Chapter 9 The Wrong Secret #3
"You asked if he's serious about me. Ask if I'm serious about him. I'm standing right here, and I didn't wander into his relationship by accident."
The correction landed clean.
"You're right," I said. "I'm sorry. Are you serious about him, Sis?"
"Completely." She answered without looking at Sam for help. "I chose him. He chose me. We're telling you because we love you, not because you get a vote."
"I know I don't get a vote."
"Good. Then your learning curve is already better than expected."
Sam rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. The gesture was small enough that I would've missed it before this morning. Now I couldn't see anything else.
"I'm serious too," he said. "More serious than I've ever been about anyone."
"Including Vina?" I asked.
Sally rolled her eyes. "You really committed to the wrong conversation."
"He deserves to answer," I said.
"I do," Sam agreed. He took a breath, and the humor left his face without taking the warmth with it.
"When I had that crush, Vina barely knew I existed.
She was beautiful, funny, campus-famous, and so far outside my actual life that wanting her didn't cost me anything.
I could see her across a party, think she was the hottest woman alive, and go home exactly the same guy. "
He looked at Sally.
"She knows the guy who freezes when he wants something too much. She knows I talk faster when I'm nervous and alphabetize tools when I can't sleep. She knows I work here for a free room, but the free room isn't the only reason I keep showing up before sunrise."
Sally's eyes went bright.
Sam kept going.
"She can hurt me because she knows the parts I usually hide. She knows when I'm scared before I admit it. That's real. It's scary as hell, and I still want it. I want her."
Sally lifted his hand and pressed it against her cheek.
"He could break mine too," she said. "I'm not the safe choice because I'm your sister or because I work here.
Sam knows me when I'm bossy and tired and mean before coffee.
He knows I hate asking for help. He knows exactly how much this family matters to me, and he could use all of that to wreck me. I trust him not to."
I had come into the boathouse prepared to protect Sam from a wound he didn't have. The two people in front of me had accepted a much bigger risk without needing me to manage it.
"Okay," I said.
Sam blinked. "Okay?"
"Yeah. Okay."
"That's all?"
"Were you hoping for a presentation? Sally can make slides."
"I have charts," she said. "They're devastating."
Sam laughed, but his grip on her hand stayed tight.
I stepped closer and put my hand on his shoulder.
"You work beside us like this place belongs to you," I said. "You show up for my parents, you show up for me, and apparently you've been showing up for Sally while I stared directly past it. I trust her. I trust you."
Sam's shoulders dropped for the first time since Sally walked in.
"Thanks, Brew."
"Don't thank me. You two made the decision. I'm catching up."
Sally's chin trembled once before she covered it with a grin. She stepped into me and wrapped one arm around my waist while keeping her other hand linked with Sam's.
"Love you, idiot."
I kissed the top of her head. "Love you too, menace."
When she stepped back, I pulled Sam into a one-armed hug and slapped his shoulder.
"I reserve the right to make fun of both of you until we're eighty."
"That's fair," Sam said.
"Don't encourage him," Sally said.
"I can be reasonable."
"No evidence."
We walked back toward the dock together. Sam and Sally held hands between us, making no attempt to disguise the thing I'd already missed for too long.
Kit saw us first.
Her gaze dropped to their joined hands, then moved to my face. Understanding lit her smile before any of us spoke.
Sally stopped beside the registration table.
"Since we're apparently doing this in the middle of a water-ski clinic," she said, "Sam's my boyfriend. I'm his girlfriend. Nash knows. Nobody died. Please continue hydrating."
Poppy made a sound loud enough to startle three guests near the beach.
She launched herself around the table and folded Sally into a hug, catching Sam in the same embrace before either could escape.
"I knew it. No, that's a lie. I suspected it, and I wanted it, and I kept my mouth shut because it wasn't my news." She pulled back and held both their faces for one delighted second. "Look at you. You're disgustingly cute."
"Thank you?" Sam said.
"Highest compliment I have."
Kit hugged Sally next, warm and unhurried, then squeezed Sam's arm. "You make sense together."
Vina came over with her sunglasses on top of her head. She kissed Sally's cheek, bumped her shoulder against Sam's, and smiled at both of them.
"This explains why Sammy stopped turning into furniture every time I walked past."
Sam covered his face. "Can we not?"
"We absolutely can not." Vina's grin softened. "I'm happy for you. Both of you."
"Thanks, Vina," Sally said.
Luna arrived from the swim platform with water running from her rash guard. She looked at the hands, looked at Sally, and gave one decisive nod.
"Good," she said. "You both look happy."
"That's almost emotional," I said.
"Don't ruin it, Brewster."
Lucy high-fived Sally and hooked an arm around Sam's neck long enough to make him stumble.
"Finally, somebody else gets couple-duty when the rest of them start acting impossible."
"The rest of who?" Kit asked.
Lucy looked around at all of us. "I'm not naming names without legal counsel."
Bristol came last, not because she was reluctant, but because she waited until the noise eased. She touched Sally's shoulder and gave Sam a steady look.
"You stopped looking nervous the second she took your hand," she said.
Sam glanced at Sally. "Yeah. I did."
"Then keep doing that."
Sally rose onto her toes and kissed him. Sam's free hand found her waist, and the kiss stayed soft, public, and sure. Poppy clasped both hands beneath her chin. Vina made one pleased noise. Mom watched from the towel station with a smile she tried and failed to hide.
Luna clapped once.
"Adorable. Break's over. We have six adults waiting to discover new ways to fall into Sapphire Lake."
The clinic moved again.
Sam and Sally kept holding hands until the boat required both of theirs.
The afternoon gave us more falls than clean starts, but it gave us enough clean starts to keep the dock loud.
The woman in green came back after lunch and crossed the marked lane twice. A retired teacher made it on his second attempt and shouted his wife's name until she threatened to leave him in the lake.
Every success made the next nervous adult stand a little straighter.
Luna kept the rotations tight. Lucy adjusted stances until her voice went rough. Bristol rejected two worn jackets. Kit gathered feedback, Poppy kept guests fed, and Vina held the music below Luna's shouting volume.
By the time the final skier released the rope, the sun had moved behind the pines and turned the lake copper.
He sank into the water with both arms raised.
The dock answered with one last cheer.
Luna whistled through two fingers. "That's the clinic. Engines off. Let's send Rosewater back with the same number of objects they loaned us."
Cleanup spread across the property without anyone needing a second order.
Sam and I hung wet jackets while Sally counted.
Lucy and Bristol rinsed skis and checked bindings.
James and Dad inspected the Rosewater boat.
Tina and Mom cleared the waiting area. Kit stacked feedback, and Poppy carried fruit trays toward the lodge while stealing grapes from her own leftovers.
Vina lowered the music, put both hands on the speaker, and asked, "Does this count as expensive equipment?"
"Yes," Dad, James, and I answered together.
"Wow. Hostile workplace."
She unplugged it carefully.