Conviction (Club Destiny 1)

Her current role as senior director of projects had offered a fair amount of traveling in and out of the great state of Texas, but Dallas? Nope, she’d never imagined relocating there – not even for a weekend.

Dallas was home to the big wigs of XTX, being that it was the company’s headquarters, and she wasn’t sure she would fit in there. The Dallas office was much larger than the small branch she worked at in San Antonio.

Maybe she was thinking about this all wrong. She would simply be a face in the crowd at a location that size. On the other hand, the endless opportunities for growth she’d find would by far outweigh anything she could get in their small field office.

Born and raised in the San Antonio, Sam never dreamed of leaving. Yet this new opportunity was all but screaming for her to up and run to a new set of challenges, not to mention a new life. And the nicest thing was… she wouldn’t be forgoing a big city lifestyle if she took it.

At thirty – which she kept telling herself was the new twenty – Sam knew she had accomplished a lot in her career. She had an extremely supportive family and a unique circle of friends, but this was the chance for a new adventure. An opportunity to step outside the box and do something more. A big stretch for her, since the routine of her life had been comfortable thus far, making it all the more frightening to think of doing something else.

“Stay calm. It’s all in the details.” She warned herself as she ventured up the flight of stairs to her second floor office.

“Morning, Sam.” Liza called out as Samantha stepped out of the stairwell and faced the small, immaculately dressed, fresh faced woman sitting closest to the door.

“Morning, Liza. How are you?” Sam greeted in turn, making her way around the low walls of the cubicle.

Samantha had been greeting Liza for months now, and it seemed that no matter what was going on in the other woman’s life, she always had a smile on her face.

“I’m doing wonderful, thank you. Mr. Banten is waiting for you in his office. He said you would be right in, and his instructions were to send you straight there. No passing Go. No collecting two hundred dollars.” Liza laughed at her own little joke, causing Sam to smile even more.

Thank goodness she was armed with coffee, Sam thought to herself.

“Thanks, Liza.” Sam started toward the closed door behind Liza’s immaculately kept desk – happy, attractive and organized; the woman should be locked up.

Pausing momentarily, she looked back at the administrative assistant who still beamed brightly in her direction. Despite the fact that it would likely kill James to wait five more minutes, Sam couldn’t help but inquire as to why.

“What has you so happy this morning, if you don’t mind me asking?” Samantha asked as she took the few short steps back toward Liza.

Liza glanced at the closed door behind her and then leaned forward, lowering her voice as though she were telling a highly regarded secret.

“Remember that guy I told you about? Mark? Well, he and I have been talking more, and he finally asked me out last night. He wants to take me out on Saturday. Said it is time we finally meet in person.”

Sam remembered the brief conversations they shared the previous week about a new friend she met on the internet about a month ago. The brief flicker of jealousy when she found out Liza met someone had almost surprised her with its intensity.

Not that Sam was actively looking for a man to fill her spare time, which was scarce to none. Just the stories of new-found romance left her wondering what it must feel like. But, that feeling was short lived, knowing that with her career in full swing it left her without any time to spend trying to nurse a relationship.

“Ok, share the details.” Sam stated. “When and where?” She was genuinely interested in her friend’s happiness, despite the slight twinge of jealousy brewing just beneath the surface.

So what if it had been a long time since Sam had even been on a date. Hell, it had been so long she wasn’t sure what to even do on one. Sure, there had been a few compelling men who crossed her path in recent years, but noone that would make her swoon the way Liza was.

“We’re going to meet at a restaurant downtown on Saturday night. He didn’t give me a whole lot of details, but I can’t wait.” The other woman said, squealing only slightly, with that dreamy expression that women in love often expressed.

“Good for you, girl. You’ll have to fill me in on all the details Monday.” Sam replied, glancing once more at the closed door to James’ office. “Ok, I better not make him wait too long, he might have a coronary.” Turning on her heel, Sam headed toward her boss’s office.