Accidentally in Love, page 30
“There’s not a whole lot here. They’re still running tests, and there are a lot of them, considering how recently he had the initial heart attack. I can tell you for certain he’s experiencing some tachycardia, so they want to keep him for observation. As soon as there is an update, we’ll let you know.”
Sam nodded and thanked the nurse for the information. She sat next to her mom, who had overheard everything. Sam could tell Claire was worried by the way her leg was still bouncing, the sound of her jeans brushing against the plastic chair. For a moment, Sam focused on that swishing sound, to help calm her own breathing. But when she realized her leg was doing the same thing, she placed a gentle hand on her mom’s knee. Claire met Sam’s eyes with a watery gaze and covered Sam’s hand with hers.
“Oh, Sammy, what are we going to do if things are bad?” Claire wiped a tear from her cheek, and Sam leaned on her mom’s shoulder.
“We won’t know anything until the doctor comes out here and tells us something. But there’s no use in thinking the worst before we know anything else,” Sam said, trying her best to sound reassuring, even though she didn’t know if what she said was true. “Plus, we’ve watched enough reruns of ER to know that waiting is the hardest part.”
“There’s just so much I want to do with him,” Claire murmured. Sam sat up and looked at her mom. She was staring out of the window and didn’t look quite as sad. She was smiling a little, like she was hopeful. That was good. “I’ve spent so much time pushing him away, so of course when he’s finally here, something like this would happen.”
“Yeah, impeccable timing, that guy,” Sam mumbled through a weak laugh.
But . . . wait. What did she say? Pushing him away?
“Mom, what do you mean?”
Claire still held Sam’s hand in hers, rubbing the back of it like she did when Sam was little and woke up from a bad dream. “It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I know you’re busy, but honestly, pick up your phone every so often.”
Sam sighed, squeezing her mom’s hand a little harder than necessary. “Okay, I’ll answer my phone some of the time. But I still don’t follow.”
Claire took a deep breath. “You know your dad and I got pregnant after we fell in love in Spain on our college trip, but before that, he and I were best friends. It was never anything more from my standpoint, but I had my suspicions that perhaps Theo liked me. He never really brought it up, and I was desperate to keep my best friend. But I don’t know, on that trip, traipsing through Barcelona, he kissed me, and I kissed him back, and it felt right.”
Sam hadn’t heard this before. She just knew they had gotten pregnant young, near the end of their senior year in college, and eventually they told her the story about their trip to Spain, but not these details. “Go on, Mom.”
Claire shifted in her seat, still holding tight to Sam’s hand. “When we came back, we decided we’d let things happen. We’d just see how it all went, dating and whatnot. Then I missed my period and we figured out I was pregnant. The timing wasn’t ideal, but it also wasn’t impossible. We both knew we were going to graduate, and overachiever that Theo was, he already had a lead on some decent-paying sales jobs. Jobs that would take him on the road but would provide enough for a new little family.”
Sam did know some of this. Claire’s parents disowned their daughter, thinking it a disgrace that she was having a baby out of wedlock, which was why they never spoke to most of her relatives. But Theo’s entire family welcomed Claire and their bundle of joy into the fold of their family.
“Really, in those early couple of years that we tried to make it work, I was insanely jealous of your dad. He got to go out and travel, work with his business degree. I was at home, taking care of you by myself most of the time.” Claire winced when she saw Sam’s crestfallen face. “Don’t you dare feel like you held me back. If anything, you inspired me to make changes. I wanted to work, and I wanted to be happy for you. But I was so sad. Not because my boyfriend was off working his way up in his company, but because I missed my best friend.”
Sam could imagine her mom, at home alone with a baby, with no one else to turn to. She could also totally see her mom pretending like everything was fine, never admitting to her friends that she was bored to tears. “So what did you do?”
Claire picked at the hem of her shirt with her other hand. “When your dad came home from a big regional meeting, I told him it wasn’t working. I had been working part-time at a library because your aunt Suzanne could watch you with your older cousins. And I started applying for full-time positions that would help me pay for my library science master’s degree if I decided to go back to school. I made a budget and everything. I knew I could do it on my own.”
“But did Dad push back? Did he fight to stay together?” Sam knew her dad could be a pushover, but this seemed extreme. And she also knew her mother could be immovably stubborn.
“He did, in his own way. Something I realized recently. He insisted on always helping pay for things you needed. And he always came back. I know it might seem like he was always away, but he showed up when you needed him. When he did, he always checked in on me, too. And when he did that, it made me miss my best friend all over again. That’s why I was always sad when he left,” Claire said, a tear sliding down her face. This time Sam wiped it away for her.
“What changed?” Sam wondered out loud. She wasn’t sure if her mom would answer that question, but she couldn’t stop her thoughts from spilling out of her mouth.
“Me, I think,” Claire replied. “After you went to college and I was home alone for the first time in years, Theo still came to town when he could.”
“I didn’t know that,” Sam said softly, thinking about all the flippant, sarcastic remarks she’d made to him over the years about leaving or only showing up when work allowed him to do so. “Why didn’t he say anything?”
“Truth be told, Samantha, your father is what you’d call a ‘good dude.’ ” Claire smiled, her eyes still gleaming, at the ready to cry. “He gets bogged down in the details, not unlike someone else I know.”
Well that was the absolute truth.
“Anyway, he started talking about looking into new jobs that would lead to him being in one place most of the time, and when the promotion came through, he decided to move back here. And we started seeing each other more, and I was so happy to have my best friend back. But I was also excited to have him back in a different way, too.” Sam glanced over at her mom, who had that misty look on her face again. Instead of groaning through another one of her mother’s near-swoons, Sam decided to find out more.
“What made you give him another chance?” Sam asked. Not that her parents’ situation was at all related to what she was going through with Russ. But they had found a way to get together . . . though it took most of her life for them to figure it out.
“He’s the one giving me another chance, Sammy,” Claire said, her beautiful face grinning like a fool in love. “I think I broke his heart all those years ago. But he’s never given up. We’ve both moved on and come back, more than once. And I’m grateful he’s willing to try again.”
Sam leaned over the awkward plastic chair arm and hugged her mom, hard. Claire let out a surprised laugh and embraced her daughter back.
“Thanks, Mom,” Sam said, her voice muffled as she spoke into her mom’s shoulder.
“For what, sweetie?”
“For trying again, and for telling me all of this. I needed to hear it. Things are weird with me and—”
“Ms. Sawyer?” the nurse from the desk called out. A tall man in a white lab coat was standing next to her. “The doctor will see you now.”
The next few minutes were a blur, but Sam felt like she was moving in slow motion. She watched her mom nodding while the doctor spoke, but Sam barely processed any of what he said. Learning so much about the true nature of her parents’ tumultuous and kind of star-crossed relationship gave her much to think about. Knowing her mom had been pushing her dad away all those years changed her perspective about what it meant to love, and the different ways to show love.
Sam knew she deserved another chance from Russ. And, even if he did go across the country to culinary school, Russ deserved a chance from her, too.
But was he willing to take it?
“So, can we go in?” Claire asked. This question brought Sam back to reality. They were in a hallway. Sam hadn’t even noticed they’d been walking.
“He’s probably tired from being poked and prodded for the last hour and a little woozy from medication, but yes, you can go in.” The doctor proceeded to reassure Claire that it had been the wise and right decision to bring Theo in to make sure everything was okay.
Walking into the room, Sam couldn’t help but think that her dad looked tiny when they finally saw him. He was wearing a hospital gown and had deep purplish bags under his eyes. Theo’s bright red hair was wildly unkempt, and his pale skin looked translucent under the harsh fluorescent lights. He was sporting a beard, which Sam found strangely amusing, but she also noticed how much gray hair was in it. After hearing about how long it had taken her parents to get together, Sam wondered how many of Theo’s gray hairs had come from worrying about her and her mom. She felt as though she was seeing her dad in a new way, understanding his neuroses and workaholic nature. He was taking care of them.
“Hey, my two girls,” Theo said, trying to sit up, though from the looks of the decline of the hospital bed, he really wouldn’t be able to do so. “They’ve got me hooked up to all these things, but they think I’m going to make it.”
“Theo,” Claire said sternly, but she rushed to his side and took his hand in hers. “You had us worried.”
“Yeah, Dad, maybe lay off the heart attacks or something,” Sam said. Her parents’ blank faces were not amused. “Too soon?”
“A bit, kiddo,” he said. Sam’s dad reached out a hand to Sam, and she took it. They stayed that way for a few beats, holding hands and not saying anything.
“Dad, I wanted to—”
“Sam, you don’t have to apologize,” Theo said before she could go any further. But she squeezed his hand to let him know she wanted to continue.
“No, I do want to apologize. When you and Mom finally told me you were back together, I reacted like a spoiled brat. I was used to things being one way for my entire life, but I didn’t give you the opportunity to explain to me why you had done what you did while I was growing up. I’ve learned some things recently, and while I can get bogged down in the details, whether it’s about a packing list for a photo shoot or some event I plan down to the final second, or assuming I know everything when I really don’t, the two of you have always been there for me in your own ways, now more than ever. So, I’m sorry. And I’m really, really glad you’re okay.”
“It’s not every day your parents go from being best friends to something more, sweet pea,” Theo said. He let go of Sam’s hand for a second, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye before it fell, then taking his daughter’s hand back in his. “And we know you’re busy with your promotion and the summer festival circuit.”
“And with that boy,” Claire said, a twinkle in her eye. She took Sam’s other hand. Now they were all holding hands and Sam felt herself enjoy the family unit they had become . . . for a moment.
“Okay, my hands are sweaty, so that’s enough of that.” Sam released their hands and wiped hers on her leggings.
Claire and Theo exchanged a glance over their daughter, but they were smiling.
“Since we’re making big statements, I want to say I’m sorry, too,” Theo said. Claire was perched at his side, and Sam had moved to a chair near the foot of the bed. “I jumped to conclusions about how you would react to our relationship, and we shouldn’t have kept things from you. I want us all to be together because I’ve wasted so much time without you both in my life in meaningful ways. I know I’ve always come and gone for the important stuff, but now I’ll be here, all the time, no matter what. I was planning on—”
“Theo, she knows that it was me keeping my distance from you,” Claire said, gently interrupting him.
Sam’s dad opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. “Oh,” he finally said.
“Oh, indeed,” Claire replied, placing her hand on his forearm. “We’ll talk more about it later.”
Sam watched her parents while they spoke, thinking about the last few minutes and how far they had all come. Her dad was going to be okay, her mom was happily smitten, and Sam . . . well, Sam still had to figure things out, but she knew she was ready to make plans.
“Wait a second,” Sam said. Theo and Claire looked over, both with quizzical expressions on their faces. “Dad, you said you were planning something.”
“I did?” Theo looked a little stunned.
“Right before Mom interrupted you. You were talking about a plan of some sort. What did you mean?” Sam tapped the arm of the chair she was sitting in with the tip of her nail. Something was going on . . .
“Well, my heart was beating so fast earlier today as a residual side effect of a heart attack,” Theo said, looking from Sam to Claire. He reached behind Claire’s back to the small side table that held a monitor and some of Theo’s things, like his phone, his watch, and a small, pale blue box . . . “But the reason my blood pressure was through the roof was because I was nervous about asking your mother a question I’ve been meaning to ask her for twenty-six years.”
For the first time in a long time, Sam and her mom were both speechless.
“Claire Sawyer, with our amazing daughter here, and under the supervision of medical professionals, will you marry me?”
“Oh Theo, you would do this right now, wouldn’t you?” Claire replied, sighing, and wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Mom, aren’t you going to answer him?” Sam could not believe this was happening. And she was absolutely ecstatic about it.
“What? Oh, yes. Of course, yes. Theo, I will marry you!” They both laughed when Theo slipped the ring on Claire’s finger, then hugged and kissed. Sam averted her eyes until they opened their arms, and she was enveloped in a hug with them both.
“So, Sam, what do you think? Your old parents are finally making things legal,” Theo asked, beaming with pride as he looked at both Claire and Sam, now seated on either side of him in the hospital bed.
“Clearly I think you’re both gross and need to get over yourselves,” Sam said, but her deadpan response didn’t match the grin on her face. “I’m excited for you both and can’t wait to plan your wedding. But you’ll have to hire me properly . . .”
Sam spent the next couple of hours sitting with her parents, telling them about the plans for Buxom Boudoir Soirees, and how their wedding could be her first splashy event.
“Well, we want to keep things small,” Claire said.
“Are you kidding? It’s been almost thirty years. We have to do this right,” Theo exclaimed.
Sam laughed at her parents. “As my first official clients, you’re already causing problems.”
“What about your young man?” her dad asked, raising an eyebrow. “You haven’t mentioned him at all.”
“Well, he’s leaving for school in a couple of weeks and I think it just fizzled out,” Sam replied, a little too quickly. “We got ahead of ourselves, but it’s probably for the best.”
“Samantha, don’t assume anything is over unless you’re totally sure,” her mom said, walking her to the door of the hospital room. “I know I’m giddy on my proposal, but I want you to be happy, okay?”
“Okay, Mom. Thank you, and congrats.”
They hugged each other with the same urgency as when Sam came upon her mother not so long ago in the waiting room, but instead of worry, this time Sam felt absolute, unconditional contentment.
She walked outside into the humid summer air and called a rideshare to the train station. As long as her ride wasn’t late, she’d be able to catch a train and get back to her apartment at a relatively decent time. Enough time to set some things in motion. Sam searched through her contacts, found who she was looking for, and pressed the call button.
“James? It’s Sam.”
“What’s good, Sam? How’s your dad?” News traveled fast when a British pixie was at the helm of keeping things together among their friend group.
“He’s engaged, actually. To my mom, of all people,” Sam said laughing. “But that’s neither here nor there at the moment. Right now, I need your help with something . . .”
THIRTY-TWO
Russ was finding it harder and harder to motivate himself to get up after a grueling shift at Simone’s. Although it was the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday, he was beat after working late the night before in the kitchen and then up early for the breakfast and brunch shift at the bar. He came home, plopped down on his couch, and watched what seemed like the entire city pass by below his window.
His window. Ironic that the apartment had finally started to feel like home when he was leaving in less than two weeks.
And he knew the exact day that it started to feel that way.
Sitting on his couch, he thought of how Sam made him move it to look out the window. He hadn’t moved it back since then, and he awkwardly watched TV from that spot. But after work, he came to this space and zoned out. Which generally led to thinking about Sam and the many different things they had done on that exact couch. Which then led to needing a cold shower.
But he decided instead of wallowing about what wasn’t going on with Sam any longer, he’d focus on work and getting ready to leave Chicago. Aside from very bare essentials, Russ had packed everything he was planning on taking, and the few things he was leaving in storage were already stowed away. He was logistically ready to leave.
