Page 54 of Stand

“I’ll thank you for whatever I like,” Noah said, his easy tone at odds with his words. “Not in charge now, Ms. Fielding.”

“Dr. Fielding,” Ty said.

“F’real?”

“Not the medical kind,” Sam clarified.

“Wow. Cool. You were smart. We had to give you that. Okay, so you’re not in charge now,Dr.Fielding.”

“Right,” she said. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, I think you are.” Noah let out an audible breath. “Okay. This how you’re gonna spend your drive? You didn’t expect that, did ya?”

“No.” Now she had to laugh aloud. “I did not. It was Alyssa’s idea.”

“Way to go, kiddo,” Noah said.

“Thanks,” Alyssa said. “You’re the first person she’s called. How’s she doing?”

Noah appeared to think about it. “I accept her apology. Honestly, she didn’t affect me that much. I knew my safe places, and they weren’t anywhere near the Sam Fieldings of this world.”

“See that!” Alyssa said accusingly to the back of Sam’s head. Sam looked at her in the rearview mirror. “You made people feel unsafe!”

Now Sam really felt like a shit. “I’m sorry, Alyssa.” What else could she say? She could have been that. For her siblings, at least. She could have protected Thea from her ex-husband, protected Cat from running the whole family when she’d just gotten married, helped with Megan’s schooling. Hell, she didn’t know anything about how Megan had handled high school.

Maybe her next calls should be to her family.

It was like a burst dam, flooding a valley and leaving behind all the hurts Sam could have stopped exposed in the soil. Her face began to heat. And Samneverblushed.

“She made you feel safe the other day, Lyss,” Ty said mildly. “That’s why we’re here.”

Alyssa opened her mouth. Her eyes met Sam’s in the rearview mirror. She frowned and folded her arms. “Well, maybe so. It doesn’t make up for being a bully.”

“She wasn’t a bully,” Noah said. “If by bully you mean someone who beats kids up or shoves them into their locker. Nah. We had enough of those.”

“That’s what I said,” Ty put in.

Alyssa turned her head to the window, her arms still folded. Why should she sort out her feelings right now? Sam had gone from one personality to the complete opposite with one throwaway sentence. Whatever her dad and Noah said, she was going to be mad at Sam for a while.

“You coming all the way to Taos with them, Sam?” Noah asked.

“Yes. I’ll drop them off on my way home.”

“Okay. Then maybe we’ll figure it out over a smoke—a drink,” he corrected quickly. Ty rolled his eyes.

“A drink sounds good,” Sam said firmly.

“All righty then,” Noah said. “This couldn’t have been fun for you. Kudos. Ty, I’ll see you in a couple days. Matt, Alyssa, I can’t wait to see you. You’re gonna love it here.”

Ty said goodbye and hung up. Silence fell on them again. Just as Sam had determined she was going to take the very next exit so she could hyperventilate a little, Ty said, “Have you ever run away from a fight, Indy?”

And the admiration in his voice made her want to stay exactly, precisely where she was.

Chapter 15

They spent the next hour making a list of people Sam could and should call. By the time they stopped for lunch, more than two dozen names sat on Ty’s phone. His motley crew grabbed fast food together, but Sam told them she wanted a few minutes to herself—with Cairo, of course. Ty knew it was because she didn’t want a rejection from Alyssa. What a change in his kid from one conversation. Maybe it was a good lesson for Alyssa. The ole “people aren’t black or white” realization. Maybe.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Sam walk to a picnic table under a tree. She set out water for Cairo and began to feed him the burger she’d bought for him. Ty watched her shoulders relax and realized how much tension she’d been holding for the last hundred miles. Because of his family.

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