Chapter 28 – "I Love You"
Friday Night, June 18, 2004

That night at dinner in the hotel restaurant, Samantha suddenly blurted out, "What if he's calling about the deposition. You know, Jack, all of his phone calls. Maybe he got the deposition quashed." Her eyes held a hopefulness for a few seconds while she spoke. Quickly she found her phone and pushed the button to retrieve her messages. She began entering her access code, but stopped, "I can't, I can't bear to hear his voice right now." She extended the phone to Martin, "Would you?"

Martin saw the pain evidenced in Samantha's face and put the phone up to his ear. The voice noted that she had five messages. Then he heard Jack's voice, "Sam call me... Please." Nothing too grand and exciting there, he pushed the save button, in case Samantha wanted to listen later. The next message began and it was Jack again, "Sam, I, um, I guess you're out. Give me a call when you get this." A few buttons later and Jack's voice could be heard again, "Look Sam, you're going to have to talk to me sometime. You can't just ignore me forever. Call me." Martin was amazed at Jack's assertiveness, he was accusing her of ignoring him forever when in fact less than one hour had elapsed between his first and third messages. Next Jack revealed to Samantha that he missed her, which Martin thought was a bit strange, but quickly moved to the next message. The last call, though, hit Martin hard as he listened to Jack's voice, "Okay Sam I didn't want to say these things to you on a message, but you're giving me little choice. Sam, I admit, I messed up. I should have told you about the deposition as soon as I knew about it, but when you invited me to dinner on Monday I was so excited and didn't want to ruin the night. Then, spending so much time with you all week, it felt like we'd stepped right back into our old relationship. I can still smell your perfume on my jacket and taste your lips on mine." As Martin listened he tried to keep his face impassive, but he made eye contact with Samantha trying to see within her all that she had kept hidden from him. Jack's message continued, "Sam, I don't know what I can do to make things right, but I can't let it end. I love you, Sam. I love you more than anything and I know that you love me." The message ended and a voice prompted him to erase or save and as easy as it would be for him to erase the message, erase the evidence of her lies, he knew that the pain would remain in his heart. He pressed the button to save the message and then laid the phone on the table between them.

Martin still had not outwardly reacted to Jack's words, but he rose from the table and spoke, "Nope, no details about the deposition. Uh, I'm going to stick to the hotel tomorrow so feel free to go sightseeing without me." Then, without even saying 'good-night', he headed up to the stairs to his room.

Samantha was confused by Martin's words and actions and reached for the phone. She forgot all about the trepidations she held just minutes before as she retrieved her messages. Finally, she heard Jack's words and Samantha realized what Martin must be feeling. She had consciously kept her new relationship with Jack a secret from Martin because it was over and shouldn't affect them, but now it looked like she kept it from him and that it was possibly still ongoing. She raced up the stairs with the intention of apologizing and explaining to Martin, but she knew that he would not want to see her. She decided to give him some time and space and retreated to her room alone.


Martin paced the floor of his own room. He couldn't believe that as soon as he was out of the picture she had begun dating Jack again. He questioned everything that she had told him about her feelings for Jack and then started thinking that she had probably lied to him about other issues as well. He stopped in front of the mini-bar in the room and for the first time in his life he opened one of the little containers of vodka and downed it in two gulps. The liquor burned as it coarsed down his throat, but at least it distracted him from the pain Samantha had caused him. He looked around the room and felt the walls closing in on him, he raced from the room and into the street. It didn't take long before he found a nearby bar and he settled himself in—prepared to stay for a long while.
Samantha was pacing in her room as well. She had tried to sit down and will herself to put Martin out of her mind, but to no avail. Finally, after an hour of torture she made up her mind to go to Martin's room. At his door she started pounding, calling out his name. She got no answer and cursed herself for lying to him. She pounded again and pleaded with Martin to open up. The door of the room next to Martin's opened and a small man stuck his head out intending to be very cross with the person intruding on his sleep. However, he caught one look at the beautiful woman in the elegant dress and soften some, "Lady, could you keep it down people are trying to sleep."

But Samantha was in no mood to apologize to the man and only pounded on the door again, yelling to Martin, "I'm not leaving until you talk to me."

"You'd be here all night lady, the guy left so please so the same and let me get back to sleep," the man was now pleading with Samantha.

Samantha turned her attention to the little man, "When did he leave?"

"What am I, his mother? I don't know when he left, I just know he ain't there." With that he slammed his door. Samantha believed the man and headed toward the exit of the hotel. She turned right and headed toward the heart of the town.


Martin was consuming drinks as fast as the bartender was making them for him, which doesn't take long when your drinking scotch on the rocks with a beer chaser. He began to wonder why the bartender had two heads and he got up from his seat to hit the bathroom. On his way he glanced out of the bar door and saw a group of prostitutes lined up along the street. He forgot about the bathroom and headed for the door. He approached the first woman he saw and in slurred language asked her how much she cost. The woman eyed him leerily, she didn't want to get thrown up on, that wasn't part of the deal, but she needed the business and propositioned him anyway. Martin barely heard the woman and asked her if she had a blonde wig that she could wear during the 'encounter.' The woman reassessed her client and didn't intervene when another woman approached the guy from behind.

The woman called the man by name and he turned around, but obviously did not recognize the woman standing before him. The prostitute made a silent escape.

Samantha looked at Martin, drunk and at a low in his life. She quickly realized that Martin did not know who she was and she used that to her advantage after eyeing the other women on the street. "Hey, big boy, did I hear that you wanted a blonde?"

"Yeah, you'll do great, you look just like her."

Samantha took Martin's arm and steered him back toward the hotel, "Let's go back to your room, hot stuff." Martin followed unquestioningly.

Samantha had no trouble getting Martin to his room, but once there he immediately undressed down to his boxers. She could see that he was aroused and she was surprised considering the amount of alcohol he must have consumed. He tried to pull her down onto the bed and she wondered how she was going to get out of the situation. She pulled away and offered him another drink to distract him, which he took eagerly. Within minutes of slurping it down, Martin was passed out on the bed and Samantha sank into a chair in relief.

Samantha felt responsible for driving Martin to his intoxicated state so she stayed with him during the night, to make sure nothing happened to him. She settled herself into the chair and tried to get to sleep.

After a few hours of shifting positions in the chair, Samantha realized that she was never going to get a decent night's sleep in it. She glanced over at Martin and saw that he hadn't moved an inch. She eyed the half of the bed that Martin was not occupying and fleetingly thought how comfortable it would be. She reasoned to herself that Martin was out cold and would never know that she was sleeping next to him. She also told herself that she would be awake long before he was and therefore he'd never know that she slept there. Satisfied with her justification of the situation she climbed into bed next to Martin and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

TBC