Chapter Forty-one

Chapter Forty-one

Sam

“I could get used to this.” Chloe smiles and takes the cup of coffee from me.

“So could I.” I sit next to her, pulling the blanket over our laps. We’re on the screened-in porch, and the air has taken on a chill. We’ve had a lazy morning and are taking our time with coffee before going to my parents' for something more substantial to eat.

“Be careful, you’re going to spoil me, and I’ll expect you to bring me coffee every morning we wake up together.” She takes a drink and sets her mug down. “I’m already dreading not being with you.”

My chest tightens at the thought of being away from her. It’ll be temporary, we both know, but the distance will be painful.

“Good thing we can travel, right?”

“Right.” I take a drink of coffee to buy myself time before having to speak again. We do have time, just not much. Well, assuming Stacey is actually carrying my baby. I thought about it long and hard last night and just don’t see how I can justify leaving my kid. No matter what, the kid comes first.

“Do we have a time to be at your mom's?”

“Nah, she just said whenever. I’m sure she’s made a feast, though.”

Chloe laughs and rests her head against my shoulder. I put my coffee next to hers and wrap my arm around her. I want to get use to this. I want this to be our end game so bad it fucking hurts. My vision blurs as I stare at the sunlight reflecting on the lake, thinking back to that night of the party.

If I’d gone after Chloe, where would we be? Together? Married with a couple of kids already? Or were things always destined to crash and burn.

“Earth to Sam.” Chloe’s voice brings me out of my trance.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she says with a laugh. “I space out all the time. Usually, it’s because the voices in my head won’t stop talking to me.”

“I never thought about it before,” I start and brush her hair back. “How writers hear their characters talking. You’d sound crazy in any other context saying you hear voices, but it makes perfect sense.”

She laughs again. “Oh, I know I sound crazy like ninety-nine percent of the time. But, hey, it pays the bills.”

Her phone vibrates as a text comes through. Charles comes up on the screen, along with a photo of him holding the first book in Chloe’s series. She smiles when she reaches for the phone and opens up the text. He sent her a voice message and she presses play.

“How many fight scenes are you giving me? I think I need more hand-to-hand combat with knives.”

“You’re a vampire. Your fangs are your weapons,” she says back and sends the message. “Also, why are you up? It’s like seven AM your time.” Chuckling, she puts the phone back down and flicks her eyes to me. “He already begged for a sword-fighting scene and it actually worked out that Marcus needed a sword anointed in Kellie’s blood to—ohh, that’s a spoiler.” She raises her eyebrows. “I’d tell you if you were up to date on the series.”

“Sounds like you’re assigning me homework.”

“I am. You might notice the most recent sex scene I wrote sounds familiar.”

“In that case, I have to read.”

She slips her arms around my waist. “We may have to act out a few more scenes to make sure they’re authentic.”

“I’d be up for that.” I run my fingers through her hair. “I didn’t realize you and Charles were still friends.” As soon as the words come out of my mouth, I want to take them back. I’m not the jealous boyfriend here, but the guy is famous worldwide. Of course I’m a little curious.

“We were always friends,” she starts. “He’s a nice guy. I think you’d like him. He…he’s…” I can feel her tense. “He’s always busy, so we don’t get to see each other that often. I do visit the set every once in a while.”

“I always knew you’d make it,” I tell her. “And I always rooted for you.”

“I know.” She tips her head up and I kiss her. “Should we get ready to head over to your parents'?”

“Yeah.” I kiss her again and am suddenly desperate for more. We won’t be getting to my parents’ anytime soon.

*

“California has weakened you, Fish-face,” Mason teases Chloe as she wraps a blanket around her shoulders.

“Sweater weather for me is anything below sixty-five. Though we do get cold days in the winter.”

“And it’s what, forty?” Jacob asks.

“There’s always like one or two days in the winter where it is that cold. Winters are mild, and I’ll admit I’ve grown accustomed.” She laughs. We’re sitting around the firepit outside at my parents. Mason is leaving in a few hours, and Jacob was able to stop by between farm calls.

Chloe and I missed breakfast altogether but made it in time for lunch and have been outside with my brothers since. It’s nice, being together like this again, just hanging out and talking. It’s so nice, in fact, that it’s making this all feel so fucking surreal and like I need to enjoy it while it lasts. My mind keeps wandering, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by Chloe or my brothers.

“Oh, that’s my publicist,” Chloe says when her phone rings. “I’m gonna warm up inside and see what she wants.” We kiss before she hurries into the house, and I turn in my seat, watching her disappear inside.

“Sam.” Jacob kicks my foot with his, snapping my attention back. Fuck. I zoned out again.

“Yeah?”

“Are you all right?”

“Actually…no.” I look at my brothers, heart in my throat. “Remember Stacey? We dated on and off for a while.”

“I have a feeling I’m not going to like where this is headed.” Mason takes another drink of his beer.

“You’re not,” I reply, face solemn.

“If you tell me you want to leave Chloe for her, I will deck you in the face,” Jacob says seriously.

“Trust me, I’d want you to. And no, I don’t want to leave Chloe for her, but Chloe may want to leave me after she finds out…” I let out a breath. “Fuck.”

“Dude. Spit it out,” Mason goes on.

I know what denial is, and I’ve seen it play through many families when we give them grave news about a patient. It does no good and only delays the inevitable. You have to accept the bad so you can work through it. Putting it off just means you’ll suffer longer in the end.

“She says she’s pregnant with my kid.”

Both my brothers stare at me incredulously.

“You…you don’t think it’s yours?” Mason asks, picking up on every damn thing.

“I’m not certain,” I tell him. “We weren’t exclusive, and the last time we hooked up was early in June. Does that make me an asshole to doubt her?”

“If there’s a chance it’s not yours because you were both sleeping with other people, it doesn’t make you an ass,” Jacob assures me. “Get a paternity test as soon as the baby is born.”

“We can get one now,” I say, twisting my hands around the beer bottle. “She’s far enough along. She needs an ultrasound to make sure she’s not carrying multiples and then it’s just a blood sample from her and a saliva sample from me.”

“Then do it,” Mason says.

“That’s just the thing…” I trail off, not even wanting to say it out loud. Because then I will feel like an ass. But I can’t shake the odd feeling I get when I bring up getting an ultrasound done and Stacey brushes me off. “She hasn’t had an ultrasound yet.”

“You’re a doctor, order one.” Mason shakes his head. “The sooner you find out, the better.” He looks behind me at the house. “You haven’t told Chloe yet?”

“No.” I let out another breath. “I don’t want to upset her if the kid turns out not to be mine, ya know? She’s close to finishing her book and said her writing is closely tied to her emotions, and getting a big dose of bad news could kill her writing vibe. I should probably wait. Yeah. I will. No need to upset her.”

Mason and Jacob look at each other and then back at me. “You need to tell her,” they say at the same time.

Jacob nods. “Say it does turn out to be yours? Don’t you think it’ll upset Chloe to find out you knew all along?”

“Not if she doesn’t know I knew,” I counter, fully aware how much I’m spiraling. “I just…I…don’t want to fuck things up with Chloe again.”

“Again?” Mason echoes.

“Ever wonder why we grew apart?” I close my eyes and let out a sigh. Before I get a chance to go on, Chloe comes back out.

“So…remember that girl at the airport who asked me to sign her book?” She pulls up a photo on her phone, handing it to me as she sits next to me again. “Yeah…pretty sure she sent those in.”

“This is weird,” I mumble, looking at photos of Chloe and me embracing.

“What’s weird?” Jacob asks.

“There’s photos of us on TMZ,” Chloe explains, and Mason snatches the phone out of my hand. He starts cracking jokes, but I can sense Jacob’s worried glances. We get another ten minutes of just hanging out before Jacob’s phone rings. We all pause, listening to him talk, telling whoever called he’ll be right there.

“Dude, when are you going to hire another vet?” Mason shakes his head. “You hardly get time to breathe.”

“You’re the only vet at your practice?” Chloe asks, brows going up.

“Dr. Spencer still works part-time, but only with small animals,” Jacob tells her, getting up. He looks exhausted already. “Ideally, I’d like to focus mostly on equine medicine and hire two more vets, but I haven’t found anyone I like enough to have join my practice.”

“He’s way too picky,” I tell Chloe. “Though, I get it. You have to mesh with whoever you’re working with in a medical setting.” I look back at Jacob. “But you’re gonna burn out soon if you don’t get some help. And I have to mention your field of work already has a high burnout rate.”

“I’ll add it to my to-do list,” he grumbles and motions with his head for me to follow him out. I tell Chloe I’ll be right back and walk with Jacob through the house and out to his truck.

“Tell her,” he says, pausing at the driver’s side of his truck. “Get it over with.”

“You sure?” I run my hand over the back of her head. “Waiting sounds good too. Or ignoring it entirely until I can’t anymore.”

He cocks an eyebrow. “You’re a doctor. You’re supposed to me smart.”

I shoot him a blank stare.

“You don’t want to start this relationship with secrets and lies, do you?”

“No.”

“Tell her. Tell her just like you told us. You hooked up with an ex months before you even saw Chloe again and she’s saying she’s knocked up with your kid. You’re awaiting a DNA test and you’ll go from there.”

“It sounds so simple when you say it like that.”

“The words are simple,” Jacob says. “What goes along with them…hell, life is never simple.”

“You can say that again.”

“Tell her,” Jacob presses. “And text me later.”

“I will.” I hug my brother goodbye, not knowing when I’ll see him next. Chloe is on the phone again when I get back to the patio. She’s absentmindedly walking around the yard, keeping her blanket over her shoulders.

“Hey,” Mason says softly. “There can only be one fuck-up in the Harris family, and I got that covered.”

“You’re not a total fuck-up, at least not all the time.”

He grins. “I would say takes one to know one, but this is serious. I could have another nephew or maybe even a niece. Though it’s not hard being the favorite uncle.”

“Adam is four months old. He can’t pick a favorite uncle yet.”

“He turned five months a few days ago. See? I’m not only the favorite, but the best.”

I let out a snort of laughter, though it does little to unknot my chest. My eyes go to Chloe. She’s smiling in response to whatever she’s hearing on the other end of the phone.

“I know as the oldest, we’ve all looked to you to pick up the slack,” Mason starts. “You’ve bailed us all out of an array of situations throughout the years. Let us help you with this one. I’m here for you, brother.”

“Thanks,” I reply, knowing it took a lot for Mason to admit that. He’s grown now, though I’ll argue he’s matured, and looking back, there’s no way I can count the times I had to pull Mason out of the hole he dug himself into. It’s been like that our whole lives, and I never stopped to think about it until now. But for every time Rory was bullied, Mason got into trouble, or Jacob lost track of time and missed the morning bus because he was out in the barn, I was there to help.

That’s my role as big brother. They’re my family, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them. Family is everything to me, and this kid—no matter who the mother is—will be my family too.

And I have to do anything for them.