Sweet afternoons

Chapter twenty two

"You dropped these," I said softly, trying to be cautious in case he still felt anxious.

"T-thank you, Miss," He stuttered, placing the small pile I had made atop the rest of the paper. "I'm not used to being a receptionist yet, I'm usually just a bell boy."

His voice calmed down as he spoke, indicating that his nervousness was beginning to fade. Seeing him grow a little more relaxed gave me the confidence to speak again, and I found myself wanting to reassure the boy. "You're doing great," I said, reaching out to pat his hand gently as it laid, clenched across the desk.

There was a small, boyish smile that adorned his face as the man rubbed the back of his neck while shaking his head at my words. "Hardly. I mean, I just knocked over a hell of a lot of paperwork," there was a light-hearted tone to the comment, indicating that the man wasn't being entirely self-deprecating with his words.

"Knocking over some paper doesn't make you a bad receptionist," I countered, pointing a finger in his direction to emphasise my point.

"It doesn't make me a good one either," Was his instant reply.

A loud laugh erupted from my chest, encouraged by the chuckles coming from the receptionist across from me. It was surprisingly easy to converse with this stranger and I found myself wanting to get to know him better. However, before I could think of anything to say, another voice spoke.

"Darling?" Andres was next to me before I realised he had moved and I felt his warm hand settling into a spot on my lower back. He smiled and held a key up in front of me, shaking it slightly so that it made a jingling sound. "Are you ready to go?"

My mouth gaped open and I glanced between the two men near me. As much as I wished to get to know this receptionist further, I was more tired than I thought and didn't want to keep Andres waiting either. Especially when he had done so much for me. "Yeah," I answered, putting a smile on my face.

"It was nice talking to you..." I trailed off, concluding quickly that I didn't know his name.

"Jacob, ma'am," He filled the gap in my sentence, giving me a polite smile. "Jacob Woods."

"Right," I said, still smiling "It was nice to meet you, Jacob."

Andres' nodded towards Jacob, acknowledging him for the first time, before taking my hand and leading me towards the elevators at the side of the reception. He wasted no time in pressing the button and swiftly pulled me into the elevator as soon as the doors opened.

Even without him saying anything, I could tell something was bothering the man. The instant the elevator doors closed, Andres let go of my hand and angled his face away from me. I could barely see the way his jaw was clenched and his eyebrows were furrowed but it was enough to show me that he was feeling very tense.

"Andres? Are you okay?" I asked, attempting to peer around the man to get a better look at his face.

As I fruitlessly tried to glance at his expression, the man leaned further away from me and cleared his throat loudly as if trying to distract me. "Everything is fine," he answered sternly, "It's been quite a long day, hasn't it?"

The elevator was almost silent after that, the faint music not enough to wash away my thoughts. I couldn't have been misreading the signs, could I? He seemed troubled, but was I just imagining things? He was right though, it had been a long day. Perhaps all that was needed was a long rest.

We reached our room not long after we left the elevator. Andres unlocked the door before motioning for me to go inside first.

The hallway led straight into a lounge area, the wall opposite me was a sheet of glass that looked out upon the rest of the city. I abandoned my bags in the middle of the room and dashed to the window. My body pressed against the glass, as close as I could get, until my breath made a fog against it.