Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
“Jesus Christ.” Evan sounded like he was going to swallow his teeth.
Sam chuckled at Evan. “I know, right? Look at that belly. It’s all big.”
Evan nodded. “I mean, wow.”
“Get your shock over with, man. She gets in here and you stare like that, she’ll kick your ass. She’s mean.”
Evan blinked and shook his head. “Oh, good to know.”
Sam snorted softly. “She’s been in a pretty good mood. I’ll give her that. Especially given that she’s working and going to school and dealing with all of this.”
He got bonus points for not saying ‘alone’, although when Evan shot him a look, he had to wonder if it had slipped out.
“So, has Max even seen her? Talked to her?” Evan asked.
“If he has, she hasn’t said. That doesn’t mean anything. It just means that she hasn’t said. I know that he’s busy with school.”
It worried him a little bit if he were honest, that this kid wasn’t interested in being a papa. He was pretty much always honest about things when it came to his Hillary.
But one way or the other, there was no way that kid was getting custody of his grandbaby.
Visitation? Sure.
Custody? Not a fucking chance.
“You said Bobby and—”
“They’re fine. They’re very, very thoughtful.” And straightforward. He liked that. “I think Hillary’s ready to meet them for Thanksgiving.”
“Are you excited about coming up?”
Sam shrugged. “I’m excited about hanging out with you, and I’m interested to meet everyone for sure.”
His mama was pissed he wasn’t going to be home, but there wasn’t anything he could do about that. Not this year.
Evan grinned. “I can’t wait to show you around. There are a few things I think you’re going to love. You’re a little bit of a history buff, so I think you’ll like the Freedom Trail stuff.” Evan grinned. “It’s going to be cold though.”
“I know from cold,” Sam said. “We get a lot of snow here.”
“Oh, babe, I grew up in Wyoming and, you know, it’s very cold there and super snowy.
But I can tell you that this East Coast Bay cold that they have in places like Boston is nothing like what you’ve experienced in your entire life.
” Evan nudged him with an elbow. “I guess we ought to say hi to Hillary, huh? I think I’ve got my game face on now.
” Evan made a very sober, serious face before breaking out laughing.
“Come on, guapo.” Sam led him to the door about the time Hillary walked in.
“Is that Uncle Evan? You did show up. Impressive.” Hillary came up to Sam and hugged him hard. And then she gave Evan a hug too. “How’s the hockey world?”
Evan was confused, eyes wide. “Busy.”
“Seems like it. Hockey, rodeo, rodeo, hockey. Very, very sporty.” She chuckled and patted her belly. “Are you cooking, Papa? Or do you want me to pick up something on my way home? I only have one class today, so I’ll be home by eight-thirty.”
He handed her two twenties. “Just pick what you want, mi’ja. No chile for the guapo.”
“I know, I know. He’s such a gringo.” She winked at Evan and patted her belly. “This little one, though, does not take after his daddy.”
Evan grinned at Hillary and then nudged him with an elbow. “It’s a green chile baby?”
“And then some.” She rolled her eyes. “I should have known, considering.”
“Yeah, your dad sure likes his hot stuff.”
Sam had to grin at that because for all that he didn’t like anything with chile on it, Evan was pretty hot stuff, too.
Evan looked like maybe he understood exactly what Sam was thinking because they sort of stood there smiling stupidly at each other until Hillary rolled her eyes. “You guys are disgusting.”
“We try, mi’ja. You know we like to make you crazy.”
“You know, you work hard at it. It’s a good thing I like both of you.” She patted Evan’s arm. “Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“That leaves me pretty open, honey,” Evan teased.
“Aye de mi. Don’t say such things about my baby girl.”
“Eh, it’s all good, Papa. He’s harmless.”
Sam was fairly sure he didn’t agree, but it was what it was.
Evan nodded. “Hillary gets it. In hockey, we call that chirping when we tease each other like that. Half the time when you see a fight break out on the ice, it’s because somebody chirped a little too hard. If she dropped the gloves and came after me, though, I wouldn’t defend myself.”
“Huh.”
He imagined it was way easier for him, because not a whole lot of anybody snarled at bull fighters.
Maybe the bulls.
Although that was a lot more snot and shit flung around, and no one had gloves to take off.
He wondered…was that where “take the gloves off” came from? He sort of always assumed it came from boxing.
Because boxing gloves.
He’d have to ask.
Hil tilted her head. “You get into a lot of fights, Evan?”
Sam noted she didn’t ask if Max got into a lot of fights.
Evan winced. “Some.”
She stared.
“Okay, a few.”
She arched an eyebrow, looking just like her mama. “Every game?”
“Maybe not every game. Lots of games. As a D-man, I had to protect my line and my goalie.”
Then she crossed her arms over her chest. “You think they’re gonna make my little girl play hockey?”
Evan glanced toward him, and he didn’t say a word.
Nope. No rescuing.
With his luck, he’d say something mean by accident.
But Evan just said, “Well, no one’s going to make anybody do anything they don’t want to do.
That’s just silly. You either love the game, or you don’t.
” Then he took a deep breath. “Do I imagine they’ll have her in ice skates pretty early?
That wouldn’t surprise me. But it also wouldn’t surprise me if your dad had her out on a horse by what I would consider to be a way too young age. ”
Hillary stared at him for a second and then nodded. “Okay, okay, that’s all fair. Cool. Cool cool cool. I gotta clean up and go to class, but we’ll all have dinner together after I get home later?”
“We will. Be careful driving, eh?”
“Papa. I’m always careful.” He got a wink. “Love you.”
“I love you, mi’ja.”
She ran back to her bedroom to get changed and Sam went to pour them both a cup of coffee, because it was a little chilly.
Evan followed him. “Did I answer okay?”
Sam glanced over, his lips pursed as he thought. “I mean, yeah. Yeah, I think that was perfect. You’re right. No one’s going to make anybody do anything, but this is what that family is into. I wouldn’t expect them not to teach their grandbaby things about their lifestyle.”
“Exactly. We’re not going to have her out playing hockey or fighting bulls when she’s two.”
Now that he could get behind a hundred percent.
“No, nothing that’ll trample my nieta. Whether it’s on hooves or ice skates.”
Evan laughed with him. “God no. Although, knowing our luck, she’ll end up being a figure skater.”
“Is that bad?” It seemed like that was still ice skating to Sam.
“Well, it’s not bad, necessarily, but it is expensive and exhausting. Figure skating is even worse than hockey as far as equipment, costumes, and all that stuff goes, and there’s a lot of weird political bullshit attached to it.” Evan came to lean against him. “It’s a little chilly, huh?”
“Yeah, it’s October. It comes in nice during the day and chilly at night.” He leaned back into Evan’s warmth. “Lord have mercy, I don’t know about all this stuff.”
“It’s a little wild, huh? Thinking about a grandbaby?”
He fought not to laugh hysterically. “Oh, yeah, more than a little wild. It’s insane.”
Sam remembered when Hillary was just a wee thing, was just this tiny little slip of a girl, and now she was fixing to have a little slip of her own. “How long do you get to stay?”
“Couple days. Probably three more nights, and then I’ll head out. Go from here to Las Vegas, and then from there, go home. Then, it’ll only be about a month before you come up to see us.”
Only a month. Goodie. He kept the smile on his face, though. “I got this week off, and then next week is the finals. After that, I’m free and easy. Depending on how old the baby is, I might go to Denver for the stock show, but it may be I wait until the season starts.”
He didn’t know. He was going to have to wing it.
“Cool, if you end up going to Denver, maybe I’ll head out and meet you there. I have plenty of guys that I represent that are in that area.”
“Mmm. Well, we’ve got time for that.” Sam tugged Evan down for a kiss.
“We so do. What’s on the agenda for tonight, baby?”
“I was thinking about sitting together on the sofa like old folks. Or, if that’s no bueno, then we can drive into town and find us a little bar…”
It didn’t really matter to Evan one way or the other, to be honest. They could play cards, talk to each other, watch a movie. Hell, Sam even had a doobie that was rolled and ready. He never imbibed when Hillary was home, but she wasn’t there, if he was in a good place, and not driving?
He could have a hit.
“I think a night in sounds great—just you, me, the sofa, maybe a beer, maybe a game of cards or something.”
They both liked to play cribbage, and he’d also found that Evan liked to play Five Crowns.
“Sure, guapo.” Sam reached over and patted Evan’s arm. “That sounds great too. Hillary might want to watch a movie or something when she gets back, and we’re all eating dinner together. Depends on how much homework she has, I guess. And how tired she is.”
“You know I adore that girl. I would totally hang out with her for a while.”
Which was good, because Sam wasn’t telling Hils no. And if Evan was going to be a part of his life, then Hillary was going to be a part of Evan’s life.
Good thing she was cute.
“I’ll get us a beer. You get the couch warmed up,” Sam said, waving Evan to the sofa.
Evan nodded, moving to flop down on the couch and grab the remote.
He had never been one for domestic bliss.
At least he thought he hadn’t, but this was the kind of thing he loved the most about being with Evan.
These moments where they were together and hanging out quietly.
Dios, he loved the sex and he would happily do that, too.
But this knowing they were there for each other, and they liked each other was worth its weight in gold.