Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Evan hated driving to Logan Airport. Honestly, it was such a pain in the ass, even with the big dig having gotten done finally. Sort of. That was the problem. There was always construction in Boston on all the highways, and there was never any easy way to get on and off where he needed to go.
He checked his sports watch again, making sure he wasn’t going to be late to pick up Sam and Hillary at the airport.
Sam could have rented a vehicle, but Evan hadn’t wanted him to because, honest to God, Boston traffic was like insanity.
People drove like maniacs, and while Evan kind of loved it because it tested his reflexes and kept him sharp, Sam was used to driving with sheep and stuff where he lived.
Okay, maybe that wasn’t quite fair, but even Albuquerque, which was the biggest city in New Mexico, was nothing compared to this. Hell, even Denver, where Sam had driven up to pick him up one time, didn’t have the kind of craziness that Boston did.
When he finally pulled in at arrivals, he was too late to go park and meet them at the gate. In fact, he’d gotten two texts from Sam asking where to meet. So, he had told Sam to tell him what area to pick him up at and to be careful, but he would be there in a minute.
When he pulled his big Mercedes SUV up, he saw Sam in his cowboy hat standing on the curb, wearing a full beard and mustache, and the look of it was surprising.
Surprising and wicked hot.
Hillary was sitting on a suitcase. One of those you could actually ride if you needed to. And good lord, that girl was going to pop like a Thanksgiving turkey when the thermometer came out.
He parked and then unlatched the back so that Sam could put the suitcases right in before he hopped out to come around and give Sam a back-slapping hug. “Hey, babe. Let me get your suitcase.”
He hugged Hil’s neck before rolling her seat case over to him and letting him do the heavy lifting. “Thanks, Uncle Evan.”
“Eee a la, this place is as busy as L.A., no?” Sam stared around at all the people scurrying about, grinning to beat the band.
“But way colder.”
He got Hillary into the car, Sam in on the passenger side.
He couldn’t believe it. Sam was here, like, right here, right here. “Okay, so what’s the first thing that I can get you guys? Do you want food?”
“I got to pee when we got off the plane. That’s really all I wanted.” Hillary chuckled softly. “Not that I can’t eat. I know how. Oh, Papa, it’s pretty up here, all big—this seems even bigger than Dallas.”
“It sure seems crowded.” Sam grinned at him though, kind of a shit-eating grin that told him he was being teased. “Lots of Yankees running around.”
“Yeah, we’re kind of like ants up here. We’re all very busy.
” He slid into traffic, getting them moving so they could go find something to eat because he had a feeling Sam was hungry.
Hillary would probably snarf up anything they gave her—she sometimes didn’t have the right hunger signals anymore from what Sam said.
“I can’t wait to see everything,” Hillary said. “I’ve been really looking up this stuff on Google, and I want to go to like the Old North Church and see the duckling thing.” She was leaning up, so she was kind of in between them, not dangerously or anything, just excited and happy.
“I’m excited to show you around.”
Evan pondered his best bet as far as food. And he thought, maybe if Joe’s on Newberry was not jam-packed, they would go there. But God knew that area had tons of casual places they could have lunch. It was near enough to his place that they could go settle in and relax then, once they ate.
He reached over and put a hand on Sam’s leg for a minute. He couldn’t really keep it there because the traffic was insane, but he loved touching this man and he wanted to make sure Sam knew he wanted to connect.
“It’s been a long month, huh?”
He smiled at Sam because he knew his bull fighter had worked the state finals, and he’d even been asked to do the NFR finals.
Speaking of. “Did you decide if you were going to go to Las Vegas in December?”
Sam shook his head and then nodded and then shook his head again. “Yes, I’ve decided. No, I’m not going.”
“Papa…”
“I’m serious. That’s a lot, and there’s no telling. The baby could come during, or the baby could be here already. Regardless, Hil is going to be the size of a house, and no. Nope, I’m going to be at home decorating for my nieta’s first Christmas.”
Hillary slumped back, so dramatic. “I’ve already been replaced by someone younger and cuter.”
Evan snorted at her. “I’ve seen your family. I know how many babies there are. If your father was just into younger and cuter, you could have been really replaced a long time ago.”
“Oh snap.”
They all cracked up, just rolling.
It took them about twenty minutes to get where he could park and walk to the restaurant, and he was grateful that the line was not very long. He kind of shamed somebody into standing up and giving Hillary a seat, too, at the little waiting area.
While they waited, he bumped shoulders and hips with Sam, his fingers brushing the back of Sam’s hand.
When they got seated and had menus in hand, Hillary moaned, “Oh, I so wanna try a lobster roll, but I really think I’m not supposed to be eating shellfish right now. And I don’t want to have nachos someplace that’s not home, so, burger I guess, huh?”
“Maybe you should try the North Shore beef. It’s a big thing here too.”
“I’m in. What are you going to have, Papa?”
Sam chuckled. “I think I’m just gonna have the fish and chips. It sounds really good.”
Evan loved how this felt because it was like family, and he was so tickled that they were happy to settle in and feel easy here with him.
“Papa says he’s going to eat fish and chips at every restaurant, every time, even breakfast.”
Evan raised an eyebrow. “That’s a lot of fish. A lot of fried fish and chips.”
“Yeah, but he looks so happy, doesn’t he? My cute little papacito.” Hillary giggled softly. “He missed you, I think.”
“I missed him too.” Evan nudged Sam’s foot under the table, and Sam gave him a grin.
Just wide and pleased and yeah, totally happy.
“And babe, if you want to eat fish and chips for every meal, I can provide that for you. Bobby and Annette want us to go to a seafood place, Hils. It’s pretty famous. It’s called Legals. Is that okay?”
She waved a hand. “Yeah, I can eat fish. I’m just laying off the shellfish. I can get something yummy, right?”
“They have an amazing baked haddock,” he agreed.
While they waited for their food to come in, he and Sam sort of played footsie under the table. Maybe a little more than sort of.
God, he wanted to take Sam to his bedroom and keep him there for two days. Not even fucking the whole time, just touching and being together, and holding this man in his arms.
It was weird because he missed the sex — of course he did; Sam was hot.
He found that he craved an in-person chat even though they got to talk every day.
What he really missed most was holding Sam in the middle of the night, waking up, and having that hard body right there, one arm wrapped around him like Sam thought he was important. Special.
Even though Sam was damn important himself.
And now he had Sam for a little over two weeks. Thanksgiving was the perfect time because Hillary was at the edge of where flying would be safe. When she went home after Thanksgiving, she was grounded until the baby showed.
“I love that you’re here, guys, because they’ll have the Christmas decorations up for the most part before you head back.”
She nodded at Evan. “Yeah, it seems weird that this is the very last Thanksgiving ever that I won’t be a mom. Do you remember thinking that, Papa?”
Sam shook his head. “Mi’ja…mira, look. When your mama was this pregnant with you? It was in the summertime, yes? I really think I was just working my ass off and thinking about what I was going to do and being all sick with worry.”
Evan watched Hillary’s eyes as she listened to Sam. He was her hero—there was no denying. This little girl had no doubts in her father. Not one.
“It’s different with men, right, because you have to have faith as a man.”
“What do you mean?” Hil frowned at him.
“Well, I mean we don’t know if it’s real, the baby, I mean.” Sam pursed his lips as he pondered. “I…I’m not saying that I thought your mama was lying. That’s not what I’m saying at all. What I’m saying is you’ve got that baby under your heart, inside of you growing. You can feel her. She’s real.
“Now with you, your mama and I weren’t together, and I saw the pictures of this fuzzy shape that might have been a baby, but it was a long time ago, so the ultrasound? There weren’t faces really.”
Evan grinned, because Sam had sent him pictures of every ultrasound, and Natasha was a baby. No question.
“Then you could only kind of see the edges of your head and things, but it could have been anything. I just had to go on faith that I was doing something right. That I was your papa and that you were coming.” Sam reached over and touched her hand.
“That was a damn long-winded way of me saying I’m proud of you. ”
“Thank you, Papa.” Hillary teared up a little bit. “I know that this wasn’t in the plan, but I’m going to make this work. I’m going to be a great mama, and she’s going to be the most amazing baby ever.”
“Oh, I have no doubt.”
Evan was more in love right now with that fine son of a bitch than he ever had been.
The food came, and they laughed and chatted, Hillary having to visit the bathroom like twice more before they left to go to Evan’s place.
He was a bit nervous about what they would think of his townhouse, but he loved it. It was weird and quirky and full of crazy crap, and he loved it so much that he wanted Sam to like it too.