"Did I just hear someone praise me?" Wyatt asked as he came back with the cooler while Riley carried the water dishes for the dogs.
"Sam did," DJ said and pointed an accusing finger at him.
As Wyatt came over and handed him a bottle of water, Sam blushed. It was the way Wyatt was looking at him with insinuating eyes like Sam had praised him as a stud, not as a good uncle.
The boys were pouring water for the dogs, who drank greedily. DJ and Riley then came over to sit with Wyatt and Sam, and he was glad to have their company so he wouldn't have to be alone with Wyatt. DJ sat next to Wyatt, but Riley wedged himself between Sam and Wyatt then laughed.
"Is that the best seat, right there?" Wyatt asked him.
"Yes!" Riley said like he was celebrating some victory while DJ leaned over and made a face at him.
"This is a really nice place. It's so hidden away, I didn't come across it before," Sam said as he took in all the green and a sense of happy neglect of the place.
"The only thing is we can't see Peach Tree Hill from here," Wyatt said. The woods blocked the view of it.
"That hill is why I moved here," Sam said to the kids. "When she was a young girl, my great-grandmother saw Peach Tree Hill. That was a long time ago when she was taking a car trip with her family. She saw the hill with all the peach trees in bloom, and she always remember it as a beautiful place. After she told me about it, I thought it sounded so nice, I decided to come here."
"Yay!" Riley said cheering Sam's decision.
"Where is your great-grandma? Does she live far away?" DJ asked.
"She's gone. She died," Sam told him. He didn't mean to make the boys sad, but he could see that he had. "But she lived for a very long time."
With his head down, DJ came over and sat next to Sam. After whispering "sorry" in a small, shaky voice, DJ put his arms around him and leaned his head on Sam's arm.
"Thank you," Sam told him then felt Riley do the same thing from the other side.
Leaning over, Wyatt put his arms around all of them. He kissed the top of Riley's head then he said, "Look at us slacking off. Let's get to work."
The kids jumped up, and Wyatt stood up and turned to Sam. Silently, he offered Sam his hand. Sam knew he shouldn't take it, but his hand went up anyway. He clasped Wyatt's hand, felt all his strength and warmth and wanted to beg him not to leave.
Chapter 23
Wyatt was making vegetables, rice and sausage for dinner with the help of a seasoned rice mix and the recipe on the back of the box. The whole time he was missing Sam and wondering why he had seemed so distant all day.
Sam was always kind of shy but not like today. He avoided looking at Wyatt and wouldn't be drawn into conversation. Maybe it was just because he didn't sleep well, like he said. There were dark shadows under his eyes. But Wyatt didn't think that was the whole story. This was different from when Sam was mad at him. Sam seemed more distant and that scared him.
At dinner Wyatt found out that he wasn't the only one who was missing Sam. He had told the boys he wouldn't be coming over, but now that they were almost finished with dinner, Riley was saying that Sam might come to eat dessert with them.
Dessert was peanut butter ice cream, and Wyatt didn't expect Sam would show up to share it with them. "Sorry, boys. Sam isn't coming tonight, but we can look at some pictures. What do you say?"
"Pictures of you and Barney?" Riley asked eagerly. "I want to see the one with the boat when Barney put his nose in the water."
Those were the pictures from Wyatt's trip to Lake Achensee, and the boys couldn't get enough of the pictures of Barney though they got to see him every day.
"Some of those, but I have some pictures of your dad too." Wyatt wanted to look at some old pictures with the boys and hoped he wouldn't start crying over them.
"Pictures of Dad?" DJ said and right away his expression turned mournful.
"Right. When we were younger," Wyatt said. He wasn't sure how he would handle the emotions that were already welling up inside him, and now he wondered if the boys would be OK.
First they had the ice cream then he and the boys sat on the couch together. Wyatt sat between them with his iPad in front of him. Showing them old pictures from his childhood, he tried not to get teary eyed. He wasn't sure if he could hold it together for long. He figured if he started to get too emotional, he would just say they had to stop because it was time to go to get ready for bed.
First Wyatt showed them pictures of Lloyd before Wyatt was born, and Riley said. "He's an only brother."
"Your dad was four when I was born," Wyatt said and they looked at pictures of him as a baby. Next came the pictures from his school, and Wyatt noticed that there were fewer pictures all the time. Their dad didn't take photos of them very often.
While Wyatt was wishing he had more pictures of Lloyd to show them, a particular photo had caught Riley's attention. Leaning forward, Riley looked at the picture very closely and asked, "Is that really you, Uncle Wyatt?" He was pointing his little finger at a picture of the small boy Wyatt had once been. He was standing in front of their house with Lloyd, and he was about seven or so.
