He had barely said ten words to her for the rest of the trip. He hadn't heard her the first time she had asked him to forgive her for reaching under him when she was searching for her ear buds, and his eyes didn't leave the page when the flight attendant asked if he wanted a drink. She was impressed with the way he seemed drawn into the story. She had been joking with him when she offered the book, but she was a little glad to have a minute to take in the hotness that was this man. She still hadn't caught his name, but then, she hadn't exactly offered hers either. The voice in the back of her head kept telling her it might not be the best idea to give up so much information, but then the voice sounded conveniently like her mother's. It was the same voice that had convinced her not to go to college out of state, and that had made her give up her dreams of being an opera singer because it wasn't practical. When something seemed outlandish to Vivian Simmons, it was usually squelched by the words "That's impractical."
She understood that it was concern that drove her mother, but that same concern had made her become a home inspector instead of the opera singer/ ice skater/writer she had always wanted to be. The irony that her mother was an entrepeneur, a small business owner of a fairly successful bridal shop in her home town never escaped Samantha. Vivianne had stepped out to do something risky in a time when it had been risky to do so, and when she was a single mother taking care of Sam and her sister Shannon. She had started the shop with very little money, but a ton of contacts and a keen eye for elegance. Vivianne had built her dream with hard work and focus, and she had added a wedding planning service to the retail store. She had met Lawrence, the man she later married when Sam had been a senior in college, at a chamber of commerce function. He owned the pizza shop in town and he was a really nice guy who adored her mother, and treated her and Shannon with respect.
After a few hours of dozing, watching a movie on the little screen in front of her, and picking through the breakfast that the airline provided, She was ready to land and stretch her legs. And shower. It had been hours since she'd hopped on the plane and had begun her trip to Amsterdam though her mother had been horrified to learn that she was going all alone.
"What do you mean you're going all alone?" Vivian's eyes had been wide with horror. "You don't know anyone there!" She had put a bony hand to her ample chest, and Sam felt the urge to roll her eyes at her mother, but she stopped. She knew that she could still get slapped. He mama always let her know she would never be old enough to disrespect her mother, and she wasn't brave enough to test her theory. Her mother might only be five foot five, but somehow she still seemed to loom over all Samantha did. Sometimes it felt like she had never grown up. And it some ways it really was like she hadn't.
"I know, Mom, but I found this amazing deal and I didn't want to pass up the chance to go. You know I've been on a cruise, but I want to go out and see more of the world. I want to go to Europe," She had meant it to sound like she was forceful and confident, but instead, it came out just above a whisper. How was it that her mother still scared the pants off her? They were the same height, and Sam outweighed her mother by a good 30 pounds. Still, there was that healthy fear of her mother that had been present since she was old enough to know that while her mother was a loving and kind woman, she was also stern and no nonsense. Not exactly someone Sam could open up to about most things.
The night before she took off to Amsterdam, her mother had looked at her and in all seriousness said "Don't fall in love while you are there."
A giggle had burst from her lips and she smiled indulgently at her mother, as she tried to remember the last time she had gotten laid much less felt love. Her mother knew better than anyone how few dates Sam had had in... It took so long to think about it that her mother had called her name several times before she heard her. Her mother had a lot more faith in her dating situation than she did.
"I'm serious. You are going to go over there and find some man," Vivianne Collins had sniffed and then taken a sip of her hot tea.
"I'm going over there and I'm going to look at some art and eat and rest up."
"I don't see why you can't do that here, there are perfectly good museums in the United States. You could go see your cousin, Zelda in D.C. The museums are all free there." The usual humph wasn't on the end of the sentence, but Sam could feel it hanging in the air. Most of her conversations with her mother ended with her mother saying "Humph!" and setting her mouth in a line of annoyance. Most of the time, Sam gave in to what ever it was that her mother was displeased with. She hated giving into her mother, but it was easier not to hear the nagging, or worse, the "I told you so," that followed when things didn't quite turn out the way she had intended. This time she had felt like she needed to get on that plane, and so she didn't mention the trip unless it was absolutely necessary to talk about it. That was difficult to do considering she saw her parents at least once a week with a standing date for dinner on Friday nights.
That last Friday, her mother had looked at her for a long time before she bustled out of the room. She came back several minutes later with a small bag in her hand which she handed over to Sam in an almost shy way. When Sam slipped her hand in the bag, she smiled as she pulled out a guidebook for Amsterdam. She grinned at her mother and her mother gave her a smile and then approached her with her arms wide, and gathered her in her arms. It was Vivian's quiet way of saying that she was sorry. The words would probably never come out of her mouth, but she never let the opportunity to show her family how much she loved them, or to show how sorry she might be for something she had said or done. The words "I'm sorry" were just never uttered.
Sam was a little surprised to find that the last two hours of the flight flew by, and when the wheels touched down, she found that she couldn't wait to stand up and stretch her legs a little. He still hadn't moved though.
"Um," she said softly. "We're at Schiphol..."
His head snapped up and he gave her a sheepish grin. "You were right, this is really engrossing. Time flew by!"
"I told you so!" he smiled at her, but didn't make a move to give the book back. In fact, he went back to the page his finger was paused over and quickly scanned the page. He only had a few pages to read, and he looked a little desperate to finish the book. She touched him on the arm and he looked up again.
"If you want to borrow the book, you can."
"I don't know--" his grey eyes reflected his conflict.
