Second Rate Chances (18 page)

             
Sam braced himself for the biggest question of all. The one that he feared knowing the answer to. The one that could honestly, break him at this point.

             
In a tone barely above a whisper, Sam asked, “Dad? What kind of person am I?” 

             
It felt like minutes passed before Paul answered him. When he did, Sam was thankful his hands were braced on the bathroom sink. Without it, he would have surely fallen at his father’s words.

             
“Not the kind I raised you to be.”

145

SECOND RATE CHANCES

CHAPTER 21

Lil had to take it slow on the roads on her way home from work, but her heavy foot had other intentions. Sam was waiting for her at their house. At
her
house, she corrected herself. But still. It was like it used to be. Him arriving home before she did. A date night in the works. She wondered what he had planned. Would he wine and dine her? Take her to their cove down by the river? Or would he settle for a relaxing evening at home? She quickly nixed the relaxing evening idea. She was pumped to get out of the house, to be seen around town with him. Hold his hand, steal kisses as often as she could.

             
She pulled into her driveway, excited for whatever the night brought on. What would she wear? What would he wear? Had he gone home to change, or better yet, to pack a bag to stay over? Lil was getting ahead of herself in thinking that he wanted to stay the night. Technically he already had. Twice. But, those weren’t premeditated. They just happened. Tonight, however. Tonight they were playing a whole new ballgame.

             
Slowly so that she didn’t slip – because Heavens knew she didn’t want to end up in the same predicament as Sam – she walked up the few steps that lead to her front door. She opened the door, the urge to call out ‘honey, I’m home’, almost too good to pass up. The words caught in her throat when she saw Sam, leaned against her kitchen bar, his foot crossed in front of the other, doing something on his phone.

             
He was dressed in a pair of brown trendy loafers – ones Lil couldn’t help but admire on his feet. They might not have been his signature ratty Converse, but they made her think he had put in a real effort to try and impress her tonight.

             
His shirt was a blue oxford button down, with the first two buttons undone and his white T-shirt peeking out underneath. And his jeans were dark denim, faded from the thigh down just past the knees. Because his hair had gotten a little longer than he was probably used to wearing it now, he had tried to style it with some kind of gel. It had that I-tried-to-make-it-look-messy look. Lil approved.

             
Sam took that moment to look up from his phone and smile at her as she shut the door behind her. He pushed off the bar and had a swagger in his step as he closed the distance between them. Lil on the other hand, was unable to move. She hoped she had at least closed her gaping mouth.

             
His grin turned into a smirk that had Lil wanting to spend the whole night in his arms, in bed, doing things that people did in beds. Or couches. Wherever. She wasn’t going to be picky. He undid the buttons of her coat and slipped his hands inside, tugging her closer until his mouth pressed against hers.

             
Lil had missed this. This feeling of completeness from the man she loved. That wonderful feeling of having someone waiting for you when you came home from a long day at work. To be kissed like she was the most important person in the world.

             
“Hi,” he whispered against her lips.

             
“Hi,” Lil repeated, unable to get much else out.

             
“How long do you need to get ready?”

             
“Depends. Where are we going?”

             
Sam helped her out of her jacket and hung it on the hook for her. She laid her purse down on the couch and flopped down, grateful to be home at last. Grateful to be coming home to him.

             
Sam took a seat next to her, his hand moving gently up and down her thigh.

             
“When was the last time you went to Rusty’s?” he asked.

             
Lil thought it was an odd question but she answered none the less. “I don’t know. A while I guess.”

             
“I thought we’d start there. I know Rusty would love to see you.”

             
Lil nodded. Rusty’s would work. It was their familiar old stomping grounds. Besides, she’d love to see Rusty herself.
             
“I hope your dad fixed the plumbing because if not, I’m afraid Rusty’s will be the only place we can go to tonight.”

             
Sam laughed, his eyes twinkling when he did. “Everything is good to go and he even winterized the pipes for you.”

             
“He did not!” Lil exclaimed. “Sam, I could have paid him for that.”

             
Sam shrugged her comment off. “He wouldn’t have taken it, you know that. Besides,” he said, leaning in, stealing a kiss. “He loves you. You should have been calling him all these years to have him do it.”

             
He was right, of course. Paul Travers was the first person she thought of each year when the weathermen warned of the impending snow. But, she couldn’t bring herself to call him. It would have inevitably lead to discussions of Sam, or how she was, and she hadn’t been ready to travel down that road. Hell, up until a few weeks ago she still wasn’t. Amazing what a little communication did for people.

             
“I need to shower,” she stated. “Maybe give me half an hour? I’ll be quick.”

             
“Take all the time you need. We can afford it,” Sam said.

             
But could they?

~~~~

Forty-five minutes later, Sam and Lil were in her car headed for Rusty’s. She had let him drive, without even giving it a second thought. He glanced over every now and then as he drove with one hand on the wheel and one hand holding hers. Every time he glanced her way, she could see out of the corner of her eye that he had a smirk on his face. If she weren’t in such a good mood, she would have knocked it right off of him.

             
Sighing Lil said, “Fine! I know I said half an hour but it took longer to blow dry my hair.” Sam laughed, squeezing her hand in the process. “It’s cold out,” she whined. “You wouldn’t want me to catch pneumonia would you?” She batted her eyelashes at him while simultaneously poking out her bottom lip. Sam brought their intertwined fingers to up to his mouth and kissed her hand.

             
“I’d hate myself if I would have rushed you. You look beautiful, by the way,” he said. Lil thought the darkness of the car would help hide her smile but she was mistaken. She knew Sam saw just how his words affected her.

             
It wasn’t anything special, what she was wearing. A pair of skinny jeans tucked into her knee length brown boots. The shirt, hidden at the moment by her jacket, was a crème off-the-shoulder sweater.

             
“Thank you,” she whispered. “You look pretty great yourself.”

They pulled into the parking lot of Rusty’s and Sam nearly had another accident as he rushed to her side to open the door. Hand in hand, they walked through the cars and into the neon lights of Rusty’s.

             
Lil looked around as they entered; the place looked exactly the same as she remembered. She should have stopped by more often to see Rusty, but with work and…Oh, who was she kidding. Lil had no one to blame but herself. She hadn’t stopped in because she didn’t want to remember the good times she used to have here or risk the chance of running into Sam.

             
Rusty spotted them as soon as they entered, whistling their arrival. Lil smiled and walked in long strides up to the bar top, practically dragging Sam in her wake. She released his hand and hopped up on the edge, balancing herself on her forearms and kissed Rusty on the cheek. He blushed at her affection but smiled when he noticed Sam behind her.

             
“Well, the gang’s all officially here!” Rusty bellowed.

             
Sam slid his arms around Lil’s waist. “What do you mean?”

             
Rusty nodded to where their table sat. “The boyfriends and Ellie and her new man are in the back.”

             
Sam and Lil turned their heads at the same time and sure enough, the gang was all there.

             
“You two go on ahead,” Rusty said. “I’ll bring over your drinks.” He laughed more to himself when he added, “And if I get too backed up, I’ll just holler for Ellie to get her ass up here and bring them to you. I can tell the way she’s giving my waitresses the stink eye she’s dying to put an apron back on and show them how it’s done.”

             
Sam and Lil said their thanks to Rusty and headed to the table of their friends. They walked through the tables, hand in hand, until they arrived at the place they had sat at many nights. Four pairs of eyes looked up when Sam and Lil towered over them, their gazes glued to their intertwined hands. Thinking nothing of it, Lil released Sam's hand when he made work to remove her coat.

             
“Hello
longtime
friends,” Lil said brightly. “Thanks for the drink, doll.” She grinned at Kane and popped the cherry from his glass into her mouth.

             
Sam held out her chair then took the empty seat next to her and Kane. Abe was next to Zach, practically in the poor boy’s lap.

             
“Lil!” Abe squealed. “I think I'm in love.”

             
“You're cut off,” Kane said blandly.

             
Zach's eyes cut to Abe as he inched closer and closer to Zach. Lil giggled in front of everyone. “Abe, babe, Zach is clearly hetero.”

             
“So.” Abe pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. “I can look. This ass,” he said nodding to his boyfriend, “won’t let me touch.”

             
“You're scaring him,” Kane replied.

             
“Am not. I'm not scaring you, am I?” Abe's looked at Zach and batted his lashes.

             
Rusty brought their drinks, delivering refills to almost everyone at the table. Everyone except for Abe. Kane mouthed a silent thank you to Rusty who chuckled as he walked away.

             
“Abe,” Ellie said in a serious tone. “My man doesn’t want what you’ve got. I keep him perfectly satisfied.” She leaned over and nuzzled her face in Zach’s neck. Zack kissed the top of her head, smiling down at Ellie and keeping his eyes off of Abe.

             
“Zach,” Abe said, his voice sickly sweet. “Who has a better ass?”

             
Ellie lifted her head and glared at Abe.

             
“Anyway,” Lil said, hoping to get the focus off of Abe’s new crush. “What brings everyone out tonight?”

             
“It’s Friday night,” Kane said as if nothing had changed and they all still hung out at Rusty’s every Friday night.

             
“We were going to go to the movies,” Ellie said, “but we decided to run in here and say hi to Russ beforehand. We saw these two and decided…well as you can see, Abe hasn’t let Zach out of his sight.” Ellie looked at her watch and let out an exaggerated sigh. “That was almost an hour ago.”

             
“I for one am glad we’re all here,” Sam said, throwing his arm over the back of Lil’s chair. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Lil scooted closer until she was tucked away under his arm.

             
Kane sipped his drink while Abe took a swallow of his glass of water, their eyes asking a million questions that neither wanted to ask aloud. Ellie arched an eyebrow to Lil but Lil shook her head briefly. She didn’t want this night ruined with questions she didn’t know the answers to.

             
Zach on the other hand, seemed oblivious to the close nature Lil and Sam had acquired.

             
“I have those DVD’s in the truck if you want them,” Zach said to Lil.

             
“Great! I’ll get them from you before we leave.”

             
“What DVD's?” Abe inquired. “Lil please tell me this hunk and I share a love for Balki. You know,” Abe said, lifting one side of his mouth in a grin, “we can happy dance later if you'd like.”

             
The whole table erupted into laughter.

             
“Night Court,” Lil finally said when she caught her breath.

             
“Ugh. Really? Zach you just went down, like, two notches in my book.” Abe scooted away from Zach and closer to Kane.

             
“What? Zach can appreciate the fine art of Harry T. Stone.” Lil said in Zach’s defense.

             
Zach took a drink from his beer bottle and said, “Actually, I kind of dig Roz. She's a bad ass.”

             
“The only person worth watching on that show was Bull,” Abe said, stressing his opinion by pointing his finger at Zach. “Now that was a man of worth.”