Sam jumped when the doorbell rang. She bolted off the couch, surprised that Helene had rung the bell.
“Right on time, Helene,” Sam called and flung the door open. Her jaw hit the floor when she saw her parents standing on the doorstep. “Mother? Daddy? What brings you here?” She stepped back to let them in. Her heart was racing.
Sam’s mother pulled her in for a stiff hug. “We were on our way home from Syracuse— and since we were driving right by, we decided to see how my Kitten was doing,” Sam’s father finished.
“Daddy,” Sam groaned, “don’t call me that in front of company.” Sam could only wonder what Marlee thought about her father referring to her as ‘Kitten.’
“Everybody knows you’re still my kitten.” He tousled her hair and then gave her a warm hug.
“Where’s Rolando? Didn’t he drive you?”
“He’ll be back. He went to gas up the car back in town. Where’s Helene? Her car isn’t out front.”
Sam swallowed against the lump lodged in her throat. She recognized his no-nonsense tone. He knew Helene wasn’t at the house. Sam was screwed. She’d never been good at lying, and he knew it. When he found out Helene had stayed in a motel leaving them alone, she’d get fired for sure and probably shipped back to Montréal that night, and then Sam would get shipped off to a Swiss boarding school.
“She, um, she...” Sam glanced over her shoulder at Marlee as if searching for answers telepathically, but nothing came to her.
“Samantha Rose?” Her father folded his arms. “I asked you a question.”
“Yes, sir. Helene is, uh—“
“Helene is right here,” Helene said coming through the front door. She held up a full Price Chopper bag. “I had to run out to the store for a few things.” She walked right past Sam’s parents toward the kitchen. “This is a nice surprise. Will you be staying for dinner? The girls cooked, and I think there’s plenty.” She paused at the kitchen doorway.
Sam blew out a slow sigh of relief.
“Well,” Sam’s mother put a hand to her throat, “that’s up to the girls, I think. We simply came by to see how you were fairing.”
“Mother, please stay.”
“All right then, it’s settled,” Sam’s father said to Helene.
“Great. I’ll inform the cooks and put these things away.” Helene turned on her heels and went into the kitchen.
Sam turned to Marlee and tried to keep the panic from her expression. “Mother, Daddy, you remember Marlee, the pitcher from my summer team?”
“Nice to see you again, young lady,” Sam’s father said. “Are you enjoying your weekend?”
“Yes, sir. Very much. Thank you both so much for letting us stay here. Your house is amazing. The view is spectacular. The sunset last night was incredible.”
Susie saved the day by bursting out of the kitchen at that moment. “Mr. and Mrs. Payton, I thought I heard you out here. Please stay and have dinner with us. Aay, this is awkward. I’m inviting you to stay in your own house.”
Leave it to Susie to diffuse the situation. Sam loved Susie at that moment.
Sam’s mother chuckled. “We’d be delighted to stay. Won’t we Gerald?”
“Yes, thank you for the invitation.”
Lisa poked her head out of the kitchen doorway. “Two more for dinner then?”
Susie nodded.
“Okay, I’ll set two more places.” Lisa scurried back into the kitchen.
“Everything is ready to go on the table,” Susie said. “Come in and sit down. Sam, maybe you can find out what everybody wants to drink.”
“Okay.”
Sam followed her parents into the kitchen and got them settled at the table. As she took the drink orders, she thought of all the things her parents could have walked in on and her heart sped up again. She reached in the cupboard for one last glass, and Helene sidled up beside her.
“Breathe, Samantha Rose, breathe,” Helene whispered.
Sam nodded and took a deep breath to calm her shaky nerves. She filled the last glass with water and set it in front of her own plate. She sat down between her parents.
Since the baking pan was too hot to pass, Susie dished out the enchiladas individually. The rice, refried beans, sour cream, and Mexican cheese were passed from person to person around the table. The scene reminded Sam of dinner at Lisa’s house. This was what a real family dinner was supposed to look like. She took another calming breath before digging in, and just as she got the first forkful to her mouth, felt her mother’s disapproving glare. Sam cleared her throat and put the fork down. She pushed the food around on her plate for a while and then took the barest of bites. Her mother nodded approvingly. Sam hated herself for doing it, but what choice did she have? Hopefully there would be leftovers she could snarf down after her parents left. Wait. They were leaving, weren’t they? She stifled a groan. What if they wanted to stay the night?
Amid the chatter and the clatter of plates and utensils, Sam’s father said, “So, Helene, what have you and the girls been up to today?”
Sam marveled at how easily Helene’s lies came. Sam wondered if she would ever learn to lie as effortlessly. Lisa flashed Sam a nervous smile. Sam grimaced back. At the beginning of the summer, Sam had thought she wanted her parents to know that she’d fallen in love. Now she wasn’t so sure. Her father had the power to make unpleasant things go away, which for him could mean Lisa. Sam firmly decided once and for all that was not a chance she was willing to take.
Chapter Sixteen
A Cold Day in Hell
SAM PULLED HER violin out of its case and rosined the bow. She tuned the strings by ear and then mindlessly played scales waiting for her last class of the day to start. It was the first day of school, and she was more than ready for it to be over. At least she had gotten to hang out with Susie at lunch and then in their AP Environmental Science class directly after, so she hadn’t been totally alone all day. It sucked that she couldn’t see Lisa after school, though. Although Sam agreed when Lisa suggested that the first week of school would be too hectic for them to hang out, she had been lying big time. What she really wanted to do was race to Clarksonville as soon her Strings class was over, but she had to respect Lisa’s wishes and simply count down the minutes until she would see Lisa on Saturday.
Since Mr. Auerbach was busy talking to a couple of students near his desk, and it didn’t look like the class would be starting anytime soon, Sam laid the violin in her lap and closed her eyes. Part of her was aware of the other students milling about the room, but most of her was thinking about the amazing weekend at the lake. Her parents hadn’t stayed long after dinner that Saturday night. In fact, they left right after Susie’s flan.
Sam had shut and locked the front door after her parents left, and then she blew out a long sigh of relief before heading back to the kitchen. She was surprised to see one lone place setting on the table. Helene, Marlee, and Susie smiled at her when she walked in. They looked guilty, like they were hiding something, and Sam thought for sure they were about to play some kind of trick on her, but then Lisa pulled a plate of hot enchiladas out of the microwave and gestured for her to sit.
“Oh, my God. Thank you.” Sam picked up the clean fork someone had put at her place setting. “I thought I was going to starve to death.”
“This was Lisa’s idea,” Helene said.
Sam looked up. “You did this?”
Lisa nodded, a tinge of red creeping up her cheeks.
Sitting in the noisy classroom, Sam remembered another time later that Saturday night when Lisa’s cheeks had tinged red. Sam could almost feel the touch of Lisa’s lips on her face, the back of her neck, and other new delicious places. She wanted to sigh at the memory, but held back. They had spent another amazing night together totally not sleeping, but too soon, way too soon, the weekend was over.
Sunday morning, alone in Sam’s room at the lake house, they said their private goodbyes to each other, mainly because they wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to each other
properly when Marlee dropped Sam off at the mansion. Sam had snuggled into Lisa’s strong arms and kissed her as if they would never see each other again.
When they broke off the kiss, Sam was surprised that Lisa had tears in her eyes.
“Why are you crying?“
“Because it’s getting harder and harder to leave you.”
Sam’s breath caught in her throat. “I wish we didn’t have to go back to school.”
Sam’s eyes flew open when someone jostled her from the side.
“You are so caught,” Ronnie Alesi said with a grin.
Sam sat up in the chair and cleared her throat. “What are you talking about Ronnie?”
“It’s Ronald.”
Sam rolled her eyes.
“I saw that shit-eating grin on your face.”
“Shuddup, Ronnie.”
“You’re in love, dearie. I can tell.” He leaned in closer and whispered, “And she is gorgeous, too. Like an Indian princess with that long braid.”
“Ronnie,” Sam said exasperated, “you don’t know what you’re talking about.” She didn’t like denying her relationship with Lisa, but she couldn’t come out of the closet yet. There was absolutely no way she could come out, especially not to Ronnie who was the king of coming out. Talking to him would make her guilty by association.
Ronnie leaned back, the smug smile still on his face. “One day you’ll admit it, Samantha Rose, but for now I’ll leave you alone.” He stood up and headed to the rack that held his double bass.
A tap, tap, tap on the music stand in the front of the classroom got Sam’s attention. Mr. Auerbach was dressed in his usual brown tweed suit and a wrinkled white shirt and bowtie, askew as usual. His flat brown hair fell into his eyes, and he brushed it away like he would a thousand more times during the class period.
“You guys know the drill,” Mr. Auerbach said. “Instruments out and tuned. Rosin the bows if you need to, and get pencils for taking notes on the sheet music. And that means you, Mr. Alesi. Pencil. Not pen.”
“Moi?” Ronnie said with a splayed hand to his chest, looking hurt by their teacher’s insinuation.
“Yes. Especially you.” Mr. Auerbach wagged a finger at Ronnie, but his smile betrayed the fact that he was teasing.
Sam picked up her violin and waited for the pianist to give them their notes for tuning.
“Samantha Rose,” Mr. Auerbach said, “may I see you at my desk for a moment?”
“Sure.” Sam set her violin down gently on the chair.
Before Sam made it up to the front of the classroom, Mr. Auerbach blurted, “I have exciting news.”
“What’s up?” Sam always loved the twinkle in his eye when he got excited about something.
“Mrs. Dickens has an exciting part for you in the school musical.”
“Ronnie told me about it.”
His face lit up. “Isn’t it exciting? Fiddler on the Roof. It’s yours for the taking, Samantha Rose. It’s yours for the taking.”
“I don’t know. Musical theater isn’t my thing.”
“Music is music. Anytime you get a chance to play, grab it and savor it like a fine wine.”
She hid a smile behind her hand.
His cheeks turned red as if he realized his faux pas. “Oh, you know what I mean. At least tell me you’ll think about it.”
Sam bobbed her head from side to side weighing her options. “I guess.” Truth was, she still hadn’t decided what to do.
“Good. There’s a meeting this afternoon in the theater for everybody interested in the play. Actors, musicians, stagehands. Everybody. Mrs. Dickens wants you there especially. I told her I’d take care of it.”
“I played in the pit last year.”
“Ah, but being up on stage is quite different. I think you’ll be good at it. Go to the meeting. Don’t say no yet.”
Sam shrugged non-commitally. She wasn’t seeing Lisa until Saturday anyway. She could go to one meeting.
SAM SAT AT her desk in the living room of her suite, her precalculus book opened in front of her. She had a third of her mind on the math, a third on the Fiddler on the Roof meeting earlier that afternoon, and the final third on her watch. She had six agonizingly long minutes to go until it was eight o’clock and she could call Lisa. Her mind wandered back to the meeting after school in the theater. All those kids, they were so free. Some were singing, others were reciting lines from the play, and a few were dancing in the aisles. Ronnie made her sit with him and his friends. Alivia especially beamed when Sam sat down next to her. It was exciting, kind of like softball, but different.
Mrs. Dickens outlined the play for the assembled crowd. She talked about auditioning times and rehearsal schedules, but Sam’s ears perked up when Mrs. Dickens spoke about the fiddler. “The role of the fiddler,” she looked at Sam, “is metaphorical. Picture the fiddler straddling a pitched roof, left foot on one slope, right foot on the other. A precarious position, indeed. He is a metaphor for life which constantly pulls us back and forth, first one way and then another.” She glanced around at the assembled students. “Tevye, the male lead in the play,” she looked at Ronnie who was the shoo-in for the role according to Alivia, “tries hard to cling to the traditions of his people, but the world is changing so fast that he struggles to keep his balance—just like our fiddler. Every time the fiddler appears on stage, it is because Tevye is facing conflict.” Mrs. Dickens looked back at Sam. “The play opens with this symbol of struggle, the fiddler perched high on the roof.” She pointed toward the stage, high in the air.
Sam’s eyes widened at the implication. She would be the first one on the stage—the first one everyone saw.
After the brief meeting, Mrs. Dickens handed out scripts to those auditioning for acting parts and sheet music to the musicians. Sam thumbed through the sheet music and then later when she got home, showed the sheet music to Helene. Helene said a couple of the fiddler pieces looked challenging, but Sam had always been able to master difficult music in the past, why would this be any different? Sam had agreed. She could do it, but did she want to? That was the big question. Did she want to be up on the stage in front of everybody? Perched high on top of the set? Would her parents even let her do it? She didn’t mention a word to either of them at dinner. She’d tell them the next day. Maybe.
With firm resolve, Sam went back to her homework. She finished another problem and checked the time. She had one more minute until she could call Lisa. Ah, what the hell, it was close enough. She slammed her math book shut and picked up her cell phone.
She activated voice dialing and said, “Lisa.”
Within seconds Lisa answered. “Hi, baby. I miss you.”
“Same, same, same. Me, too.” Sam walked to the couch and flung herself on it. “How was school?”
“Good, but geez, I’m tired. I’ve got way too much homework.”
“I know. Me, too, and I’m a senior. Seniors aren’t supposed to have homework, are they?”
Lisa laughed. “At least Julie’s in my Algebra Two class.”
“Your first baseman?”
“Yeah, you remember her. She’s the one that wanted to double date with us last spring.”
“I can’t.”
“I know.”
Pain flittered across Sam’s heart at the sound of Lisa’s resigned voice. “Baby, you know I’ll do anything for you, but I can’t do this. Not right now. If anybody finds out about us, I’m toast. You and me? Toast.”
“Because your parents will find out.”
“Yeah.” An awkward silence grew between them, and Sam scrambled around her brain for something to fill it. “Speaking of the three musketeers, how are they?”
Lisa laughed. “We weren’t speaking of them, but they’re fine. Lynnie loves her new teacher and already started her book report. Guess which book?”
“One of the Harry Potters.”
“Good guess, but no. She’s doing one of those books from the Dragonriders of Pern series you gave her.”
/> “Anne McCaffrey. Cool. I knew she’d like them. I’ll have to find more like that for her.”
While Lisa talked about her siblings, Sam leaped off the couch and scoured her floor-to-ceiling bookshelves for something else Lynnie might like. She smiled when she found Another Fine Myth by Robert Lynn Asprin. Lynnie would love the story about the magician’s apprentice who teamed up with a demon. Sam tossed the book on her desk and plopped back on the couch.
“How does Lawrence Jr. like first grade so far?” Sam asked.
“He likes it. He said recess was awesome because they were allowed to play basketball. Bridget was cranky, though.”
“How come?”
Lisa chuckled. “Because we all got on the school bus this morning and left her home alone.”
“Oh, no. Poor Sweetpea.” Sam smiled as she pictured the feisty three-year-old.
“Yeah, she’s been clingy ever since I got home today. She has no understanding of homework.”
“I wish I was there with you and your family.”
“I wish you were here, too. Or I was there.” Something softened in Lisa’s voice. “I don’t know how I’m going to handle not seeing you every day. I miss you so much.”
“Me, too.” Sam’s voice caught in her throat. She hoped Lisa hadn’t heard it. Up until that moment, Sam hadn’t realized how lonely she was. ”Hey, you know what?”
“What?”
“I think I might try out for the musical.”
“Seriously?”
“Yup.” Sam grinned at the excitement in Lisa’s voice. “I went to the meeting they had after school. Mrs. Dickens gave me the sheet music.”
“I’ve never heard you play, but I know you’ll be awesome. So, you’re gonna do it, eh?”
“Maybe.” Sam glanced back at the sheet music on the stand behind her. “I think so.”
“I can’t wait. And the kids, they’re gonna love seeing you on stage.”
“Oh, God. Don’t make me nervous.”
“Sorry.”
Sam smiled at the grin she heard in Lisa’s words. “I wish I could kiss you right now.”
Stealing Second: Sam's Story: Book 4 in the Clarksonville Series Page 14
