Ava nodded. “It’s okay.” She smiled and looked at her uncle. “I rather you get better so you can come to my next competition.”
Jake bit his cheek, obviously affected by Ava’s reaction. Sam heard the words escape her before they registered. “I can take her.” She looked between her brothers. She wanted to be there for them during the transplant, but one look at her niece's sweet face, and she wanted to be the one who made it all okay for her too.
Luke shook his head. “Forget it. Her competition is in Atlantic City. That’s like four hours from here.”
“So we’ll get a hotel.” Sam said.
“You’re not driving that far by yourself.” Luke asserted.
Nothing infuriated Sam more than when her brothers acted as if she was the frail little rag doll that couldn’t take care of herself; or stand on her own damn two feet for that matter. Usually it was Luke who did the insinuating, she couldn’t group Jake in the same category. He was the one that usually made Luke see the light. She rolled her eyes at Luke.
“I’m a grown women Luke. I know how to drive a car, and I’ve driven to Atlantic City before. As a matter of fact…”
Jake interrupted her rant. “What if someone else drove her?”
The entire kitchen turned to him and when he confirmed he had all of their undivided attention he wiggled his eyebrows. A mischievous grin spread across his face.
“Please daddy!!” Ava said, breaking the silence.
* * * * * *
Nick had been around this family for a long time. He knew exactly how each and every one of them operated. He watched as Sam’s anger fumed, and mentally counted down the eruption of the tirade she was about to unleash on Luke. He shook his head; his friend never learned his lesson when it came to his sister. Sam didn’t take to Luke when he denied her independence.
For some stupid reason, as the chaos exploded in the kitchen, he decided to look at Jake. He studied him for a moment and almost physically saw the wheels in his head turn as he formulated one of his grand schemes. Jake’s eyes found Nick’s and a light flickered in them. Nick eyed him skeptically as he brought his beer to his lips.
He heard the warning bells sound in his head as he guzzled the beer. He knew the look in Jake’s eyes only meant trouble for Nick. He glanced around the kitchen, trying to formulate the easiest escape route.
It played out in slow motion. Nick would’ve sworn he heard the dreadful music of a horror film taunting him in the background.
“What if someone else drove her?” Nick flinched at Jake’s words, here it comes.
The entire kitchen turned to face Jake. He wiggled his eyebrows as he stared at Nick. A mischievous grin spread across his face.
“Please daddy!!” Ava said, breaking the silence. There you go, add the cute kid with puppy dog eyes. He was so fucked.
“Who is going to drive them?” Deb asked. “We’ll all be at the hospital.”
Nick clutched his beer bottle and risked looking back at Jake. All the sets of eyes that were firmly planted on Jake, awaiting his answer, turned in the direction in which he was staring. Jake started towards him and Nick wondered if the bottle in his hand would explode from the death grip he held on it. Jake’s arm swung around Nick’s shoulders.
“Nick will drive them.” He said as he slapped him on the back. “Thanks man, you’re totally a life saver.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Sam asked wide eyed. Nick’s eyes found hers. At least she has been just as against this whole idea, as he was. Maybe together they could get out of it. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to spend a weekend with her. She would no doubt be impossible the entire length of their trip, her eyes told him that. Besides the fact he didn’t trust himself around her, add a seven year old kid to the mix, it was a recipe for disaster.
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Deb exclaimed as she clapped her hands together. “The transplant can go on as scheduled. Ava won’t miss her competition and both girls will be safe because Nick will be there.”
Jake grinned like a banshee. “Exactly…! See everything’s all good.” He leaned into Nick, and whispered. “You can thank me later, bro. Just don’t rob her clothes and shit this time, my niece will be there.”
Nick cracked his neck from side to side. As if the universe wasn’t cruel enough, Deb wrapped her arms around Nick and hugged him affectionately. He couldn’t say no to the woman who had been more of a mother to him, than his own. He sighed and reluctantly returned the embrace. When his eyes settled on Sam’s she was being toppled over by Ava, apparently she hugged just as intensely as her grandmother.
“Wonderful! The transplants scheduled, Ava gets to dance in the town Gamblers Anonymous was created for, and Nick will probably sleep with my daughter! Yeah, good times! Can we eat now?” Joe said as he pushed his empty wine glass across the counter and reached for the bottle instead.
Chapter Five
Sam slammed the door shut after she walked into her apartment. Jake threw her to the wolves. How could she say no? She and her big mouth and Jake with his bright ideas, no good came from the combination. Now she would be stuck in a hotel with Nick for a weekend. Luckily Ava would be there as a buffer. Pathetic really, that she had to rely on a seven year old to neutralize things between her and Nick.
She placed the Tupperware container full of leftovers on her kitchen table, before taking a deep breath. She could handle this, couldn’t she? Her doorbell rang forcing her to put her thoughts aside. She knew who it was. Phillip usually found his way to her apartment on a Sunday, to raid her mother’s leftovers.
She swung open the door and greeted Phillip. He stood smiling clasping his hands together, preparing his taste buds for Deb’s Sunday dinner. Sam rolled her eyes and stepped aside, letting him inside. She didn’t know why Phillip just didn’t come to her mother’s for dinner on a Sunday. Not that she minded the company, especially tonight, but it was kind of silly. Deb would’ve bent over backwards to feed another mouth.
“So what was on the menu tonight?” Phillip asked as he made himself comfortable. Sam sighed and closed the door.
“Well, hello to you too.” She mumbled and followed him into the kitchen.
“Uh oh, I know that tone. What flew up your ass?” Phillip asked as he reached into her cabinets for a plate.
“My brother’s transplant is scheduled.” Sam said as she sat down at the table, watching Phillip make himself a plate and heat it in the microwave.
He set the timer on the microwave and turned around to face her. “That’s great! However, it still doesn’t explain your bitchy mood.” He walked to the refrigerator and grabbed two sodas.
“I’m not bitchy!” She spat and then recognized the tone of her voice. Maybe she was a little bitchy. “Fine, if you must know, it so happens, that Jake’s transplant falls on the same weekend as Ava’s dance competition.”
Phillips eyebrows drew together as he studied her. “I’m still not getting it.”
“Of course not, you didn’t see my little niece's face. She was willing to forgo the competition knowing at seven years old that her Uncle desperately needs her father’s bone marrow.” Sam took a gulp of soda and looked at him. “So I offered to take her to Atlantic City that weekend so she doesn’t miss the competition.”
Phillip smiled as he reached over and pointed to her heart. “Aw, see there is a heart in there.” She pushed his hand aside and blew out a breath. Why did she think talking to him would be a good idea? He grabbed the piping hot plate of ravioli’s and sat down across from her.
“Will you let me finish before you crack jokes?” She said, cocking her head to the side, glaring at him icily. He held his hands up and protest.
“My apologies,” he offered sarcastically.
“Luke, being the noble brother, didn’t want me driving to Atlantic City by myself. Jake, my troublemaking brother, offered me a chaperone.”
Phillip’s fork stopped midway to his mouth and he grinned. “Let me guess who the hunky chaperone is
.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “Nick! Now I’m stuck with him for the entire weekend! I know it sounds shallow. I mean my brothers will be cooped up in a hospital swapping out blood and I’m complaining about spending the weekend with Nick.” She sighed and tucked the loose strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail, behind her ears. “I’m pathetic.”
“Yes, you are.” Phillip agreed as he chewed.
“Keep it up and I will cut you off from my mother’s leftovers.” She warned as she made a feeble attempt to grab the plate, he had in front of him. He pulled the food closer to him and actually looked frightened. Taking a deep breath he took another approach. She watched him wipe his mouth before he looked at her. “Okay, why don’t you start explaining why spending a weekend with that yummy specimen of a man scares the shit out of you?”
“Once upon a time, Samantha Lanza was head over heels in love with Nick Foti.” She said sadly.
He raised an eyebrow. “How come this is the first time I am hearing this and why do you look so unhappy about that?”
She shrugged her shoulders and asked herself why she had buried those memories so deep within her. If he hadn’t come home this past year, she probably would’ve never given Nick a second thought. That’s a lie, a big fat one too. The truth was, no matter how hard she tried to bury her past with Nick, it always had a way of resurrecting. For the last seven years every man she dated, she measured to Nick. It didn’t matter that he was out of her reach. He was never far away in her heart.
”I don’t like to talk about it.” She said truthfully. “It wasn’t like we were ever a couple or anything. The minute the opportunity presented itself, he took off. He moved to Seattle and I barely heard from him, he had a whole new life there
“That’s all you’re going to give me?” He pouted.
“I had a crush on him since I was thirteen years old.” She paused and then smiled gloomily. “He never really gave me the time of day though. In fact, he dated most of my friends.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Until the summer I turned nineteen.”
“Then what happened?” Phillip asked intrigued. She smiled at him when she noticed he had even stopped eating and was now giving her his full attention. .
“My parents took us all to a resort for a weekend in the Catskills.” She shook her head as the memories flooded her mind. “I don’t know what came over me, but the night before we left, I decided I was going to make Nick Foti never forget me. He, Luke and Jake were sharing a room. My brothers had gone night swimming, and Nick had gone back to the room for something. I followed him.” Phillip raised his eyebrows, curiously. “I sort of tried to seduce him and began to undress in front of him.” She threw her head in her hands. She shook her head, embarrassed that she was that naïve.
“Wait a minute, you stripped in front of him?” Phillip’s eyes widened, a grin threatened his mouth.
Sam peered at him through the cracks between her fingers and nodded reluctantly. “Don’t judge me!” She warned and then put her hands down. “The point is, that night he didn’t turn me down. Sure, he was scared and all, only because I was Luke’s little sister. That was why we stopped.”
“So you mean to tell me, you were naked in his hotel room and he didn’t make a move?” Phillip looked at her suspiciously.
“First, I was naked only from the waist up. Second, I didn’t say we didn’t do anything!” She put extra emphasize on the last word, and smiled as she remembered Nick’s mouth on hers. “I am twenty-five years old, and I can honestly say, without any hesitation, that at nineteen Nick Foti gave me the best kiss of my life.” She thought about it a moment and then nodded. “I’m pretty sure I’ve never been kissed like I had been that night, and I’m even more certain that I never will.”
Phillip raised an eyebrow. “That’s a pretty bold statement, Samantha.”
She grinned. “You’ve never been kissed by Nick.” She ran her tongue over her lower lip, almost remembering the taste of his kiss, knowing it was impossible.
He frowned miserably. “No, I haven’t.” He lifted his gaze to her and flipped her the bird. “I’m jealous you wench!”
She laughed. “Anyway, fast forward seven years later and I’m still bitter. I’m so angry he left after he promised me everything I had ever wanted.”
“Wait a minute, what happened when you guys got back home from the vacation?” He asked, clearly, not happy with her vague details.
“He played it safe. He would call me every day. He’d steal kisses when my brother wasn’t around. A few nights before he left he took me on a real date brought flowers and everything.” She smiled wistfully. “I thought he would be my first… but he then he left, without a word of explanation or goodbye.”
“He just left out of nowhere?” He asked disbelievingly.
“Pretty much, I mean I don’t know why he left so suddenly. I always assumed it was because of me. He had everything going for him here. He and Luke were going to open the garage together. He had plans. The only thing he hadn’t factored was me. His conscience wouldn’t let him break my heart. He was in too deep and his friendship with Luke would suffer. So he ran.”
“Is that what he told you?” Phillip prodded.
She shook her head and sighed. “He never had to. I learned that after I graduated college and went to surprise him. See, at first I told myself it was his mother. She was a bitch and always was riding him that he was never going to amount to anything. I thought she forced him to leave. So when I graduated college, my parents surprised me with a trip to California. I have an uncle out there.” She explained and took another sip of her soda. “Anyway, I traded the ticket in and instead I got a one way ticket to Seattle. It sounded like an excellent idea at the time.” She scrunched her face. “Not so appealing now.”
“Girlfriend, how is it that we’ve been friends for so long and you have hidden the ballsy, Samantha from me?” He leaned on the table, propping his elbows on the edge hands under his chin. She had his undivided attention.
“Don’t get too excited. I lost my balls somewhere along the way up to his office. To this day he doesn’t know I was ever there.” She looked away and for the briefest of moments she allowed herself to wonder. Wonder if she would’ve gone about things differently, how would they, have wound up. Would he have been happy to see her? Would it have changed anything? She shook her head. It didn’t matter because what she had seen in Seattle had left her broken. She boarded the plane home the following day, with her heart shattered into a million broken pieces.
“You flew across the country to see him and he has no fucking idea?” Phillip asked, outraged.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” She said lowly.
“Of course you don’t, because out of everything you’ve ever confided in me about, this has to be the dumbest thing you ever did. You should tell him you went to see him.” Phillip demanded.
“No! I never want him to know. What does it matter anyway? It won’t erase the last seven years.”
“No, it won’t, but Samantha, he deserves to know.”
Anger boiled in her veins and she couldn’t believe her ears. “Are you kidding me? What gives him the right? He never thought I deserved to know why he left in the first place.” She pushed back her chair and stood up. “I may have left Seattle without as much as a hello, but he left me without as much as a goodbye.”
Phillip studied her for a few moments, and she began to fidget under his scrutiny. “There’s more to it, and you’re not spilling.” He leaned closer to her. “What else happened?”
She had never told a soul what had happened in Seattle. As much as she tried to block out the memories, they still lived inside her. The embarrassment and pain, that had transpired, from that trip, was still etched in her heart. She didn’t want to be the woman scorned, but the choice wasn’t hers, it had been ripped from her.
“I can’t believe I’m telling you this.” Sam said, turning away from him. If she looked at him when she
told him, she’d only feel more of her pride slip away from her.
“When I made my way to his office in Seattle, I sort of just walked right into his office.” She closed her eyes and remembered how the palm of her hand was sweaty as she turned the door knob that day, she had visited Nick. She opened her eyes, looking down at her sweaty palms, this time there was no doorknob to turn, and she wiped them along her shorts.
“Nick was busy, so busy that he never even heard the door open.” She laughed sarcastically. “But then again, how could he have heard anything with my best friend screaming out his name, while he fucked her brains out on top of his desk?” Sam stood up and let out a deep breath.
“Nick had always flirted with my friends. I don’t know why it never bothered me.” She laughed at herself almost in disgust. “I think I was stupid enough to believe he was just flirting with them, but it was me he really wanted. I guess I truly never believed he had anything going on with any of them, especially Erica.”
“Filthy sleaze bucket.” Phillip grunted. “Where does the little bitch live? I’ll claw her eyes out.”
Sam laughed as she hugged herself, turning around to face Phillip. His face was full of anger, and she knew that she had a true friend in him. He would never betray her, nor would Mallory. She had finally found two people in her life she could trust. She smiled miserably towards him. “Last time I stalked her Facebook page, she was living in Seattle and employed by Nick.”
“Wait, you didn’t know she had moved to Seattle before you went to see him?” Phillip asked, clearly confused.
“No. I thought she was away at college in California. See part of my graduation gift was not only to see my Uncle, but to visit with my best friend who I hadn’t seen in two years. It’s funny because she never lost contact with me. We’d text and speak on the phone all the time. I still wonder how she was going to dodge me if I called her and said I was in California.”
Broken Pieces (Riverdale #2) Page 4
