Rose #2
“Well, I’m gonna be sticking around for a few days and working on Nico’s office. He needs shelving and storage something fierce. What’s there to do for fun around here?”
And just like that, I know Sam likes Win.
Sam comes to the house for dinner, and we gather in the kitchen so I can introduce Sam to Joel and Murph.
Within moments of hearing that Sam is Simon’s brother, Murph walks right up to him and says, “Murph Owens. I get why you’re here, what you’re here to do, and why you need to check us out.
Rose is safe with us. So is Ben. If she wants to go back to Memphis, then that’s where we’ll go.
Just know that she’s my scent match, and I’m not walking away from her, no matter how many threats you’re here to deliver. ”
I’m not sure what Sam was expecting when I invited him to dinner after we’d gotten him settled in Lora’s apartment. It couldn’t have been this blunt introduction though.
Sam lowers the hand he had lifted to shake Murph’s. “That was… interesting.”
“I don’t like small talk,” Murph says, crossing his arms. “Figured I’d get to the point, save us all any tiptoeing around. Now you know exactly where I stand. If you have a problem with me, then I’ll know exactly where you stand.”
Wincing, I prepare to dive between them in case this turns into a brawl in the middle of our kitchen, potentially knocking all the delicious-smelling food Win set out on the dining table so we can eat family-style.
It’s fried chicken, green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, and gravy, and it all smells way too good to wind up on the floor.
Sam looks at me. “Is he always like this?”
“He’s more talkative today.” Joel steps up to him with a smile and an outstretched hand. “Joel Shaw.”
“The firefighter?” Sam asks, shaking his hand.
Joel nods. “That’s me.”
Ben, who was watching a cartoon in the living room during this introduction, rushes into the kitchen and right up to Joel with his usual overexcited greeting.
Without missing a beat, Joel scoops him up.
“I can keep this rugrat occupied after dinner if you guys need to talk? I can’t promise you won’t step on or sit on Lego in the living room, though, so you might be better off talking it out in the backyard.
We put it away. Ben puts it away, but there is always a piece of Lego right where you least expect it. They’re surprisingly painful.”
“No, they’re not,” Ben denies.
He would think so, given that he somehow always seems to know where to find his Lego. The rest of us? Not so lucky.
Sam grimaces. “Ben stayed with my parents, and he has this shovel dump truck with these grooves…” Sam’s voice trails off when the rest of us nod knowingly. We have all felt the agony of stepping on that shovel truck.
“We talked a bit when we were getting Sam settled in Nico’s niece’s apartment,” I explain. “But a few minutes after dinner would be great. Thanks.”
“Food’s getting cold, guys. Let’s eat,” Win says.
“You don’t have to cook dinner every night, Win.
Sam and I could have picked something up from the diner, or we’d have cooked for everyone.
” Win finished work right when Sam and I were leaving for Lora’s apartment.
He must have come home and gotten started cooking dinner as soon as he walked in the front door.
Murph wraps an arm around my shoulder and steers me to the dining table, kissing me before he lets me go. “He likes to cook. Let him.”
As Joel checks Ben’s hands, I smile and tell him, “I got him cleaned up before we left Sam’s temporary apartment. He had ketchup on his ears at the diner.”
Joel whistles. “Boy, you’re a magnet for dirt, huh?”
“Yup.” Ben proudly beams up at him.
“Not sure your mom appreciates that, squirt.” Murph pulls out a chair. “Come sit and let's see how much food you’re wearing at the end of dinner.”
Murph helps Ben into his seat as the rest of us take ours. As I sit and we start passing dishes around, I realize how quiet Sam has been through our usual routine before we eat.
Sam is watching us with a strange, half smile. And not only because Murph, who was growling at him a couple of minutes ago, is now patiently cutting up a big piece of chicken on Ben’s plate for him, nodding as he listens to Ben ramble about seeing Harry at the diner.
“What’s wrong?” I ask Sam.
He shakes his head and reaches for the large dish of fried chicken that Win offers him. “Nothing.” His interest piques when Ben sees us all eating our green beans first—a habit we started to encourage Ben to eat his—and digs into his own without a word of complaint.
Sam saw the nightly battle I faced with Ben when we stayed with his family before we started our road trip. Shaking his head again, as if struggling to believe this is his nephew, he helps himself to mashed potatoes, green beans, and gravy and digs into his meal.
We keep the dinner conversation light—sports, movies, what we got up to today, and Nico’s office project that Sam is working on while he’s in Rios. Eventually, Murph stops eyeing Sam as if waiting for Sam to grab Ben and me and make a run for it, and Sam becomes a little less wary around Murph.
After dinner, Murph and Win clean up, both waving off my offer to help. Joel takes Ben into the living room to watch cartoons, and I head to the backyard to talk with Sam.
“Wow!” Sam’s mouth drops when he steps out onto the back porch. “That is some backyard.”
As I pull the door closed behind me, I appreciate how lucky we are to have so much space to enjoy. We could do so much out here and host so many people. “Ben really loves it. Joel and Murph have been teaching him to catch, and Win showed him how to cartwheel.”
“What about you?” Sam asks as we, by silent agreement, take a seat on the top porch step.
I frown. “What about me?”
“What did they teach you?”
I shrug. “Nothing.”
He nudges my shoulder with his, a playful smile forming on his lips. “Try again.”
I huff, knowing what he’s hinting at. “You’re going to tell me I told you so, so no. And I swear, if I hear one word about Hallmark movies involving buff firefighters or rugged ranchers, I’ll push you off this step.”
His green eyes sparkle. “Buff? Rugged? Are we still talking about Hallmark movies?”
The tops of my ears heat, and I dig my elbow into his side, loving that he’s here in Rios. After I lost Simon, he never stopped treating me like the sister he never had. He made me feel normal in ways I couldn’t be with anyone else. “Shut up,” I mutter.
“I won’t rub your face in it for too long. Pinky promise," he says with an innocent smile that I don’t buy for a second.
I glare at him.
He chuckles. “Admit it.”
With a defeated sigh, I turn to look at the backyard. “I’m allowed to have fun, and my life didn’t stop because Simon died. He would want me to be happy and not spend years grieving him.”
“But?”
“What makes you think there’s a but?”
“We’re out here talking away from Ben, so I figure there’s stuff you don’t want him to know.
Feelings, probably, since you’re always putting on a smile to hide your sadness from him.
You were doing it in Memphis, and when you stayed with us.
Bad habits are hard to break, and you’ve been doing that particular one since Simon died. ”
“I still feel guilty,” I admit, voice low.
“You’re not doing anything wrong, Rose.”
Wrapping my arms around my knees, I stare down at my bare feet. “I told myself that was it when Simon died. I wouldn’t rush into another relationship. My entire focus would be on Ben, and not a year that Simon is gone, and I’m—”
“Stop. That.”
The growl in his voice startles me enough that I snap my gaze from my feet to his face. Sam’s an alpha, but he’s always been laid-back and chill. For him to growl is unlike him.
“You found a golden ticket, Rose,” he says, softening his voice.
“Scent matches are… a gift. What you found is even better. What I saw during dinner was a family. It’s okay to feel guilty, but it’s not okay to walk away from something you want because you think it’s too soon.
There’s no time limit on starting over.”
“There probably is a time limit in a book about grief and—”
He growls again. “Quit pulling my chain, woman.”
I swallow my smile. “You sound like a hungry bear.”
He wraps his arm around me and lets out a weary sigh.
Laughing, I rest my head on his shoulder. “Sorry. I won’t tease anymore.”
“You’re like a sister to me. Be. Happy. That’s all Simon would ever want, and that’s all I want too.”
“Your parents might not be when they find out.”
“My parents will be thrilled that you’re laughing again and that they’re having another grandkid.
Where’d you think we learned the importance of living a happy, fulfilling life from, if not from our parents?
” He pats me on the arm. “If you ever want me to watch Ben while you all have some freaky sex, done.”
I rub a hand over my face. “That was incredibly inappropriate, Sam. Especially after you just said I was like a sister to you.”
He winks at me. “But I don’t hear you saying no.”
“Shut up.” A reluctant grin tugs at my mouth.
He nudges me so hard that I nearly fall, ignoring my glare. “Be happy, Rose.”
“I’ll try.”
He nods. “Good enough for me. Any chance you and Ben would appreciate me sticking around for a movie, and maybe I could read him a story before bed?”
I get to my feet. “Ben would love that. Come on. I think we still have some vanilla ice cream in the freezer.”