Brick by Brick

Part Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

She should have called, Sammy thought as she marched into the hotel reception. She had no idea if he was still here, no one would reveal his room number, and she had very little chance of actually finding him. She shifted Eleanor to her other hip, Corinne had offered to babysit, but her daughter wasn't a burden and she was spending far too much time away from her lately, unnecessarily. Luckily she recognised the woman stood behind the reception desk of the hotel. She'd been in college with the girl Stacey's sister. She could only hope that familiarity would win over protocol.

"Hey Stacey, how are you?"

The other woman smiled, "Sammy! I hear you're back in town. How are you?" She spotted the moment that Stacey's face dropped as she remembered exactly why Sammy had come back to town. "Sorry," she murmured.

Sammy smiled, "it's ok, I'm getting used to being a widow Stacey. I'm...err...looking for a friend who's checked in here, Joel Edwards?"

Stacey winked, "tall, dark and good looking? I know EXACTLY who you're talking about."

Tall, dark, she mentally ticked those two boxes, but good looking? She'd never thought of Joel as that, he was kind, he was friendly...and he wasn't repulsive, that was for sure, but she'd only ever had eyes for Marcus.

Still smiling she nodded, "that's him. Could you tell me what room he's in?"

"Well that's against protocol Sammy, but that doesn't matter as he's in the bar. He spoke to me just half an hour ago."

Sammy gave what she hoped was a dazzling grin, then made for the bar. She had no idea what she was going to say to him, how did you apologise for repeatedly misjudging someone? Then there was the fact that he'd paid her a salary, a ridiculous one for months. He couldn't afford that, no one could. She'd gone mad over the apartment, but that hadn't been hers either. Joel had done everything he could to make her life easier. And she'd repaid him by screaming at him. Saying that, he had to start being honest with her, she was a big girl, and frankly nothing could be worse that the news the police brought to her door eighteen months earlier.

He was sat at a small round table in the corner of the room, a laptop open in front of him, a bottle of wine next to it. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a fine knit sweater, he'd been in a suit earlier, and Sammy couldn't remember NOT seeing him in anything less. She remembered Stacey's words about Joel. Handsome? She smiled at the barman.

"Could I have a wineglass please?"

As he handed her one, she nodded in the direction of Joel, non-verbally explaining that she would be sharing the bottle that he had. A little presumptuous maybe, but she had one shot at this. As she waited for the glass she studied him, still bent over the computer his eyes scanning the screen. She'd never thought of him as anything other 'Just Joel', but Stacey had a point, his dark hair was short, but as usual in a perfect style, his jaw was strong, his cheekbones angled, and his lips were full, soft looking. She shouldn't think like that, shouldn't imagine what it would be like to touch them.

Taking the glass gratefully she crossed the room and stopped in front of the table, it was another moment before Joel realised someone was there, he glanced up and his eyes clouded over in confusion at the sight of her, then his eyes moved to Eleanor and he smiled.

"Wow! She's grown...quite the little lady!"

Sammy nodded, "almost walking, causing chaos everywhere." She lowered herself into the seat opposite him as he closed the lid on his laptop. "I'm so glad I found you. I owe you like a million apologies; I'm just hoping that you'll accept that."