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“Oh, good gawwwd,” he balked, looking horrified, and even gagged a little.
“Puh-lease… you just have no taste.”
“I think that’s you, if you are eating jalapenos every time you have pizza.”
“You just don’t know what you are missing.”
“I guess not…” he chuckled. “But I’ll live – although your intestines probably hate you with a passion and would rather curl up and die.”
“Nahhhh, guts of steel, right here,” she taunted – and burst out laughing at the same time as Toby, causing several people to look at them.
“Are we really talking about that?”
“Poop jokes. Who knew they were funny at ten-years-old… and again at twenty-nine years old, right?”
They smiled easily at each other.
Sam remembered those stolen moments as they would huddle in the hangar, snacking on chocolate from her aunt and uncle, while telling all sorts of filthy childish jokes until they were caught because of their mischievous giggling.
“Whoaaa boy! Here comes your father,” Toby straightened up immediately – and Samantha couldn’t help but smile at the realization that Toby respected her dad, and it was obvious. He wasn’t frightened of getting beat up by the older man – it was the fact that Toby didn’t want her father to think badly of him, which spoke volumes about what kind of person he was.
“Are you two about finished?” her dad said bluntly.
“Sir, yes, sir.”
“This isn’t the Air Force.”
“No, sir. It’s not.”
“Do you talk to your own father like that?”
“Yes, sir,” Toby smiled, staring straight ahead. “I was raised right.”
“After seeing you with my daughter earlier on the hood of a car, that remains to be seen…” her father muttered begrudgingly.
“I just wanted to make sure she was safe, sir,” Toby said candidly, looking at her father for the first time in dismay and surprise. “There was nothing there. It was perfectly innocent and I…”
“Hey Daddy…” Samantha began loudly. “We were just going to get pizza.”
“WHAT?” both men said in unison – before looking at each other in alarm.
“Sir, I had no idea that…”
“Boy! I told you to quit sniffing around my daughter…”
“Actually, we aren’t,” Samantha interrupted again, crossing her arms pointedly over her chest. “But you two are something else! Daddy, Toby and I grew up together. We were friends for years… and I’m an adult. If I want to go out with someone? I certainly do not need to clear it with you.”
Her father made an abrupt turn – walking off. As her eyes turned to Toby, she was stunned to see the disapproval on his face.
“What?”
“He’s your father and raised you. You should respect your parents – even when you disagree with them. Toying with people is cruel, and I thought you were better than that, Samantha,” Toby uttered, shaking his head, and walking off in the direction that her dad had just left.
Shocked and a little humiliated, Samantha didn’t know what to make of his words or his reaction, realizing that perhaps she didn’t know little Tobias Saxon as well as she thought she did.
9
Toby was back to avoiding her – and Samantha didn’t like it one bit. The sun was setting and there were people everywhere, laughing, talking, and having a great time at the bonfire that her parents were hosting.
