I laughed. “Well, it has a little bit more time to cook, but I’m sure we can find a fork somewhere when it’s ready.”
Sophie bounced in at that time. “Daddy, who is that man?”
Sam knelt, trying to pry the shy girl from his knees. “Sophie, this is my brother Richard.”
“You have a brother?” She looked up from her three-foot view with sort of a doubt in her eyes that she should go anywhere near this barbaric-looking man.
“Hey, little kiddo.” Richard’s cheeks lifted and wrinkled his leathered face even more. “Sammy, I didn’t know you had a kid. Lookee there. Thank your stars she looks like Sarah.”
“Sophie, why don’t you go back and I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”
Sophie stared at Richard for a second and walked very slowly back into her play area, suspicious he might follow if her eyes left him.
I was draining the noodles when Sam offered me a mixed drink. It looked as though he was pouring for himself and Richard. So much for keeping the liquor from his hands. “No thanks. I have to hurry up and finish before I’m late leaving.”
“Where are you going? You know it’s never wise to eat something that a cook won’t eat themselves.” Richard looked around the kitchen, as if it was the first time he’d been inside four walls in a while.
I chuckled. “I assure you, there’s nothing wrong with the meal. I have a date.”
Innocent mistake. I didn’t even realize I made it until Sam gave me the stink eye and rolled the other one.
“A date?” His entire forehead folded. I didn’t realize how supple leather actually was on a face. Handbags, yes; men, no. “Who with? Do you all have some sort of open relationship?” He looked at Sam. “In that case, I’ll sign up for a date with you.” He winked at me, and I tried not to cower.
I pressed my eyes shut, wanting to remove the foot from my mouth and the image of him and me from my brain. I laughed my nervous laugh—anyone who knew me well could tell. “Date? That did sound funny. I guess that’s my Midwestern way of saying an appointment. Like a pop instead of a soda. I have an appointment.” I shook my head, making my lie seem more believable. Either that or it was a sleight of hand sort of thing. “It’s with…with our contractor. We’re doing some upgrades in the kitchen and I promised to go over the selections.” I pointed at the refrigerator, hoping he wouldn’t know the stainless steel made it look as new as it really was probably.
“On a Sunday? Are you going, Sammy? What’s dinner for if you guys are leaving?”
“No. I met him earlier in the week and picked some out. Sarah wasn’t able to go, so we set her time up for today.” Nice save.
“It’s a shame you’re going to miss all this good food, Ms. Sarah. I’ll make sure and tell ya how it tastes.”
“Thanks. I hope it’s good.” I went back to mixing the cheese in Sophie’s entrée.
“By the way, Sammy. I went back home, you know, to lay flowers on Mom’s grave. And I was over visiting Mike Gray. Anyway, Veronica came by to drop off something to Claudette.”
I side glanced to see Sam. He wasn’t moving. Must not’ve been too important.
“Pour me another one, Sammy.” Richard held out his glass.
Sam grabbed the bottle of whiskey. He refilled his glass as well.
“Did you hear me? I said Veronica was there.” He walked over and leaned on the counter where I was working. “Veronica was Sammy’s first love.”
I looked at Sam. He swished his glass.
“How long did you two date, Sammy? Wasn’t it like ten years or something?”
“Five,” Sam replied in a low voice.
“Five…right…well, it felt like ten. Weren’t you two getting married? I thought I remember Mom getting those huge books with tons of invitations in them.” He wiped his beard and looked at me. “If you ask me, you see one, you’ve seen ’em all.” He hit the counter and yelled over to Sam. “Sammy, weren’t you two getting married?”
“Something like that.”
“Right, well, she couldn’t ask me enough about you. Of course, I didn’t know you were married, or I wouldn’t have told her where you were living. She said she can’t wait to look you up. Her husband died in a car accident three years ago. Her kids are in college, and she went on and on about how that oldest one was majoring in film.” He threw back his drink, and then wiped his mouth again. “Crazy how time flies. I remember when she went to college with you—now her kid’s in college.”
“Yep.” Sam threw back his drink after a long sigh.
“Sam, I’ll be back before the buzzer goes off. Don’t touch anything.” I eyed him like a mother does before leaving the room with a cake just frosted on the counter. Sam didn’t know the first thing about cooking, but he liked to pretend. “I’ve got to go get dressed.”
He nodded and I excused myself to go get ready.
When I walked back in the kitchen, I swear you could’ve heard Sophie whispering to her bears from the other room. It seemed time had frozen momentarily. Richard was seated on a barstool, mid-sentence, and Sam hovered around the stove when he looked up to see why Richard had stopped talking. Both sets of eyes were on me. I checked the front of my dress to make sure it wasn’t tucked into my underwear. It happens. Sam cleared his throat.
“I wasn’t sure if I needed to do anything, uh, I mean I heard something bubble. But then I remembered…well, I remembered the small lecture you gave me, and uh…” His eyes flitted here and there, never settling on mine. He seemed a bit out of breath.
I waited until he looked at me and winked playfully. “And you were going to do what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe yell for you?”
I picked up the tiny bowl of flour and butter and added it to the stew, stirring it. It smelled amazing. The chicken was bathing in the wonderful stock of wine, carrots, onion, and garlic. I almost wished my date could come here and join the party. But how awkward would that be? “This is the contractor, and don’t mind us as we go into the formal dining room and pick out ‘light fixtures.’”
“Damn, you look too good to be going out to pick appliances.” Richard’s eyes seemed to be glued to the front of my dress. “Sam, I think maybe you should reconsider and go along. I don’t trust contractors these days.”
I tried to ignore his attempt at a compliment, especially seeing that his eyes were having a hard time focusing on my face. “Sophie’s mac and cheese is in the warming drawer, Sam. And you can pull her a little bit of chicken out from the Dutch oven. She likes tenders, so tell her it’s without the breading.”
I motioned to grab for my keys on the counter behind where Sam was now leaning on his elbow with his tumbler of whiskey. As I maneuvered around him, he leaned forward and kissed my cheek. I backed up with the sort of speed people can suffer from whiplash. My expression could’ve only signaled, “What the…?”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, looking a bit stunned by the whole thing.
I tried not to remain frozen in the position. It was just so unusual, so unexpected…so nice. The keys remained on the counter, as if I’d been chased away by seeing a spider. My hand was still mid-reach, and I couldn’t move. “That’s okay.”
“I just thought—”
Thought what, I wondered. That I was giving him a kiss good-bye? Right, of course. I get it. Maybe for his brother to think this was legit. Whatever. It had passed. All the weirdness was over. I grabbed my keys, attempted to will the red I felt creeping up my cheeks like vines to back down, and yelled out good-bye to Sophie, in the other room.
“Richard, I hope you enjoy the dinner.” I smiled and adjusted my dress.
“I know I will. I haven’t had home cooking for too long. You could slap some peanut butter and jam on the heel of a loaf of bread and that would be closer to home cooking than what I’ve had in months.”
“Wow, then you might just enjoy this.”
“You look amazing, by the way. I’m glad I was able to meet you.” He stood to shake my hand
. “I’m glad someone is finally taking care of my baby brother. Mom sure had a heck of a time doing it.” He laughed and looked toward Sam.
“I’m sure he wasn’t bad.”
“Nah.” He took my hand and held it for more than a normal time. “That’s one heck of a dress.”
I withdrew my hand. “Yeah, well, I might meet up with my girlfriends for drinks later.”
“I see.” He cocked an eyebrow. A few of those crazy white hairs sprung forth from it.
I turned to Sam. His eyes spoke to me. I didn’t want to know what they were saying. They’d changed again from happy-go-lucky to a sadness. Maybe it was his brother being there. Maybe it brought up memories, or made him feel bad for something. I didn’t want to think he was pondering that Veronica story.
“I’ll see you later,” I said, still looking at him, trying to decipher that stare of his.
“Be careful,” he said, barely audible.
“Seriously?” Richard asked. “If you aren’t going to kiss her good-bye, I might.” He pushed on his brother’s arm. “Go and give her one, bro. Give her a reason not to have drinks later, and to get back here. I swear, marriage is wasted on the clueless.”
Sam grinned and looked down at the floor. “I gave her one already.”
“Yeah, that was weird. It looked more like it spooked her.”
“That’s okay. I’ll be back early.” I smiled and walked toward the back door.
“Sammy,” I heard Richard chide. “Get on. Give your wildly gorgeous wife a kiss. I’ll live vicariously through you.”
I turned slightly. Sam walked over to me, his eyes fixed on mine. The rest of the room went out of focus. When he was five inches from my face, I think that’s when I stopped breathing, and my heart took off on a mad stallion that was double-parked inside my ribcage. I had a millisecond to swallow hard. And then I blacked out. Everything went dark as I pressed my eyes shut, seeing his face approach mine. Lips on lips, he kissed me. I tasted the whiskey and felt the heat of his breath. My stomach clenched, as well as everything else inside me. Except for that runaway stallion. He was still hoofing around, making me almost pant. For no good reason.
I opened my eyes to see him watching me. Waiting for me to do something. Hit him, grab him, or just leave. I chose the last one. I didn’t know what else to do. It felt amazing. I felt amazing. He felt amazing. But it was all wrong. He was the dad to a beautiful little girl I watched. Who, a month ago, was knee-deep inside a forever commitment with another woman. And most importantly, he was not even remotely in my binder of wedding details. He didn’t fit in at all. He probably had the Beatles on his wish list of a bridegroom’s first dance. I hated the Beatles…but boy did I enjoy that kiss.
The last place I thought of going was to the diner, although that’s where I ended up. Tony was behind the counter, stocking glasses from the dishwasher tray. The dinner crowd was all but gone. Two couples occupied the booths and a single guy enjoyed a slice of coconut cream pie at the counter. A dark-haired woman filled ketchup bottles at one of the back tables. I wasn’t sure but I think I recognized her.
“Hey, Tony.” I flung myself on a stool by the register.
“Wow, two times in one week. How did I get so lucky? No, don’t tell me. I think you’re actually bad luck, Sarah. Do you see my sister, Maria, back there?” He jerked his head toward the back of the restaurant. “She’s had to help me out ever since you talked Colleen into moving away.” He stacked the last glass and rested the tray on the speckled Formica top. “Now, if you’ve come to tell her to move away, I’m going to forbid you in the restaurant.”
“I come in peace.” I held up my hands and looked around. “So she really went, did she?”
“Yep. All that talking you did made her run home, pack, and now her mother calls every day, crying, asking me to call and demand she come home.”
“Oops.” I put my head down. “She’ll be all right. And I’m sorry, Tony. I might not have thought it completely out. I didn’t realize it would leave you in such a hard place. You’ve still got Tina and Marsha for the rush hours, right?”
“Unless you come and farm them out.” He wiped his brow.
“I can come back and help you out if you need it.” I slung my bag on the counter and grabbed a napkin to wipe up some water that sat in a puddle. “I’ll actually need a job to replace the one I’m going to quit tomorrow.”
“What? You’re quitting what job? When could you start back?”
Tony’s eyes danced as he waved to one of the couples who yelled out to him before they walked out the door. The bell on the door rang as it slammed shut.
“I’m quitting my nanny position.”
“With that guy you were here with the other night? You said you loved it. And he looked…well, he looked liked he really liked you.” He took a step back. His face changed from relief to disgust. His round eyes turned beady. “Oh, hey. Did that guy make a pass at you? Did he—I should’ve never thought to trust that man. He had that…that look, like—”
“No, Tony.” I raised my hand to stop him from jumping to the conclusions I could see him leaping to. “Well, not a pass like that. I mean… I don’t know what I mean.” I cupped my chin with my hand and rested it on the counter.
Maria came to punch some numbers on the cash register for a check. She looked up from the check and smiled at me. I smiled and moved to the second seat down, so she could concentrate.
“Well, what is it? Do I need to go and break some kneecaps, or will my Uncle Vinny need to send Guido to his house for a shakedown? You tell me, Sarah.”
Tony was a bit overprotective. Especially when I told him I didn’t have any family in Charleston. He quickly adopted me, making me feel as if Tony was all the family I needed here.
“It’s not like that. I went on a date tonight with a great guy.” I smiled just thinking about Andrew. “A wonderful guy. He even wore a tie. Let me order for myself, didn’t bore me with all the awards he’s received, why he’s God’s gift to women, and he even said I was a breath of fresh air. Someone he could see asking out again for months in advance.” I pushed on Tony’s arm. “He even walked me to my car and opened the door.”
“Now that is something.” He shook his head. “Okay, I don’t get it. That’s great, Sarah. After the losers you’ve been dating, that’s a good thing. So what does that have to do with the guy you were here with the other night? He’d make you quit if you were in a relationship? Is he some sick weirdo or something?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s the fact that this perfect specimen tonight was telling me everything I wanted to hear and all I could think about was Sam.”
“Your boss? The guy you brought here?” His finger pounded the countertop. “The one who’s making passes at you? Passes you don’t want?”
“Tony, he’s not making passes I don’t want. I just don’t think we’re compatible. And then there’s Veronica, and she’s got a son in college, and all she wants is Sam, and I could see he was interested. But that was before the kiss.” I banged my head on the counter.
“I’m not following, Sarah. Who’s Veronica? And who cares? You went out with a great guy tonight. So what if you like Sam, or don’t like Sam. This is not a problem. Just pick one. And make it the right one. I don’t want to have to send anyone to take care of any problems that might happen, if one of ’em doesn’t like your choice.”
“Don’t you see, Tony? I can’t like Sam.”
“Because you like the guy tonight?”
“I’ve only just met Andrew. And yes, he’s the most normal guy I’ve dated in a long time. But, now there’s Sam.” I sighed. “Sam’s not exactly my age.” I waited for that fun fact to sink in. When nothing changed on his countenance, I continued. This time I used my fingers to hold count of all the things not going for Sam. “And Sam has a daughter. And never once in my imaginary marriage did I ever think about myself with someone who already had children. Let alone has their own house and company. You see, I always imagine
d we’d go—that is, my very younger husband and I—would go and open our joint account, all with the two hundred dollars we have to our name, but all the love in the world to survive on.” I palmed my chest. “And we’d start small, maybe an apartment, then save for a house, and have two or three children.” I shook my head. “I mean, Sam was going to college with this Veronica, probably a supermodel chick, and I was in middle school with braces. He was having ‘settle down’ thoughts while I was listening to a boy band and figuring out how to French kiss by watching Alicia Silverstone in Clueless on a loop. You know that part when she kisses her friend, who is actually Paul Rudd.” I grabbed my mouth. “Oh my gosh, he was older than her, too.” I put my head down again, only to quickly raise it and continue with my rant.
“And who dumps a man like Sam? He must have a serious defect—baggage I don’t know about—that might make all this seem petty for even speaking about. No, I don’t think I want this.” My thoughts spun like a hurricane.
“I hate to break it to you, Sarah, but what you want might not exist. Nowadays everyone has at least one carry-on and one duffel bag full of doozies—matching sets of luggage, if you think about the age bracket you’re seeking. But if his years of experience scare you, go for the guy tonight. Is he your age? I’ve barely heard anything about him except for he’s got chivalry down pat and it was great. You had all those stars in your eyes when you said it, too.” He motioned his hand all over my face.
“He was a perfect first date. But, I can’t.” I laid my head on the counter and spoke through folded arms. “I think I’m falling for Sam.”
I opened the door as if my intention were to rob the place. Slowly I shut it, hoping it wouldn’t creak. There was a light on in Sam’s study, some source of one coming from the upstairs hall, and I could hear the low hum of the air conditioner pushing air through the vents. I was eerily aware of everything. The house smelled like lingering chicken and cooked tomatoes. I leaned down and slipped off my shoes so I wouldn’t click on the floors as I walked. I wavered in the open area of the living room before I went to the kitchen to check for a mess. Then I thought about going upstairs for a shower, or maybe I’d just mosey to Sam’s office. Why, I didn’t know. Last night I went to make fun of my date, seek late-night companionship, and plain out see Sam before going to bed. Tonight, I’m not sure what my reason would be. Still, I headed down the hall. My heart shifted into fifth gear the closer I got. So much had changed since last night. Our lips touching, the look in his eyes when he saw me… It was all that I was thinking about. As I approached his open door, the light switched off.
Searching For Sarah (The Sarah Series Book 1) Page 11
