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“I don’t care if you did invite her with the intention of fixing one of us up with her,” Vance said with total sincerity. “I’m just glad you did.”
He glanced over at Vance and wondered at the sideways grin he sent his way. “Because she was there to help when mom had the attack?” Sam asked, even though he was damn sure that wasn’t what Vance meant.
Vance shook his head. “Because she’s a yummy addition to dinner.”
“Jesus, she’s a person, not a slice of cake.” Deep down, Sam knew Vance had it right, though. Yummy, yeah, that described her to a T. The hell if he wanted anyone else to think of Julie in that light, though.
“Both of you need to clean up your language.”
“I—” Sam never got to finish his statement because the doctor walked in. Their discussion of the delectable Julie Rose took a backseat.
Chapter Three
By the time Sam left the hospital, his mother had been moved to a private room, and she’d been sleeping soundly under River’s watchful eye. It turned out surgery wasn’t necessary. Medication and a heart-healthy diet was all she needed in order to get better. For that, Sam was eternally thankful.
As he walked across the hospital parking lot, a gust of cold air hit him in the face. Sam pulled his collar up around his neck to ward off the cold and noticed a few other people doing the same thing. Hell, the early morning sun didn’t stand a chance at warming things up. It might be November and technically still fall, but winter sure as hell didn’t feel far away. As Sam approached his SUV, his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID. Reilly.
He hit the answer button as he opened his car door. “Hey.”
“I just dropped Julie at her car. How’s Mom?”
Sam thought of Julie and Reilly alone together and wondered if she’d given his brother the same quiet, dispassionate routine she’d given him during the drive to the hospital. Somehow, he doubted it. “Mom was still sleeping when I left. River’s still there. He won’t leave.”
Sam heard Reilly sigh. “Yeah, I figured as much.”
“He’s as protective as a mama bear when it comes to her. Kept giving the nurses the evil eye whenever they came in to check her vitals and write in her chart.”
“She saved him that morning she walked into the social worker’s office,” Sam said as he recalled that day all over again. “That shithole of a foster home he was in before Mom came along still haunts River, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it does,” Reilly replied in his usual quiet way. “Mom saved all of us.”
Sam would never forget the place River had been living before Wanda Jennings had taken them all in and raised them as if she’d given birth to them herself. River had had it worse than any of them. It still made Sam angry that he hadn’t protected River all those years ago.
“Sam?”
Sam had to swallow several times before he could speak. “Yeah?”
“You couldn’t have stopped it, you know,” he said, his voice a little rougher than usual. “You were just a kid yourself.”
His mind knew Reilly was right; his heart didn’t much care. His youngest brother had suffered, and he hadn’t been able to stop it. “What’s done is done,” Sam said as he got in behind the wheel. For the thousandth time, he wished they could simply bury the past. “I’m going home to get some shuteye, then I plan to head back up to see Mom in the morning.”
He heard some shuffling, and then, “What time? I could meet you there.”
“Actually, I think I’m going to stop off at the restaurant first. I want to check out a few things. I’ll be at the hospital around ten, probably.”
Reilly was quiet for a few seconds. “You think the heart attack is related to the stress of the restaurant?” he asked.
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“It’s a good possibility.” Sam paused, and then Reilly’s words registered. “Mom mentioned the Blackwater Diner troubles to you too?”
“She told me about it on Wednesday. I planned to talk to you after Thanksgiving.”
He shoved the key in the ignition and cranked the heater to full blast. “I need to get an idea as to where things stand.”
“You want to assess whether it’s a matter of making a few changes or if it’s it time to declare bankruptcy, you mean?”
Sam bit back a curse. “Yeah, something like that.”
