“Oh, uh, how sweet.” Lauren’s eyes dart to me for half a second. “I’m surprised to see you back here…with her.”
“Chloe’s my girlfriend,” Sam says. “I don’t know why that’s surprising.”
Lauren opens her mouth only to snap it shut. “Well, good for you two.” She presses a fake smile and looks at Sam, doing her best to avoid me. “You do know your parents are sitting over there, right?” She motions to the other side of the restaurant. “I recognized your brother, the vet.”
Sam and I both turn, spotting Mr. and Mrs. Harris sitting with Mason and Jacob at a table near the windows. They only have drinks on the table and must have just sat down.
“Should we walk over like everything is normal?” I ask.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Sam smiles and takes my hand, leading me over to his family. The table only seats four, and Sam effortlessly grabs a chair on his way over and adds it to the table.
“Hey, guys. Did you order yet? I’m starving.”
Everyone looks up, stunned for a split second, and then Mrs. Harris jumps out of her seat.
“Sam!” She throws out her arms and goes to hug him and then stops, noticing me. “And Chloe!” She pushes Sam aside and pulls me into a big embrace. “Oh my goodness! What—when—what are you doing here?”
“We thought we’d come into town for the weekend,” Sam tells her. Mrs. Harris lets me go and hugs her oldest son. “We actually stopped by the house, but you weren't there.”
“Did you just get into town?” Mr. Harris asks.
“We got in late last night,” Sam tells him. “We stayed at Chloe’s dad’s house.”
“Sit down, join us!” Mrs. Harris says and waves her hand at Mason. “Get up. Give Chloe your seat.”
“I can get a chair,” I say, and Mason rolls his eye.
“I was the golden child for a whole two minutes, asshole,” he grumbles to Sam.
“Really?” Jacob mutters under his breath.
“You’re just jealous you’re never special,” Mason says without missing a beat. “You’re always here. Mom doesn’t get excited when she sees you.”
“Yes, I do!” Mrs. Harris exclaims. “I’m always excited to see any of my children. And you all know Rory is the golden child.”
Mr. Harris laughs, and I shake my head. “I missed you guys,” I say as Sam gets another chair from a nearby table for me. Mrs. Harris hugs me once more and sits back down, big smile on her face.
“What a nice surprise! I wasn’t expecting to see you, Sam, and you brought our Chloe with!”
“I’m glad me coming in this weekend was just the consolation prize,” Mason huffs, and I smile again. He always gave Rory a hard time for being dramatic and emotional—dramotional, as he used to say—but he’s just as dramatic as the best of them.
“Oh, hush,” Mrs. Harris says with a shake of her head. “All my boys are home now, and having Chloe is an added bonus. Now if only Rory and Dean were here with my sweet grandbaby.”
“How long are you in town?” Mr. Harris asks.
“Only until tomorrow,” Sam says. “I have to work on Monday so we’ll leave Sunday evening so I can get home and get decent sleep before getting up for work.”
“Are you staying?” Mrs. Harris asks me hopefully.
“Why would Chloe stay here when Sam goes back to Chicago?” Jacob asks, picking up his coffee. “I mean, I wouldn't blame her. I’d be sick of him too.”
“And you think she’d rather stay here and hang around you?” Sam counters.
“We could talk about horses,” Jacob quips.
“I would like that,” I say with a nod and then look at Sam. “And I do like to talk about Spartan.”
“See?” Jacob says pointedly, trying not to laugh. “How’s the leg injury?”
“So much better! He was cleared for light work by the vet, but I’m giving him another week or so off, obviously since I’m here, but he does get out and walked every day.”
“Yeah, that’s enough horse talk,” Sam teases, putting his arm around me. The waitress comes to the table to take our orders and is surprised to see two extra people at the table. She brings another table so we’re not so crowded together, and we put in our order.
“I take it things are good between you two,” Mrs. Harris says to me as Sam talks football with his brothers, who are giving him shit for liking The Chicago Bears now that he lives in the city.
“They are,” I say, unable to keep from smiling.
“I told this to Sam, and I don’t know if he told you, but it makes me so happy to see you two together. I could tell there were several times one of you or the other had feelings, but I never wanted to meddle. But I always hoped you two would find your way back to each other eventually.”
“Things have a way of working out, I suppose.”
“They certainly do. And I don’t want to overstep, but you know me and you’re already family to me…”
I smile, waiting for Mrs. Harris to go on. It’s endearing how she thinks she doesn’t meddle or overstep.
“And I know you two only officially started dating a few weeks ago, but I can already see us all together at holidays, and maybe sometime in the near future—” She shrugs as she talks, trying to make me really believe this is all casual talk. “—there would be another Harris baby in the family.”
“What?” Sam says, snapping his head around, blue eyes wide.
“Oh, calm down,” his mother says, dismissing him with a hand wave the same way she did to Mason. “I was just talking about the possibilities of the future.”
“Stop putting the cart before the horse, dear,” Mr. Harris says gently.
“Fine,” she sighs. “But I know we all agree that Sam and Chloe would make gorgeous babies.”
“Gross,” Mason says with a shudder. “That is not what you should be thinking about, Mom.”
Mrs. Harris just shakes her head at Mason, and Jacob watches, amused by his younger brother. I turn to Sam, ready to confess that I might have used one of those creepy programs that morphed our photos together back when I was hopelessly in love with him as a teen, but snap my mouth shut as soon as I see his face.
He’s back to looking stressed, just like he did the last time us having a family together was mentioned. It immediately makes a bad feeling rise inside of me, and I slip back way too easily to insecure-Chloe, working hard to hold back the tears as insults are hurled at me.
Back to the girl who was scared what everyone said about me was true. I was a freak. Too weird to be wanted. And that my dreams of Sam Harris falling in love with me would never come true.
“More coffee?” The waitress comes back to the table to refill everyone’s mugs.
“Thanks," I tell her, though I’ve only taken a few sips of coffee. I wait until she walks away and the rest of the Harris family starts talking against to turn to Sam. “Are you okay?” I ask quietly, doing my best to ignore the rising feeling inside of me that tells me this is too good to be true.
I close my eyes in a long blink, telling the voice in the back of my mind to shut the fuck up. Good things happen to good people sometimes. I’m not exactly normal, but I don’t want to be. It sounds so boring, and obviously, I’ve been able to put my weirdness to good use. A lot of other people are weird too. In fact, I think we all are and it’s just a matter of how much you’re willing to let that weirdness show.
“Yeah,” he says right back. “Why wouldn’t I be?” His hand lands on my thigh and a rush goes through me.
“I don’t know.” I quickly shake my head back and forth. “You seem stressed again, like you did last night.”
“Oh,” he says, almost seeming surprised, like I called him out. “I just uh…uh…I had a long day at work yesterday.”
“I can imagine.”
He smiles and leans in, kissing me in front of his family and everyone in the restaurant. It shouldn’t turn me on this much, should it? Because, damn, it does, and I wish we could sneak in
to the bathroom for a quickie right now. “Everything is fine. Let’s enjoy the weekend before we have to go back to reality.”
Smiling back, I nod. “Sounds good to me.”
“What are your plans the rest of the day?” Mason asks. “Lennon is coming over and she said she’s bringing a friend.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “Mom badgered her into bringing a single friend over for this loser.” He uses his thumb to point to Jacob. “I told her unless her friend has four legs and fur, he won’t be interested.”
“Fuck you,” Jacob grumbles.
“Language,” Mr. Harris warns. “This is a family establishment.”
“It is,” Mrs. Harris goes on, but her blue eyes sparkle. All the Harris boys inherited their mother’s blue eyes. Sam’s have a dark navy rim around them, Jacob has flecks of gold in his pupils, and Mason’s eyes are more green than blue, like Rory’s. I know this because it was a big topic of conversation when we were teenagers. “But I heard Betty Rosenfield had an affair with the cook.”
“Hopefully not here.” Mason makes a face. “On the table. Or the counters in the back. Both. I only hope they wiped everything down after Betty’s bare ass was all over the tables.”
“You always take things too far,” Mr. Harris says, trying not to laugh. “And let’s not spread rumors.” His eyes dart to the side, no doubt looking at Betty, the manager of Silver Cafe. “But I did see her at the farmer’s market last weekend with a much-younger man who was definitely not her husband, Ralph.”
“I leave for a few weeks and miss all the drama,” Mason says sarcastically.
“I do kind of miss it,” I tell him and then look at Sam. “We were just talking about how we missed small-town life.”
“Are you going to move back?” Mrs. Harris rushes out. “You could, couldn’t you? You don’t have to live in LA to write.”
“Mom,” Sam presses. “You already drilled her about this the last time she was here.”
“Oh, you’re right. I’m sorry, honey. Just the thought of having you close by makes me happy, and I know your father would love it too. Speaking of, invite him over tonight!”
“He’s out of town,” I say. “I think me coming to Silver Ridge unannounced jinxes it. His girlfriend’s sister just got a divorce and is having a really rough time, so they went to see her, and apparently talk her off the ledge of selling everything she owns to buy a yacht and living at sea.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Mr. Harris says wistfully, and Mrs. Harris swats his arm.
“Are you working today?” Sam asks Jacob.
“I’m always working,” he replies. “I don’t have any appointments today. I recently hired another vet to help with our client load.”
“Is she hot?” Mason asks and Jacob rolls his eyes.
“I suppose,” Jacob says. “But she has also been happily married to her wife for a while now and they just adopted another baby. And don't even go there,” he adds before Mason can make some sort of crude comment.
Until a few weeks ago, it had been years since I’d spoken to any of the Harris boys. We all grew up together, and Mason and Jacob felt like they were my brothers more times than not. And I know Mason well enough to know he uses humor to deflect any sort of unwelcome feeling. There are definitely more unhealthy ways of dealing with your feelings, but for all Mason did for us, I want him to be happy as well.
“So no,” Jacob says, going back to Sam’s original question. “Unless there’s an emergency, I’m not working today. You guys want to come over or something?”
“To the house,” Mrs. Harris asks. “Call me selfish, but the times I get all three of my boys in town at the same time are few and far between. I won’t bug you, I promise. I have a last-minute bridesmaid dress alterations to finish up for Lennon. She’s coming over later to try it on. I’m sure she’d love to stay and catch up!”
I have to think for a moment to remember that Lennon is Sam’s cousin. She’s a year or so older than Rory, I think. We were friendly since we saw each other at Harris family functions, but we never hung out or anything. I liked her, though. She has a bubbly personality and was way more outgoing than I ever understood anyone could be.
“I’ll keep her out of your hair,” Mr. Harris says with a wink. “We did promise to take Nana Benson out to dinner.”
“How is she doing?” I ask.
“Still as feisty as ever,” Mrs. Harris answers. “Though her memory is fading more and more each day.”
Our food comes, and my mouth waters at the sight of my bacon. I catch Lauren staring at us halfway through breakfast, but honestly, she doesn’t bother me anymore. Sam and I are happy…right?
The rain is coming down harder by the time we leave, bringing a chill to the air. I’m still stuffy with a slight sore throat.
“I’ll go get the car,” Sam tells me when we get outside. I wrap my arms around myself. I’m wearing a chunky off-the-shoulder sweater, and my one bare shoulder makes me get chilled right away. I sniffle and cough, chest hurting a bit.
“We have an umbrella,” I tell him. “I can walk.”
“Stay here.” Sam gives me a quick kiss and takes off, jogging through the rain. I stand to the side under the black-and-white striped awning. It’s faded from the sun, with mold stains along the corners. I’m fairly certain it’s the same exact awning that was here twenty years ago. It just adds to the charm of this place now.
We follow behind his family on the way to his parents’ farmhouse.
“I still want to fuck you in my childhood room,” Sam says, looking at me, eyes full of desire. “To complete the fantasy, I’ll see if my mom kept those football sheets I used to have on my bed.”
“Do you have your old letterman’s jacket too? I’ll wear it…and nothing else.” I give him a wink.
“Don’t tease me, Chloe. You’d look so fucking hot in that.”
“My old Girl Scout vest is in my dad’s basement. I can sell you cookies later,” I say with a straight face.
“You are definitely going to sell me cookies later.”
I narrow my eyes, trying to be coy. “You some want thin mints? Wait, that’s not sexy. There’s nothing thin about you, if you know what I mean.”
“You are such a dork and I love it.” Sam slows as his BMW bumps along the gravel driveway. He takes my hand and brings it to his lips. He puts his car in park and turns off the engine. “I love you, Chloe.” The stress is back on his face again, for just a brief moment.
“I love you, too.” I cough again and Sam reaches over, pressing the back of his hand to my forehead.
“You feel a little warm.”
“I’m fine. Don’t baby me. But really, do baby me. I like it even though I’ll say I don’t. Though if you treat me like I’m sick, then I will get sick.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” he chuckles. “If I need to give you a quick lesson on how viruses work, I will. But we should get Mason in on it first. He still lacks medical common sense.”
“And to think they let him carry a gun.”
“Right? He’s still my annoying younger brother,” Sam admits. “I forget he’s all grown—wait, he’s not.”
I laugh, but the laugh turns into a cough. It’s one of those coughs that hurts way down deep in your chest, but again, I ignore it because I don’t have time to be sick. Sam gets out first, telling me to wait so he can open my door and hold the umbrella for me. He’s such a gentleman, really. They don’t make men like him too often anymore.
“It really cooled off,” I say, wishing I’d brought my jacket that I left at my dad’s. I have winter gear stored in his basement, since I obviously don’t need it home in LA. Jacob’s mud-covered pickup bumps down the driveway right as we get onto the back porch.
“Hey!” he calls, rolling down the window. “I just got a call about a baby horse being born. Want to come with?”
My eyes light up and I nod enthusiastically. “I’d love to! Want to come?” I ask Sam.
“Let me get you a coat,
and then yeah, let’s go.” He puts his lips to mine. “Go get in the truck and stay warm. I’ll be right out. And you owe me sex in my childhood room for this.”
I laugh, but feel another rush go through me. “Deal.”
“Here, babe.” Sam hands me a cup of warm tea. We stood in a cold barn for nearly two hours, first watching the cutest foal being born, which was amazing and beautiful even though it was much messier than I anticipated. Things seemed perfect until the mare suddenly got weak after giving birth, and Jacob had to rush to give her medical treatment.
Both mama and baby horse are doing fine now, and I’m in the Harrises’ living room, sitting on the couch with a fuzzy blanket over my lap. It’s still raining, which is more than a little disappointing since I was hoping to go walk through the woods, or at the very least, sit out by the dock. The doors leading to the covered back porch and patio are cracked open, letting in the gentle sound of the falling rain.
I take a drink of tea, try not to make a face from all the sugar, and set it on the coffee table. Sam sits next to me and I spread the blanket out to cover both of us. Mason was already in the living room watching a serial killer documentary on Netflix, and has been grumbling the whole time about how the case should have been handled differently, and how he would have caught the guy if he’d been assigned to the case…never mind that this all happened thirty years ago.
Resting my head on Sam’s shoulder, I’m almost asleep when Jacob comes back over, joining us in the living room.
“You are a lively bunch,” he notes, sitting on the couch.
“There’s nothing to do,” Mason says back, eyes still on the TV. It’s raining and this town isn’t exactly hopping.
Desperate Times (Silver Ridge Series Book 2) Page 11