Chapter 5: A Chance

Alexis and Sam get the answer they've been waiting for.

When I walked into the office on Monday, Sam paced the lobby.  I saw him before he saw me and I watched him run his index finger across his bottom lip.  Back and forth, back and forth.  I’d begun to notice that the suit he wore to work each day reflected how he expected the day to go.  Sharp black suit paired with a blue tie meant he was anxious about a meeting and wanted to make an impression.  Tan meant he felt more relaxed and would probably spend most of his time on the phone.  Today he wore a black suit (he was awaiting the phone call from Whole Foods) but had paired it with a red tie (freaked out).

He started when he spotted me watching him and reached for my hand.

“C’mon,” he said, and had already turned to walk away before I took it.

I hesitated for a moment and then let him wrap his fingers around mine and pull me toward the staircase.  I didn’t even watch where I was going.  I didn’t even care.  I stared at his hand around mine and let him lead me wherever he wanted.

“They called,” he finally said in explanation as we reached the third floor.  “Your dad wouldn’t tell anyone anything until you got here.”

“He wouldn’t?” I asked, surprised.

“He said everyone on the team deserved to hear the news together since we all worked on it.”

Deserved to hear the news.  That could go either way.

Sam stopped in front of the conference room door.  He dropped my hand and gave me a wry smile.  I knew I was imagining it but our close proximity made the air around us feel statically charged.  I had an almost overwhelming urge to pull him into my arms and reassure him that no matter what my dad said on the other side of that door, he was amazing.  He would rest his head on my shoulder and I’d run my fingers over the golden hair around his temples and we’d stay there in that moment forever.  But Sam reached out and turned the doorknob and we turned to face reality instead.

“Come in,” my dad said when he saw me.  I tried to read his eyes but he was impossibly good at keeping a straight face.  If there was a surprise party to throw, you wanted him in charge.

The other marketers, minus Jackson, sat around the table on the edge of their chairs; Jackson had stopped showing up for work before Sam had gotten the chance to let him go.  Jenny, my dad’s assistant, sat up front"his right hand woman.  Sam silently held a chair out for me and I took it.  Then he slipped into the chair next to me and we waited.

My dad cherished these moments"the ones where he had control and got to make everyone wait.  He found it hysterical.  Even more so when he had good news to share.  So when the clock ticked past ten seconds of silence, I knew what it meant.  A grin stretched across my face and I laughed.  My dad’s icy mask broke and he laughed too.  Everyone in the room glanced back and forth between us as we shared a joke they hadn’t caught onto yet.

“What?” Sam asked like he might burst.

Dad and I laughed harder.  “They’re in!” I said.  Dad nodded a confirmation.

Sam shot out of his chair and crossed the room to pull my dad into a hug.  They laughed together and patted each other hard on the back in a show of manly affection.  Everyone else chattered their congratulations to each other, shaking hands across the conference room table.  But all the noise was merely a background to Sam’s smile.  He was so happy.  We did it.  Today was the start of something life-changing for our company and for our family.  And Sam would be a part of it.

“We have to celebrate,” my dad said.  “Jenny, can you throw together a party at the vineyard for Friday night?”

Her eyes widened but she nodded, too excited to say no.

“And we’re going to need the first fifty bottles of our new Whole Foods Cabernet Sauvignon,” he said, blinking back tears.  We all cheered.  It was one of those perfect moments in life when you know one day you’ll look back and say, “Do you remember that day?  That was a great day.”

Sam didn’t let his excitement overcome him for too long.  Before everyone else had finished celebrating the news, he pulled me out of the conference room and back to his office.  As he rounded his desk, he pointed to a stapled stack of papers in front of the chair I usually occupied.

“Over the weekend I prepared a list of emails and phone calls in the case this should happen.  I need you to take care of these right away.  Do you think you can get them finished before you leave today?” he asked.

I sat across from him, took the papers in my hands and rested my boots on his desk.  I flipped through the few sheets and scanned them.  I would have to stay late, I knew, but I didn’t care.  I would never tell him no.  Especially not today.

“Not a problem,” I said.

He gave me a tired smile and released a long breath he’d surely been holding since the Head Buyer for Whole Foods had walked in the front door of the vineyard last week.  He laughed lightly and rested his forehead in his hands, his upturned palms over his eyes.

“You can relax now,” I said with amusement.  If you’d asked me a few weeks ago, when I first met Sam, if he ever got nervous, I would have given a very confident dissent.  I’d learned since then that Sam had much more to him than seen from the surface.  It made me want to know more.

Sam let his hands run down his face as he looked up and rested his chin in his palms. He had a thoughtful smile on his face.

“Do you always wear those?” he asked, an interested yet humored tone in his voice.  I followed his gaze to my riding boots.  The way he looked at them made me slip them off his desk and sit up straighter.

“Not always,” I said.  What was wrong with wearing riding boots?  I thought most people found it to be one of my more charming quirks.

Sam shrugged and stood up from his chair.  “Well, the computer and phone are all yours.  I’m going to work with the team to do some final touches on the labels.”

I nodded, staring down at my boots.  I had a pair in almost every color"they went with everything.  But maybe they weren’t elegant enough for the office…

I looked up only when I felt Sam’s hand on my shoulder.  I was so distracted I almost missed the pressure of his fingers on my skin.

“And hey,” he said.  I looked at him.  “Thanks again.”

I put on a smile and nodded but diverted my eyes.

***

Cassie came over after school on Thursday.  We’d gone dress shopping for the party the day before but since I couldn’t decide on one, I’d bought three.  I needed her help in making the final decision.  She lay on her stomach on my bed as she watched me try them on over and over again in front of my full-length mirror.

“How was your mom’s doctor’s appointment?” I asked her, examining the black dress I had on from every angle in the mirror.  I didn’t make eye contact with Cassie when I asked.  It was a sensitive subject for her but I knew she appreciated that I cared.

“She didn’t go,” Cassie said.  The disappointment came through strong in her voice.  Cassie’s mother suffered from severe depression and was supposed to find out about a new medication that morning.  Unfortunately, her mom’s condition was so severe, it often kept her in bed more than out of it.  It wasn’t her fault, of course, but I couldn’t blame Cassie for being resentful.  Begging your mom to wake up for five years straight"watching her miss school functions, lose track of birthdays, skip meals for days in a row"would make anyone resentful.

“I’m sorry,” I said.  I slipped the black strap off my shoulder and let the dress fall to my feet.  Cassie cleared her throat and sat up on my bed, obviously ready for a change of subject.

“I like the purple one best,” she said.

“Yeah?”

I favored that one too.  It was a deep plum color with a low V cut in the front and back.  The thick faux high-waisted belt opened to a pleated skirt that fell just above my knees.  It was flirtier than the black dress.  And the red dress was just so…red.  I wanted to catch his attention, not beg for it.

“I think you’re right,” I said and she tossed it to me.  “Good thing I bought shoes to go with it.”

“What…you’re not wearing your boots?”

I forced a scoff though I felt my cheeks warm.  “I don’t always wear my riding boots.”

She laughed, oblivious to my discomfort.  “Yes, you do,” she said and came to stand next to me.

“Well, maybe it’s time I tried something different.  I can’t wear riding boots in college,” I said, the words coming to me only as they poured out of my mouth.  “I’ll be hundreds of miles from the ranch.  It wouldn’t make sense.”

Cassie shrugged.  She didn’t care what I wore enough to pay attention to my reasons for defending it.  Instead, she picked the black dress up off the floor and held it up to her shoulders.

“Hey…do you think…I could come?” she asked.

I kept my gaze locked on my own eyes in the mirror.  “Really?” I asked.  “I guess I didn’t think you’d want to.  It’s going to be a boring work thing.”  Up until now, I’d thought she’d been avoiding meeting Sam but now I wondered if I was the one avoiding it.

Cassie faked a sigh and twirled her fingers in her hair dramatically.  “Yes, compared to listening to my mom snore over taped episodes of Ellen, making my brother macaroni and cheese, and reading Jane Austen, it will be quite the letdown.  But I’m willing to do it for you.”

My laugh was hollow.  “When you put it that way…”

Truly, up until a few weeks ago, I would have already asked her.  Probably before I left the conference room when my dad first made the announcement.  I took her everywhere with me.  She was practically my sister.  I felt slightly ashamed that until she’d asked, I hadn’t thought about it.

“Of course,” I said.  “You should wear that dress.  It would look perfect on you.”

Cassie’s face lit up and she immediately began to shed her school clothes.

We spent the rest of the afternoon planning our hair and makeup but my heart wasn’t in it.  My mind was too busy trying to figure out how to steal a few minutes alone with Sam at the party when I’d be taking my biggest obstacle as my date.