“I don’t know. Someone less…devastating.”
My stomach twisted. “What does that mean?”
Kit squinted. “He kind of looks like a soldier in World WarI. Like he just came back from the trenches. Like he’s seen things.”
I couldn’t help laughing at that. “That is so specific.” I looked at him again. She wasn’t wrong, though. His cheekbones were sharper now than they had been. His eyes slightly hollowed.
He looked back our way as the women moved on.
“Very good looking though,” she said. “But yeah, tragic.”
Objectively, I knew I should be better now that I knew he hadn’t ghosted me. But I still felt latent anger prickling against my ribs. Not like the other day, when I’d absolutely lost it. It was more like once that had burned off, what remained were these flashing sparks. And under that, something more painful. It wasn’t rational, and the anger wasn’t even directed squarely at Sam. But he was an easy target.
The women moved on. Sam started to walk toward us, and it was immediately clear he was favoring one leg as he did.
“Did he always walk like that?” Kit whispered.
I shook my head. And just like that, those last sparks burnt out, replaced with genuine concern for what had happened to him.
I closed my eyes briefly, trying to rid myself of everything swirling through my head in the fifteen seconds it was going to take him to close the distance between us. This was just a brief meeting. A little do-over from the other day. Then I didn’t need to see him ever again, if that’s what he wanted. That was probably what he wanted. Men didn’t love being surprised by parenthood, in my experience.
When I opened my eyes again though, there he was, right in front of me.
“Hi, Ellie.” Sam’s voice was low. Contrite. And he didn’t smile. It felt like there was a shadow there where it used to be.
Oh God. I’d been such an asshole. “Hello, Sam.”
For a moment, neither of us spoke. I think both of us were waiting for where the pendulum would land.
Finally, Kit cleared her throat.
Shit. “Um, Sam, this is my friend Kit and her boyfriend Chip.”
He shook hands with them both, offering each of them a polite smile that I was instantly and irrationally jealous of.
I looked over at the rest of my friends a few feet away, by the fountain. “That’s Winona and Mitchell, and their daughter Delilah.” Mitchell was carrying Delilah in a baby carrier, bouncing slightly. They both waved. “And I think you know Mitchell’s brother Conrad and his son Archie?”
Sam and Conrad exchanged nods. But they didn’t say anything. Nobody said anything. They were following my lead.
I angled my face toward everyone and widened my eyes.
Winona got it. She smiled. “Hey, Sam. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to see you again,” Conrad said, his stern tone indicating he was still playing big brother to me.
Archie skipped over to Sam. “Your baby’s over there!”
My cheeks heated as Archie pointed at Tommy and Henry, who’d drifted to the other side of the fountain. Henry was shrieking at a bird flittering in and out of the water.
“Arch,” Con said under his breath.
Archie looked confused, not understanding the adult awkwardness.
My heart pinched. He hadn’t done anything wrong. “No, Archie, you’re right, that’s why we’re here.”
I beckoned Tommy over, giving my son a warning look as I did.Be nice.
Tommy would ignore me if he felt like it, but he seemed to be reserving judgment for now as he came over. At Winona’s encouragement, the others shifted out of earshot, giving usspace. I was grateful for that, especially if Tommy didn’t handle this well.
