He turned to find Sam sitting at the far end of the table, a newspaper open in front of him, an empty cup and plate shoved off to the side. “I didn’t sleep very well,” he said, running his fingers through his hair. “My brain feels like it's full of oatmeal.”
Sam laughed. “Come sit down and I’ll get you some coffee,” he said. “Hattie had to run to the grocery store, but she left a fresh pot, and there’s some coffee cake she’s been experimenting with for one of the Christmas parties. As usual she’s not happy with it, but I thought it was amazing.”
“That sounds great, Sam, but you don’t have to wait on me,” he said. “I can manage on my own.”
“Of course you can,” the older man said, getting to his feet anyway. “But you don’t have to, now sit before I change my mind.”
“I don’t have to be told twice,” he said, collapsing into a chair. “I tossed and turned for hours, then once I did finally fall asleep, I had all these crazy dreams. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a bad night’s sleep.”
“You must have something important on your mind,” Sam said, setting a steaming cup of coffee in front of him. “I never sleep well when something is bothering me.”
He thought of the night before and the hurt look in Rose’s eyes, a wave of guilt washed over him, and he let out a long sigh. “I kind of screwed up,” he said. “I didn’t mean to, it just kind of happened. I tried to apologize, but that didn’t help at all. Now I don’t know what to do.”
Sam came back over to the table with a slice of coffee cake and set it down in front of him, before sitting down next to him with his own full cup. “Well, that’s a tricky one without some more details,” he said, making himself comfortable again. “I’ve got some free time if you want to talk about it. Hattie won’t be back for a while, and I’m supposed to be watching the cake she left in the oven.”
He took a couple sips of the coffee, then decided talking about it might help ease some of the guilt and confusion, but he wasn’t sure where to start. “Is this about the girl?” Sam asked, helping him out. “Hattie said you brought someone to dinner the other night, that’s unusual for you.”
“I thought we were just friends…I mean, we were supposed to just be friends…at least, that’s what I thought I wanted…” he stammered, unable to complete a thought before starting on the next one.
Sam held up his hand. “Okay, slow down,” he said. “How about just telling me about her since I wasn’t here the other night.”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We work together, well, she works in the office, but I’ve been catching up on my safety videos and she’s been working on a project in the training room,” he said, then went on to explain about Sandra. “We went out to celebrate after work. I thought she needed a distraction, so I taught her to play pool, but it kind of backfired on me, and I ended up kissing her.”
“Oh, you crossed a line,” Sam said, shaking his head. “I guess she wasn’t very happy about it.”
He had to think about it for a second. “Actually, I’m not sure, she needed some fresh air after I kissed her the second time, but she didn’t seem upset until I told her it was a mistake and we could still be friends,” he said, then sighed. “I didn’t mean to complicate things, I just couldn’t help myself. I thought I could resist the temptation. I guess I should just stay away from her from now on.”
“You don’t sound very happy about that prospect,” Sam observed, then took a long sip of his coffee. “There’s one thing that confuses me, here, maybe you can clear it up for me.”
“What?” he asked, looking over at the older man.
“If you want to kiss her so badly, why are you resisting?” he asked. “Seems to me, if you’re this torn up over it, there’s something there that you should look at a little closer.”
“The timing isn’t right,” he said, shaking his head. “I have a plan, and it doesn’t include a woman right now. I just don’t have time for a relationship, even if Rose is the first woman I’ve ever felt this way about.”
Sam burst out laughing, then quickly sobered up when he saw the look on Malcolm’s face. “Sorry, I forget sometimes how young you all really are,” he said, then paused for a second. “Son,one thing you learn as you get older is that life doesn’t always follow our plans. Heck, half the time it feels like someone is actively working against you. The trick is to know when to go with the flow and when to fight. I think you’re being forced to make that decision for the first time in your life. The truth is, there isn’t a right or wrong answer, but I just want you to make sure that you’re willing to give up what might be something special because you have a plan. Plans can change, life can change, but sometimes you only have one shot at happiness, don’t miss yours.”
He was stunned into silence; it was the last thing he’d expected to hear, and only made things worse. “Great, now my entire life is in the balance over this one decision,” he said, then let out a long sigh. “I don’t want to end up like my parents. I want things in life, I want more than just a family, I want freedom, I want to live, I want to explore the world.”
“Love doesn’t keep you from doing any of those things, it just makes them better,” he said, then stood up when the timer on the stove began to chime. “Take some advice from an old man, listen to the voice inside your head, it will always steer you in the right direction.”
Malcolm didn’t say anything as Sam walked away. Instead, he sat staring into his empty cup, wondering if Sam knew that the voice inside his head belonged to a dragon and that dragon wanted Rose more than anything else in the world. He wondered if Sam would be so calm about it if he understood what the attraction between them actually meant, if he would shrug and so casually tell him to take a chance if he knew how deeply one of both or them could be hurt.
***Rose***
Rose rubbed the towel over the desk one more time before throwing it into the bucket of dirty water and looked around her new office, feeling a sense of satisfaction, but it wasn’t enough to completely chase away the worry. It had hit her in the middle of the night that she shouldn’t have gotten angry at Malcolm. She should have just ignored the kiss and moved on, but in the moment she hadn’t been thinking about why she was really there. She’d been so wrapped up in the most amazing kiss she’d ever had that she forgot she was lying to Malcolm, let it slip her mind that he could be a bad guy, and managed to block out that she was there to spy on him, not to fall in love.
Now he might not ever talk to her again, and she’d have no way of getting the information her stepfather wanted. She really had screwed up just like he’d predicted. Just thinking about it made her stomach hurt, and she groaned, wondering what she should do next, not sure if she could bring herself to call Malcolm and apologize; he had been a huge jerk, even if she’d let him hurt her.
“Well, you’ve been busy this morning,” Vanessa said from the doorway. “I thought I was going to beat everyone in this morning.”
“I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d get an early start on the day,” she said, peeling off the rubber gloves she’d been wearing. “It looks like the cleaning crew hasn’t been in here in months. I’ve been at it for two hours. I’d like their contact information. It might be time to renegotiate our contract.”
“You got it, boss,” Vanessa said, then hesitated. “I know things are different now, but I hope we can still be friends. I won’t expect special treatment or anything.”
She laughed. “That’s good because you won’t be getting any,” she said. “But I would like to point out that it’s only the two of us.”
“Yeah, I know, but…” Vanessa shrugged her shoulders. “You know how it goes.”
