Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Sam was the most organized human being Evan had ever met, and he was pretty damn organized compared to people like Bobby and Max. In fact, Evan thrived on it because he traveled so much. So he had to keep his shit in order.
Sam made lists, and he packed according to those lists. He bought things according to those lists, and then he packed the trailer. He backed the truck up to the trailer, and they were on their way. First thing in the morning on the day they were scheduled to leave.
And hell, they’d already had a whole cup of coffee and a breakfast burrito. Hillary had cried as they drove away, but Sam insisted she had girlfriends coming to stay for a couple of weeks to help her plan the nursery.
The trailer was amazing—genuinely amazing. It had a television, a DVD player, a table, a huge bed, a washer and dryer, and a shower.
All the gear was stowed in the back where the horses went, and in that space there was a grill, a smoker, lawn chairs, and a dining fly. It was like a little portable vacation house.
“So, the plan is?”
Sam gave him a warm smile. “The plan is we drive down, stopping for lunch and nothing else. Then I work Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We leave Monday morning. Then we can work our way up to Flagstaff. We can see the giant pistachio. We can go to Mesilla. We can go to White Sands. There’s all sorts of neat things to do on the way up.
And we’ve got damn near a week, so we can totally do that. ”
“Okay, that’s cool. I do like to see stuff I’ve never seen.” He was excited. This was a whole new world.
“It’s all good, no? And then, we’ll have some time in Flagstaff.
We won’t have to stay in a park if we don’t want to.
We can stay at Kacey’s, but we can also get us a space and not have to worry about staying in Kacey’s guest room.
It depends on how we feel at the time. Kacey won’t care, one way or the other, so long as we come over and cook and visit.
“Do you not want to stay with him because he’s your boss?” Evan did know how to read a room.
“Huh? No, no. Mira, look, he’s a great guy, and I love him to death…”
Oh, maybe he’s not queer. “Is he family?”
“He is family, but he also has family. He has three young children that his husband takes care of. When I say young, I mean a set of three-year-old twins and a one-year-old.”
“Holy crap, I get it.” Evan hadn’t been around that many children in a while, even with Bobby’s kids. Although the youngest one was pretty raw still.
Sam winked. “They’re just a lot—like a lot of noise, a lot of me too, me too at that age. Sometimes it’s just way more restful to stay in the trailer someplace.”
“Yeah, okay. So we’ll find us the KOA or whatever.”
“Yep.” Sam checked his mirrors real quick before he changed lanes, so he could get around a slow-moving tourist Winnebago.
Evan had driven a truck with a fifth wheel before, but not in a while. So he wanted to get out of traffic before he offered to drive. Sam had told him that would happen on the other side of Socorro.
Then again, it was only, like, a three-and-a-half-hour drive down there to El Paso, maybe four. He didn’t think Sam was going to need that much help.
They chatted on the way and sang along with the radio. He really enjoyed Sam’s company, not just because he was hot for the guy, but because Sam was fun, funny, and nice. He hadn’t gotten to know anybody he’d slept with lately. He’d had some short-lived hookups. This was a luxury.
They stopped for lunch at some place that had Mexican food and burgers. And he got one without green chile, which made Sam laugh.
“There’s not a whole lot of places that we’re going to be going over this trip that don’t have green chile or something spicy.”
“I thought so, but that’s okay. I can always find something to eat, or I can scrape off the green chile.”
“Heathen,” Sam, accused. “You really are going to have to get a better cast-iron stomach.”
“I really am trying.” Evan had been adding tiny bits of the green chile stuff to his food over the last couple of days in preparation for the road trip because he didn’t want to eat something on the road and then have the burning butt like he’d had that first day in Santa Fe with the huevos rancheros.
“Yeah, but you know, you’re still a Yankee gringo.”
“I know, I know.” He held up his hands. “It can’t be helped. Wait until I make you go up there and eat clam chowder and weird seafood stuff.”
The thought appealed a lot, showing Sam where he lived.
“Man, I have been to Louisiana. I have been to Las Vegas. I’ve even been to California. I know from weird-ass food. Luckily for me, I have a mama, and she always knows when her baby needs a good home-cooked meal.”
Evan nodded because that family could cook. He was jealous. “California is a whole different ocean.” He winked at Sam. “You do know that right?”
“Well, I want to come see all the things. Maybe…we’re coming up in the fall, right? To meet Max’s people.”
“You’ll like Bobby.”
More importantly, he thought Bobby would like Sam quite a bit. Sam was easy to get to know, especially once he knew his little girl was being taken care of.
He’d never seen anybody who was as good a dad.
Even his own pop had been a great hockey dad, but not so much with the emotional support.
“I hope so. We’ve got the rest of our lives to grandparent together. And at least for a while, I imagine it’ll be the two of us calling the shots, as far as visitation and shit is involved for sure.”
Evan got that. It wasn’t like either of the kids were going to have enough money to do it on their own.
“Yeah. And Annette will come around too, and then all hell will break loose for Max.” He was kind of amused by the idea.
Sam snorted. “It’s always the mommas when the boy does something stupid.”
“Yeah, you seem to understand that on a deep personal level, don’t you?”
Sam shot him a glance, then shrugged. “I got to tell you, my mama was fierce. My pops, he was totally open to adoption, to anything. He thought the whole single dad thing was a terrible idea. But Mama? She informed me in no uncertain terms that I had made a choice to make a baby, and I was going to live with it. So if Valerie was going to have the baby and not keep it, la nina was coming to me, no? And I tell you what. She helped, sure, but all of those nighttime feedings, every diaper change that I wasn’t at work?
Those were on me. She was determined I understood what my responsibilities were. ”
Okay, he got that. “So, how are you going to be with Hillary?”
Sam shrugged, taking a sip of his drink before he said anything. “I’m not a mama… I’m a dad. I’m her papa, and if she asks me to take care of my nieto, we can all pretend that I’ll say no, and we’ll all know full well it will be a lie. I—Hil’s my hija, I love her, and it’s hard to tell her no.”
That was either terrifying or adorable.
Possibly both.
Evan hadn’t ever loved anything the way Sam loved Hillary.
It was a little awe-inspiring and a touch scary all at the same time.
“And if she had decided she didn’t want to keep the baby?”
Sam glanced over at him. “Mira, look, I go to church on Christmas and on Easter, and I’ve prayed a lot when I was fighting my own demons.
I believe with my whole heart that choices like that are between a woman and her God.
I got nothing to do with it. She’s not a cow.
She’s not a goat. She’s a human being with her own damn brain.
She chooses what she chooses. I didn’t make her do one way or the other. I never would.”
Well, that was definite.
“I think I understand that. I’m not sure because I’m not a parent.
I mean, I’ve been Bobby’s kids’ favorite uncle for years, but that’s not my responsibility, you know?
I would take care of them in a heartbeat, and I am their godparent, and I’m also on their will, you know, if something happens to them, but none of that is on me really.
Does that make sense?” Evan wasn’t sure if he was explaining or apologizing.
“Sí, bueno, I understand. It’s not like you took them to raise, and you’re not interested in having kids?”
“I wouldn’t say no to it. I’m in a place now where it’s easier than it was when I was playing, but I’m not sure my lifestyle lends itself to that, you know?” He’d always figured kids weren’t in the cards for him because he was a hockey player who was gay and not out. It was a tough call.
Now he was retired, and he was mostly out, even if it wasn’t super public. Yeah, he could see that, but with who?
For a minute, the image of him and Sam together as a couple—maybe not with babies of their own but with grandkids or whatever—popped into his head.
But then he kind of laughed that off because he wasn’t sure that was what this was.
He wasn’t sure it wasn’t either, but he didn’t want to make assumptions.
They’d known each other for like two weeks.
“It’s amazing what you’ll do for kids,” Sam winked at him.
“Hell, I’m amazed at what I’m doing for Max.” He had to tease because he could.
The food came and the burger was exceptional. No green chile in sight. Just a good, solid, well-done burger. And he got ranch to dip his fries in because that was something he had learned here. Apparently, it was a Texas thing, but it had worked its way up to New Mexico.
He did love the weird kind of sour buttermilk flavor on the fries. And he was a ketchup guy from the get-go. He knew a lot of mayonnaise guys, and that wasn’t okay.
Sam dug into his combo plate that looked like it had maybe an enchilada and a tamale and something else, maybe a chile or something; he wasn’t sure.
As if they had agreed on it, they changed the subject after that. Chatting about where they were going to be staying and what it was going to be like at the arena for Sam, with Evan promising to kind of stay out of the way.
“You’re not going to be in my way, guapo. I’m kind of tickled that you get to see what I do on a bigger level than just the one rodeo in Santa Fe.”