It had been a horrendous day, Sam thought, leaning back in his chair. A near PR disaster, Toby stuck on a speech (and thus, grumpy and in the mood for yelling), the beginning of a headache, and still some pain in his knee.
"SAM!"
He sighed. "Yes, Master," he said, as Toby entered his office.
"The speech was good," Toby said, before retreating to his office, leaving a puzzled Sam behind.
"Okay," Sam said, to the empty room.
Two minutes later, Toby was back with two cups of coffee. Sam felt his eyebrows raise so high that he could have sworn they were reaching his hairline. "What did I do?"
"You wrote a great speech," Toby answered, closing the door.
"Okay."
"While I was… well…"
"Stuck?"
"Momentarily unable to bring myself to care about farm subsidies."
"Okay."
"Are you all right?"
Sam smiled. "Seems to be the 10 000 dollars question, doesn't it?"
"Are you?"
Sam shrugged. "I feel more… I don't know…"
"We noticed."
"I thought it was a progress, to go from depression to anger," Sam said. "I wasn't sure it would last, and I wasn't sure I'd ever get past the anger stage, but…"
"You seem to be."
"I'm waiting for the depression to come back," Sam admitted.
"You think it will?"
"How would I know?"
"It better not," Toby advised.
"Are you threatening me or the depression?"
"Both. I like to be able to yell at you, and generally make your life miserable. It's not possible when I'm worried."
Sam almost thanked Toby, but settled for a neutral, "I'll try to be 'abusable', then."
"See that you do," Toby said, gruffly, leaving him alone.
Sam smiled unbelievingly. He'd never have thought that his boss would ever admit to being worried about him. Nor would he have thought that it would make him feel so much better.
He shook his head, studying the draft he had in front of him. He better get back to work, if he wanted to be finished in time for the PT. And after that, Josh, who was going to great lengths to make sure Sam knew he wouldn't let him down, would take him to a bar.
Still smiling, Sam began to write.
He couldn't wait to get his revenge for the hangover Josh had let him get the last time they had been out.
Sam, immersed in his thoughts, rhythmically typing, never noticed Toby, watching him from his own office, smiling softly.
END
Thanks for reading!
Loved it? Hated it? Please let me know at lazy.gege@ibelgique.com