This is my first NBK story. Like everybody else, I don't own these characters. Just using them for my story. I included Josie's article in here and, as you all know, I did not write it. (I used most of the one from the book/script, if some of you see some new stuff in it�) *lol* Hope you all enjoy it. Feedback would be greatly appreciated here. I don't consider myself a great writer, but I've written many fan fics. I hope you all enjoy this one! I had fun writing it.
Editor's Note: After this story was submitted, the author had considered not posting it because she was not sure when she would be able to complete the next installment. Please be supportive of the author's work. She will send in the next installment as soon as she can find the time to complete it. Thanks!
* * *
The time was up. The clock had counted down to zero. Josie looked around the crowded stadium one last time, hoping against hope that Sam's beautiful face would miraculously appear out of nowhere. But all she saw were thousands and thousands of saddened faces, feeling sorry for her, pitying her.
Sam hadn't shown up. He hadn't forgiven her. He didn't love her. The thought made Josie want to scream, cry, throw up�and then she went completely numb. She really was 'Josie Grossie,' and now the whole world knew it. The microphone slipped from her slack fingers and landed with a thud, the heartbreaking sound echoing throughout the stadium.
Josie put on a brave face for the spectators, trying to act cool and nonchalant, as if it was no big deal. But it was a big deal; it was the biggest deal of her life, and she'd been dealt a losing hand. She hid her face with her hands and started to cry as she slowly walked towards the dugout. Rob was waiting for her with open arms. She let herself be held by her brother. The ball players all apologized to her for what happened; not knowing what else to say to a woman that had just lost her true love. She didn't hear them anyway, so deep was her grief.
But Rob knew what to do to reach his heartbroken sister. Rob put his hand under Josie's chin and looked into his sister's eyes, holding her gaze. Then he said firmly, with a confidence even he didn't feel, "It'll be fine. You will survive this. If he didn't have the good sense to show up and claim the best woman in the world, then he's not worth it, anyway."
"Thanks, Rob," said Josie, her voice a mere whisper, and then she collapsed back into his arms, her hot tears soaking his new 'Assistant Coach' jersey.
After a moment, Aldys and Anita appeared beside her. Slowly, they left the stadium, each with an arm around Josie, and headed towards Anita's car. On their way out, they could hear the announcer introducing the players of the two teams. The baseball game began. Life was going on, as usual, but Josie felt as if her life was over.
* * *
Sam sat at the dinner table, not really listening as Lara droned on about her latest case. He tried to be attentive, but as usual, his mind was elsewhere. Even after all this time, all he could think about was Josie. It had been a year, almost to the day, (Okay, 357 days, but who was counting?) since he'd left her and Chicago behind. It angered, frustrated, and saddened him that the memories of Josie were still interfering in his life, even after all this time. He just couldn't seem to get over her. Even though she had used and betrayed him, he still missed her terribly. A light had gone out that he couldn't replace. He wondered for about the millionth time what his life would have been like if he were with her now, instead of here with Lara in New York.
He pushed his food aimlessly around his plate, not hungry. Lara had ordered take-out food from her favorite health restaurant again. Sam detested it, of course, but that never seemed to matter. When he had come crawling back to Lara, the rules of their relationship had changed forever. She was in the driver's seat now, completely in control. She told him how to dress, what to eat, how to act�and he was expected to ask "How high?" when she told him to jump. He had to do as he was told, to be the respectable, responsible boyfriend she had always tried to force him into becoming. There was no question that she considered herself a very generous person by giving Sam another chance, and never lost on an opportunity to remind him of that fact.
He had no friends in New York, since anything he used to enjoy doing was now off limits: no more clubs, no more hockey, and most of all�no more teaching. All he did was cater to Lara, whenever she was home from the firm, that was. At other times, he'd sulk around the house, bored. He didn't have a job. At Lara's insistence, he was taking a few business and finance courses at NYU. And when his classes were complete, he was expected to find a "real job," one that also paid him the money that her future husband would need to make.
The only good thing about New York was the beautiful architecture, scenery, and great museums. But he'd seen them so many times in his many days (and nights) alone, that even they had lost their luster. He preferred Chicago. It was his home. It had everything there. Including the woman he loved. He sighed dejectedly.
"Sam! Eat your food and pay attention," snapped Lara, interrupting his thoughts.
"Leave me alone," he grumbled under his breath. He was in no mood to be yelled at, but he had no one to blame but himself. He had made this bed for himself, and now he was feeling the consequences. He had been living with Lara and her 'rules' for a year, and he was close to the breaking point. He knew if he kept up this charade much longer, he would go insane.
"What did you say?" asked Lara with her eyes narrowed; steam literally came out of her ears.
This was Sam's cue to apologize, and usually he did. But not this time. He looked her straight in the eye and said evenly, "You heard me."
"Sam, you know better than to talk to me like that! Who took you in when you had no place else to go?" she yelled, reminding him yet again of her 'generosity.' "Now, you apologize to me!"
"No!" said Sam as he stood up, throwing his napkin on the table. "I've had it. I can't take any more. I am sick and tired of you telling me what to do! And you want to know what else? I don't even know why I came here in the first place! It was the biggest mistake of my life!"
Then, more quietly, almost to himself, Sam continued, "I don't even know why I left Chicago. I should've stayed there."
"Oh, really?" Lara replied, dryly. "With who? Josie?"
Sam turned around to stare dumbly at Lara. That question caught him off guard. Lara couldn't possibly have known about his feelings for Josie. He knew he'd never mentioned them to her. And although they plagued him daily, he was careful to hide them around her. And the two had only met that one time in the club, when Josie was still pretending to be his student. It was impossible. "What did you say?" he asked, incredulous.
"You heard me," said Lara, mimicking Sam's earlier comment to her. "That Josie girl who made a fool out of herself that time at that club." She shuddered for a moment as she remembered those filthy bathrooms, and then continued, "I know darn well that you were in love with her, Sam. So don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about. Well, she got her comeuppance, didn't she?" Lara said triumphantly.
"I can't believe that she proclaimed her love for you to the world like a heartsick teenager, hoping to win you back. I mean, really, how pathetic is that?" Laura laughed at the absurdity of such a scenario actually working.
Sam was confused. "What are you talking about?" he asked, angry with Lara for toying with his emotions where Josie was concerned. Was she making some kind of sick joke? "She never proclaimed her love for me to anyone! She was just using me to get a story."
"Stop lying, Sam," she said with a laugh. "I know you like to put on gentlemanly airs to other people, but it's okay to admit it to me. Actually, I was rather impressed."
At Sam's continued look of confusion, she clarified for him, "Josie apologized to you and you didn't forgive her. It was that simple. Personally, I loved the look on her face when you didn't show up at that baseball game. It was priceless."
Lara looked over to Sam and smiled, placing her hand against his cheek in a tender gesture. She crooned in a baby voice, "She deserved that for breaking my baby's heart."
Sam looked at Lara as if she'd lost her mind. He flinched and pulled back from her offending hand. Baseball game? Was Lara talking about the State championship game that took place the day he left Chicago? What in the world did that have to do with Josie? He hated playing into Lara's hands if this way just a way to get back at him, but he had to know. "Lara, explain what you mean."
"Aw, come on, Sam�" said Lara starting to get annoyed with Sam now. It was inconceivable to her that Sam really had no idea what she meant. "Admit it! You read the article, you didn't forgive her, and you left her in the middle of that field, crying her eyes out. You left her standing there to come home to me," she said proudly. "A true show of loyalty, if I do say so myself. I never knew you had it in you to be so cruel! I'm proud of you, Sam."
"What the hell are you talking about!? If this is supposed to be some kind of sick joke�"
He really didn't know! Lara rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. She should have known better than to think her milquetoast Sam could ever purposely have done something that cruel.
"My God, you really are serious, aren't you?" She sighed heavily, and then explained, "She wrote an article detailing her experiences at your high school. Then she apologized to a mystery teacher for hurting him�you, of course�and said how much she loved him. She was waiting for you to show up at that baseball game to kiss her. Her 'first real kiss'�Please�" Lara shook her head at the thought.
Tears welled up in Sam's eyes. He had left her standing there? She must've been heartbroken. What had he done? But something still didn't add up. "So, how did you know about his?" he asked Lara.
"Oh please, Sam�" she said, exasperated. "The article may have been in the Chicago Sun-Times, but the TV coverage was seen all over North America! I can't believe you didn't know about this!"
Frankly, he couldn't believe it either. What the hell was the matter with him? Josie had apologized to him and poured her little heart out to the world, and he hadn't shown up? He couldn't believe that he hadn't read that article. How come he didn't pick up and read the newspaper that day? If what Lara said was true, he could have been with Josie at this very moment.
"Dammit!" he said, his patience at an end. Then he turned on his heel, and without another word, stalked off to the bedroom and slammed the door behind him.
As Lara watched his retreating back, she thought petulantly, "Good! Serves him right!" She'd let him pout about it for a while, she decided, but not for long�they were going to the opera tonight.
Lara was actually glad this had happened, that she'd finally cleared the air where it came to Josie. Lara knew Sam had been pining for her for some time, but didn't think it would have taken him this long to get over it. Maybe now with this ridiculous business out in the open and out of the way, Sam could finally get down to the business of getting on with his life�with her.
* * *
Sam sat heavily down on the edge of the bed and just let the tears fall. God, was it possible Lara's story was true? Had he really had hurt Josie that much, even unknowingly? But how could he know? How could he be sure this was real and not another one of Lara's head games?
Then he had an idea. He walked over to the computer table and sat down, listening to it hum as he turned it on. After a few moments, he pushed a button that connected him to the Internet. Once there, he used a search engine to find the Chicago Sun-Times website. After clicking on 'search,' he typed 'Josie Geller' and hit enter. A huge list of article titles appeared before his eyes: 152, according to the search engine. 'Wow!' he thought, 'she's been busy since I've been gone�" But how would he ever find that one article without reading each and every story? He didn't think he could do that; it would hurt too much. In desperation, he scanned down the list of titles, hoping something would give it away.
An article title Never Been Kissed appeared before his eyes as he slowly scrolled through list. He stopped. He thought back to Lara's scathing comment, "Her 'first real kiss'�" and knew somehow that this was the one.
He double clicked on the title and the article magically appeared. He began to read:
Someone once told me that to write well, you have to write what you know. This is what I know: I am 25 years old and I have never really kissed a guy. A geek to the core, most of my childhood years were spent doing extra homework I requested from the teacher.
High school was more of the same. Then, at 17, it seemed as if my life was about to change. The cutest guy asked me to the senior prom, but it turned out he invited me as a cruel joke, and I have never fully recovered.
Yes, it is embarrassing to share this with the world, but it would be hard to explain what I learned and how I learned it without sharing this humiliating history.
I received an assignment, my first as a reporter, to go back to high school and find out about kids today. What I ended up finding was myself�and that high school hasn't changed.
There's still that one teacher who marches to her own drummer.
Those girls are still there. The ones that, even as you grow up, will remain the most beautiful girls you have ever seen close up.
The smart kids, who everyone else knew as "the brains", but I just knew them as my soul mates, my teachers, my friends.
And there's still that one guy with his mysterious confidence who seems so perfect in every way. The guy you get up and go to school for in the morning. South Glen would not have been the same without him. High school would not have been the same without him. I would not have been the same without him.
All of these things made me miserable at seventeen. But at twenty-five, I finally see that this�all of this�is just the way it should be. It is all part of this thing called 'high school.' A time in our lives that we can never truly repeat. A time that shapes us. A time that makes us who we are, for years to come.
High school� Going through it the first time helped make me who I am. But going there a second time made me see that who I am is okay. I always wanted to be "in," but seven years later, when they finally opened the door to me, I somehow gained the confidence to stay outside, firmly, happily.
This is not the article I was sent in to write. This is the article I needed to write.
I lived a lifetime of regret after my first high school experience and now, after my second, my regrets are down to one.
A certain teacher was hurt on my path to self-discovery, and although this article may serve as a step, it in no way makes up for what I did to him. To this man, you know who you are� I am so sorry. And I would like to add one more thing� I think I am in love with you.
And so I propose this: As an ending to this article and, perhaps, a beginning to the next chapter of my life, I, Josie Geller, will be at the State Championship baseball game where my friends, the South Glen Rams, will be playing for the title. I will stand on the pitcher's mound for the five minutes prior to the first pitch. If this man accepts my apology, I ask him to come kiss me, in front of everyone, for my first real kiss.
Five minutes may seem like a short time, but trust me� When you've been waiting twenty-five years, it's usually the last five minutes that kill you.
I went back to high school and discovered that I was a loser�again.
And then I discovered it wasn't so bad. I wasn't so bad.
So, now that I'm ready to start living the rest of my life, it would be magical if I could live the rest of it with him. Because inside of everyone is a loser afraid to be loved, and out there is the one person who can kiss us and make it all better.
Sam read Josie's article attentively, tears rolling unheeded down his cheeks as he read it. She was a damn good writer; but then, he had always known that. Her article had touched him deeply, even a year after the fact. Nothing else he had ever read had made him feel this way. His heart went out to Josie as he read about her high school years, and he couldn't help but moan aloud when Josie said that she loved him.
He felt like shooting himself for actually believing that his sweet, lovable, innocent Josie could be heartless and cruel. And he felt even more horrible for leaving Josie standing there in front of all those people to see. It must've taken a lot of courage for his shy Josie to do this.
Sam turned off the computer monitor, and looked at the ceiling for a long time. He couldn't believe what he had done. He'd had the ultimate chance at happiness and he'd let it slip through his fingers. What else could he do now but suffer in this self-made hell he'd created with Lara? He deserved that, and much, much worse, he decided.
Sam thought about the last paragraph of Josie's article again. She had been so right. He had been afraid, at least at some level, of being loved by Josie. But he wasn't afraid now. She was his one person who could "kiss him and make it better." He felt this stronger than anything else.
Then suddenly, he knew what he had to do. He had to see Josie. He needed to be with her and explain to her what he had done, and why. He needed to tell her he still loved her and beg her to take him back. But would she forgive him? Would she still want him? He knew now that it was a chance he had to take.
He got up from the desk and walked over to his closet. He pulled out his old gym bag, the one he'd used as a carry on bag for his fateful trip out to New York last year. Then, he got down on his hands and knees and searched for the few remaining articles of clothing that belonged to him. Since he'd moved to New York, Lara had disposed of his old wardrobe in favor of more 'acceptable' attire, but she didn't know he still had a few of his more cherished things stowed away in the back of the closet.
After pulling out a couple of sets of his 'teaching' clothes, button down shirts and chinos, he pulled out his favorite and most comfortable outfit: dark gray sweatpants and his Blackhawks replica hockey jersey with Chris Chelios' name and number affixed to the back. He'd kept it even though Chelios now played for Detroit�
He placed his other clothes into his gym bag, along with some white T-shirts, underwear and socks. Then he marched to the bathroom and swiped his toiletries from their neat arrangement on the counter into the open mouth of his duffel.
Then, he removed the shirt, tie, and dress pants Lara had chosen for him that morning in favor of his sweats and hockey jersey.
He looked around the room one last time. Nothing else here was his; she'd let nothing of his prior life into her apartment. It still sat in storage in Chicago, just as he'd left it a year ago. He'd been saddened by this turn of events at the time, but now he was glad. He wanted nothing of Lara to remember her by.
Grabbing the handles of his duffel, he opened the bedroom door and walked out into the living room, bag in hand. He steeled himself against the fireworks he was sure were about to erupt.
Sam was not disappointed.
Lara looked at Sam in abject horror. "What in God's name are you wearing? Didn't I throw that filthy thing out months ago?" she asked, referring to his jersey.
"Yes, I suppose you probably did," Sam replied calmly. His course was chosen; he was not going to back down now.
"Well, I don't care about that right now. What I do care about is that we are leaving for the Met in a half an hour and you haven't even begun to dress!"
Sam ignored her. He needed a flight to Chicago and he needed one now. He walked over to the telephone and picked up the receiver. "Now what are you doing?" asked Lara.
"Hello," he said into the mouthpiece. "Could I have the number for the reservations desk at LaGuardia, please?"
Suddenly, a shiver ran down Lara's spine. She dashed into the bedroom. Hearing the computer still running, she turned on the monitor. She stared in horror at Josie's article on the screen. "Oh, my God!" she thought, and rounded the corner of the living room just in time to hear Sam say:
"I would like a flight to Chicago, please. The sooner the better; I don't care what carrier."
"What!?" cried Lara when hearing this. "Over my dead body!" She charged over to the phone, intent on hanging up on his call.
He simply swooped up the base and held it in his other hand, protecting it like a football under his arm.
"You are not leaving me to go back to that�that� bitch, Sam!" Lara sputtered. "I won't allow it!" Her face was turning beet red from her anger. Sam had never seen her this enraged.
Sam had tried to drown out the sound of Lara's voice, but it the comment about Josie was too much to ignore. "Excuse me for a moment," he said pleasantly into the phone. Then he placed his hand over the receiver and turned to look at Lara with a strong, scathing look. "Lara, for once in your life, just shut the hell up!"
Lara did just that, surprised at Sam's forceful tone.
"I apologize," said Sam as he removed his hand from the phone receiver. "Now what were you saying?" He paused and listened. Then he said excitedly, "There's one that leaves in an hour and 45 minutes!? Could I still get on that one? Nope, no luggage, just a carry on bag. Really? Great! Thank you!" He hung up the phone and then turned to face Lara.
Lara raged, "You are out of your mind, Sam, do you know that? Do you honestly think that Josie girl would take you back now after what you've done? And a year after the fact, no less!?"
That thought had occurred to him, of course, but there was no stopping now. He would see this course to the end, no matter the outcome. He didn't grace Lara's comments with a reply. He simply picked up the receiver again and pushed the star key.
He listened for a moment and then said, "Good evening, Harry. How's the front desk tonight? Good. Hey, would you mind calling a cab for me? I should be down in just a couple of minutes. I've got a plane to catch." He listened again and then replied, "Thanks a lot, Harry. I'll be right down." Then he hung up.
Sam turned away from Lara silently and started toward the front door of the apartment.
Desperate now, Lara grabbed his arm and pulled him around to face at her again. She turned to her most powerful weapon when it came to Sam: her tears. Crying openly, she wailed, "Sam, how can you do this to me? You know that I love you� Are you really willing to throw the last six years away on just a whim?"
But for once, Sam saw right through her act. How many times in the past had she used this ploy to win him over? he wondered� "The last six years of what, Lara? You say you love me, but I highly doubt it. I don't know what it is you do feel for me, but it sure as hell isn't love. You don't have to change people you love, Lara. You don't have to make them give up everything about themselves if you love them. But yet, that was what I had to do with you."
"Josie never made me feel that way, that I had to change to be loved. She accepted�no, rejoiced-- in who I was and what I loved. She understood me like no one else ever had. And in the end, she'd given up every dignity she had just to get me back. Well, I may be a little late, but I'm certainly back."
"Make no mistake� I am well aware of the fact that she may no longer want anything to do with me, and Lord knows I wouldn't blame her. But I am going to try. I owe it to her to try."
Lara's tears stopped as quickly as they had started. He was really going to do it, she realized now. Her timid Sam had finally found his backbone�unfortunately, he was using it to leave her.
Angrily, she pulled one last trick out of her bag. "And what are you going to do when she rejects you Sam? You have nothing. You have no job, no money, no place to live. Where are you going to go? If you think that I am going to take you back as another woman's castoff a second time, then you really are crazy! If you walk out that door, Sam, don't bother to come crawling back to me. I forgave you once, Sam�I won't do it again." Then she removed her hand from his arm with distaste, as if he were diseased.
Sam paused with his hand on the doorknob just long enough to reply, "Really? Is that a threat or a promise?" And with a slight smile, he opened the door and walked out into the hallway. He did not look back as he heard Lara slam the door shut behind him.
* * *
Sam got off the plane heaving a deep sigh of relief. He hated them with a passion and he feared heights. But it was worth it for Josie. It was well after dark when he got to the curb outside his terminal at O'Hare airport. With his bag slung over his shoulder, he waved for a cab.
As one stopped before him, Sam got in and the driver asked "Where to?" He realized he didn't have a clue. He didn't know where Josie lived. This was going to be harder than he'd originally anticipated, he realized. So he decided to go somewhere to think. "South Glen South High School� Municipal Stadium, please."
"Municipal Stadium�" said the driver. "Nice place over there." He peeked over the seat at Sam, sizing him up. "You from around here?" he asked.
Sam shook his head no. After all, he wasn't�not anymore.
The 50ish balding man with the wrinkled face and gruff voice nodded, as if satisfied. "Big event over there, last year, just about this time. A young journalist waiting at the State Championship ball game for the man she loved to come kiss her. But the bum never showed up. She was devastated."
Sam felt like throwing up. "Really?" was all that he could say.
"Really," continued the driver. "Beautiful young lady, too. It was heartbreaking to watch that mike drop from her hands when he didn't come. That jerk, whoever he is, needs to be taught a lesson for doing that to her. I mean, if that weren't bad enough� Rumor has it that he even left town the day of the game. Now that's really low." The cabbie was really getting in to telling his story. "Boy, if I could get my hands on him� Every decent man in Chicago wanted to kill that guy after that. No man should ever treat a lady that way."
Sam gulped. "So, what ever happened to the woman? She still single?"
The cabbie snorted in disgust. "Apparently. I think she gave up looking for love." Then he continued proudly, "But she's a damn good journalist. That article she wrote won an award, and she's written many others. She's quite a celebrity around here. Josie Geller is her name. Have you heard of her?"
"No�" he said softly.
The driver stopped the cab in the stadium's parking lot. Sam paid his fare and got out. He went into the stadium; it was a place he'd been many times in the past. Tonight, it seemed almost too far in the past. The stadium was empty and dark, except for the trickle of light from the lampposts on the street and the almost full moon. He opened the gate leading to the field and walked over to the pitcher's mound. As he walked, he pictured Josie standing there all alone waiting for him. And he didn't come.
Sam stood there for what seemed like forever, looking around the stands, which on that night must have been filled to capacity. He could almost hear the chanting and cheering of the crowd, and then the deafening silence when the time ran out on the clock. He sank down onto the soft dirt and cried. He had never cried for anyone else but Josie. He couldn't believe he'd broken her heart and lost his chance at true love. Lara meant nothing to him anymore; all he wanted was to hold Josie in his arms. He missed her. He missed Chicago, his home, his life.
He got up slowly and dusted off his pants. He picked up his bag and walked away, leaving the stadium on foot. He knew from his years of working at the school that there was a motel nearby. He hoped they'd have a room available. He needed to sleep. He knew he wouldn't be able to, but he still had to try.
With new resolve, he knew that he had to talk to Josie. He decided to go to the one place he knew he could find her: the Sun-Times headquarters. 'Busy day tomorrow,' he thought.
As he walked, a cool breeze blew in off Lake Michigan and brought rain with it. He didn't care. He walked on, getting drenched. 'I deserve to catch pneumonia and die for what I did to Josie,' he thought bitterly to himself.
* * *
Sam got out of bed the next morning with butterflies in his stomach. 'Either that or cannonballs,' he thought wryly He was dreading seeing Josie not knowing what might happen, yet excited because he missed her so much. He took a shower, brushed his teeth, combed his hair and got dressed.
He called a cab. When the cab arrived, Sam requested with more confidence than he felt, "Sun-Times building, please." And, like the other driver, at the sound of Sun-Times, he started to talk about Josie as well. 'Are these people trying to torture me?' he thought.
He got out of the cab and looked up at the building. It looked pretty intimidating right now. 'Well, the least you can do is give her home court advantage,' he thought. 'After all, she did that for you�' He took a deep breath and went inside. On the way up in the elevator, Sam practiced in his head what he was going to say to Josie after all this time. " 'Josie, please forgive me?' No�How about 'Hi, Josie. Good to see you again.' Hmmm� 'Josie? I am so sorry.' 'I love you.'" He sighed heavily. Nothing sounded right. Maybe he shouldn't be doing this� "I guess I'll just have to wing it."
The elevator doors opened. He took a deep breath and stepped into the foyer. 'Here it is, Sam,' he thought, 'the moment of truth�' He walked over to the receptionist's desk and asked where to find Josie's office. She told him, and as he walked towards her office, his heart was beating faster than ever and his palms were sweating.
He stopped outside the closed door marked "Josie Geller, Reporter." He turned to a young man, assumedly Josie's secretary, who was talking on the phone animatedly.
"Yeah, I went out on a date with this woman last night�boy, was she hot! Turned out to be married�"
"Excuse me?" said Sam.
"Tom, hold on a sec," said Merkin. "May I help you?"
"Yes, I would like to see Josie Geller, please."
"Do you have an appointment?"
"No," said Sam. "I'm� just�a friend."
"You look familiar," said Merkin, eyeing Sam carefully. "What's your name?"
"Sam Coulson."
Merkin's eyes widened at the sound of his name. Sam? The Sam who left Josie standing alone on the pitcher's mound? He knew he looked familiar. He recognized him from Josie's videos.
"Oh�" said Merkin. "Okay, hold on a minute."
Merkin pushed a button on his intercom. "Josie, someone's here to see you," Merkin said into the box.
There was a pause and then he heard Josie's voice say "Fine. Send them in," over the speakerphone. Sam heard her voice and he smiled wistfully. He hadn't heard her voice in a year. God, how he'd missed it!
"Go right on in," said Merkin.
"Thank you," he replied.
As Sam walked towards Josie's door, Merkin picked up the phone and quickly dialed the extension for Anita's office. "Anita! Get over here!" he hissed into the phone, his hand covering the space between his mouth and the receiver. "Sam Coulson is here to see Josie!"
* * *
Josie sat in her office, typing up an article. The last year had been really busy. She had written many articles, won many awards. She was promoted and now had her own column in the newspaper, but she decided the reporter thing wasn't for her.
She had plenty now, but she still hadn't found the most important thing: someone to love and to love her back. Sure, she'd been on a few dates, but hadn't come close to finding the right guy. Deep inside, she still hoped that Sam would someday come to her again. But logically, she knew it was hopeless. She had hurt him, and she couldn't blame him for not showing up.
But she was still couldn't believe that after all this time, he refused to talk to her. And she couldn't believe that he was so callous as to actually leave town the same day. Nobody had heard from him since. It was as if he had disappeared. But Josie knew that he probably went to New York to be with Lara.
Josie stopped typing and opened her desk drawer. Inside, she kept the photo of her and Sam working on the sunset backdrop for the prom committee. She smiled. It reminded her of happier days. She missed Sam� again, still, always. She started to cry.
Her intercom buzzed. "Josie, someone's here to see you," Merkin's voice announced.
Josie hastily wiped the tears out of her eyes and put the photo back in the drawer, then she said "Fine. Send them in."
The doorknob turned and Josie looked up. She wasn't expecting anyone today. The door opened and Josie's mouth fell open as she saw who was standing there. It was Sam.
* * *