Chapter 53

Sam stirred. “Thanks, Simon, for sitting with me.”

He lifted his head from my lap and sat up. I stiffly got to my feet and stretched. “It’s okay.”

We ate a hurried breakfast, each visited the bathroom, and got to the lounge a few minutes after ten.

“Over here!” Tom hailed us.

I acknowledged them and approached the seating area they had reserved, stopping at the coffeepot on the way to pour two steaming mugs. Sam had orange juice.

“Pretty eventful night, eh?” Tom said as we took our seats opposite them.

“Why, what did you two get up to?” Mark fired back, keeping a straight face.

Tom had just taken a sip of coffee and began to cough violently.

Peter happened to be passing close by and approached. “Everything all right?”

Tom continued to cough.

“It’s okay, I’m Heimlich trained,” Peter told us, positioning himself behind Tom’s bulk.

“No, no.” Tom stood. “I’m all right,” he wheezed. “Just went down the wrong way.”

Peter nodded and went to talk to other guests.