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Sam jumped up and hugged Ali first, then Jake. “Congratulations, you two. I couldn’t be happier.”
“I hope it’s going to be a girl,” Abby remarked.
“No way, Abby.” Dodge scrunched up his adorable little face. “A boy and we have to name him after a car.” He pointed to himself, “Dodge.” Smiling up at Gray he pointed to him, “Lincoln.” Then giving it some thought he said, “Ford” as he pointed to Jake and Ali.
Ali laughed. “We’ll have to see Dodge.”
A short while later, the kids packed up, leaving Sam and Gray a bit exhausted but certainly feeling better than this time yesterday.
They sat on the sofa and Gray pulled her into his arms. “I see why you were so tired on that first Sunday at my parents’. It’s exhausting trying to remember everyone’s name and occupation and keep the conversation rolling. Whew!”
She laughed. “Yep.”
15
Gray and Sam fell back into their routine, dividing their time between their two homes; setting hurts aside was hard.
Thursday at work, Sam found herself needing to see, or at least talk to, Gray. This happened often, and she giggled as she thought about how much her life revolved around him in such a short amount of time. She called him around eleven-fifteen. “Hey there, how would you like it if I bought you lunch today?”
He responded, his voice clipped, “Oh. Um. Well, would you mind if a guest joined us?”
“Are you okay? Did I interrupt something?”
She listened as he drew in a deep breath, hesitated, then he blurted, “Cheryl stopped by to see if I would have lunch with her. Would you like to join us?”
“So, that means you’re having lunch with her. How long have you had these lunch plans?” The edge to her voice was front and center. Closing her eyes, she tried to control herself and not jump to conclusions, but she wasn’t succeeding very well.
“She just stopped in; I told you that. As in, just about ten minutes ago, and asked me to lunch. I was just about to pick up the phone and call you to join us when you called.” She heard him heave out a deep breath.
Sam slowly inhaled then released the air in her lungs. “I don’t know what to say, Gray. I’m kind of shocked here and a little hurt I guess.”
She sat in her desk chair before her legs gave out from under her.
“Come with us. You’ll see there’s nothing more to it.”
Sam snapped, “I should have lunch with the woman you used to have sex with?”
She closed her eyes, bit her bottom lip, and stared at the picture of an Easter flower on her wall that Abby had drawn for her in school. “Sorry, I’m just reeling here. I don’t think I should go. I don’t even know her, and I doubt she would be comfortable with me there, anyway. I’ll talk to you later.”
She quietly hung up her phone and stood quickly to make a trip to the kitchen for the lunch she had brought. Feeling sheepish about taking this so hard, she wondered if she was ready for a relationship. Hopefully, it was just too soon after the whole lying about Suzanne and Grandparents’ Day and they hadn’t fully healed from that yet. Now his second ex is showing up. Today sucks!
Closing her office door to spend her lunch alone and thinking some retail therapy might help, she checked some Internet sites on some things for the fourth floor.
A knock on her office door brought her out of her shopping stupor around 50 minutes later.
“Come in.” She absently called, one-clicking on a lamp for Gray’s desk.
She turned in her chair to face the door when Gray walked in. Frozen in place, she stared at him, then glanced at the clock; it was around noon. It’s so easy to lose time while surfing the Internet.
“Are you okay? I know you were thrown when I spoke to you on the phone. I was, too. I didn’t know she was in town or stopping at the office. I know that’s probably hard for you to believe, but it’s the truth, Sam.”
She nodded. “Yes, I was thrown, and I can’t believe the timing. Just when I thought God brought us together because we were meant to be, suddenly these obstacles keep popping up and making me doubt everything. I told you it wasn’t easy being with someone like me.”
Gray locked his eyes with hers. He was simply gorgeous, in his black dress slacks, soft yellow shirt with the top button undone, and the sleeves rolled up to show off his perfect wrists. Well, everything was perfect about him, including his wrists. No wonder Cheryl couldn’t stay away. He walked over and knelt in front of her, took her hands in his, and kissed the back of each.
“Sam, wearemeant to be together; I knew it right away. Every relationship has tests. We’ll probably have more as time goes on. I don’t want Cheryl; I didn’t when I was with her. I’ll never want anyone but you. I love you, Sam.”
She leaned down and kissed him tenderly on the lips.
