Chapter Five
Sammie had noticed the lack of heavy flirting too, and she was very happy about it. It made a difference from all those guys who wanted to know her deepest, darkest fantasies and asked her what she was wearing all the time, when really, the answer wasn’t particularly interesting in the slightest – Star Wars pajamas or art overalls mostly.
Another thing she’d noticed is that, since her and Frank had switched to talking on Facebook, she hadn’t logged on to the website at all, and had no desire too. There was probably a dozen more messages from new matches, and maybe a couple of replies from the guys she’d been casually talking to, but she didn’t bother logging on to reply. None of those guys had seemed particularly interested in her anyway. Sure, they’d been interested enough to reply, but it always took them an entire day to do so, and their messages were short and lacking substance. It was Frank who had captured her attention and imagination from the start, and had continued to hold it. She wondered how many potential matches he was chatting to, and whether he felt the same way about her as she did about him.
***
That evening, they had another round of sending voice notes to each other. The same happened the evening after that.
On the sixth day of speaking to each other, they both admitted to one another that they had given up entirely on the website and were only interested in each other.
That was the night they Skyped for the first time.
It was a thrilling, amazing experience to finally see each other up on the screen, and they talked easily and happily for three hours.
That became their routine for the next week.
Every night they would Skype, chatting about their day and what they’d both been up to, and Sammie would show Frank the progress she’d been making on her painting, and some of her other art too.
Frank picked up his laptop at one point and gave her a guided tour of his house, as best he could on screen, and then Sammie did the same for him with her small apartment. It didn’t take very long.
They had both way since forgotten about the website, but the website hadn’t forgotten about them. Frank had an e-mail, asking about whether he had found his match yet, and letting him know that potential matches on the site had been trying to contact him. His subscription fee for the month also came out.
Frank went online to cancel it. Things were going so well he figured they could just work things out for themselves.
But then, as he was going through the cancellation process, it flashed up with all the benefits of doing everything via the broker.
Once a suitable match had been chosen, they would arrange everything on the happy couple’s behalf. Frank wouldn’t have to worry about booking flights or sorting stuff out for Sammie to come over – the website would do all of that for them and just take the fee from Frank’s account to save him the hassle.
It recommended a trial period of two weeks, with the future bride staying at the potential husband’s house, so that the pair could get to know each other better and see if the sparks were still flying between them.
After the two weeks were up, three options were available to them. They could decide it hadn’t worked out, and break off all future engagements and relations. Or, the bride could return home to get her things in order for a while before returning for the marriage. Or finally, the bride could move in immediately and just stay.
Whatever they decided, the website would help them sort it out; by booking more plane tickets – however many was required – and potentially booking the wedding and arranging the required license for them, basically sorting out all the legal side of things that most people found daunting, especially where international marriages were concerned. And if Sammie wanted to come and live permanently in America, they needed to be married; they couldn’t just be casually dating.
Before deciding to cancel the account, Frank opted to discuss all of this with Sammie over a Skype call. It was the first time they’d really talked about what they both wanted out of all this, and it wasn’t an easy conversation, but ultimately, they decided that they should both keep their accounts, and continue to do things through the website to make it easier on them both.
That chat moved them nicely onto previous partners and relationships, and what they were both looking for in a partner. It was surprising that after over a week of talking every single day, it was the first time they’d actually had that talk.
Once that was decided, it was a fairly easy process from then on in.
They both went online and adjusted their profiles to say ‘potentially taken’ which would put a halt on anyone else sending them messages in the meantime, something they were relieved about.
Sammie had an e-mail from the website, asking her what dates she was available to travel to America and stay with Frank for the two-week trial period.
She immediately rang up work and booked some time off. She hadn’t taken her holiday that year yet, so it was relatively easy to get. The only thing she had to do then was explain the situation to her grandmother.
She did it over dinner one Sunday, the day before she was due to fly out so that by that time, everything was already booked and there was nothing her dear grandma could do to try and talk her out of it. Predictably, she was rather shocked, and tried to tell her it was a bad idea; that meeting people off the internet was dangerous, never mind going to stay with them for two weeks. He could be a psychopath. As much as Sammie tried to reassure her that everything would be fine, it didn’t work, and the meal ended in tears.
It wasn’t the best start to the trip, but when she spoke with Frank later that evening, he was very reassuring and gentle with her, and helped her feel instantly better about the whole thing. She couldn’t wait to see him the next day – it was so exciting! She could barely sleep that night, despite having to get up very early to travel to the airport in the morning. She was tossing and turning, imagining what life was going to be like for her over in Texas.
***
Frank didn’t get much sleep that night either, and the whole day he was checking his clock to see whether it was time to go to the airport yet. It was a long drive, so he left early, and got there with half an hour to spare. He grabbed himself a coffee and waited around, nervously watching the arrivals board and staring at the gate at every single face that came out, waiting for Sammie.
When he eventually spotted her pretty face, his heart did a somersault and he gasped a little, then raised one hand and waved over to her so she could see him.
Sammie was looking round anxiously, trying to find him, so it was a relief to see him waving and she broke out into a big smile, rushing over, pulling her bag behind her.
“Hey!” she grinned.
“Hi,” he grinned back and immediately wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug.
Despite them never having met in person before, it didn’t feel weird in the slightest, just because of all the times they’d spoken online. They both felt like they knew each other pretty damn well, and were instantly relaxed in each other’s company.
“Let me take that…” Like a true gent, he took hold of her case and began to pull it along while she walked at his side, him leading them both outside to his car.
She got in the car beside him and he set off driving, asking her about the flight and how it went, while she answered eagerly and gazed out the window with wide eyes, taking in all the sites as they drove out of the city and into the open wide spaces of the desert. “This is amazing…” She gasped.
He chuckled and glanced out the window. “Do you really think so? I’m sure you’ll soon get bored of it.”
“Well, you haven’t…”
“True. I hated it at first, but now I’ve…kind of grown used to it. I can always make a trip into the city if I start to miss it too much.”
“Why did you move out anyway?” she asked casually. It seemed like a natural question and progression of their chat.
“Ah…” He smiled a little. “That’s a long story. I’ll…” He hesitated. “I’m sure I’ll tell you at some point.”
She got the impression he didn’t really want to tell her, and that was fine. Maybe it was a painful story that he didn’t want to recount. She could understand that. She hadn’t told him about her parents, for example, and the fact that she was an orphan who had been brought up by her grandmother. It made her realize there was still so much they didn’t know about one another. That didn’t concern her though; it excited her.
“Alright…there’s no rush.” She smiled at him, then took out her shades from her handbag and put them on. “I’m so excited to be here, I’ve never been to the States before.”
“We’ll drive back into the city at some point and we can go shopping and stuff like that. I just figured you’d probably just rather chill at home on the first day.”
“Yeah, definitely, I’m really tired,” she said with a smile, glancing at the time. The jetlag was starting to kick in. It was only midafternoon but it felt like the middle of the night or something. She was going to stay up till a reasonable time though, just so she could get over it properly and start again on Texas time in the morning.
She told him about the movies she’d watched on the flight, then they put some music on the radio and listened to that while they drove, in an easy, relaxed silence as if they’d known each other for years, not weeks.
The journey took a good couple of hours but soon enough they were pulling up at Frank’s ranch in the middle of nowhere.
When he’d told her there were no neighbors for miles around, he really had been right.
He parked up the car and they went inside, him pointing out his neighbor’s ranch in the far distance.
“We can walk up there one day and say hi to them, if you like,” he suggested as he pushed open the – unlocked – door and led them inside. “They’re a nice couple.”
Sammie had seen pictures of the ranch, of course, and she’d been given the guided tour via Skype, but it didn’t quite compare to getting one in person.
It was a decently sized place, with large, spacious rooms, but not overbearing or a typical millionaire’s pad. It took about twenty minutes to get the full tour, which ended in the spare room that Frank had placed her in for the night.
“I thought uh…you know…you might not want to sleep in the same room as me right away…” He mumbled shyly as he explained.
Sammie smiled and blushed a little, glancing round the room and then lifting her bag up onto the bed to start to unpack. “That’s really sweet of you. Thanks.”
“Are you hungry?” he asked. “I’m gonna go make some food. I’ll leave you to unpack.”
“After so many hours of airplane food, something homecooked sounds amazing, thank you.” She smiled.
“Great,” he grinned. “Come down when you’re ready.”
He disappeared off and left her to her unpacking, and five minutes later she could already smell the food rising up through the floor, making her stomach rumble.
By the time she came down, the food was already ready and waiting for her on the table, with a candle lit in the center.
“Aw, this is sweet,” she smiled as she sat down.
“Stop calling me sweet,” he laughed. “I thought it’d be romantic.”
“It is. I love it. No one’s ever done anything like this for me before.”
They looked into each other’s eyes over the table, their fondness for one another growing more with every passing moment.
That first night was a quiet, innocent one.
After the meal, they sat on the couch together and watched a film. They held hands. They even cuddled at one point. But there was no kissing, and nothing more.
As they paused on the landing to say a final goodnight to one another before departing for their separate rooms, Frank leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek.
She smiled, and blushed at the same time. He was sweet. A real gentleman, and she genuinely felt she had nothing to worry about staying with him. He wasn’t going to make a move on her until she was ready; until they both felt totally comfortable.
“Goodnight,” he mumbled. “I hope you sleep well.”
“Thanks. You too.”
And with that, she headed through to her room and softly closed the door behind her.
She walked over to the chest of drawers and pulled a couple of them open, trying to remember which one she’d put her pajamas in. She hadn’t really been focusing when she’d unpacked; she’d been thinking too much about what it meant to be here and the potential future of her life if things went well between them over the trial period. So far, her first day and evening had gone fine, but obviously it was still early days. Her head was buzzing from everything and the jetlag was kicking her ass; she just needed a really good, long night’s sleep.
Finally locating said pajamas, she got changed into them then padded down the corridor to the bathroom, brushing her teeth etc. before bed. She gave a massive yawn and glanced in the mirror. She looked like shit – definitely a long sleep was in order.
Soon enough, she was in bed, lying on her back in the dark in the cold, strange mattress of her potential new home.
Despite being tired, she lay there with her eyes open for quite some time.
Before she’d turned out the light; she could hear the hum of it, and she could hear the sounds of the house. Now, as she lay in the dark, she could hear nothing. Having come from a city background, she was used to being able to hear cars and people, trains and buses and dogs barking all night long. Coming from that to this was a little disconcerting. There was nothing for miles around and she could literally hear the silence. Then she started listening to the house; every little creak and noise seemed accentuated and absolutely massive and deafening in the darkened silence. She tried not to let it freak her out, or allow her imagination to run riot. She was fairly certain the house wasn’t haunted, or that there was no one creeping around downstairs.
She slowed down her breathing and focused on that, slowly breathing in and out, in and out. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep.