CHAPTER SIX
It was Friday night and the inevitable had come. I stared at the house across the street and took a breath. I couldn’t explain why I had a sense of dread in my stomach, but I did. I went through the list of people who would be attending.
It was at Malinda’s house. She seemed odd but friendly enough. Mark would be there. He had never given me reason to doubt his sincerity or tentative friendship. There was Adam, who seemed to have moved in with them. His family life had taken a toll for the worse, or so Malinda said. Becky was next. The knot loosened an inch. She was fine, but the other two females added that inch back. Amelia seemed all right as long as I never looked at Mark, breathed near Mark, or spoke a word to him. I swallowed. That’d be easy enough. That brought me to Cassandra. She was still hostile in private, but it was all smiles in front of the student body at Fallen Crest Academy.
One person left. David. I froze again. He was my father while I was living in the home of my biological father.
“Are you going over there?” Garrett asked as he came from his office. He had an easy grin on his face and a pile of papers in one hand. “I thought the dinner started ten minutes ago?” He checked his watch. “Make that twenty minutes ago.”
“You look nice.” My limbs couldn’t move.
“This?” He glanced down at his dress pants and grey sweater. “Date night with the woman I’m apparently jerking around.” The humor failed to show in his eyes. He blinked and a dark glimmer appeared. “Your week’s almost up. Why don’t you stay another week? We haven’t spent much time together.”
I looked back at the house. A car pulled up and Cassandra and Amelia hurried inside. They wore dresses. I wore jeans. I could hear their laughter through the glass before the door opened and Malinda welcomed them in. She kissed both on their cheeks. She kissed them on their cheeks…why did my gut tighten at that motion?
“Sam?”
“Huh?” I jerked back.
Garrett gave me a thin smile. It seemed strained. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” No.
“What’s wrong?” He moved closer and gentled his tone.
I bristled on the inside. He had no right to try to invoke that trust from me. “Nothing. I’m fine.”
“Of course.”
He didn’t believe me. I didn’t care.
I saw my father every day at school. He coached there. Goodness sake. What was wrong with me? My hand splayed out over my stomach, and I tried to soothe the storm that rose inside of me. My pulse picked up as I clamped my eyes closed when my fingers started to tremble. My voice would be next. That meant I couldn’t speak, and I had to speak. I had to go over there. I had to be normal. No one could know—
“Don’t go.”
“What?” I whirled around again. My eyes were wide, and I knew he saw the terror within me.
He cursed and ran a hand over his face. “You’re pale. You’re shaking. Don’t go over there.”
“I promised Malinda,” I said faintly. It was true. “I can’t back out. Becky will be there too…”
He gave me a rueful grin. “I’ve met that girl before. She seemed like the girl who could bounce through any gathering. She struck me as a rabbit on crack, and I mean a rabbit. They’re the horniest animals on the planet.”
He was right, but the sentiment failed to calm my storm. “Malinda came over here. This entire thing is for me.”
“Well that’s total bullshit.”
“What?” Everything paused.
He bit a curse and shook his head. “This entire thing is about Malinda ingratiating herself with your father.”
I jumped at his intensity.
“David is your father. Your real father, and she knows it. I’ve met the guy. I still talk to him on occasion and I know he’s holding off everything for you. He wants you to be settled. He doesn’t want to pressure you, but look at you. You’re being pressured. You’re not ready for a family dinner five months after you lost your last family. You look like a ghost, Sam. Don’t go over there. Get rip roaring drunk. Don’t have sex with Mason, but let the guys take care of you. I know you gravitate to them because they tell all of us off. They speak up for you when you can’t. I’m not stupid. Mason gets under my skin, but I know he’s a relationship that you need right now. Just don’t hide behind him when it’s the time for you to step forward.”
I had warmed with every word he spoke. By the end, tears threatened to flood, but I rasped out with a crooked grin, “Is this you being a father or a friend?”
“Neither.” The smile on his face was haunted. “I’m an outsider, but I’m an adult and I care. That’s all this is.”
I jerked my head in a nod. Tears flowed free, and I brushed them away as I cursed.
He touched my shoulder. “It’s going to get better. It always does.” Then he rolled his eyes and swore under his breath. “I’m going to regret asking this, but you don’t want Mason or Logan to go with you?”
“No.” I took a deep breath and looked again. The house didn’t seem so daunting now. “I didn’t tell them about the dinner.”
He didn’t say anything, but I felt his surprise.
I ducked my head down. “This is my thing, not theirs.”
“You will make a remarkable woman one day, Samantha.” His voice was choked with emotion, and he coughed to clear it. “If you aren’t already.”