Maya moved closer to him and lowered her voice to a hiss. “We’re not talking aboutme, we’re talking about your mother. I believe she is truly regretful of her actions, and I believe her apology is sincere.” Maya stood as tall as she could and squared her shoulders. “And besides, Samantha misses her. It’s not fair to deprive her of her grandmother.”
Sam said nothing.
“You and Uncle are welcome to stay, as well.”
Before Sam could say no, his father spoke. “Thank you—that would be wonderful.” Sam’s father had gone, unnoticed, over to stand by his wife. Tears streaming down her face, Hema-auntie allowed her husband to pull her close. Maya was frozen as the woman who had intimidated her for years sobbed into her husband’s shoulder. He murmured softly as he held her.
Maya couldn’t help but smile. Sam’s parents had lost a son, built a life together and now Uncle had discovered that his wife had lied to him and their son all these years about a granddaughter, and still, they connected. Still, they loved each other. Still, they needed each other. She wiped a tear from her cheek and turned to find Sam watching his parents, as well. His jaw was clenched, but he looked resigned to what was happening.
Hema-auntie calmed down a little and Uncle looked at Sam and Maya over her head, the twinkle back in his blue eyes. “Sammy, you were never going to keep your mother from Samantha anyway, so why argue with Maya about it now? Especially when she’s right.”
Sam closed his eyes, resigned. “Yeah, okay. Dinner it is.” He opened his eyes and addressed the room. “For Samantha’s sake.”
“Whatever.” Maya rolled her eyes as if she didn’t care, but her gut was hollow, and her heart felt empty. She might have once been important to Sam’s happiness, but she had thrown away her chance and now it was time for her to move on. Away from Sam.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
SAM
New York, 2013
THEWEEKENDAFTERValentine’s Day, Maya was signed up for an accelerated workshop on wedding cakes. The workshop was in Manhattan, so she’d stayed with Ami. Samantha had asked to spend the weekend with Sam, and he was thrilled to have this much time with his daughter. Ben had gone to see his parents, but would return later that night.
Sam picked her up from school Friday afternoon, and this time, there was no sign of the boy she’d been with the last time he’d picked her up. “Where’s Will?”
“Around.” She shrugged and kept walking.
“Did you ever tell your mom about him?” Sam studied the top of her head as she avoided his gaze.
“Um, sure.” Another quick shrug and no eye contact.
“She was okay with it?” Sam tilted and twisted his head to get a look at her face.
“Well, you know, she asked a lot questions, but she’s on board.” She finally looked up at him with a tight smile.
Sam regarded her with doubt.Note to ask Maya about this. No, he was not trying to come up with reasons to talk to Maya.This was legit.
“Okay, then. We have practice, then we can do whatever you want to do.”
“Great.” She glanced up at him, her smile tentative. “Listen, I know we have a big weekend planned, but I have a group project due Monday, and the group wants to get together tonight to work on it for a couple hours. Then I’m free.”
“Oh, uh, sure.” Sam hid his disappointment. Homework was homework. “You’re welcome to invite them over. I’ll move the boxes.”
“No, that’s okay. We’re going to meet at Stacy’s.” She texted him the address. It was a few blocks from his apartment. “Why do you still have boxes? It’s been, like, two months.”
“I just do.” It was his turn to avoid her eyes. “IsWillin this group?”
“Uh, no.” She turned her gaze away from him and frowned. “He has soccer tonight anyway.”
“Did you guys break up or something?” Sam tried and failed to get her to look at him.
“No, of course not.” She finally turned to him and rolled her eyes. “Sometimes we don’t agree on stuff.” Her tone indicated that she really didn’t want to talk about it.
Sam frowned, but decided he had all weekend to find out what was bothering her, so he let it go. “Okay, I’ll drop you off after dinner.”
“You’re the best!” She threw her arms around him.
“You probably say that to all your parents.”
