Page 52 of Bastard

“Definitely not. Look, Jace used to eat dinner at my table and now sometimes we share dinner after work. My parents don’t sit across from us anymore.” She choked up. “And I’m sure there’s something sentimental there, you know? Jace will always remind me of the parents I lost. But now I have my biological mother to get to know. And sometimes all three of us share a meal. We’ll make new memories. And in the meantime, I don’t have to grieve and stress and watch my back.”

“Have there been any developments on your kidnapping or do you think this will remain an unsolved mystery?”

Her expression remained exactly the same but everything was different. More like a mask. “No developments. So much time has passed that I seriously doubt we’ll ever get answers unless someone comes forward with new evidence.”

The interview went on for another half an hour while Julia lightly probed into different aspects of Sam’s new life. How was the renovation? Do you have time to cook? What do you do for fun?

Sam did not mention the dance party but she described our movie nights without mentioning I was pretty much the only guest.

I went over to Storm. “You know you can buy your own food, right?” He had his mouth stuffed and more in his hands.

“But this is so good!”

It was mostly finger foods. Nothing groundbreaking. “Did you skip lunch?”

His eyes darted away. “I was busy.”

“Were you busy visiting a certain woman on her lunch break?”

“Maybe.”

I honestly didn’t know if Storm and one of Sam’s employees was a bad thing or not. “Is it…is it serious?”

“You mean are we just fucking?”

I shrugged.

“I don’t know. It’s just…we’re so close, right?” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “Freedom.”

Fuck, it’s all any of us wanted. None of the guys had serious relationships because the club was too much to handle. I couldn’t blame him for dreaming. “Soon. Don’t put the cart before the horse. Enjoy the sex, but don’t make promises.”

When we returned to the apartment I went about my normal routine of checking each room even though there should be no reason to. I didn’t want to take chances. I was halfway through the last room when there was a buzz followed by Georgia’s voice.

“How did it go? How do you feel?”

“It went great. I think it will play well,” Sam replied. “I even got a laugh out of Julia.”

“Really! That will play well.”

There was no one behind the curtains and the windows looked secure, so I started for the kitchen where it sounded like the ladies had gone.

“We need to talk,” Sam said.

“All right. About what?”

“You knew my dad.”

I froze. Obviously Sam knew I was here, so maybe she wouldn’t care if I walked into the conversation, but it also didn’t involve me. I decided to stay where I was.

“Of course I knew your father…”

“No, my dad. Not Bernard.”

More silence. “H-how do you know that?”

I edged to the end of the hallway where I could see their reflections in the window. Sam stood at the counter with her arms folded while Georgia sat on a stool.

“I’m very good at this, Georgia. And…I also went to marine camp. Not the same one, but dad loved his experience so much he talked about it all the time and made sure I went too. I think it might be where he discovered his love of the outdoors.”

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