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Chapter 14
Natalie
People can change.
I had just proven it.
The conversation I’d had with Sam on the beach was not anything I’d planned or thought I’d ever do. I’d always been so meek and mild, keeping my opinions to myself and trying to keep everyone happy. It was one of the things my therapist was continuously drawing my attention to, this wanting to please people instead of thinking what would make me happy. I had no idea how he would act, and I almost expected him to get into his car and drive off.
But that is not what happened.
He came into the house a short while later. I was washing up the dishes, my father was helping my mother in the guesthouse. He walked up to where I was standing at the tap and without a word, took off his watch and put it on the counter.
“Take it,” he said. “It’s a Rolex.”
I stared at the watch.
“Your watch?” I started laughing. I didn’t know what I’d had in mind but certainly not this.
“I’d give you the car, but I don’t think you’d want something that flashy. The next thing I could think of was the watch.”
“I don’t want something, Sam,” I said.
“I know, you want me to give something up, something that has meaning.”
He indicated the watch.
“I bought that watch with my first real paycheck. The first big one, with many zeros.” He laughed. “I wanted to get something that celebrated the fact that I had finally made the kind of money where I could splurge a couple of thousand dollars on something pointless like a watch.”
“It’s a nice watch,” I commented.
“Wear it, sell it, I don’t care,” he said.
I picked it up. “You love this watch,” I said. “You always wear it.”
He looked at me and it was in his eyes. He didn’t say it, but the meaning was clear, he wanted to show me that he had heard what I’d said and that he was prepared to try things my way, to do things differently.
“I’ll take it,” I said, lightly, slipping it into my pocket.
Then he started laughing and I had to laugh too and we were kissing and hugging and I couldn’t describe my feelings of happiness. He wanted to leave for Boston right away, but I told him I needed to find my brother and get him into rehab. I explained to him that the whole reason why I had taken the job in the first place and had wanted the money, was to pay for rehab.
It also sounded like Tucker and this girl were partying wherever they were, and I wanted to see him and convince him to come with me so that I could book him into rehab as soon as possible.
Sam listened to everything, then offered to fly me to Martha’s Vineyard by private charter to find the Tennant house and track down my brother. He would leave his car for me at my parents’ house, and I could use that to take Tucker to rehab.
“But how will you get back?”
“I’ll take an Uber,” he shrugged. “It will be better that way. Then you don’t have to worry about the three of us in the car on the way back. I can get back to work and I will hopefully see you soon.”
“That’s good of you,” I heard a voice say.
It was my mother, having come into the kitchen. She was looking at Sam in a strange way. I had the feeling she had many things she wanted to say but she was holding back for now. My father had told me how she’d yelled at Sam. He’d heard every word from inside the house and had been cheering her on, silently of course. I could also tell he thought they’d said enough. It was up to me now, to decide how I wanted to handle the situation. They were worried, and I knew they had every right to be. They had to pick up the pieces the last time things didn’t work out with Sam. It was natural to be wary.
In truth, I didn’t know if I could trust him completely ever again, but I knew that I wanted to try. I was not the same girl I was back then.
He was now looking at my mother, no trace of his usual arrogance.
“I want to make amends,” he said.
