Chapter 13
Sam
I called Dana from the car outside a coffee shop.
“Where are you?” she sounded exasperated. “I’ve sent you urgent messages all day yesterday!”
“I’m dealing with some personal stuff,” I said.
That was greeted with a long silence. Dana had known me for years and had been involved in all aspects of my life, personal as well as professional. She wanted me to tell her more, but I wasn’t going to. She knew how little time I had taken off over the past four years, how hard I’d worked.
“Okay,” she said, uncertainly. “When will you be back?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “Maybe tomorrow. I’ll check my mail now. Also, Dana, could you please drop in at my house to see if Ethan is all right? I tried calling the house last night, but it kept ringing.”
“Of course,” she said, back to her professional voice.
I was parked outside a coffee spot in Sandwich, waiting for it to open. There didn’t seem to be any 24-hour joints at all. I didn’t really mind the wait though. After a few hours of trying to sleep in the car, I finally gave up and drove through town, looking for good coffee shops, then coming up with a plan for the day. I had to see Natalie again as soon as possible. I didn’t want to wake her family up, although I knew her mother got up early to prepare breakfast for the guests. I didn’t relish the thought of seeing Natalie’s mother again so soon. I couldn’t imagine her being any friendlier towards me. If she found out what Natalie and I had been up to last night, she would almost certainly try to influence her daughter not to see me again. I knew Natalie loved her mother deeply and would not want to distress her.
I would have to act fast to convince Natalie to come back with me. I couldn’t leave her with her family too long. Memories of our night together were so vivid in my mind. I wished we could go home right now, and I could take her to bed. She had been so ready for me, so unbelievably wet and open. I got hard just thinking about it. Natalie looked so demure and young, but she was not inhibited sexually at all. I wanted to have sex again with her, soon. But it was more than that. I wanted to be around her, and I wanted her around Ethan. I liked having her in my house, even though I had made such a big deal of it when she was there. It was pathetic to admit, even to myself, that the reason that I was so nasty to her, was because I had been trying to resist her.
As soon as the coffee shop opened, I bought a large order of cappuccinos, croissants with several fillings as well as bagels. Then I drove back to the guesthouse, took a deep breath, and brought my peace offerings to the door.
I knocked.
Mrs. Deane opened the door and as soon as she saw me, her eyes narrowed.
I spoke quickly, “You’re right. I am just a rich arsehole. But allow me to bring some cappuccinos and treats as a way of a peace offering? That is something I can do, right?”
She was still staring at me, a flinty look in her eye.
But then Natalie pushed past her and gave me a quick smile, a blush on her cheeks. She looked gorgeous.
“This is so nice of you, thanks! Come in. He can come in, right, Mom?” She didn’t wait for her mother to answer but gently nudged her mom out of the doorway to make room for me with the trays of delicious-smelling coffee.
“I’d better go check on the guests’ breakfast,” Mrs. Deane said and left right away. Natalie took me to their kitchen table, where her father was sitting with a cup of coffee.
“Mr. Deane,” I stretched out my hand, but Natalie’s father stared me down.
“I heard you’d been by,” he said. He was a big man, with Natalie’s lighter coloring and the grey eyes. She obviously took after him. At least he didn’t seem angry.
“Didn’t think you’d be back after that tongue lashing,” he said with a chuckle.
“Maybe I deserved that, a little,” I said.
I was gripping the back of a kitchen chair with both hands, aware that no one had offered me a seat yet.
“What do you mean?” Natalie asked, coming up to stand beside me.
“I didn’t treat you right in college,” I said. I had been thinking about what I was going to say today, to her and to her family and I knew that they would accept nothing less than a proper apology. If I wanted any chance with Natalie, I needed to get her family to at least dislike me a little less.
Natalie looked down, embarrassed.
“I was selfish, self-absorbed, only interested in my own goals. I really did care about you, but when you said you were pregnant, something flipped, and I guess I freaked,” I said.
Mr. Deane sat back in his chair and gave me his full attention.
“All I ever wanted was not to be like my father. To be someone people respected, to achieve something in my life. I wanted to be a success, but also someone people could look up to and whom they could trust with their organizations and their systems. I was so close to my goals, I had an idea, I was talking to partners and then you told me that. I felt like I was this close to losing it all.”