Stealing Second: Sam's Story: Book 4 in the Clarksonville Series (9 page)

Sam nodded.

“Go Panthers!” Aunt Fran put up a hand for another high-five.

Sam slapped her palm. “Did you play for East Valley?”

“I sure did.” Aunt Fran nodded. “Let’s see, you’re about Lisa’s age, right?”

“A year older.”

“You were in preschool when I played.”

Sam and Lisa laughed, and then Sam narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t play for Coach Gellar did you?”

“No, Mr. Morrison, one of the social studies teachers.”

“Phew.” Sam blew out a sigh. “I was about to trade war stories with you.”

“She’s a tough one?”

“Understatement. Right, Lisa?”

Lisa nodded and rolled her eyes in response.

“Ooh,” Aunt Fran gushed, “I can’t wait to meet her tomorrow.”

“Honey,” Aunt Margaret put a warning hand on her wife’s arm, “don’t stir up a hornet’s nest, okay?” The gesture looked like one Aunt Margaret employed often.

“Who me?” Aunt Fran asked innocently.

“By the way,” Lisa said, “my brother and sisters don’t know that William is my biological father.”

“They think he and Evelyn are Lisa’s friends.” Sam put air quotes around the word friends.

“Which we are,” William said and put an enticing platter of sliced pot roast on the center of the table. Evelyn added bowls of mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and a tossed salad to the mix. William reached behind him and grabbed a basket of rolls from the counter top.

“It smells amazing.” Aunt Fran inhaled deeply. “I love comfort food.”

William smiled. “Evelyn’s an awesome cook. I got lucky.”

“Yes, you did big brudder. And speaking of getting lucky—did a vampire get your neck, Sam, or was Lisa a little too enthusiastic?”

Sam’s eyebrows shot straight up causing everybody to laugh. She put a hand to her neck.

“It freaked me out, too, the first time I saw it,” Lisa said. “I thought she had another girl on the side.”

Aunt Fran howled. “So? Sam? Are you giving yourself hickeys?”

By then Sam realized what they were talking about, but Lisa answered for her. “It’s from her violin. The chin rest or something?” She looked at Sam for confirmation.

Sam nodded. “It’s called a violin hickey.”

Lisa sighed dramatically. “Someday I’ll get to hear her play.”

Sam felt her face get hot. She would be a nervous wreck playing in front of Lisa. “Someday,” she agreed. She had no idea when that would be, though.

William took beverage requests and then filled glasses. Once he and Evelyn sat down, he raised his wine glass. “A toast to my growing family.”

Sam, Lisa, and Fran raised glasses filled with sparkling water, while Margaret and Evelyn raised wine glasses.

“I became a husband for the first time a month ago. I hope she won’t get tired of me too soon.” He raised his glass to Evelyn who smiled sweetly back at him. It was easy to see the honeymoon period hadn’t worn off yet. “I finally got to meet my beautiful daughter and her equally beautiful girlfriend.” He smiled at Lisa and Sam and raised his glass higher. They raised theirs in response. “And I hope to spoil my new niece rotten when she gets here in December.” He looked at his sister.

“Oh, geez,” Lisa said to Aunt Fran. “That’s a baby bump, isn’t it?”

Aunt Fran’s grin answered the question. Lisa leaped out of her chair to give her aunts a big double hug. “I’m so happy for both of you.”

“Congratulations,” Sam said. “You’ll be wonderful parents.”

“Thank you, Sam.” Aunt Fran’s face flushed from the attention. “So what do you think? Do you girls want kids?”

“Someday,” Sam answered way too quickly.

“Someday,” Lisa echoed. She reached under the table and gave Sam’s hand a squeeze.

“Guess you should get married first, now that New York made it legal,” Aunt Fran added. “We had to move to Massachusetts.” There was no mistaking the disgruntled tone in her voice.

“Leave the kids alone, Fran. They have plenty of time to think about that.” William winked at Lisa. “Let me be a dad for a while before I become a grand-paw.” He passed the basket of rolls to Sam. “Or a father-in-law for that matter.”

Sam, grateful for William’s intervention, took a roll and passed the basket to Lisa. Sam imagined how her parents would react if she told them she and Lisa were getting married. Sam’s heart rate quickened at the thoughts swirling in her head. Oh, God, who would have the baby?

“So wait one second, Aunt Fran,” Lisa said. “At William and Evelyn’s wedding last month, you knew you were pregnant, didn’t you?”

Her aunts exchanged a glance. “We wanted to be sure everything was okay before we told anybody,” Aunt Margaret said.

“And we didn’t want to steal the spotlight from my big brudder,” Aunt Fran added.

“I knew about it, though,” William boasted.

“I didn’t.” Evelyn laughed. “He’s good at keeping secrets.” She glanced at Lisa, but what could have been an extremely awkward moment somehow wasn’t. William had managed to keep the fact that he had fathered a child when he was a teenager a secret from Evelyn, but eventually fessed up a month or so before their wedding. Evelyn seemed to take the news well, because she asked Lisa to be one of her bridesmaids.

During dinner they discussed everything from Sam’s glorious black eye to Aunt Fran and Aunt Margaret’s new venture into parenthood. Sam learned more than she ever wanted to know about artificial insemination, sperm donors, and fertility clinics. Once Aunt Fran knew she was pregnant, she and Aunt Margaret got busy turning one of their spare bedrooms into a nursery. Aunt Fran went on to describe her weird hormonal cravings in way too much detail. Sam wasn’t sure she wanted to hear about it, but she wouldn’t have changed where she was for the world. She was with family. Family who accepted her for who she was.

Sam was pleased when everyone ate heartily and didn’t simply move the food around on their plates pretending to eat. She even followed Lisa’s lead and asked for seconds. Helping to clean up after dinner was kind of fun, too. She never got to do anything like that at home. Usually Helene, Mrs. Tardelli, or one of the hired maids cleaned up.

Once the dishes were in the dishwasher and the pots were soaking in the sink, they headed into the living room. William brought in two kitchen chairs so everyone would have a place to sit.

“Fran,” William said, “you should do what I did. Get your kid when she’s sixteen. No diapers, no terrible twos.” Aunt Fran howled with laughter and slapped her thigh a couple of times. Sam and the others couldn’t help joining in.

“So what about you two?” Sam said to William and Evelyn once she recovered from laughing. “Is Lisa going to get another sister or brother any time soon?”

“We’re trying.” Evelyn smiled at William.

Aunt Fran covered her ears with both hands. “I do not want to hear about my brother’s sex life.”

“Oh, and I didn’t have to sit through an entire meal listening to the joys of artificial insemination?” William teased back goodnaturedly.

“Time out.” Evelyn made a T with her hands. “We need a subject change immediately.” She picked up a stack of CDs from a side table. “The DJ made copies of the songs he played at our wedding.” She handed a CD to each of them.

“Ooh,” Aunt Fran ran her finger along the top of the jewel case, “he played some good tunes. C’mon, put it on. Let’s dance.” She stood up and moved the coffee table to one side.

“Excellent idea.” Sam leaped up and helped Aunt Margaret move the kitchen chairs back into the kitchen to make room.

Once enough furniture had been moved out of the way, Evelyn put the CD in the player. The first song was a fast Beatles tune. Sam and Lisa danced with wild and silly movements. Sam remembered the first time she’d ever danced with Lisa. It was at an East Valley softball party at their pitcher Christy’s house. Susie had invited a few of the Clarksonville players, and Sam remembered how her heart soared when Lisa walked into the recreation room where the team was playing ping pong. Sam’s hands sweated so much that night she could barely hold the ping pong paddle. After the tournament, someone put on club music, and they moved the furniture out of the way, like they had just done in William and Evelyn’s living room.

After the first song, Aunt Fran sat down. Apparently, she and the baby were ready to sit out for a while. After checking to make sure she was all right, Aunt Margaret rejoined the dancing on the impromptu dance floor. Sam and Lisa laughed when Aunt Margaret cut in on William and twirled Evelyn around. William, not to be outdone, cut in on Sam and twirled his daughter around. Sam, left out in the cold, good naturedly sat down next to Aunt Fran to keep her company.

A few minutes later, though, Sam jumped up when Sarah McLachlan’s
Ice Cream
came on. She cut in on William and said to Lisa, “Let’s waltz.”

“Waltz? To Sarah McLachlan?”

Sam waggled her eyebrows. “It’s three-four time. Perfect for waltzing.”

“I don’t know how.”

“I’ll show you.”

“How do you know how to waltz?”

“Don’t laugh, okay?” Sam felt her cheeks get warm.

“Okay.”

“I had to learn for my debutante ball.”

Lisa’s mouth dropped open. “We are totally going to talk about that later.” Her nose crinkled up as she smiled. “Okay, show me what to do.”

Sam took Lisa’s right hand in her left and then showed her how to do the waltzing box step. Lisa made a couple of mistakes early on, like trying to lead, but in no time they were waltzing around the living room effortlessly. At her debutant ball Sam waltzed with a couple of guys, but they moved awkwardly, not naturally the way Lisa did.

When the song ended, they sat down to let the newlyweds dance alone to their wedding song.

Aunt Fran turned off some lights. She leaned closer to Sam and whispered, “I’m creating atmosphere.”

The couple’s song ended and William bent Evelyn backward and kissed her in true movie romance fashion. They were so in love. Like she was with Lisa. Aunt Fran started a round of clapping for the newlyweds.

Another slow song came on, and Lisa leaped to her feet, hand outstretched. Sam obliged, and they melded together on the dance floor. Sam sighed at the perfect fit. She felt safe in Lisa’s arms. They had never slow danced like this before, and it was exquisite. Lisa nuzzled Sam’s neck, and normally Sam would have been embarrassed at such a public display of affection, but they weren’t exactly in public. She snuck a peek and saw that no one was paying them any attention. She closed her eyes and moaned quietly in Lisa’s ear. Her body hummed as they moved. Out of the corner of her ear, she heard Evelyn whisper, “C’mon, let’s give these two privacy. Everybody back in the kitchen.”

Sam loved Evelyn at that moment.

Aunt Fran gushed, “I told you they looked grown up, didn’t I?”

Lisa must have realized they were alone because she pulled Sam closer and kissed her way along Sam’s neck and jaw. Sam moaned when soft lips reached her own. She lost herself in the kiss, letting her body hum like the vibrato of her violin.

“You’re so beautiful,” Lisa murmured in between kisses. “Same.” Lisa kissed her again and said, “I wish we could go to school dances together. I wish we could go to our proms together.” “Sam wants to. She really really wants to,” Sam said referring to herself in the third person. “But Samantha Rose can’t.” “I know.”

They danced for a while until Lisa whispered softly in Sam’s ear, “I want to be alone with you.”

“Me, too.”

“If we leave now, we’ll have plenty of time before I have to be home.”

“We’ll miss dessert,” Sam said. “Evelyn’s apple pie.”

“Do you care?”

Sam shook her head so fast, it made Lisa laugh.

“We’ll see them tomorrow anyway. C’mon,” Lisa grabbed Sam’s hand, “let’s go say goodbye.”

Thirteen and Two-Thirds

SAM SAT ON the bleachers with Lisa, Susie, and Marlee and watched the early morning semi-final playoff game between third ranked Southbridge and second ranked Elmhurst. It was a perfect softball day with a brilliant blue sky and no clouds. The soft breeze kept the mid-80’s temperature at bay. It was also a perfect day to have your girlfriend meet your parents.

Elmhurst had the bases loaded. The batter at the plate smashed a sizzling shot down the left field line that would score one, maybe two, runs.

“
Aay
,” Susie shook her head, “Southbridge is getting killed.”

“I thought their new pitcher was supposed to be good,” Sam said. “We struggled against her last time.”

“She is good,” Marlee said, “but she only has a rise ball.”

“Which she’s not throwing well today,” Lisa finished.

“Obviously,” Sam said, “they don’t stand a chance without Bree.”

“Who is happily sitting in juvenile detention hall at this moment.” Susie high-fived Sam and then grinned at Marlee.

“And, man oh man, she can stay there,” Marlee added. “Getting stalked like that was really creepy.”

Lisa nodded. “You had the emotional trauma from Bree, and Sam had the physical.” She gestured toward Sam’s black eye. She leaned in close and whispered, “Your black eye makes you look butch.”

“Shuddup.” Sam pushed Lisa away good naturedly.

“Oh, geez. Look.” Lisa pointed toward the parking lot. “The gang’s all here.”

William, Evelyn, Aunt Fran, and Aunt Margaret were making their way from the parking lot to the bleachers. Right behind them were Lisa’s parents, her two sisters, and her brother. Lisa waved frantically to them. Sam threw in her own waves as well.

“You have so many people coming to watch you play,” Sam said.

And I have none.

As if reading Sam’s mind, Lisa pointed toward a red Prius pulling into the parking lot. “Isn’t that Helene’s car?”

Sam craned her neck. “Yeah, it is.”

“I didn't know she was coming today.”

“Me neither.” Helene usually went to Sam’s high school games, but rarely summer games. Alarm bells jangled. Did her presence have anything to do with her friends coming back to the house for the pool party later?

Coach Gellar bellowed for her East Valley Nor’Easters to start warming up, so Sam didn’t have a chance to wait for Helene and ask. Sam stood up and shouldered her softball bag. “I’ll see you later,” she said to Lisa.