If Not for You
Page 39She could lie and say she felt the same, but she didn’t. The best she had to offer was a weak smile in return.
“We’ll have to do this again.”
Not if she could find a way out of it. “Give my mother my best,” she said.
“Will do,” Kier promised. Then, when she least expected it, he leaned forward and gave her a moist, openmouthed kiss.
It took every bit of restraint she possessed not to wipe her hand across her lips. The evening was even worse than she’d anticipated. As soon as she was inside her apartment, she leaned against the door and grabbed her phone, praying Sam had left her a text message or called.
He hadn’t, and it felt as if her heart had sunk to the level of her ankles.
After a sleepless night, Beth made her decision. She should never have gone out with Kier. Her heart had been with Sam and their friends the entire night. As ridiculous as it sounded, she’d gone because she’d wanted to please her mother. What was she, five years old? Beth’s life was her own and it was time she started living it. Deep down there was a small child, looking to make her mother happy. Well, no more. Beth was finished. She was cutting the umbilical cord.
Now all she had to do was tell Sam how sorry she was. Before her first piano student arrived, she called Sam’s cell, ready to do whatever was necessary to make things right between them.
Her call went immediately to voicemail, which told her he’d turned off his phone.
Beth had three piano students from nine until noon. When the last one left, a twelve-year-old who showed real talent, Beth couldn’t stand it any longer. She grabbed her phone and tried Sam again.
Same thing.
He wasn’t going to make this easy.
Beth left her apartment and drove to Sam’s house. She saw he was working on one of his old cars. He was bent over the engine, and if he noticed when she parked at the curb, he gave no indication. She walked up his driveway.
Sam glanced up, saw it was her, and then returned to whatever he was doing as if she wasn’t there.
Beth knew that she’d hurt him, and she was sorry. The best thing to do was address it head-on. “I came so you’d know I’m not ashamed of who you are or what you do, Sam.”
He looked up a second time and said nothing.
“It’s true. Please don’t be like this.”
“Like what? Like a mechanic?”
Frustrated now, she wanted to stamp her foot. “I had no idea you could be this stubborn.”
“Don’t think you know me at all, babe.”
“I knew I was going to regret getting involved with you.”
“Would you stop? You’re being ridiculous. I’m the same Beth you cuddled in front of the television two nights ago. Nothing has changed except that I had this stupid obligatory dinner I felt I had to attend. I hated every minute of it. Every single minute. Why do you find that so hard to believe?”
“Then why did you?” he demanded.
“My mom’s involved … It’s complicated.”
“No doubt.” He straightened and moved away from the car, tucking his hands into his back pockets.
“Did you have a good time last night without me?” She needed him to give her something, anything that would crack this granite wall he’d erected that she couldn’t seem to navigate.
“Peachy,” he told her.
“Did … did you take anyone else?”
Sam didn’t answer. Instead, his face broke into an easy smile. “Don’t think you’re the only woman I know. We aren’t exclusive. You go out with other guys …”
“One guy who I don’t even like.”
“Whatever.”
“So … you?” She couldn’t finish the question when he’d basically told her he’d gone with another woman. For a wild moment she was convinced her heart stopped beating. She swallowed hard, and when she could breathe again she somehow managed to smile back.
“Oh.” She took two steps in retreat, praying he would stop her. He didn’t. She turned and started toward her car when she changed her mind. No way was she giving up on him, on them. No way.
Whirling around, she saw that he was watching her. She walked straight back to him and thrust her arms around him, hugging him close around his middle, uncaring if she got grease or anything else on her clothes. He stumbled back at the strength of her hold. She clung to him as if they were free-falling off a cliff.
“I can’t bear to fight with you. This is killing me.”
His hands were in her hair as he crushed her against him.
“I’m sorry, so sorry, Sam. You’re right. I should never have gone with Kier. I did it because I was looking to appease my mother, and that was wrong. I’m through. Done with it. Finished.”
Sam kissed the top of her head and rubbed his chin over her crown. “I was so jealous I hated myself.”
“I’m jealous, too. I can’t stand the thought of you with anyone else.”
“You did?” She stepped back enough to be able to look him in the eyes. “You stayed home?”
“And stewed.”
“I didn’t sleep well.”
“Me neither,” he confessed.
“We can’t do this to each other, Sam. I hurt you and I’m sorry.”
“I’m an embarrassment to you.”
“No,” she cried, desperate for him to believe her. “I wouldn’t care if you dug ditches.”
“As it happens, I did that one summer after high school.” He grinned and covered the hand she pressed against his cheek.
“What matters to me is you.”
“You matter to me, too, babe. So much.”
He hugged her until it hurt to breathe, but Beth didn’t care. She was in his arms, and that was exactly where she wanted to be.
Chapter 21
Sam
Matters had smoothed over with Beth, and Sam was glad they were back on an even keel. A couple weeks passed and the October rains hit in full force. One Sunday afternoon while Sam was busy doing a wash, he got a call from Rocco. “Remember how you said you owed me one?”
Curious question. “When?”
“Don’t be cute. Just recently. I was the one who introduced you to Beth, remember?”
“Yeah. So?”
“So do you have any plans with her today?”
Sam didn’t like the sound of this. “Why do you ask?”
“One that involves Beth?”
“Yup.”
Sam had the feeling he wasn’t going to like this. “What do you need?”
“It’s Nichole’s birthday and I want to take her out for the evening. We haven’t had a night with just the two of us in months. Owen is spending the weekend with Leanne and Nikolai and they’re taking him to the zoo and dropping him off in the morning. Kaylene is out with friends. We had a sitter lined up, but she called and has come down with the flu.”
“Let me see if I get this straight,” Sam said. “Are you asking Beth and me to babysit Matthew?”
“You got it.”
Sam rubbed a hand down his face. “Never done anything like this before.”
“Didn’t think you had. Figured the two of you could manage. We won’t be gone long, just dinner and a movie.”
“Dinner and a movie?” he repeated. “That’s what? Three, four hours?” A lot could happen in that amount of time.
“Call if you have problems and we’ll come home.”
Sam loved the kid, but he wasn’t a babysitter.
“Can you do it?”
He remained uncertain. “You can’t get anyone else?”
“You weren’t my first choice.”
“All right, all right. I’ll call Beth and get back to you.”
At five-thirty Beth and Sam pulled up at Rocco and Nichole’s place. Beth didn’t seem any more confident about this than Sam was, but she was game. Neither one of them was willing to disappoint their friends.
“Just how much trouble could one baby be?” Sam asked.