The Sympathy Screw | 18+

Chapter 21 - Please

Author's Notes:

The theme song of this chapter is:

Get On Your Knees by Nicki Minaj (featuring Ariana Grande)

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Sam and I were sitting at my house together in the living room on the couch, Casanova snuggled between us, with a tub of popcorn on my lap and Sam's arm wrapped around me. Sam had been such a comforting friend and was there for me in ways I couldn't even describe over the past few weeks. Many times, I had words on my heart that I couldn't begin to speak, but he just sat silently and patiently, letting me silently feel. Physically, we hadn't progressed past the occasional hug, so there was still no chance of a 'sympathy fuck' with him, but it was still nice to have him there. I'd taken an extended bereavement leave and Sam had been there for me through so much of it, but I knew that I had to go back to work the next day.

We'd just finished watching Rudy. It was still not my favorite movie, but I knew Sam loved it. I looked at him and saw the genuine smile on his face. I hadn't realized just how handsome he really was.

My cell phone chimed in my pocket, and I reached in to retrieve it. There was a new text from my boss:

Sorry to bother you while you're still on leave, Violet. Can you check your email ASAP?

I didn't really want to get out of this little comfortable bubble that Sam, Casanova, and I were in, but I knew it had to be important if he was bothering me tonight. I texted back a quick 'yes' and then asked Sam, "Could you please excuse me for a minute? It's work and I know it must be pretty important if they're texting me at home on my last night of leave."

"Sure," Sam said, grabbing the popcorn and moving it aside and putting little Cass in his own lap.

I'd disabled my work email coming to my phone while I was on leave, so I would need to get on my computer. I made my way back to my bedroom and pulled my work laptop out of the bag it'd been hiding in for the past few weeks. I hadn't even looked at it since the day before I had gone to see Marie. The day before Andrew died, my mind corrected.

I plugged it in and pushed the power button, then waited for it to start up. After what felt like twenty minutes, my email was loading on my screen. There was a message from Vincent, my boss and the 'Director of Global Customer Service' with a subject line of 'Before Monday'. I clicked into it.

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Violet, I'm so sorry to disturb you while you're still on leave and I know you're coming back in the morning, but I needed to make sure you had some time to think about this before tomorrow. I wanted to give you a chance to think this over, because I will need to book tickets first thing in the morning. Will you go to the Milan office the week after next for the cross-training that we'd talked about when you were given the promotion? The training would be for one week.

Thanks,
Vince

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I sat, staring at Vincent's words for a long time. I made a promise when I accepted the promotion that I would travel for the training, and then we had postponed it when Andrew got sick so that I wouldn't have to leave until after. After he died. I took a deep breath at considering that further.

That part hit me almost as hard as the idea of being asked to travel right after my returning from bereavement leave. Walking away because his failing health was no longer 'keeping me here' seemed almost like a slap in the face to him, as though he were holding me back.