Page 18 of Stay this Christmas
“Yeah, thank you.” So eloquent, look at me go. I gave a silly little wave and made for the door.
In the lobby, I grabbed my things and slipped on my shoes without bothering to tie the laces. Eliza seemed tempted to hang out a little longer, but I encouraged her through the door with some light shoving. Just before it closed, I made the mistake of looking over my shoulder.
Sam stood in the lobby, a small smile playing along his mouth. He raised a hand in farewell, and I could only gulp down a cocktail of embarrassment and reluctant longing as I darted out into the night.
SIX
sam
I showedup at Fiesta Village bright and early Sunday morning hoping to catch Harper after her appointment to finally give her the apology she’d deserved for the last eleven years. With no confidence she’d ever show up to my gentle yoga class again, ambushing her here seemed my best bet. Unfortunately, my Swiss cheese brain forgot my dad sometimes took Grandpa to his house for breakfast on the weekend, and I ran right into them as soon as I walked through the doors.
“Sam!” Grandpa said when he saw me. “Are you angling for some waffles, too?”
“Sam probably doesn’t eat anything as unhealthy as waffles,” Dad said with a laugh. “Too much butter and sugar, right?”
For some reason, he’d conflated my high activity level—and probably my side hustle as a yoga instructor—with being a health food fanatic. Didn’t matter how many times I contradicted him or how many fattening foods he’d witnessed me eat, he still brought it up, the joke that wouldn’t die.
“Waffles sound terrific, but I already had breakfast.” Eggs and cold cereal, for the record, but Dad would probably find a way to turn that into a well-balanced meal.
“It’s awfully early for you to pop over here just to lose at backgammon,” Grandpa said.
“I’m not here for that, either. I was—” Yeah, no, I would not be finishing that sentence in front of either of them. I preferred to keep Dad blissfully ignorant of my intentions with Harper, although Grandpa guessed plenty whether I admitted it or not.
Right on cue, his eyes lit up as though eager for me to confess my true reason for dropping by Fiesta Village on a Sunday morning.
Just here to fall on my knees begging for forgiveness from my ex-girlfriend like you’ve been pushing me to do for the last several weeks.Didn’t really roll off the tongue.
“I need to check on something in the activities room,” I said instead. A passable lie. Dad didn’t have much notion what I did here anyway, even if Grandpa saw right through me to the street beyond.
“Sounds urgent,” he said, a gloating smile tugging at his mouth.
Glancing toward the closed PT room door, I nodded. “Very much so.”
“I’m glad we caught you,” Dad said, ignoring my make-believe emergency. He wore a casual long-sleeve shirt and jeans, but from the change in his tone, he might as well have been leading a business meeting in a suit. “From all your grandpa’s told me, you still don’t have a real job yet.”
I loved my grandpa, but he could gossip right along with the best of them. It wasn’t malicious—he just didn’t have enough entertainment to fill his days, and other people’s lives proved a ready source. Mine, most of all.
He could have led with anything else. One of my successful climbs, the stranded hikers I’d helped rescue, even my impressive skills operating a tow rope line would have been something. But no. He’d gone with current employment.
“I’m working at Lotus Flower.” Which Dad knew, for all the little verbal jabs he’d made about it.
“Full time?”
No point in lying—then he’d just want to know why I hadn’t moved into my own apartment yet. I still had some money left over, but I couldn’t safely get a place until I had more coming in. “Not right now.”
“We have an opportunity for you at Donnelly & Burke.”
He said this as though he’d just saved my life, like maybe I should break out into applause. I glanced around the main hall looking for whoever he thought he was impressing.
“I can’t think anyone in Magnolia Ridge would like me in control of their finances.”
Not that Dad needed the reminder, but I hadn’t even gone to college, and despite his constant droning on about them, I didn’t know the first thing about stocks. Pretty sure I would tank everybody’s portfolios on my first day.
“You wouldn’t be.”
He laughed like the idea was absurd, which only irritated me. I hadn’t come to him asking for a job; he'd brought this to me.
“One of our admins is moving at the end of the year. Typing, filing, managing databases. All very doable. Might be a good opportunity for you if you’re really here to settle down.”
