Stranger at the beach house (25 page)

He
was the rugged outdoorsy type, an older version of Sam, tall and muscular with
greying stubble and quite the contrast to the petite well groomed lady, stylish
in a mid length navy dress and heels who had welcomed us. “We’re so glad you
came, we feel privileged, Sam. I had to double check the calendar when you called
to make sure it wasn’t Christmas,” his mother laughed and I could tell she
missed her son desperately.

 
“Leave the boy alone Eve, he’s busy making his
millions so he can keep us in our old age,” he said, grinning as Sam shook his
head and I guessed that was a long standing family joke.

 
“I hope you are both hungry. I didn’t know
what you liked, Rose, so there is a choice” Eve smiled brightly.

 
“She’s not kidding,” whispered his dad, “she’s
been cooking since you put the bloody phone down yesterday,” he laughed.
Clearly I wasn’t the only one wanting to make a good impression on the other
woman in Sam’s life.

 
“Come on, help yourselves,” she smiled,
gesturing to a buffet that could have catered fifty. It looked and smelled
delicious and Sam laughed, shaking his head in exasperation.

“How
many people are coming, Mum?” he smiled as she smacked his arm playfully.

“Well
if you’d told me what Rose likes to eat, I might have had a clue what to do,”
she laughed, rolling her eyes.

 
“I did tell you. She eats anything and
everything, don’t you, Sweetheart?” he said as I gasped, my eyes wide with
shock as he pulled me into his arms, careful not to disturb my well balanced
plate. “It’s one of things I love about her,” he smiled, kissing my cheek. That
statement did nothing to lesson my shock as my head spun round. One of the
things he loved about me? He winked as his parents passed knowing glances and
my stomach flipped. This was quite the contrast to last night I thought,
beaming. He could bring me here anytime.

 
“You must get your cooking skills from your
mother, Sam,” I said, still grinning like a Cheshire cat as we sat to eat. His
parents both sat gaping open mouthed at me.

 
“I must. I certainly haven’t learned very much
from my terrible teacher,” he smirked.

“I
didn’t think you could boil a kettle son, let alone an egg,” his dad laughed
while Eve shook her head in disbelief.

“It’s
the third miracle in a week, Ernie,” she smiled raising her eyebrows.

 
“What are the other two?” I asked, revelling
in the happy exchange.

 
“Well he’s sat in our house and it’s not
December 25
^th,
and the other is...
”,
she
stopped abruptly as Sam raised his eyebrows at her before deciding to continue
regardless. “The other, my Dear, is you,” she smiled, and I tried to suppress
my grin, looking coyly at Sam through my lashes as he hit me full on with his
most devastating smile and my heart melted. I don’t think I had ever felt so
happy.

“Can
you stay tonight? It’s so lovely to have you both here,” Eve asked.

 
“I was planning to go back. There’s a
publishing function tomorrow that we need to attend,” Sam answered as I
wondered if maybe we could stay.

 
“Is this because of...” his dad started to ask
a question as Sam cut him short abruptly, shaking his head at his father.

 
“No”. What the hell was that all about?
“Lizzie, a friend of Rose has gone freelance and we are going to support her,”
he said quickly, looking between his mother and father in a bid to get them off
the line of questioning that sounded suspiciously like it could have something
to do with his ‘situation’.

 
“Oh I see,” said Ernie, frowning at his son as
Sam elaborated. “I’ve got a few contacts so I said I’d help her with some
networking”.

 
His mother smiled in an effort to lift the
mood and changed the subject.
 
I wasn’t
sure what the relevance of the publishing ball was, but it was definitely
connected to Sam’s secret in some way. “So what do you do for a living, Rose?”
Eve asked politely.

 
“I’m between jobs at the moment. I’ve recently
been made redundant from pharmaceutical sales and I’m looking for a career
change,” I smiled back as Sam squeezed my leg affectionately.

 
“I think that’s a hard job these days,” said
Ernie. “When I was a GP it always seemed like a great career. I still go to
some of the educational events to keep the old grey matter fresh. Nobody seems
to have time to see patients these days with all the paperwork, never mind
anyone else,” he smiled sympathetically.

 
“You’re right. I’m thinking of maybe retraining
as a teacher, I’m not sure though,” I said, voicing my tentative thoughts about
my potential change of vocation.

Sam
nearly choked on a prawn as I threw him a steely glare, his mouth curving
deliciously as I beat him to the punch, “But according to your son I’m
terrible,” I laughed as he pulled me into him, kissing my forehead.

“Oh
Dear God, you haven’t tried to teach him anything have you? He’s a dreadful
pupil,” his mother grinned. “He never could take direction well. Let me tell
you, parent’s evenings were agony all the way through school. But I don’t
suppose he’s done too badly for himself for all these years, and it looks like
he’s done even better now,” she smiled warmly at me and I smiled right back.

It
was such a contrast to the events of last night and by the time we said our
goodbyes I was sorry to leave. His parents had been charming, hospitable and
wonderful fun, and the way they teased and cherished Sam was endearing. I
smiled at him broadly as he opened the car door for me to get in. “It’s a shame
we couldn’t stay, Sam, I thought your parents were lovely,” I smiled as he
kissed me, before walking around to the driver’s side and sliding into the
seat.

 
“Forget it. Another hour and my mother would
have been handing round the baby photographs and telling you how I should have
been a pianist,” he laughed as I raised my eyebrows.

“I
didn’t know you could play,” I smiled, trying to imagine him sat at a baby
grand and tapping the keys with those expert fingers.

 
“I can’t. I passed one bloody music exam as a
kid and she had me down for a career with the royal philharmonic orchestra.
Honestly, she still goes on about it now,” he grinned, pulling the car out of
the drive as his parents waved on.

 
“You must be such a disappointment to her,” I
laughed as we drove off, looking forward to our ‘quiet night in’ and what that
might entail.

It
turned out it entailed me watching TV as Sam had some urgent calls to make. I
avoided the fashion channel and fell asleep in front of a re-run of Terminator
on the couch. I wasn’t sure how I got to bed where I woke in the morning, but I
guessed it involved a very beautiful man who was curled around me as I breathed
his delicious scent and thanked my lucky stars that my mysterious neighbour was
turning out to be every bit as amazing in his personality as he was in his
looks.

“I’m
sorry about last night, Rose, things got pretty hectic there,” he smiled as we
walked into the kitchen and I tried to fathom out the sleek chrome coffee
machine that was identical to the one at the beach house.

 
“I’m not if it means you can fill me in on
your secret, Mr Mystery,” I smiled, finally managing to extract myself a latte.
It was never a subject that went down well with Sam, and I could see the stress
etched on his face as he looked at me.

“I
know it seems unfair, Rose, but I have my reasons for keeping it from you.
There’s a small chance that you could get approached about it by some not very
nice people, in which case it’s better that you know nothing,” he said as I
stared at him aghast.

 
“Is that likely?” I asked and my voice was
etched with concern as he moved to get himself a coffee, shaking his head.

“No.
But it is a possibility. It’s not just that either, Baby. Like I’ve said
before, things are changing so rapidly that what I tell you today might not be
the case tomorrow. I want to wait until everything is final and it almost is.
My situation isn’t just going to affect me. Depending on how things play out it
may affect you too, and everyone I know, but I’m trying to negate that
risk.
 
I’m working on controlling it and
keeping it manageable so that the impact on us will be negligible,” he smiled.

“But
there is a small part of me that doesn’t want to tell you purely for selfish
reasons. You might decide you can’t deal with it and not want to be with me.
I’ve only just got you, Rose, and I don’t want to lose you,” he said, watching
my expression carefully as the worry played out across every feature on my
face.

I
didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t even begin to fathom out what this whole
thing was, so how the hell would I know if it would change the way I felt about
him. Right now I was becoming less and less certain of anything. He saw my
reaction and walked towards me, standing in front of me and gazing down, a
small smile on his face.

“Don’t
look so worried, Rose, it’s nothing illegal, it’s nothing that I’m ashamed of
and as soon as we get back tomorrow I’ll sit you down and show you everything.
Can you give me one more day, Baby?” he asked, but I didn’t get the chance to
answer as his ringing phone broke the tension.

“What
is it J?” he spoke into the receiver, listening intently for a few moments and
watching me before he turned his back. “You are fucking joking. Talk about a
small world. If you can’t stall her, I will,” he said, cutting ‘J’ off and
taking a moment before he turned back to face me. “One more day,” he said
sternly and this time it wasn’t a question, leaving me standing there stunned
as he walked to his office and shut the door.
 

He
was in there most of the morning as I showered and padded around the apartment
not knowing whether or not to disturb him and deciding against it. It seemed
like Sam had enough on his plate right now so I decided to keep out of his way,
staving off the boredom by looking at my new collection of designer clothes,
shoes and bags that Wendy had obviously included at Sam’s insistence before
we’d left for lunch with Lizzie.

 
So my new wardrobe largely consisted of a
bunch of things that Wendy liked. Not that I was complaining, the girl had
impeccable taste.

A
million possibilities about Sam’s situation were racing through my brain. The
thought that I might be approached by not very nice people had me envisioning
all kinds of things, including being kidnapped by the KGB and interrogated in
some dank cellar, and approached on the beach by some undercover PI wearing a
beige Mac and a trilby. He’d also said it could affect everyone he knew and I
wondered whether this whole thing, and the ‘notoriety’ he’d once mentioned, was
going to be more high profile than I’d ever dared to consider.

When
I looked at the clues they were all there. The security at the beach house, the
supplies of long life tinned food that would feed an army, the CCTV, and for
the first time since we’d met, Sam’s situation really began to concern me. It
was as if it had been a faraway thing before, something to tease him with, but
nothing that would affect us, not really. I’d been curious but never really too
concerned. Alice had known and welcomed him as her neighbour anyway, and if I
trusted anyone’s judgement it was my grandmother’s. Harry knew too and he
hadn’t warned me not to get involved.

 
At the beach house the real world existed in
the background. It was vastly different here.

In
London the phone calls had been endless and he’d been in meetings or his office
more than he’d been out of them. Whatever he was hiding from me was real,
imminent and about to blow our lives apart by the sounds of it. He was even
worried I might not want to be with him afterwards and he didn’t seem like a
man who worried unnecessarily, he was too in control.

My
mind was whirling with possibilities and flicking between wanting to know and
not wanting to know, not if it jeopardised us. The thought of losing him right
now was unimaginable.

After
another hour passed I returned to the kitchen to make a coffee, deciding to
stop by the office to see if Sam wanted one. The door was ajar and he was
speaking on the phone in a low voice and as I heard the words I stopped dead,
listening without going any further.

“I
will tell her about you but it’s not the right time, you have to trust me. I
promise it won’t be long, but she’s been through such a lot already and I don’t
know how she’ll take it. You have to stay away”. That was as much as I could
stand before I pushed the door open and glowered at Sam as he spun to face me,
a look of absolute horror and panic on his face. If the situation wasn’t bad
enough, there was only one conclusion I could draw from that phone call.

“Are
you seeing someone else, Sam?” I screamed as he muttered that he had to go into
the phone and ran across to me, pulling me into a hug as I struggled free.