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Sam leaned back, running a hand through his hair, a million thoughts racing through his mind and none of them good.
Ben eyed him. “Listen. It’s my problem to deal with. You’ve got enough on your plate. I just had to tell someone because it’s been weighing on me.”
Ben confiding in him wasn’t a problem. They were the two longest-lasting employees at the resort and natural allies for moral support. Sam’s instinct to try to fix things surfaced. The issue was, he just didn’t have the skill set to solve this problem. A heaviness developed in his heart. “If there’s anything I can do to help, just shout.”
“Thanks, pal,” Ben said, shooting him a weak smile. “But I’ll think of something. Anyway, how are you coping with the instructor vacancy? You look tired.”
Sam raised his eyebrows. “Thanks very much. You don’t look so hot yourself.”
Ben laughed. “I didn’t mean it like that. We need to get a rocket up HR’s arse to sort out the job advert. I’ll chase them.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll cope. You concentrate on this other thing.” Sam pushed his chair back. “Do you want me to bring you a coffee?”
“That would be awesome.”
Sam turned and left the office, heading down to the café and trying to breathe away the gathering weight in his chest.
The pot began to boil over, and Sam only just caught it before it flooded the hob, turning down the heat quickly and calling the pan a number of very rude names. He almost felt guilty for insulting an inanimate object. After all, it was his own fault that he couldn’t concentrate.
Cat looked up from her phone. “You’re going to burn that.”
“Feel free to help,” he muttered.
“Pardon?”
“Nothing.”
Sam wondered why she spent the majority of her time at his place, when he clearly got on her nerves nowadays. Though it probably wasn’t just nowadays. Their relationship had always been more on again, off again than the IT department’s advice at work.
Managing to get dinner finished without further incident, he dished it up and took it over to the table. Cat finally put down her phone, and they started to eat.
Sam watched her across the table. “Is the food okay?”
“Yeah.” She glanced up. “Did you sort your car?”
Cold flooded his system. He’d forgotten all about the car. Another problem to solve. But what could he do when it was stuck on a random housing estate a couple of hours away and he hadn’t the means or the funds to get it brought to the Glenavie garage?
“No, not yet.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “The garage hasn’t gotten round to it.”
“Bloody lazy,” Cat said, shaking her head. “You need to chase them.”
Sam cleared his throat. “Yeah.” He stuffed some food into his mouth to avoid further questioning.
Cat picked up her phone, scrolling as she ate. Her face soured. “Ugh. Have you seen these photos on Vicky’s Insta? She looks awful. Can’t pull off a smoky eye, that one.”
Sam frowned as he chewed. A smoky eye? What did that even mean? Had someone puffed their cigarette into her face? Or had she gotten too close to a bonfire?
He swallowed his food. “Vicky always looks good to me.”
Cat snapped her gaze up. “She does, does she?”
Wrong thing to say.
Cat scooped some food onto her fork, noisily scraping it across her plate as she went. “Maybe you should ask Vicky to eat dinner with you instead.”
Sam kept quiet, wary of saying anything else that might land him in hot water.
“Just because she’s got that rock on her finger, she thinks she’s the bee’s knees,” Cat muttered.
