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“Are you coming to Emma’s baptism?”
“I wasn’t planning on it.” Her spoon scraped the bottom of her Styrofoam cup. “Isn’t that more of a family thing?”
“Yeah, but you’re basically family.”
She tossed her empty cup and spoon in the garbage before returning to him. “You want me at your niece’s baptism?”
“Yeah. Why not?”
“I don’t know, that’s kind of—”
“It would make me feel less of a fool standing up there if I knew you were there.” Mike had never been good with stuff like this, having to socialize with people he didn’t know. He was anxious about standing up at the altar in front of a bunch of strangers.
“You’re not a fool. You’re Emma’s godfather.” She lowered her voice to a raspy growl, pinching her thumb with her index and middle fingers. “I hope your first child is a masculine child.”
“The Godfather, really?” He laughed, choking on his bite of waffle cone, and Samantha patted his back as he coughed. “That’s a terrible impression.”
“Can’t all be perfect.”
When he polished off his ice cream, he swiped his hands along his shorts. “So, you’re going to come on Sunday?”
“Yeah,” she said, reaching for his hand when he extended it. “I’ll be there.”
9
Sam stepped into the church with a minute to spare. She took a seat in the back, tugging down the hemline of her dress. She wasn’t raised with religion and didn’t know what, if anything, she was supposed to do, so she focused on Mike.
With a quick scan, she found him off to the side, talking with a gray-haired minister in a white robe. Pride swelled inside her at the sight of his suit, fitting him like a glove. And with his neatly trimmed hair and beard, she could hardly take her eyes off him. After a few moments, he turned, their gazes locking as a slow smile crawled across his lips. It was fast becoming an addiction, earning those smiles from him.
An addiction she wasn’t sure she knew how to kick. Or if she even wanted to.
Adam and Lauren then made their way up to the front, along with a woman who Sam assumed was Lauren’s family member. The ceremony started with a couple of readings by the minister, and as time went on, the more uncomfortable Mike looked. He kept shifting his weight and fidgeting with his tie. Sam mentally willed him to settle down, but he didn’t. Not until he was positioned by a podium with a bowl of water. Lauren handed him Emma, and he calmed, his face lighting up as he smiled down at his niece, so tiny in his big hands.
Although Sam was pretty positive she did not want children, seeing him hold Emma tugged at something deep inside her. Underneath all the gruff exterior and the muscles that made him look like he could snap a tree in half, Mike was a marshmallow. The soft spot for his family was obvious, and when he glanced up, once again meeting her gaze, she pressed two fingers against her sternum as if she could rub the feeling away. But it wouldn’t budge.
Minutes later, the minister closed the ceremony with a blessing and welcomed everyone to greet the family. There were probably around thirty people, but Sam only recognized the Ewings. She snuck up the side of the church, where Jimmy spotted her.
“What’re you doing here?”
“Mike invited me.”
“Really?”
She caught his suspicious look and jerked her head back. “What?”
“Nothing.”
She ignored Jimmy’s tone, not wanting to get into it, especially when she wasn’t sure what she’d be getting into.
When she’d first offered Mike her summer, she had planned to keep it strictly sex, as per usual. But this was different. They were two weeks into whatever this was, and they still hadn’t had sex or gotten anywhere close, yet she didn’t mind. She enjoyed hanging out with him, getting to know each other. And she really liked how he appeared so carefree as he made his way over to her.
“Thanks for coming.”
“You looked great up there,” she said. “Very dapper.”
He ran his hands down the suit jacket. “All because of you.”
Jimmy bounced his attention back and forth between them before finally breaking in. “I’m heading out. You riding with me?” he asked Mike.
