Samantha“Mama,Idon’twantto wear a tie!” Henry whined as I got him out of his booster seat. “It’s chokey.”Exasperated, I slipped two fingers beneath his tie to test that it was plenty loose.“It’s fine,” I told him. “And you look so handsome. This is a big kid party, remember? You’re my big boy, aren’t you?”He scrunched up his little nose, clearly wishing to argue with me so he could take the tie off. However, I knew my boy would never admit to being a little kid.At length, he released a heavy sigh and answered, “Yes, I’m a big boy. But I can take it off when we leave, right? Right away?”Grinning, I nodded. “Yes, you can, I promise.”I took his hand, and we walked through the parking lot to the country club the rehearsal dinner was being hosted in. It was one of the swankier places in town and had a golf course stretching out behind it. It wasn’t a place I frequented, as I couldn’t afford it, but Jason was a member, so it was a foregone conclusion that they’d have something at the
“I drew a picture of you and me playing trucks,” he confessed.Ryan’s eyes widened and he glanced up at me, stunned. I smiled at him.Looking back down at Henry, he said, “Wow…that sounds great, buddy. I’d love to see it sometime.”Henry jerked his head up, his eyes wide with excitement. “Really? Okay!”Ryan straightened, and I could tell that he was holding back a wave of emotion, which made my heart clench.Suddenly, Henry grabbed my hand and tugged on it to get my attention. Blinking, I realized I’d been spacing out, and I turned my gaze down to my son and smiled.“What is it, baby?” I asked.“Grandma and Grandpa are here,” he told me eagerly. “Can I go say hi?”“Of course.” Glancing around, I spotted my parents sitting at a table not far from us. “Go on ahead. I’ll be over in a sec.”“Okay!” Releasing my hand, Henry turned and scurried over to my parents.“Oh, Jason, Mr. and Mrs. Myer are here,” Mandy declared, looping her arm through her fiancé’s. “We really should go and say hi.
RyanAs The rehearsal dinner came to an end and everyone began getting up from their chairs to linger and visit or leave, I turned to Sam and reached for her hand again. I’d held it earlier in the night for reasons I still didn’t fully understand. I’d just needed to touch her at that moment, and she had seemed both happy and freaked out when I did it. Now, she just looked at me with a curious, little grin.“Hmm? What’s up?”I swallowed, nervous. I hoped she didn’t take this the wrong way.“I was thinking,” I began slowly. “Maybe you and Henry should sleep at my house tonight.”She froze, tensing her entire body, and then she narrowed her eyes, her suspicion obvious.“Why?” she asked in a low tone.There were a million reasons why I wanted her and Henry with me in my home, but the main one I knew she wouldn’t lose it over was, “I want to keep you guys close until Bill has been found. With the wedding tomorrow, I don’t want to risk anything happening. It’d give me so much peace of mind.
Her smile was soft as she nodded. “I believe that, Ryan. I really do. I think there’s something here that’s worth working on.”I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed her fingers.“Sleep in my bed tonight,” I murmured.Her eyes widened slightly, and her cheeks turned pink, but her gaze was heated.“Is that a good idea? What about Henry…?”“He’s sleeping like a log,” I assured her. “He won’t wake up, and if he does, would it be so bad for us to be in the same bed?”She licked her lips nervously and appeared thoughtful for a moment.At length, she said, “All right. I’ll sleep with you, but if he catches us together, we need to have some explanation ready. Like we’re having a sleepover…or you’re scared of the dark.”I grinned and nodded.“All right. I’m scared of the dark and you’re just keeping me company. I can go with that.”She relaxed and gave me a soft smile. I squeezed her hand as I led her down the hallway toward my bedroom. We shut the door once we were inside, and I slipped an
SamanthaMy eyes shot open,and I gasped, sitting up and clutching the bedcovers against my chest.Blinking, I gazed around and was momentarily confused when I saw I wasn’t in my own bed.My memories from the night before flooded through me the next instant, though. I was in Ryan’s bed, in his house. That was all well and good, but what had woken me up? I don’t think it’d been a dream. I couldn’t remember having one, anyway.I couldn’t understand what I was feeling, but the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, and my muscles were tense. It was as if my body had locked itself into a defensive state, but I didn’t know where the danger was.Suddenly, I heard a crash from downstairs.“Ryan!” I gasped, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him, my heart racing. “Ryan, wake up!”With a groan, he shook his head and murmured, “Sleeping…”“I know you’re sleeping,” I growled, shoving him harder. “But I need you to wake up! I heard something downstairs.”He opened his eyes and stared up at me
I didn’t know how much time passed before I heard a soft knock on the door.“Who is it?” I hissed.“It’s me, Sam. It’s safe. You can open the door.”I recognized Ryan’s voice, so I carefully opened the door and slipped out into the hallway.“You okay?” Ryan asked, looking me up and down.I shrugged. “I guess. Did you call the police?”“Yeah,” he told me, rubbing my shoulders in a soothing gesture. “They’ll be here soon. We can go downstairs and wait for them.”I nodded and let him lead down to the living room. We sat together, snuggled up on the couch in silence while we waited. It didn’t take long for the police to arrive, thankfully.“Hang out here,” Ryan murmured. “I’ll talk to them.”I nodded and pulled my knees up to my chest as he walked out of the room. I felt sick, and I couldn’t stop thinking about Henry and what I needed to do to keep him safe. I hated to admit it, but staying away from Ryan until he’d resolved this ex-employee thing was probably for the best. If it were jus
RyanI tossed and turned the rest of the night, my bed feeling oddly cold and empty without Sam in it. When I finally gave up on sleep and got up, I made my way down the hall to Sam’s room, but when I looked inside, she wasn’t there. I wasn’t surprised. Disappointed, yes, but not surprised. I didn’t bother to check Henry’s room. Sam wouldn’t have left him behind.I knew that there was nothing I could do about her decision at present. She had every right to make it, but I was terrified by what it could mean in the long-term. Would she ultimately decide to cut me out of their lives again because I complicated things too much? She hadn’t asked for any of this. My life came with risks, and it wasn’t fair of me to force them onto Sam and Henry.I was frustrated beyond belief, but with myself, not with her. If I had stayed seven years ago, none of this would be happening. Henry would know I was his father, and Sam and I…was it too much to imagine we might have been married by now? Living ha
“We need to talk,” I told her.She furrowed her brow. “Are you serious? You want to do this now?”“I know we said we’d wait until after Bill was caught,” I said. “But I don’t think we can wait until then. I don’t want to wait until then.”She pulled her hand from my grasp as irritation and frustration flashed across her face.“Ryan, I’ve already told you, I can’t risk Henry. I’m sorry, but that’s just how it is…”“But I can protect you both,” I insisted. “I know this isn’t fair, Sam, but Bill won’t be the last problem I’ll ever have to face. I’m too rich and too well-known. Being with me in general is a risk, but I don’t want you to think I don’t recognize that and won’t do everything in my power to keep you and Henry safe.”“I get that, Ryan,” Sam huffed. “I really do, but can we please not do this now? We’re at Jason’s wedding, for crying out loud! Let’s just get through the night, and we can figure this all out tomorrow or something, okay?”I didn’t want to wait, but at that moment
I held the door for her to get into the car. My dad picked up Makayla so she could give Deira one last hug while I walked around to get into the driver's side. We waved at everyone, and I drove away. As we wove through the grounds of the estate, I kept looking over, stealing glances at Deira as the dappled sunlight flitted over her, turning her hair gold and making her skin glow. I could feel heat pooling in my groin and a desperate need coursing through my veins. I thought again at how long it would be until we got to the hotel that night, and decided it was simply too long.Instead of turning toward the main road, I looped us around toward the back of the estate. I remembered a particularly secluded spot that was perfect for what I had in mind. A few minutes later, I pulled the car to a stop."Is something wrong?" Deira asked, looking over at me curiously."Nothing's wrong," I replied with a wicked grin. "I just don't want to wait until we get to Hawaii." When she realized what I me
CASSIUSThree Months LaterDeira made a beautiful bride.Watching her walk down the aisle toward me, with all our family and friends present, I knew that I had made the right choice in asking her to marry me. In fact, I knew that every choice I had made since that moment I decided to step into that steam room, despite it unexpectedly being occupied, had been the right choice.It was a simple ceremony, because once I'd proposed and she'd accepted, we both wanted things to move quickly. Neither of us saw a reason to wait. So, our whole wedding party was just three people. Scott was my one groomsman, and Dani was her one bridesmaid, and Makayla was the flower girl. In fact, Makayla was something of a flower empress, having demanded to be put in charge of all the floral decisions for the wedding. When that happened, Deira just laughed and looked at me."She gets this from you, you know," she had said, smirking.For my part, I thought she had made great decisions. The flowers looked beauti
A few days later,I was standing outside a hospital room, fidgeting with my dress. Cassius took my hand, pulling it away from the floral garment."You look great," he whispered. "Don't worry." We were about to go into his mother's hospital room, where his parents were waiting to meet Makayla and I for the first time. Makayla was bopping excitedly beside me. She had been on cloud nine ever since Cassius and I had explained that she had grandparents, and they were waiting to meet her. I, on the other hand, was very nervous."Ready?" Cassius asked. I took a deep breath, and nodded.It turned out that I didn't have anything to be nervous about. Cassius's father immediately stood up and gave me a warm hug, and his mother insisted I come sit by her so she could hold my hand and talk to me. They both were very kind to me and, more importantly, to Makayla. Just as she'd been with Cassius, Makayla seemed instantly at ease with them. It didn't take long before she was chatting away to them, talk
DEIRALeave it to Cassius to make a dramatic entrance, I reflected as I stared at him from afar. Whether it was barging into my steam room or crashing into my car or running through the airport yelling my name, he never did anything subtly. I looked at him, standing there breathing heavily. Had he run through the airport looking for me?I glanced back at Dani, and she raised an eyebrow. She didn't have to say anything more for me to understand the question she was asking. That raised eyebrow said, well, what are you going to do? It might as well have said, well, Deira, what do you want? I hadn't expected to have to answer that question at the airport, right before we went through security, but apparently, that's what was happening. Now I had two choices.I could turn my back on Cassius, take Makayla's hand, and walk through the security gate toward a totally new life, or I could go over to Cassius and ask him why he was here. I could give him one last chance to be part of my life. It
CASSIUSThough my mother was doing well, I still spent the next week or so in the hospital. Now that I'd reconciled with my parents, I wanted them to know that I was there for them. But also, I knew that once I returned to my real life, I would need to talk to Deira, and I wasn't ready. Not because I wasn't sure what to say—in fact, the opposite. I knew that I wanted Makayla and Deira to be part of my life now, and forever. But we'd had such a rocky path, I was a little scared of how Deira would respond to me.So, I put it off for days, until my mom finally prodded me to leave the hospital."You've been here forever," she said. "Go home, get a shower, and get a good night's sleep. And then, once you're refreshed, maybe talk to your girlfriend about us meeting our granddaughter." She winked at me."She's not my girlfriend, Mom," I protested, feeling like a teenager."But you like her, right?" my mother asked, and all I could do was grin in response. "See," she continued. "You have to g
The next morning, Dani took Makayla to school on her way to work, letting me sleep in. I laid around her apartment all morning in my pajamas, then went for a quick run before getting myself some lunch. I was very consciously not thinking about work, or Cassius, or anything else. I had half-expected him to call me at some point, but he didn't, and I couldn't help but be relieved. I didn't think I could talk to him until I decided what to do about Mr. White.In the afternoon, I picked up Makayla from school and took her to the park to play. That night, the three of us made pasta and played board games. It was nice to have some time to just have fun, without thinking about all of the stress of the past few months. The next day, after dropping off Makayla at school, I found myself thinking about my blog. I hadn't thought about it in months. I went to the home page and started looking over some of my past entries. Before long, I found myself writing down ideas for new posts. It had been ye
DEIRA I had hurried inside after getting out of Cassius's car, but I didn't want to go back to Dani's apartment when I was so upset. I waited until I saw Cassius drive away, and then I went back out to take a walk around the neighborhood. I had meant to calm down, but I found myself reliving our conversation and soon I was crying. Cassius not believing me about Mr. White hurt even more than I had let on. I'd let out all my anger on him, but beneath the anger was a deep pain and a sense of betrayal. Why did he think I would make something like that up? What did I have to gain from that? And did our relationship mean so little to him that the word of an employee he barely knew was better than my word? That last part stung more than I wanted to admit. For all the ups and downs of our relationship, it had never felt meaningless to me, but it seemed for Cassius this always came second to his job. He believed Mr. White over me, just like he had taken a business call instead of watching
After I got my dad calmed down, I went to find the doctor. I wanted a clear understanding of the accident and my mother's injuries. The doctor confirmed that the coma appeared to be because her body had been through a trauma, and that there was nothing worrying on the scans. All her other injuries were minor, especially considering the severity of the accident, but we wouldn't know her true status until she woke up. I made sure he understood that I was the point person now, and that my mom was to want for nothing. He nodded and reiterated that there was nothing to be done but wait. The waiting was excruciating.I found myself wanting to call Deira, but remembering the look on her face as she'd slammed the car door, I didn't think that was a good idea. I called Scott instead. He offered to come to the hospital, but I asked him to take care of the business instead. That way, I could concentrate on taking care of my parents."Of course, man. Whatever you need. Anything else I can do?" he
The address wasn't far, and I made it there in twenty minutes. Deira was just taking Makayla inside when I pulled up. I waited in the car and a few minutes later she emerged. I was going to get out and meet her, but she walked right to the car and got into the passenger seat."I can't talk long," she said. "But I realized storming off like that earlier wasn't helpful, so I wanted to try to explain." She fidgeted, like she was nervous."I did talk to Mr. White," I said, wondering if what he said was true, and now she was nervous because she regretted her actions. At his name, she glanced over at me sharply."Did he admit what happened?" she asked, seeming surprised."He told me his side of things. Why don't you tell me yours?" At the phrasehis side of things, her face fell. She looked down at her hands and took a deep breath. Finally, she spoke."He accused me of sleeping with you to get my job," she said quietly."What?!" I hadn't been expecting that at all, and I was so shocked I fel