Page 95 of Sing it, Sam

Chapter Thirty-Three

At the end of the day, I make my way to Sam’s room. After our extended trip to the falls I didn’t have time to accomplish much in the remainder of the afternoon, so my overtime went well into the night.

When I walk inside room number ten, a stack of boxes are by the door. Seeing them there is a cold, hard reminder that tomorrow is his last day here.Gulp.

I find Sam sitting on the bed, moving his hands in front of him as he talks softly to Kathleen, who’s standing with her back to the window. Her arms are crossed beneath her chest.

“Hey,” I say from the doorway. Kathleen’s head swings towards me in record time. Sam’s gaze follows quickly after. Silence immediately cloaks them both.

Whatever they were chatting about before, they don’t want to continue doing so in my presence. The sheepish look on both their faces doesn’t give me much comfort.Were they discussing me?

“Busted!” I tease. “You can stop talking about me, now.”

“Yeah, you got us,” Kathleen says as she strides towards me, hands held just above her head in defeat.

“Yep. Busted,” Sam adds with a cheeky wink.

“I don’t think either of us would know what to do without you,” Kathleen says softly as she walks through the doorway.

God, I love her.

I blow her a kiss and walk closer to Sam. My bag lands with a thud on the end of his bed. Taking both his hands in mine, I smile. “So, don’t freak out, but—”

“But what?” Sam asks, his eyebrows jumping closer to his hairline.

“I’ve organised a bit of a farewell for you tomorrow afternoon.” I watch his face closely and try to gauge his reaction.

He raises our joined hands and drops them on his lap. “Oh, have you now?”

I study his face, but it’s hard to tell if he’s pissed or not. He has a poker face on. A good one at that.

“Yeah, I have. I just thought I’d let you know now. Get you used to the idea.”

A smirk pulls at the corner of his mouth. “Is this so I don’t skip out early?”

I sit beside him and wrap my arms around his shoulders. “Let’s get something straight. I don’t care how big your brother is, he’s not taking you out of here tomorrow without my say so. Got it?”

“So, attendance at the farewell is mandatory, huh?” Sam slips his hands around my hips.

I place a soft kiss to his cheek. “Yes. You will be missed, Sam, and not just by me.”

He cocks his eyebrows. “You reckon?”

“Absolutely. It’s a chance for everyone to say goodbye, but also to celebrate. No more stark white walls for you.”

“Well, don’t go to too much trouble, okay?”

“Nothing’s too much trouble for you.”

A silence grows between us. There’s so much I want to say, yet I don’t want to waste the time we have left by filling the space with meaningless words.

“You’re too good to me, you know that?” Sam says, and dots a kiss on the tip of my nose.

I roll my eyes. “It’s just an afternoon tea.”Although I will be baking my arse off until the wee hours of tomorrow morning to make it happen, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“It’s not just that, Janie. I’m talking about everything you’ve done for me. I wouldn’t have come this far without you.”

“You give me too much credit, Mr Marshall.”

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