Read We Will Always Have the Closet for Free Online

around her, frantically looking for a hiding place that did not involve a closet and found nothing big enough. “Well?”
    Giving up, she grabbed his arm and dashed to the closet, immersing them in darkness…again. She was starting to think God was trying to tell her something. What, she had absolutely no idea and was afraid to ask. At least this was a much bigger closet and they did not have to stand close enough to touch. She sat in a corner, surrounded by piles of printer paper. Sam sat opposite to her, his long legs pulled up to his chin as he studied her in the darkness. A thin ray of light from a crack in the door illuminated her face. He stroked his own arm and caressed her with his piercing eyes. Suddenly she felt naked with her slender neck and bare shoulders exposed to his scrutiny. From the corner of her eye she noticed how shivers raked his body and how he slightly shook his head as to dispel unpleasant thoughts—or maybe too pleasant.
    “That’s a nice dress,” he said, his eyes sliding down from her shoulders to her unadorned décolletage. Another shiver crossed her abdomen. Her eyebrows raised in disapproval while her index right finger was placed in front of her mouth in the international signal for quiet. “Well, it is,” he continued in a quieter voice.
    The voices were now in the office. “I thought I heard voices in here,” a male voice said. “Look under the desk. Last week I found someone hiding under there.” The clatter of chairs and other furniture pieces being moved were heard. “No, I guess there’s no one here. Let’s go. I’m getting hungry.” They heard the door opening and closing and the office was quiet again. As if by mutual assent, they sat quietly for a few more minutes to make sure the guards were gone.
    “I think it’s safe now,” Sam said, cracking the closet door open and peeking outside. “Let’s go.” They both crawled out and Petra got up in what she was pretty sure was a very inelegant way. It wasn’t easy to do it elegantly strapped to a ball gown and stiletto heels. Sam, on the other hand, fluidly stood up as if his legs had some sort of spring system built in. “Are you going to tell me what you were looking for?”
    Petra laughed, wiping imaginary dust bunnies off her borrowed dress. “Right. And I’m Santa Claus,” she snapped.
    “A very sexy Santa, I say.” It was so hard to be mad at him when he was constantly flirting with her. “Come on, Petra, tell me,” he begged, holding one of her hands. “What do you want so badly?”
    Hesitating for a second, she allowed herself to get lost in his green eyes. No, she wouldn’t tell him, as tempting as that was. “We better get out of here.” she said, totally avoiding an answer. “The guards will be back soon enough.”
    Resigned, Sam let out a loud sigh, grabbed her hand and guided them both to the door. Looking both ways before leaving the office, Sam shuddered against her small figure pressed to his side. They walked stealthily and quickly across the upper floor and somehow managed to go down the staircase unnoticed. In a corner, the chamber quartet violinists caressed their instruments, producing a Viennese waltz that wafted into the air like perfume. Several couples now danced, enchanted by the magical music. Sam wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him. “Let’s dance, Cinderella,” he said, breathing in her ear.
    Meaning to protest, Petra yielded to his embrace instead and allowed him to sweep her across the floor in a surprisingly skilled three-step elegant waltz. She had always loved the waltz. It reminded her of dancing with her father when she was a little girl, her small feet resting on top of his size eleven shoes, twirling away in big circles. She had once dreamed of being a graceful dancer in a ball gown, spinning around a stately hall in Austria with a dashing young man. Now, in the arms of this beautiful man, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to believe in that