Mike & Savy Ch. 07

Sam and I, just by virtue of being the non-couple, often ended up next to each other, which she seemed perfectly comfortable with. I don't know if she actually was or if I was just sensitive to it, but she seemed very touchy feely. When she wasn't sitting next to me and leaning close to me, she was walking behind me and massaging my shoulders or messing around and knocking me over on the mountain.

At one point, Mia approached me in the kitchen and quietly said, "Mike, relax. You've got a lot to offer. You're a good looking guy. You're sweet. You work at NASA." I had no response.

We all took a break from snow sports the following day, which was fortunate because my body was pretty aching and bruised from the various tumbles I had taken. We drove down into West Virginia to visit a few small towns and rummage through various antique shops.

At one point, Sam and I got separated from the others in a back corner of the store. I wanted to take the opportunity to say what I needed to.

"Hey, Sam. I don't want to sound presumptuous or anything, but I think I've been picking up some signals and all..."

She took a step closer to me and smiled.

"Yeah..."

"I just... I'm not really in a place where I can... think about that. And I don't want to misrepresent myself or anything."

Her smile faded a bit.

"Oh, uh... okay. I understand."

We caught up with the rest of the group and headed back to the house. That night, Sam was still friendly towards me, but pulled back on flirting, which I was grateful for.

On New Year's Eve, we did a half-day on the mountain then came back to the house and prepared for the evening. I briefly thought about spending last New Year's Eve in Barcelona with Ana. I heard from Matteo and Isabel from time to time, but I never asked about Ana. I hoped she was happy wherever she was.

We sat around, drinking a bit and watching the show from New York. As we counted down, Jeff and Mia were together as were Adrian and Shani. I sat next to Sam and she rested her hand lightly on my shoulder, not flirtatiously, but very friendly. At midnight, she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek and I returned a kiss on her cheek. When I looked over at Mia, she was giving me a look of disapproval and I couldn't help but chuckle at her.

On New Year's Day, we slept relatively late and then I helped during the cleanup. We weren't college kids anymore, so it wasn't too bad. I planned on heading back, so that I wouldn't feel rushed when work started again.

After I'd loaded my truck and said goodbye to everyone, Jeff walked me out.

"It's a new year, Mike. You know I'm always gonna be there to support you, but give yourself a break sometimes. It'll get better, one day at a time, same as it always has."

"I'm workin' on it. And I'm not just saying that, I really am."

"Alright man, we'll catch up with you in a few weeks."

I drove back to Bowie, getting in after dark. I sat watching some bowl game, it wasn't important. I was trying to figure out how to move forward in my life and coming up with no answers.

The first week back at work was... odd. Work itself was fine, but every day, I just had a nagging feeling that my life was unsustainable how it was playing out.

On Friday, I got a text message from Savy.

"Hey, can you do lunch tomorrow? I have something I want to tell you."

This was the first time she'd asked to meet me. Every other time we'd seen each other, it was with friends and family around for an event. This was different and I fretted over what it meant. Even more concerning to me, she'd just been in North Carolina to meet Josh's parents and now she wanted to tell me something.

I texted back that I could and she asked to meet at Looney's at noon.

I don't think I slept more than an hour or two that night, as my mind ran through every possible scenario of what she was going to tell me. If she told me what I thought was possible, I didn't know how I'd make it.

On Saturday morning, I made a large pot of coffee and drank almost all of it. The caffeine woke me up a bit, but didn't do anything good for my nerves. When it was time, I got in my truck and drove to College Park.

I parked and walked inside, looking for Savy. I spotted her sitting at a table in the back corner. When I was about halfway across the floor, she saw me, but only gave me a tight grin, not her full smile.

I slid onto a chair across from her. I tried to cover my nerves as best as I could.

"Hey, how's it going?" I asked.

"I'm okay. Did you have a good time out west?"

"Yeah, Jeff and Mia said to tell you hi and they hope you'll go out there with them some time. Did you have a good trip?"

Her eyes fell away from mine, looking down at the table.

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

Just then, the waitress showed up. I quickly ordered two cokes and she left.

"I just... I wanted you to know..."

She took her hands out of her pockets and set them on the table in front of her.

"... Josh asked me to marry him."

Time stopped. I felt like I was going to fall over. I didn't breathe and I could count my heartbeats as they pounded against my chest. Thump-thump. One. Thump-thump. Two.

My eyes dropped from hers, looking down to her left hand.

End of Chapter 7.