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Jenni bent down and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Welcome back, Sam,” she said.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes, Jenni,” he said. “I hope my son’s at least trying to be a good host.”
“Push faster, Kelly!” I called out as they disappeared inside the house.
Jenni giggled as I wrapped her in my arms, kissing her deeply. “It already feels good to have him back,” she said.
“Yeah, now I have a trio against me,” I said. “I’m jumping up and down in glee.”
She slapped my arm and led me inside. “You don’t actually think we needed Samuel to gang up on you, did you?”
“Nope,” I smiled. “Between you and Kelly, I’m as castrated as they come.”
* * *
“So, you’re done?”
I was sitting in my father’s room, adjusting his bed as he watched me from his wheelchair.
“Pretty much,” I said.
Samuel nodded, clearly impressed. “Never thought you’d do it.”
“Really?”
He shrugged. “Thought I’d be getting a call one day telling me you to collect my orphaned granddaughter and the casket with my son’s body in it.”
I looked at him, meeting his eyes and trying to decide if he was joking or serious. “That’s a little dark.”
“Hey, kid, I know you,” he said. “That shooting you survived? I never doubted you’d jump right back into the line of fire if they let you.”
I shrugged. “I probably would have,” I said. “A part of me still wants to.”
“What changed?”
“Kelly, for starters,” I said. “We had a heart to heart. I don’t think I can put her through any more of my crap.”
“That’s mature,” Samuel replied. “And very unlike you.”
“Come on, dad, give me some credit.”
Samuel grunted. “Well, I’m definitely proud of you.”
“Thanks,” I said, bending down and looping an arm under his legs, carrying him off his chair and onto the bed. I fluffed his pillows, adjusted them, and made sure he was comfortable before rolling the wheelchair by the bed and propping his crutches up against the bedside table.
“So, what’s the plan?” Samuel asked.
“I’ll go back to Miami in a week or two, after I’ve made sure everything’s settled here,” I said. “Finish off the paperwork, finalize Kelly’s transfer papers, and if you’ll have us, we’ll make the remaining few years of your life miserable.”
Samuel smiled. “I love misery.”
“I had a feeling you might.”
Samuel laid his head back against the pillows, staring up at the ceiling for a bit before he chuckled and shook his head.
“What’s so funny?”
“How this whole thing played out, you know?” Samuel said. “I mean, I really thought that was it for this town. We were rolling downhill and picking up speed.”
