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“I was on my way home.”

“You couldn’t get a taxi?”

“I left in a rush. I couldn’t wait for a taxi.”

“It’s not safe to w
alk around in the dark, alone.”
He was stating the obvious, but it hadn’t felt safe for me to stay with Tim at that moment, either.

“You sound like my father.”

“I hope so.” Sam stopped the car on my driv
eway and turned off the engine. He faced me.
“Look, Claudia, I can see you’re scared and I’m worried about you.”

I stared
at the house, saying nothing.

“Don’t you trust me?” His voice had a pleading tone to it, he sounded concerned, like
he didn’t know how to help me.
I recognised the tone – Aunt Sandra had the same edge to her voice when she was worrie
d that grief was swallowing me. I couldn’t bear it.
I looked over at him.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine.
Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?” The words w
ere oddly reminiscent of Marty.
Sam had never given me a reason not to trust him, but then again n
either had Tim – until tonight. I shook my head.

“It isn’t about trust.”

“What is it about?”

I sighed.
He wasn’t going to let this go, so I might
as well tell him what happened.
“I had a bit of a scare tonight.”

He didn’t say anything, so I continued, rambling away, trying to sort through the jumble of events as quickly as possible.

“I went to my friend’s house, we’d made plans to stay in and watch films and then when her parents got back
I was going to get a taxi home.
S
ee, I was planning to be safe…”
I looked to him and he nodded. “When I got to her house, Jade wasn’t there
, but her brother Tim was in.
I know him a bit and it was cold, s
o he invited me in for a drink.
I think it was my fault – I suggested opening a bottle of wine, maybe he thought I wanted more…” I trailed off, partly embarrassed at discussing this with a man who was old enough to be my father and partly because I didn’t know how to explain what happened next.

“What happened, Claudia?”

“He…” I couldn’t explain it.

“Did he rape you?” Sam’s wide eyes were staring at me in horror.

“No. No.
I’m sure he wouldn’t have, but at the time I thought h
e was going to. I overreacted.”
I shivered, thinking back of how scared I’d been at the time.

“You should get into the house, you’re freezing.” He moved one hand towards my shoulder and then checked himself, placing his h
and back on the steering wheel.
I felt bad for making him so nervous in his own car.

“Do you want to come in?” I asked.

“Not if it would make you uncomfortable.”

“You do
n’t make me uncomfortable.
I’m really grateful that you stopped and helped me tonight.”

“What else would I have done?” He smiled warmly at me.

We got out of the
car and headed into the house.
He always kept a distance away from me, aw
are that I was feeling on edge.
He told me to sit down while he made a
cup of hot, sweet tea for me.

“Just in case you’re in shock.  Did you want to talk about what happened?”

“I’m sure I just overreacted. I wasn’t expecting it.
I’d told him I
wasn’t looking for a boyfriend. I thought we could be friends.
We were just having a drink, he was looking for something on TV to watch and then he moved down the sofa, grabbed my wrist and started pulling me towards him,” I shuddered, “and then he was on top of me and I thought he was going to…but he stopped as soon as I started shouting and pushing him off of me.”

Sam was shaking his head, keepi
ng his eyes fixed on the table.
He didn’t speak.

“I did overreact, didn’t I?”

He looked up at me. “I don’t think so.
The
guy sounds like a creep to me.
Do you want to report him to the police?”

“No!
That isn’t necessary, I’m sure he didn’t mean to upset me, he stopped after all, didn’t he?” I was horrified at the thought of Sam’s suggestion.

“But he shouldn’t have started.
You’d told him you weren’t interested, he shouldn’t
have tried anything with you.
I can’t believe you’re defending his behaviour.”

“I’m not, I just don’t think he thought it through – he wanted a one-night stand, I don’t think he realised I would think he was forcin
g himself on me.
I mean, I did suggest we share a bottle of wine…”

“Claudia, don’t y
ou dare blame yourself.
Sharing a bottle of wine is
not an open invitation to sex. Not in anyone’s book.
This guy found himself alone with a beautiful woman and thought h
e’d take a chance to get lucky. Scumbag.
Thank God you had the presence of mind to fight back
and get the hell out of there.
Is
he even worried about you now?
No – anything could have happened to you after you left his house and he’s fully to blame for that.”

I nodded.
I didn’t know what to say.

“You did the right thing.
Drink your
tea.
How are you feeling now?”

“A little better, less shaken.
Thank you.”

“Do you want me to call one of
your friends to stay with you?
What about Ben’s new girlfriend, Maria is it?” He studied my face intently, as though he was checking for signs of damage.

“
Sofia
. No, I’m fine, really.
I feel bad for ruining your evening.”

“My evening was ruined before I saw you – I’ve been fixing a fuse box at one of the apartment blocks we rent out – ended up having to call an eme
rgency electrician, nightmare,”
he rolled his eyes, “all the usual management staff are on their Christmas break, so it fell to me to sort it out.”

“Is th
e company still short staffed?”
It was nice to change the subject.

“In a word – yes.
Between staff out for Christmas and a sickness bug that’s going around, I fee
l like I’m doing it all myself.
Even bloody Andrea is out sick.
It isn’t so bad on the development side, as that always slows down at this time of year, but the rental side is ongoing and for some unknown reason heating systems choose th
is time of year to break down.”
His mouth set in a grimace.

“I could come in and help this week – I haven’t got any lectures and I have a few days before I travel to see my aunt.”

“I wasn’t hinting, you should enjoy your holidays.”

“Seriously,
I’d like to help.
This hous
e can be a bit empty sometimes. I get lonely.
I can do simple things – even making tea, if it helps.” Going to help Sam at the company seemed a good way to fill my days, I’d been wanting to learn more about the business anyway.

“If you’re sure?
You can do as little as you want, don’t feel obligate
d to do whole days or anything.
I have got a pile of filing that needs sorting out.”

“Consider i
t done.
I’ll be there tomorrow morning.” I noticed Sam stifle a yawn and glanced at the clock, surprised to see the
time – it was nearly midnight.
“I’m sorry,
I’ve kept you here really late.
You must be exhausted.”

“It’s not a problem,
a friend in need and all that. Are you sure you’re OK now?
Is there anything else I can do for you?” He looked into my eyes and I smiled at him.

“You’ve done plenty. Thank you for listening.
I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You will, sleep well, Claudia.”

He led the way to the front door, being careful all the time no
t to come into contact with me.
I watched him get into his car and reverse down the driveway, then the little re
d car sped away into the night.
From the small portion of his driving I saw as he left my house, I could see how differently he had driven with me in the car – he wasn’t naturally a smooth driver at all, but ra
ther quick and almost reckless.
I was touched that he had been
so careful with me in the car. It made me feel delicate.
I closed the do
or and put the safety chain on.
My phone was beeping,
alerting me to a text message.
When I checked it, I sa
w two messages, both from Jade.
One had been sent three hours ago, the other was brand new:

Why is my brother asking me for your phone number?! Xx

What happened tonight?

I replied quickly:

P
lease don’t give him my number.
I don’t want t
o talk about it.
I’m going to sleep now.

The emotion of the evening had left me exhausted and I dragged myself up to my bedroom, falling into a dreamless sleep, hoping that everything woul
d seem brighter in the morning.

Chapter 25

I awoke as the alarm on my p
hone announced the time as 8am.
I struggled out of bed and into the shower, wondering what to wear fo
r my day at work.
I settled on a black sweater dress and packed some heel
ed shoes to wear in the office.
It was too far to walk in heels, so I would wear my comf
y (and warm) boots on the way.
I blow-dried my hair quickly, encouraging it to form casual curls rather than trying
to persuade it to lie straight.
I put on a small amount of makeup; just a touch of foundati
on, some mascara and lip gloss.
I felt nervous that I would get a reaction from one of the members of staff like I did the first time I met
Andrea.
I knew it was wrong, but I hoped she’d still be off sick so tha
t I wouldn’t have to face her.

My phone beeped just as I was leaving the house, telling me I had another message from Jade:

Wha
t on earth happened last night?
You won’t talk about it, Tim won’t talk about it, but he’s in a real state.

I took a deep breath and tapped a reply to her:

Nothing happened.
I can’t talk, I’m going to work.

It was very cold, wi
th a frost covering the ground.
I cursed myself for leaving my scarf and gloves
at Jade’s house.
I walked quickly, trying to keep myself warm and also thinking the sooner I arrived, the soon
er I would be out of the cold.

The car park at my dad’s company was much emptier than the last time I’d been here, but I spotted Sam’s red conver
tible parked near the entrance.
In the daylight, I could see that it was an Audi and I was reminded of Ben telling me that m
ake was all his dad ever drove.
It was quite a cute car and I decided that if I ever learnt to drive and managed to pass my test, I might get one for myself.

I walked into the reception and was surprised to find nob
ody at all behind the counter.
I sat in one of the chairs and changed out
of my boots and into my heels.
It was very quiet in the building, but if I listened carefully, I could hear a
ctivity in some of the offices.
I suddenly felt nervou
s, wondering where I should go.
I hadn’t expected to find nobody here in the reception and I didn’t like to go into
the other offices unannounced.
I decided I would go to Sam’s office first – at least if I made a fool of myself in there, I only made a fool of myself in front of one person.

I walked through the deserted PA’s office and ignored the do
or that led to my dad’s office.
I knocked on Sam’s door, starting to shake from nerves.

“Come in,” Sam’s voice called from the other side of the d
oor.
I gently push
ed the door open and walked in.
He stood up when he saw me and smiled broadly.

“Good morning, Sam.”

“Good morning, Claudia.
Did you sleep well?”

I nodded, “Surprisingly so, I really can’t thank you enough for last night, you were so understanding.”