Meanwhile, on Sam’s end…
Sitting alone at the bar, he had ordered his first drink right as he texted Calvin his location. The place was only a drinking establishment and not a nightclub. The pop music playing in the background was not quite loud enough to drown out the conversations happening in small pockets all around. When he received word that Calvin would be arriving soon, Sam was just finishing that same drink.
He stared at his phone screen. Not for the first time, he thought, ‘What am I doing…?’ He followed that up with an audible sigh. ‘Now I’ll really be done for.’
“Did you get stood up?”
Raising his eyes, Sam saw that the question came from the male bartender on the other side of the counter.
Before he could respond, the slick-looking guy continued, “I noticed you’ve been wa
