“Dad. Let me show you the main bath. Then, my office.”
See what I did there? I distracted him from Sam’s grill.
“When you get back, why don’t you man the grill, Steve?”
“Son.” My dad smiles. “Grilling’s my passion.”
“I know.” Sam smiles at me.
And that’s when I do it. I don’t say it. Not out loud. Instead, I form the words with my mouth. “I love you.”
And I do. I love Sam with all my heart.
I’m shocked when Sam does the exact same thing, except not silently. Nope. He says it. “I love you, too, Colette.”
Making my way to him as fast as I can, I wrap my arms up over his shoulders and around his neck. “You do?”
“More than anything.”
I kiss him. Right in front of my mom and dad. And I don’t care one bit.
“Hell, yes!” Mom shouts from somewhere behind me. “I knew it.”
She said as much earlier. I think I’ll give her that one.
****
“Thanks for letting me spring my entire family on you.”
“I like your folks and I’m glad you’ve gotten to a good place with your sisters. All of them.”
He does, and that makes me so happy. “Thanks for letting my dad grill.”
“Well. It is his passion.” Sam chuckles. “Besides, I supervised.”
I snicker. “You distracted him.”
“I did.” Sam kisses my nose. “He was very excited to see the boat brochures.”
“Genius move on your part. Did he help you choose one?”
“He did. The man knows his boats. He talked me into a pontoon.”
“He knows his stuff. If it’s got a motor, he’s read about it.”
“How does that sound to you? A pontoon.” He asks me like he really wants my opinion. And I believe he does, because he always takes a keen interest in my thoughts on things. Take the appliances and furniture. He loved everything I chose. Well, except for the fridge. Apparently, he hates side-by-side refrigerators. We didn’t get one of those. Also, he agreed to let me pay for half the appliances. He argued with me at first, but I told him if he wanted me to be part of the process, he needed to let me pay for some of our new things. We also talked about me paying half the mortgage. Threatening to stay in my apartment if he didn’t agree to it was all I needed to say to convince him it was a good idea.
“I think it’s fine.”
“Would you rather have something faster? To ski behind?”
Oh, no. I donotwaterski. I tried it once and ended up being bruised from head to toe. I choose to keep that story to myself. “Well, it’s up to you. It’ll be fun no matter what you pick. But you can hold more people on a pontoon. You can still fish from it and pull those big inner tube things behind it.”
“True.”
We’re quiet for several minutes. Sam’s hand has been moving up and down my arm slowly. It feels so good––his touch.
“I can practically hear those little wheels moving around in your head, honey,” Sam says as he kisses me. “What are you thinking about?”
