AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?” Lily wrapped her legs around Alex and leaned back against her hands. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I’m going into private practice.” Alex held her eyes. “Here. In McCall. But first, I was planning to take a little time off to convince the most beautiful woman in the world to move to McCall and live with me on the water.”
“What?” Lily arched an eyebrow. “I thought you said you weren’t interested in Charlotte.”
Alex laughed and pulled Lily closer, biting her bottom lip lightly before she pressed every inch of Lily’s body into hers. She kissed her like love, like fire, like she couldn’t draw a breath without her, and Lily melted under her touch, whispering that she was in love with her too. Alex reluctantly let her go when they heard someone behind them. They both turned to see Sam leaning out the door, smiling.
“We have rules about loitering around the parking lot of the police station, you know.”
Lily turned around and winked at Sam. “Then I guess you’d better get your ass back to your office, Draper.”
* * *
Sam loosened her tie and dropped her keys on the entry table as she walked into the house, sweeping Sara into a long hug as she came out of the kitchen.
“Tell me about dinner, gorgeous.” Sam kissed her neck, breathing in her scent before she let her go. “I’m starving.”
Sara looked pale, and when Sam glanced into the kitchen, there wasn’t a trace of dinner. Sam knew her well enough to know that if Sara wasn’t cooking by this point in the afternoon, there was something seriously wrong.
“I’m so worried about Moxie.” Sara shook her head, looking up the stairs to Moxie’s room and dropping her voice to a whisper. “She’s been up there all afternoon, and she won’t tell me what’s wrong.”
“Is she upset about something?”
“She has to be. She hasn’t eaten since this morning, and she won’t open the door.” Sara’s voice cracked, and she leaned into Sam. “What if it’s something really serious?”
Sam took off her tie and draped it over the chair, then gave her a long, tight hug, whispering in her ear as she pulled away. “Let me take a shot at it, baby.” She smiled and kissed Sara’s forehead. “Maybe it’s something we can solve together.”
She pulled two Cokes in glass bottles out of the fridge and climbed the stairs. When she got to the top, she looked down the hall past Moxie’s door and saw two black trash bags sitting in the hall. She sat next to the door and leaned against the frame, twisting the tops off the bottles.
“Hey, Moxie.” Sam tapped lightly on the door and smiled when she caught sight of the lace of Moxie’s Converse in the space under the door. She must have been sitting just on the other side. “You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, but do me a favor and open your door just enough to take this Coke.”
Sam listened as Moxie reached up and turned the doorknob, putting one small hand through the crack and wiggling her fingers. Sam put the bottle in her hand, and Moxie shut the door again. Sam leaned against the door frame and waited. Sometimes being on the other side of the door is all you can give, and Sam knew exactly how that felt.
“I know it’s stupid.” Moxie’s voice was thin and sad.
Sam sat up straight and put her hand on the door as if to touch her. “What do you mean?” Sam watched Moxie’s fingers under the door, tugging on a thread from the sisal carpet in her room.
“Having my bags out there.” She sighed, and Sam heard her head come to rest on the other side of the door. “It’s not like I have anywhere to go.”
???“Well, I don’t want you to go anywhere, so I’m pretending they’re not there.” Sam paused, her mind heavy with the awareness that every word was important. “What happened to make you want to leave?”
Moxie didn’t answer. Sam watched the space under the door, and it was all she could do not to open it when she saw a tear drop on the other side. “I just don’t want to hold you guys back.”
Sam looked down the stairs and saw Sara climbing them quietly in her bare feet. When she got to the top, she handed Sam a paper bag stuffed with Moxie’s favorite cookie, mocha chip with extra chips.
Sara tiptoed back downstairs, and Sam took a cookie out of the bag. “What would make you think that?”
“I don’t know.” Moxie’s fingers pressed hard into the carpet, her fingertips white and tense. “I heard something the other day when Sara’s sister was here with her baby. It’s just been living in my head, and it started really bothering me today.”
“I get that.” Sam bit into a cookie and thought back. “I walked in on them talking about my hair one day, and I almost shaved it off. Those two don’t hold back.”
Sam smiled at the little laugh that came from the other side of the door. “No, it’s nothing like that. They weren’t even talking about me.”
Sam took the rest of the cookies out of the bag, tore the bag in half to create a makeshift plate, then used it to slide a fresh cookie under the door. “I’m not sure I want to know, but I’ll ask anyway. What were they talking about?”
“It wasn’t anything terrible. I’d rather know the truth anyway.” Moxie’s words were muffled from the cookie now in her mouth. “Sara was just saying that having me here had made you guys realize that you wanted a family.”
Sam saw Sara standing at the bottom of the stairs and waved her up as she responded. “And that we were thinking about adoption?”
