places he’d enjoyed exploring weeks before.
Focus on the outrage. For fuck’s sake.
“I applied,” he said, his head down.
“Great. That’s wonderful, isn’t it?”
He walked past him toward the door but Wolfgang took his arm. “You must listen to me. Please.”
Sam yanked his arm free. “I don’t need to do anything of the sort.” He left him and stalked into the cafeteria. Sune immediately waved to him and he joined her. Grateful for her relative safety.
“Did you see your friend?”
Sam glanced frantically around for another glass of wine. “Yes, I did.”
“He was so excited, you know,” the girl next to him said. “He told us all such lovely things about your time in Valencia. You saved his life, for goodness’ sake.”
Sune raised her eyebrows. “We have a lifesaver in our midst? Welcome, Mr Davis. You seem like a remarkable man.”
Seeing the solitary figure of Wolfgang still on the terrace, Sam certainly didn’t feel it.
The party continued into the night with Sam and Wolfie circling each other. Wolfgang obviously wanted to talk some more. Tough. Sam had no intention of being put on the spot like that.
Don’t let a man ruin your chances.
His mother’s voice ran around his head.
Thankfully the crew he’d be working with seemed a friendly lot. They instantly nicknamed him “Lifesaver”.
“It is an appropriate name,” Wolfgang said, finally pushing himself into the group. “I would be at the bottom of the sea if it weren’t for this incredible man.”
Sam met his gaze and found genuine affection there.
“I hope I don’t have to do it again here,” Sam replied. “Although we’re in different teams. Such a shame.”
He held Wolfie’s gaze for a second before asking a colleague about his time in Thailand. The heat was off and staying that way.
By the time he returned to his bungalow, fatigue was making him dizzy. The wine had packed a punch. He wobbled up the wooden staircase, stripped to his boxers and collapsed onto the bed. It felt so comfortable after the lumpy monstrosity he’d had to get used to.
He suddenly had an urge to call his mother.
“Hello?”
“It’s me.”
“Hi, me. You got there safely then?”
Damn. I forgot to message her.
“That’s why I’m calling now.”
“Are you drunk?”
“Do I have to be drunk to want to speak to my mother.”
“There must be something the matter. What is it?”
Tears welled in his eyes and the words caught in his throat. Why was it always so hard telling this woman something was wrong.
“He’s here,” he stammered. “Wolfgang.”
For a few seconds all he heard was her breathing.
“How do you feel?”
He had absolutely no idea how he bloody felt. “Weird. I signed up for a new life and now he’s going to be under my feet morning, noon and night.”
“Did he tell you what the hell he’s playing at?”
“I didn’t really give him the chance.”
“Oh Sammy, listen. That temper of yours will lose you chances. I know because you get it from me. I’m not saying you have to forgive and forget but you must try to listen to people.”
“Erm…you said not to let a man ruin my chances.”
“Exactly. I didn’t say let everyone think you’re a moody sod in the process. Anyway, it’s a bloody big world out there. Why has he come to you?”
Sam hadn’t even considered the effort Wolfgang must have gone to. Pulling it off and no doubt convincing Ruben and Matome it would be a wonderful surprise. Well it was no mean feat.
“At least I didn’t attack him,” he said. “That has to be something.”
“Of course it is. Now get yourself some sleep. Everything’s better in the morning.”
“I love you, Mum.”
“I love you too.”
He finished the call. Perhaps he would listen to Wolfgang’s story. Although his mother was right. Everything would have to wait until the morning.
He’d only just climbed under the covers when a knock at the door made him jump. A hard purposeful rap on wood that could only come from one person. Sam sighed and plodded over to the door.
Might as well get this out of the way now.
He opened the door to find Wolfgang standing before him.
“You took your time,” he said. “I half expected you to be naked in my bed surrounded by hydrangeas in the shape of a squid.”
“Can I come in?”
Sam walked away from the door, leaving it open for Wolfie to follow.
“You don’t mind if I get into bed, do you? Considering I’ve flown here and had a knackering evening?”
He dithered in the centre of the room. “Shall I go, then? Talk another day?”
“I don’t fancy staying awake worrying about what it is you have to say. Sit down and get it out of you.”
He perched on the end of the bed and waited, like he needed permission to begin.
“Go on then. Bloody hell.”
The frustration was like a volcano but they had to find a working relationship. No matter what.
“Okay,” he said, clasping his hands together.
“First of all, I am so very sorry for leaving Valencia the way I did. I lay awake all that night watching you sleep. I couldn’t bear that I had to leave you and that would be it.
I kept running scenarios of us saying goodbye.
I know you will think I am weak. That’s because I am. ”
His face a picture of pain and awkwardness. With his mother’s career advice ringing true, Sam resisted the temptation to agree with him. He didn’t even roll his eyes.
“Instead, I ran,” he said simply. “I knew if you woke up, you would follow me. You are not one to shy away from confrontation. That we know.”
Sam wanted to protest then gave up immediately. He had a point.
“You weren’t there when I got back,” Sam said. “Did you hide in Astrid’s room?”
“No. I sat in the park. For four hours. I didn’t dare come out in case you were roaming the streets.”
That time Sam did roll his eyes.
“Actually, when I woke up, I went straight to the airport and sat there for six hours. I would rather have been there than in any room we’d made love in.”
Why on earth didn’t fate step in and let us meet at the airport?
“When I got home, I couldn’t settle,” he continued. “I missed you so much. It was as though I’d lost a part of me.”
“So what did you do?”
“I finally did the right thing,” he replied. “I broke it off with Claudia. And I told my parents what happened between us. What a conversation that turned out to be.”
If he’s after sympathy, he can knock on next door.
“Then I contacted Ruben. I begged him for your address but he wouldn’t give it to me. I did try to call and the number didn’t work. Sam, I was at my wits’ end. You have to believe me.”
The tears were flowing freely down his cheeks now. His hands were shaking as they fiddled with the zipper on his hoodie.
“In the end, after I’d pestered him every day for a week, Ruben did me a deal. He suggested I apply for this place. He told me that I might never know who I’d bump into and that he’d been asked to provide a reference for it recently.”
Poor Ruben. That must have been hard.
“And now we find ourselves here.”
“And I have a deal of my own,” he replied, wiping his eyes with his cuff.
“Do tell.”
“If you say that you cannot forgive me and want me to go, then I shall. On the next flight. And you never have to see me again.”
Sam sank onto his pillows. He hadn’t expected the conversation to be this intense. His instant reaction was to sling him out on his ear. Yet something in his heart reached out to this desperate soul at the end of the bed. His blue eyes pleading.
“You play for high stakes, Wolfie.”
“I am that desperate, I will even let you call me that. I love you, Sam. Really truly, love you.”
Sam loved him too. He knew it in every pore of his being.
Wolfgang stood and zipped up his hoodie. “I’ll leave you now. Think about it. You only have to say and I will go.”