Stealing Second: Sam's Story: Book 4 in the Clarksonville Series (17 page)

Susie was trying to help Marlee, but ended up splashing her with lake water, which caused them both to howl with laughter.

Sam shook her head. “I don’t know how they had any energy to go back out after we canoed the entire lake this morning.”

“Me, neither.”

Sam stood up. “C’mon, let’s go help. I think it’s time to make dinner anyway.”

“OUT OF MY kitchen.” Susie pointed toward the doorway with a wooden spoon.

“Okay, okay. We’re going.” Sam set the last fork on the table. She and Marlee headed to the living room leaving Susie and Lisa to finish making the enchiladas, rice, and refried beans.

“Hey, Sus,” Sam called, “don’t forget about the flan. You promised Helene.” “
Aay
,
Dios mio
,” Susie grumbled, “it’s already made, dork. Now keep your voice out of my kitchen, too.” “Whatever,” Sam called back and then laughed with Marlee. “Have you ever had Susie’s flan?”

“Man, it’s so good. I’d never had it before I met Susie, but there are a lot of things I’d never done before I met her.” Marlee sat on the couch, a red blush creeping up her neck.

Sam grinned at her friend and flopped on the other side of the couch. “You guys make a great couple.”

“Thanks. So do you and Lisa. You know, now that my mom and Susie’s parents know about us, it’s so much easier. We can be ourselves around them.” Marlee shrugged. “I hated sneaking around and hiding stuff from my mom. You know? Not being able to talk to her?”

“Yeah,” Sam sighed, “believe me. I know the feeling.” Sam’s heart almost stopped when she spotted the impaled cork and corkscrew lying on the carpet. She leaped off the couch and snatched it up. “Yeesh. I’m glad I saw this. Helene will be here any minute.”

“Good catch.”

Sam pulled the cork off, stashed it in her pocket, and rushed the corkscrew into the kitchen. Luckily, Susie’s back was to her, so Sam wordlessly handed the utensil to Lisa and pantomimed that she wanted Lisa to wash it and put it back in the drawer next to the sink. Lisa nodded her understanding. Just as Sam was leaving, Susie turned around. Both Sam and Lisa froze.

“Out,” Susie bellowed, this time pointing with a pot holder.

Sam scurried out the door and then burst out laughing. “She is so mean.”

“Cooking is serious business for her,” Marlee said. “She should be a chef.”

“Nah, if she became a chef, she’d open up a geology-themed restaurant, and we simply must save the world from that.”

Marlee laughed and smacked Sam playfully on the leg. “You’re so funny.”

“Why thanks.”

“You know, it’s great that you’re out to Helene.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty cool,” Sam said. “It’d feel weird hiding Lisa from her. I’ve known Helene my whole life.”

“You’ve known your parents your whole life, too.” Marlee fixed an unwavering gaze on Sam.

Sam was taken aback by Marlee’s forwardness. “Did they put you up to this?” She nodded her head toward the kitchen.

“Not Lisa.”

“Susie then.”

Marlee shrugged and nodded. “She’s worried about you, that’s all. I am, too, Two.”

“Ha. You said tutu.”

Marlee snorted. “I did, didn’t I?”

Sam jumped when the doorbell rang. She bolted off the couch, surprised that Helene had rung the bell.

“Right on time, Helene,” Sam called and flung the door open. Her jaw hit the floor when she saw her parents standing on the doorstep. “Mother? Daddy? What brings you here?” She stepped back to let them in. Her heart was racing.

Sam’s mother pulled her in for a stiff hug. “We were on our way home from Syracuse— and since we were driving right by, we decided to see how my Kitten was doing,” Sam’s father finished.

“Daddy,” Sam groaned, “don’t call me that in front of company.” Sam could only wonder what Marlee thought about her father referring to her as ‘Kitten.’

“Everybody knows you’re still my kitten.” He tousled her hair and then gave her a warm hug.

“Where’s Rolando? Didn’t he drive you?”

“He’ll be back. He went to gas up the car back in town. Where’s Helene? Her car isn’t out front.”

Sam swallowed against the lump lodged in her throat. She recognized his no-nonsense tone. He knew Helene wasn’t at the house. Sam was screwed. She’d never been good at lying, and he knew it. When he found out Helene had stayed in a motel leaving them alone, she’d get fired for sure and probably shipped back to Montréal that night, and then Sam would get shipped off to a Swiss boarding school.

“She, um, she...” Sam glanced over her shoulder at Marlee as if searching for answers telepathically, but nothing came to her.

“Samantha Rose?” Her father folded his arms. “I asked you a question.”

“Yes, sir. Helene is, uh—“

“Helene is right here,” Helene said coming through the front door. She held up a full Price Chopper bag. “I had to run out to the store for a few things.” She walked right past Sam’s parents toward the kitchen. “This is a nice surprise. Will you be staying for dinner? The girls cooked, and I think there’s plenty.” She paused at the kitchen doorway.

Sam blew out a slow sigh of relief.

“Well,” Sam’s mother put a hand to her throat, “that’s up to the girls, I think. We simply came by to see how you were fairing.”

“Mother, please stay.”

“All right then, it’s settled,” Sam’s father said to Helene.

“Great. I’ll inform the cooks and put these things away.” Helene turned on her heels and went into the kitchen.

Sam turned to Marlee and tried to keep the panic from her expression. “Mother, Daddy, you remember Marlee, the pitcher from my summer team?”

“Nice to see you again, young lady,” Sam’s father said. “Are you enjoying your weekend?”

“Yes, sir. Very much. Thank you both so much for letting us stay here. Your house is amazing. The view is spectacular. The sunset last night was incredible.”

Susie saved the day by bursting out of the kitchen at that moment. “Mr. and Mrs. Payton, I thought I heard you out here. Please stay and have dinner with us.
Aay
, this is awkward. I’m inviting you to stay in your own house.”

Leave it to Susie to diffuse the situation. Sam loved Susie at that moment.

Sam’s mother chuckled. “We’d be delighted to stay. Won’t we Gerald?”

“Yes, thank you for the invitation.”

Lisa poked her head out of the kitchen doorway. “Two more for dinner then?”

Susie nodded.

“Okay, I’ll set two more places.” Lisa scurried back into the kitchen.

“Everything is ready to go on the table,” Susie said. “Come in and sit down. Sam, maybe you can find out what everybody wants to drink.”

“Okay.”

Sam followed her parents into the kitchen and got them settled at the table. As she took the drink orders, she thought of all the things her parents could have walked in on and her heart sped up again. She reached in the cupboard for one last glass, and Helene sidled up beside her.

“Breathe, Samantha Rose, breathe,” Helene whispered.

Sam nodded and took a deep breath to calm her shaky nerves. She filled the last glass with water and set it in front of her own plate. She sat down between her parents.

Since the baking pan was too hot to pass, Susie dished out the enchiladas individually. The rice, refried beans, sour cream, and Mexican cheese were passed from person to person around the table. The scene reminded Sam of dinner at Lisa’s house. This was what a real family dinner was supposed to look like. She took another calming breath before digging in, and just as she got the first forkful to her mouth, felt her mother’s disapproving glare. Sam cleared her throat and put the fork down. She pushed the food around on her plate for a while and then took the barest of bites. Her mother nodded approvingly. Sam hated herself for doing it, but what choice did she have? Hopefully there would be leftovers she could snarf down after her parents left. Wait. They were leaving, weren’t they? She stifled a groan. What if they wanted to stay the night?

Amid the chatter and the clatter of plates and utensils, Sam’s father said, “So, Helene, what have you and the girls been up to today?”

Sam marveled at how easily Helene’s lies came. Sam wondered if she would ever learn to lie as effortlessly. Lisa flashed Sam a nervous smile. Sam grimaced back. At the beginning of the summer, Sam had thought she wanted her parents to know that she’d fallen in love. Now she wasn’t so sure. Her father had the power to make unpleasant things go away, which for him could mean Lisa. Sam firmly decided once and for all that was not a chance she was willing to take.

A Cold Day in Hell

SAM PULLED HER violin out of its case and rosined the bow. She tuned the strings by ear and then mindlessly played scales waiting for her last class of the day to start. It was the first day of school, and she was more than ready for it to be over. At least she had gotten to hang out with Susie at lunch and then in their AP Environmental Science class directly after, so she hadn’t been totally alone all day. It sucked that she couldn’t see Lisa after school, though. Although Sam agreed when Lisa suggested that the first week of school would be too hectic for them to hang out, she had been lying big time. What she really wanted to do was race to Clarksonville as soon her Strings class was over, but she had to respect Lisa’s wishes and simply count down the minutes until she would see Lisa on Saturday.

Since Mr. Auerbach was busy talking to a couple of students near his desk, and it didn’t look like the class would be starting anytime soon, Sam laid the violin in her lap and closed her eyes. Part of her was aware of the other students milling about the room, but most of her was thinking about the amazing weekend at the lake. Her parents hadn’t stayed long after dinner that Saturday night. In fact, they left right after Susie’s flan.

Sam had shut and locked the front door after her parents left, and then she blew out a long sigh of relief before heading back to the kitchen. She was surprised to see one lone place setting on the table. Helene, Marlee, and Susie smiled at her when she walked in. They looked guilty, like they were hiding something, and Sam thought for sure they were about to play some kind of trick on her, but then Lisa pulled a plate of hot enchiladas out of the microwave and gestured for her to sit.

“Oh, my God. Thank you.” Sam picked up the clean fork someone had put at her place setting. “I thought I was going to starve to death.”

“This was Lisa’s idea,” Helene said.

Sam looked up. “You did this?”

Lisa nodded, a tinge of red creeping up her cheeks.

Sitting in the noisy classroom, Sam remembered another time later that Saturday night when Lisa’s cheeks had tinged red. Sam could almost feel the touch of Lisa’s lips on her face, the back of her neck, and other new delicious places. She wanted to sigh at the memory, but held back. They had spent another amazing night together totally not sleeping, but too soon, way too soon, the weekend was over.

Sunday morning, alone in Sam’s room at the lake house, they said their private goodbyes to each other, mainly because they wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to each other properly when Marlee dropped Sam off at the mansion. Sam had snuggled into Lisa’s strong arms and kissed her as if they would never see each other again.

When they broke off the kiss, Sam was surprised that Lisa had tears in her eyes.

“Why are you crying?“

“Because it’s getting harder and harder to leave you.”

Sam’s breath caught in her throat. “I wish we didn’t have to go back to school.”

Sam’s eyes flew open when someone jostled her from the side.

“You are so caught,” Ronnie Alesi said with a grin.

Sam sat up in the chair and cleared her throat. “What are you talking about Ronnie?”

“It’s Ronald.”

Sam rolled her eyes.

“I saw that shit-eating grin on your face.”

“Shuddup, Ronnie.”

“You’re in love, dearie. I can tell.” He leaned in closer and whispered, “And she is gorgeous, too. Like an Indian princess with that long braid.”

“Ronnie,” Sam said exasperated, “you don’t know what you’re talking about.” She didn’t like denying her relationship with Lisa, but she couldn’t come out of the closet yet. There was absolutely no way she could come out, especially not to Ronnie who was the king of coming out. Talking to him would make her guilty by association.

Ronnie leaned back, the smug smile still on his face. “One day you’ll admit it, Samantha Rose, but for now I’ll leave you alone.” He stood up and headed to the rack that held his double bass.

A tap, tap, tap on the music stand in the front of the classroom got Sam’s attention. Mr. Auerbach was dressed in his usual brown tweed suit and a wrinkled white shirt and bowtie, askew as usual. His flat brown hair fell into his eyes, and he brushed it away like he would a thousand more times during the class period.

“You guys know the drill,” Mr. Auerbach said. “Instruments out and tuned. Rosin the bows if you need to, and get pencils for taking notes on the sheet music. And that means you, Mr. Alesi. Pencil. Not pen.”

“
Moi
?” Ronnie said with a splayed hand to his chest, looking hurt by their teacher’s insinuation.

“Yes. Especially you.” Mr. Auerbach wagged a finger at Ronnie, but his smile betrayed the fact that he was teasing.

Sam picked up her violin and waited for the pianist to give them their notes for tuning.

“Samantha Rose,” Mr. Auerbach said, “may I see you at my desk for a moment?”

“Sure.” Sam set her violin down gently on the chair.

Before Sam made it up to the front of the classroom, Mr. Auerbach blurted, “I have exciting news.”

“What’s up?” Sam always loved the twinkle in his eye when he got excited about something.

“Mrs. Dickens has an exciting part for you in the school musical.”

“Ronnie told me about it.”

His face lit up. “Isn’t it exciting?
Fiddler on the Roof
. It’s yours for the taking, Samantha Rose. It’s yours for the taking.”

“I don’t know. Musical theater isn’t my thing.”