Autumn Getaway (Seasons of Love) (34 page)

“Uncle Sam, Uncle Sam!” the three children cried happily, bouncing up and down in their seats. Sam smiled and kissed the top of each little head before sitting in the only empty chair, between Hope and his mother.

“Nice of you to join us,” Sam’s father quipped. Henry’s eyes followed his younger son as Sam grinned at him, calmly settled into his seat, and spread his linen napkin across his lap. He took the pitcher that still held some orange juice and poured himself a glass. As he sipped silently, Paige and Marcy exchanged looks.

“Sammy,” Alec began.

“No.” Sam set his glass down and shot Alec a venomous glare. “You even look at her cross-eyed,” Sam warned his brother with instant fury, “and I’ll hand you your goddamn head. You stay away from her. Don't even look over at her. Got it?”

“Jesus Christ,” Alec spat, tossing his napkin onto the table in aggravation.

“Sam,” Marcy said, looking back and forth between her two sons. “Would you please tell us what’s going on?”

Sam reached to the half empty platter of muffins and rolls in the middle of the table, chose a hearty looking blueberry muffin, and bit into it cheerfully. “I’m enjoying what's left of breakfast, Mom. Sorry I’m so late.”

“Apparently I’m in the doghouse because I cared enough about my brother’s well-being to look out for him, and tried to help him,” Alec said sharply. “Heaven forbid.”

“No one asked you to,” Sam snapped. “Especially me. So the next time you feel the urge to belittle someone on my behalf, fight that urge. I don't even know exactly what you said to her, but I have a pretty good idea. I am
furious
at you right now. So goddammit, Alec, from now on, I'm warning you: mind your own business.”

“He never has before,” their father sighed. “Why would he start now?”

On the other side of the room, Melanie brought Lydia over to her table to say a round of hellos before finally walking her over to where their friends sat, waiting.

“I was getting ready to send the freaking cavalry out for you,” Donna huffed as Lydia sat down. “Where the hell were you?”

“It’s a long story,” Lydia said.

“One that I want every detail of, thank you very much,” Donna demanded.

“Are you okay?” Kathryn asked softly.

“I’m fine, honestly, for about the eighteenth time,” Lydia said. She glanced at Kathryn’s pale, drawn face and added, “But
you
don’t look so good.”

“I’m hung over as hell,” Kathryn moaned. “And the Bloody Marys aren’t even helping.”

“But you had fun last night,” Joann’s husband, Mike, said with a grin.

Kathryn nodded wearily. “Yes I did. Well worth the price.”

“Are you hungry?” Melanie asked Lydia. “I’ll have them bring you whatever you want.”

“Actually, I’m starving,” Lydia admitted. Melanie rose and went to grab a waiter as soon as the words left Lydia’s mouth.

“She loves you.” Kathryn smiled.

“She shouldn’t be fussing over me.” Lydia frowned. “It’s
her
day.”

“She had her day yesterday,” Donna cracked. “Let her fuss. When you went MIA, we all got… nervous.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Lydia said dismissively. “I’m a grown woman, there was nothing to be nervous about.”

“Oh, shut up.” Donna sniffed.

Lydia smiled. “I love you too.”

Melanie came back to their table with the waiter, who took Lydia’s order. “There’s a gentleman across the room who needs some breakfast too,” Melanie said, pointing out Sam to the waiter.

“Aren’t you just the mother hen this morning?” Lydia joked.

Melanie sat down on the other side of Joann. “Yes, I am. I’m an old married lady now.”

“You are indeed.” Mike smiled. “How does it feel?”

Melanie smiled with pure delight. “Fantastic, thank you.”

Joann raised her half empty Bloody Mary. “One last wedding weekend toast to Mr. and Mrs. Selby.”

They all raised their glasses to the center and clinked to Joann’s toast.

The conversation turned to the assorted plans of when each of them would be checking out of the hotel. Joann and Mike planned to drive back to New York immediately following the brunch. Kathryn was taking a car service to the airport at one o’clock. Donna had driven herself and would leave sometime midday, intending to be home for dinner; Lydia’s plans mirrored Donna’s.

“What about you two?” Mike asked Melanie.

Melanie smiled. “Ryan and I are going to stay here again tonight. Tomorrow morning, a limo is taking us to the airport, and we go to Turks and Caicos for a week. I can’t wait to lie on a beach with a drink in my hand, and just veg.”

“Sounds heavenly,” Kathryn said. “Enjoy it.”

“I want to see pictures on email or Facebook,” Donna said. “As soon as you get back.”

“You got it,” Melanie said, and mock saluted Donna.

“You’ll call when you get back?” Joann asked. “We’ll do lunch or dinner or something.”

“Absolutely,” Melanie smiled, leaning over to put her arm around her best friend’s shoulders and give her a squeeze of affection.

They all chatted for a few more minutes about the wedding, until Mike stood up and stretched his arms over his head. He checked his watch and said, “Honey, we really should get going, I’m sorry.”

“I know, I know,” Joann muttered regretfully. She and Melanie stood together to embrace one another and say their goodbyes.

Joann and Mike hadn’t even reached the door yet when Melanie sat down, leaned in, and said pointedly to Lydia, “Alright, you. It’s just the four of us now. Spill it.”

“All of it,” Donna commanded.

“I have to admit, I want to hear every detail.” Kathryn grinned.

Lydia chuckled and said, “I swear, at moments like these, I feel like we’re all nineteen again, back in the dorms, having one of our infamous gossip sessions. It’s like no time has passed at all.”

The other three women giggled.

“I know,” Kathryn said. “We’re supposed to be grownups now.”

“We are grownups,” Donna said. “But hey, grownups gossip. They have since the beginning of time. Entire industries have been built on it.”

“That’s true,” Kathryn conceded.

Lydia glanced across the room at Sam. He was saying something to his father, but seemed to sense he was being looked at; his eyes went right to her face, and a warm smile spread across his features. He winked at her. She smiled back.

“Oh my Gawwwd,” Melanie squeaked in delight. “He is crazy about you. It’s so sweet! I love this. I'm a matchmaker!”

Lydia blushed and grabbed her mimosa. As she lifted it to her mouth, the waiter returned with her breakfast and placed in on the table in front of her. “Perfect timing,” she said, smiling. She looked down at the tomato, feta cheese, and spinach omelet and felt her stomach growl. She lifted her fork and announced, “Now I’ll have my mouth full and can’t possibly talk.”

“Screw that,” Donna huffed. “You think you’re getting off that easily?”

“I don’t care if you spit eggs all over me,” Melanie said. “I want to know what happened, what’s obviously still happening. You guys are really into each other. This is unreal!”

Lydia deliberately shoveled a forkful of her omelet into her mouth, chewed it slowly, then took another bite with a catlike smile.

“You’re killing us,” Donna said, drumming her fingers on the table in impatience.

“You're such a bitch,” Melanie smirked at Lydia.

“We have the patience of saints,” Kathryn said airily. “We’ll wait.”

“Come now,” Lydia said. “A lady doesn't kiss and tell.”

“If you were a lady last night, I will reach across this table and slap you,” Donna said.

They all laughed.

“Actually, in a way, I
was
a lady…” In a voice so quiet that the others had to lean in to hear, Lydia said, “I didn’t sleep with him.”

“Disappointed!” Donna cried.

Lydia glared at her. “His entire family is sitting there. Will you please shut the hell up?”

“Yikes, sorry,” Donna apologized in a tamer tone. She looked truly remorseful as she added, “I forgot myself.”

“If you didn’t sleep with him,” Melanie asked, “then why didn’t you answer the phone all morning when Donna called?”

“Well… alright, alright,” Lydia said. Her voice dropped again. “I didn’t sleep with him. But we… came very close. And then he was so delicious—he asked me to stay the night, just to actually sleep there, just to be with him, and of course I couldn’t say no, who could say no to that? So I slept in his room. Okay?”

“Looove thiiis,” Melanie singsonged under her breath.

“I do too.” Kathryn smiled dreamily.

“I’ll take it,” Donna said, also smiling.

“Wait. Then what was with the disappearing act this morning?” Melanie asked.

“Yeah,” Donna said. “Sam was looking for you, he looked upset, he obviously thought you were down here already…”

Lydia’s eyes went back down to her plate, and she ate another two bites of eggs before she admitted, “Morning after jitters. Big time. I went into hiding.”

“Oh honey,” Kathryn crooned. She rubbed Lydia’s shoulder, a pat of support.

“When I woke up, he wasn’t there,” Lydia said, still staring down at her food in embarrassment. “He runs every morning, and he had gone for his run while I was still sleeping. He left me a note saying he’d back soon, and wanted us to come down here together. But…”

“In the light of day, alone, you went into panic mode,” Melanie guessed easily.

“Exactly,” Lydia said. Her cheeks reddened as she said, “I was in full flight mode, on the fence about whether to even come down here at all. Then, as I was skulking back to my room, in last night’s attire, doing the Walk of Shame, I ran smack into Alec. Literally.”

“So?” Donna asked, and then her eyes widened. “Wait a minute. Did he say something to you? Something bad?”

“Mm hmm. He and his wife apparently aren’t thrilled that Sam spent the weekend pursuing a woman so newly divorced. So when he caught me… he was quite amused,” Lydia said wryly. “And I was already feeling vulnerable, so, yeah. He knows how to make someone shrivel up with one condescending look, let me tell you.”

Melanie stared at her friend. “Lydia? Was he a prick to you?”

“Yup.” Lydia shrugged. “Whatever.” She took another bite of her eggs.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Melanie growled, moving to stand.

“No!” Lydia whispered hotly. She grabbed Melanie’s forearm. “Sit down.”

Melanie reluctantly did as she was told. “I'm so mad at him right now! I know he’s Ryan’s best friend,” she said, “but Ryan's definitely the nicer yin to his yang. Alec’s always been a golden boy, you know what I mean? He can be charming as hell, but he's also a little arrogant, says whatever he wants, likes to play the big shot. He’s a successful, wealthy, powerful attorney at a big, fancy Chicago firm—you know the stereotype that goes along with that kind of guy? Well, unfortunately, he can be that guy sometimes. I’ve seen it. So I can only imagine what he said to you.”

“Whatever,” Lydia repeated, dismissing it. “He definitely had a few choice things to say. But he just caught me at a very vulnerable moment, and it pushed me over that side of the fence. Sealed the deal for me, that there was no way I was showing my face here this morning. I mean, when I left the lounge with Sam last night, everyone saw that. You think we’re the only ones gossiping about it this morning? Please. And now he came in late with me, and is sitting there with his whole
family
, for God’s sake. I just… didn’t want to face it. Between that, and the things Alec said, I turned into a petulant child, and tried to hide.”

“But Sam wasn’t having it,” Melanie purred with a smile.

Lydia smiled softly, shook her head. “No, he wasn’t.”

“I have to tell you—when I told Ryan yesterday what was going on with you and Sam,” Melanie said, “or what could
potentially
go on, and that I wanted to make sure you’d be okay, Ryan couldn’t say enough good things about Sam. Yes, he thinks of Sam like a younger brother, so he’s slightly biased; but he honestly thinks Sam’s one of the most decent, genuinely good guys he’s ever known. He said if you were going to randomly hook up with someone, you couldn’t have picked a better man; that you were in very safe territory. So, I felt good enough about that to let you leave with him last night.”

Lydia just nodded, her mouth full.

“Not to mention that he’s very easy on the eyes and you needed some action,” Donna said smoothly.

Kathryn rolled her eyes. “Would you stop that?”

“You’re embarrassing her again,” Melanie chuckled.

“Come on, Lyddie,” Donna coaxed. “Tell us something juicy. Ain't no
way
something juicy didn't go on last night.”

Lydia snorted. She finished her omelet before she said, “He’s… well. We were as close to naked as we could get with me still having enough will power to say no to him. Which I don't know how the hell I did that, because he’s definitely hot stuff, okay?” She thought about him for a few seconds before she went on to explain, “But that’s not it, that’s not what it was all about. I can’t tell you how sweet he was. He
is
really decent, and good natured, and sweet, and intuitive, and open, and he’s just…” She sighed in edgy resignation. “It’s scary. I really like him. I do. Am I a total idiot? I mean, I met him two days ago. That just makes it infatuation, right? Isn’t this too soon to truly feel anything about someone?”

She looked around at her friends, slightly panicked. “But I really feel like I do… that’s why I freaked. Come on, I’m
just
divorced. I have a kid. I have… baggage. And he still insists we should try some kind of long distance thing, see what happens. Shouldn’t I be turning him down? Shouldn’t I be turning him away, telling him to call me in a year, when I don’t feel like a mess? Wouldn’t that be the fairer thing to do, for him? Wouldn’t that be the smart thing to do, for me? Because God knows I tried…”

“No,” Kathryn said fiercely, grasping Lydia’s hand in hers. “No. Screw being ‘smart’ for once in your life. You deserve some happiness. Grab it where you find it.”

“It’s not too soon,” Donna said. “Truth is, you’ve been alone for a while, Lydia. Even when you were still married, you were alone. You haven’t loved Matt in a long time; hell, you didn’t even
like
him.”