Archie dropped onto the floor of the hallway with Henry, where he proceeded to play peekaboo with him. Both boys laughed with such glee I had to smile, even though I was deeply embarrassed by having to be there.
I held up the note Con had left on my door.
“Right.” He reached around the corner and grabbed a stuffed paper bag.
“I’m so sorry you had to clean that up.” I took the bag, which held the contents of my purse I’d been too furious to even notice I’d left strewn all over my stoop earlier.
“It wasn’t me,” he said. “Sam took care of it.”
My stomach twisted. “Really?”
Conrad nodded. “I just gave him the bag to hold it all in. Your wallet’s on top.”
I grimaced. “I’m an idiot. Sorry.”
“Not an idiot. You looked upset. So did he.”
Not used to not holding Henry, I twisted my hands in front of me. For a moment, I got a glimpse of Sam, in that hotel room the morning after, with daylight streaming inthrough the parted curtains. He’d been smiling in his sleep. It made me smile. I’d reached out to brush a strand of his dark waves from his temple, which had woken him up. Then he’d given me a grin so wide my stomach had swooped.
I forcibly wiped the image from my mind, choosing to remember instead the way I refreshed my inbox a thousand times after sending him that second message. It was right after the series of flirtatious emails where we promised to keep in touch and look each other up if we were ever on our respective sides of the country.
Then the email I’d sent that saidWe need to talkwith no reply.
Then the next:Sam, I’m pregnant.
And the crickets after that.
I didn’t need his help, but I’d needed him to know. Him ghosting me made me feel exactly like I had all those years ago with Tommy’s dad, only so much worse, because I should have known better.
I registered that Conrad had mentioned Sam by name just now. “I guess he introduced himself to you?” I asked. I wondered how much Sam had shared.
A beat passed, then Conrad said, “I actually know him.”
My stomach lurched. “Really?” I asked casually. “How?”
“He was leading the orientation meeting I went to for the SAR team when Arch and I first moved here.”
Conrad volunteered for Quince Valley’s Search and Rescue committee, which helped hikers and other people stranded in the miles of forest surrounding our town and its lush river valley. I guess Sam had too.
“He left in the middle of it though,” Con said. “Said he had to leave town unexpectedly. Which was weird because he was really into it.” His brow furrowed. “He looks different than I remember.”
My stomach knotted so hard I thought I was goingto be sick. Conrad and Archie had moved here just after Sam and I were at that conference together. If Sam was acting, he deserved an Oscar for the way he reacted to seeing us. I was still more than a little upset about the situation. I still felt like a piece of me had been carved out at being ignored. But I had to acknowledge that it was likely true that Sam hadn’t gotten my messages. That for whatever reason, he’d left Quince Valley and hadn’t seen the emails or known about the calls.
So where was he? And what happened to him? Something clearly had.
I pressed my thumb hard into the back of my hand, massaging a sore spot. My hands were always sore from splicing and pulling wire, and while it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was years ago when I first started, I hadn’t found a good massage therapist in town to help yet. Or a therapist-therapist. I hadn’t had time.
“You okay?” Conrad asked.
For the time being, I had to press Sam from my mind. Yes, it was a shock he was here, but I still had my life to live. I looked down at Henry, on top of the world now that he was all cleaned up. He held his little hands up to me.
“Yeah. Fine. Thanks for your help,” I said, genuinely grateful for the kindness of my neighbors.
Conrad was giving me a big brother frown, but said, “Anytime.”
It wasn’t until I finished buckling Henry in his car seat a few minutes later that I opened the paper bag. I peered inside, looking for his favorite teething toy I kept in my purse. But there, on top of the pile, I pulled out something familiar. My business card. Only it wasn’t my current card. It was the one from my business back in California, which I’d shut down when I moved out here.
I had another flash, this time of Sam, getting dressed in my room. He’d come back after getting us breakfast at the buffetdownstairs. We’d skipped the extra sessions that day. Instead, we’d laid around naked, watching movies, and having bubble baths together, which of course ended up with more fooling around. We’d been snowed in, which made us feel like we were in our own special bubble.
