Play It Again Sam 1

Author's note:

There is no explicit sex in this story. No bitches are burned or even lightly singed. If that's what you are looking for please look elsewhere.

They were already at the table. John and Alex were talking about the afternoon's football matches. John's wife, Roz looked bored. Alex was between wives as he liked to put it. Roz looked up at Sam.

"Are you out on the pull with Alex tonight?"

The look on Sam's face told her the answer was no.

"I think you should. It does no good to mope around at home all the time. You need to get out, get back into the swing of things. Not all girls are like Angie you know."

But that was just it. He wanted a girl like Angie, hell he wanted Angie herself, but the mention of her name brought it all back. The night she came home and made that shocking admission. The presentation had gone so well, she and her boss went out to celebrate, she'd got very drunk and they had ended up in bed together. She'd been full of remorse, but Sam had been unable to get past it and now he was alone.

An old man walked over to the table and started to engage them in conversation.

" I'm doing some research he said and I need peoples opinion. If you could have one day of your life to live over again, when would it be? Now there are some rules you cannot gain financially and you cannot tell anyone about things that you know will happen."

"Easy!" said John "the day spurs won the cup in 1991 my dad took me to the match, Fantastic day"

Roz frowned at John before offering her choice. "Our wedding day. It was the best day of my life"

Alex just shrugged.

"What about you sir?" the man said to Sam." You look like you have a day in mind"

"7th August 2013."

The old man reached out and touched Sam's arm.

*****

He woke alone as expected, but the bed beside him was warm. He picked up his phone to check the time. 6.30 am 7/8/2013. Angie came out of the bathroom wearing just bra and pants.

"Hello sleepy head. Sorry about the early start, it's a big day today. If my presentation is well received it could lead to a promotion."

Sam put his hands under her arms onto her breasts and pulled her backwards onto the bed.

"Let Sally do it. Call in sick and stay here with me."

"No!" she said pulling his hands off. "I'm not letting her take the credit for my work. What's got into you today? Are you jealous because I might start earning more than you?"

"No it's nothing like that. I just have the feeling that if you go today, things will never be the same between us again."

"Too right they won't. I'll be earning a lot more money."

Things continued in the same vein until Angie stormed out and slammed the door. Sam sat with his head in his hands and the old man appeared beside him.

"I'm sorry." He said. " "I said you could live it again, I never said anything would change."

"You bastard," shouted Sam, just before he heard her key in the lock.

*****

Sam went to the bar to fetch a round of drinks and Roz took the opportunity to pump Angie for information.

"So what happened last year. Sam won't say anything, he just walks around looking like the cat that got the cream. I know you quit your job and went to work for Jenkins Bough. I thought he might be a bit pissed, after all you must be on a hell of a salary now."

"Huh, you sound like my ex-boss Phil. He said Sam wouldn't like me being the main breadwinner. But you're both wrong, he's very proud of me, and I'm very proud of him."

"Well I can see that now, but you still haven't told me what brought about the changes."

"Well it was Phil and I. We always had this kind of innocent flirting between us. Well at least that was what I thought it was. I mean he was married, I was married, how could it be anything else? I see now that he didn't think that way. There were little digs at Sam, that I hadn't noticed were having an effect on me. He'd promised me a promotion from team leader to project manager and my presenting my research paper at the conference would be pivotal. He also kept warning me that Sam might not be able to take me earning more money."

" On the morning of the conference Sam didn't want me to go. He kept trying to put things in the way and I kept thinking about what Phil had said. I more or less accused him of resenting my success. By the time I left we were yelling at each other. Well I was yelling at him."

"I got five minutes down the road and realised I'd left the train tickets on my dressing table. I had to go back for them. When I got to the front door I heard Sam shouting at someone, but when I opened the door their was no one else there."

"I told him not to get any ideas, that I had just come back for the tickets. That's when he took me completely by surprise.

"You don't need tickets, I'll drive you there. I'm not going to miss out on my girl's big day."

"I swear to you Roz, I didn't realise I was doing it but I found myself trying to put him off. I asked what about work and he said he'd call in sick. I told him that I would only have a single room but he said he'd change the booking or book us into another hotel. Then suddenly it dawned on me. My husband wanted to be there to share the biggest day of my career, many women would give their eye teeth for that."

We got to the hotel that was the conference venue and I looped my arm through his and we walked in. It felt so good to have him there."

"When Phil saw Sam he was furious. He told me the company wouldn't pay for our room, then he barely spoke to me for the whole conference. It turned out that he'd got a whole seduction scene arranged, dinner at Browns, then a club and back to our

adjoining

rooms for god's sake. I was really embarrassed. When I thought of what Phil had planned, it made my blood run cold. I'd like to think it wouldn't have worked, but who can really be sure. I mean mix a bit of euphoria with a friend and alcohol and who knows what might happen."

" I knew if I'd figured it out Sam would have also. I tried to tell him that I knew nothing about it, but he just told me to get on with what I had to do. He was so calm, it was like he knew what was going to happen before I did. Sam managed to get in to see my presentation and seeing him in the audience gave me such a lift. We had a whale of a time that night and when I finished the Q&A session the next day, three companies asked if I was looking for a job."

"As I waited for Sam to pay the bill, Phil came up and told me I could forget about the promotion. I gave his face such a slap that it hurt my hand. I gave my notice on Monday morning."

The two women looked at the bar where Sam was putting the drinks on a tray. He was pointing at an old man sitting in the corner. The barman nodded and took the money.

When Sam returned to the table and was giving everyone their drinks Angie saw the barman take a pint of beer over to the old man. They exchanged a few words and the barman pointed to Sam. Before he sat down Sam turned to look at the old man and raised his glass to him. The old man returned the gesture and Sam sat down.

"Who is that?" Angie asked him.

"That is a man who did us both an enormous favour. –Now what are we going to do to celebrate?"

"What are we celebrating?"

"Today, my darling, your husband was offered, both another job, and a huge promotion. It seems that I display incredible insight when it comes to the market place. Whichever I choose to take, one thing is certain, money worries are a thing of the past."

"By the way your ex-boss Phil dropped by our firm today. It seems that he's looking for a job. When I mentioned that I knew him they asked what I thought."

"What did you tell them?"

"I told them that whether they hired him or not should depend on how much they liked fighting sexual harassment charges. You know, I think he's still got the mark from that slap."