Sam laughed. “True. But the Raiders?” He stood and paced to the window where he could see the downtown shops. It might be his imagination, but the dark Book Nook window seemed to echo Sophie’s broken heart. He turned back to Frank. “Vegas?”
“Play there and live here.”
“Sounds like a nice rhyme but doesn’t work so well in real life. I’ll have to be there seven, eight months out of twelve. Hey, where do you see this Donut Heaven going up?”
Frank joined him at the window. “See that lot to the south of the bank? I bought it a few years ago and Donut Heaven reached out, offered the franchise to me.”
“Do you really want a chain restaurant here?”
“Not after hearing your speech the other night. Then Janice made me look at Haven’s nostalgic social media posts. I talked to Art. Said if he could persuade the council to side with Haven’s, I’ll do something else with the lot.”
“Th-thanks, Frank. I mean it.”
“Now, what do you do about the Raiders? How bad do you want that ring? Can you get to a Super Bowl with them? What about the Falcons or Dolphins?”
“Bruno says the Raiders are my best option. Yes, I can get to the Super Bowl with them. Maybe not this year but next year.”
“You don’t sound excited.” Frank sipped his coffee and rocked back on his heels, a father standing next to his son, looking out over the town.
“Been wondering if I want the wrong ring.”
“Wrong ring? What do you mean?”
“Maybe I’d rather have a wedding ring.”
“Wedding ring?” Frank nearly spewed his coffee. “What? Who? Don’t tell me that Curvy girl.”
Sam downed his swallow of coffee with a choke. “No, not Curvy Carla. Chloe, Frank. I’m in love with Chloe. Chloe Beason, er, LaRue.”
“Meredith’s girl.” Frank clapped him on the back. “Well done. Nice choice.”
“She’s off to France today. Of course, you knew that before I did.”
“I had a feeling I’d let the cat out of the bag the other night.”
“Her in-laws have something for her. Not sure what that means, or what the future holds there, but I think she loves me too. Well, I know she does but getting over her husband’s death will take time. I’m in no hurry. And, side note, I don’t think she’s thrilled about Vegas either.”
“If I know you, Sammy, you’ll make it work. And I recommend it—marriage.”
“Do you?” Sam faced his father, drawing from a shallow well of courage. “Then why did you cheat on Mom? Why did you get divorced?”
“Ah, well, that…” Frank refilled his coffee and returned to his chair. Sam followed, perching on the edge of the leather sofa. “I didn’t toss your mother out, Sam. She left.”
“Because you were having an affair with Janice. I saw you kissing her.”
“You know, we’ve been wondering for fifteen years if you saw us. I guessed so by the way you treated me, but I didn’t want to bring it up in case your bitterness was related just to the divorce. Then Janice told me Chloe hinted at something during my birthday party… Sam, I’m sorry. I should’ve talked to you like a man. At fifteen, you’d have understood, I think. At least more than leaving you in the dark.”
“I came into their house, and you were hugging Janice. Then you kissed her. Two weeks later, Mom left for Charleston.”
“You asked me why and I never told you.”
“I can only imagine it was because she didn’t want to live in a town with her cheating husband.” Sam regarded his father for a moment, then went on in a low tone. “What hurt the most is then I realized you weren’t the man I thought you were. Not the dad I knew. You betrayed everything you said you believed in. Our family. Your faith. My friendship with Jake was never the same.”
“The night you saw me with Janice was the night your mother told me she was leaving. I stopped by Janice and Bill’s to deliver some papers and I was so upset I told her everything. She hugged me and that led to the kiss. We both regretted it the moment it happened. Believe me, neither one of us liked the fact she was my secretary. Did you know she quit when she realized she had feelings for me? She and Bill were having troubles too. We didn’t start a relationship until we were both divorced. I’m just stating the facts. Not making excuses.”
“No, I hear you. Mom said she was leaving?” Sam stood, then sat down. This messed with everything he’d believed for fifteen years. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted you to believe the best of her. You knew things weren’t always great between us, that we’d been in counseling for over a year. What we didn’t want you to see was that we weren’t going to make it. Your mom wanted out way more than me. She’d been talking to afriendin Charleston for months. Your mom was on her way out the door six months before she left.”
