It was snowing heavily when she landed at Heathrow. She pushed her trolley sleepily through the green channel and wished she’d pre-booked a taxi. Half asleep she suddenly noticed amongst the drivers rallying for position, a board with her name on it and approached the driver. ‘Jessica Morley, that’s me. Strange, I didn’t arrange a taxi.’
‘Lemon Events arranged the booking, madam.’
Dan instantly came into her mind but he didn’t even know that she’d been going away, then she realised it must have been Sam. She hadn’t actually thought of Sam at all since she’d been away, but smiled to herself at the thoughtfulness of the man. Once in the warmth of the car, Jess switched on her mobile. Beep, beep, beep, the text messages came flooding in. Em, Hope, Phoebe, her dad, even Karl, checking she’d landed safely. She prayed that Dan might have tried to contact her but nothing.
She was unpacking her case when the phone rang. ‘Jess, hi, it’s Sam, good time?’
‘Hey, Sam, it was great. Thanks so much for arranging the taxi by the way. It was such a pleasant surprise.’
Sam continued. ‘No worries, I know what it’s like after a long haul. Anyway I won’t keep you now as you must be shattered, but I do need to talk quite quickly with you about the Telecoms project that’s come off. How about a breakfast meeting at my house tomorrow, say 8 a.m.?’
‘Yeah, that’s fine, can you mail me over your address. Let’s hope this snow lets up or I’ll be coming to you on a sleigh.’
At 8 a.m., Sam greeted her at his front door with a kiss on both cheeks.
‘Jeez, I wish I’d said a lunchtime meeting now. I’ve been pacing the floor for hours in the night. Bloody jet lag!’ Jess exclaimed.
Sam laughed. He’d always loved her honesty. She shook the snow off of her boots and made her way into Sam’s cottage. The décor was funky but homely at the same time. There were statues and pictures everywhere. A big open fire roared in the dining room. She also noticed an array of thank you cards on his bookshelf – ever the generous, Jess thought.
The delicious smell of fresh coffee filled the room. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a table in the kitchen, laden with all sorts of scrumptious-looking pastries.
They ate their way through the pastries and chatted about Jess’s adventures in Australia. Sam nearly choked on his croissant when Jess relayed her tale of nearly wetting herself as she thought she was being chased by a dingo on Fraser Island, when in fact it was a cat from the hostel. They discussed the upcoming Telecoms project and Jess was relieved that Dan hadn’t been put on the project team for this one. Two hours flew by and Jess got up ready to go.
‘Oh I can’t believe I feel stressed, and I haven’t even been back a day yet,’ Jess sighed.
‘We can’t have that now, can we?’ Sam replied. He took her by the hand and led her towards the back door to the garden. The snow was falling heavily again. ‘Now shut your eyes and take a big step,’ he urged. Sam held her hand as Jess’s feet sunk into the fresh, crisp snow with a loud crunching noise.
‘Oh my God, fresh snow! I just love it!’ She screamed and ran down the garden, making snowballs and throwing them around as she went. She ran back up to the back door and gave Sam a big kiss on the lips. ‘Sam Beresford, you are going to make someone a very happy woman one day.’
‘If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it was, and always will be, yours. If it never returns, it was never yours to begin with.’
Anon