The way he said Josh’s name made me smile, he sounded just like Frankie when he didn’t like something – or I supposed Frankie sounded just like Sam.
“No, nothing. All quiet.”
“That’s good, yeah really good.”
Sam’s voice was quiet and he sounded a little unsure and I knew it was probably because he didn’t know how to tell me he wouldn’t be contacting me again. I evidently didn’t need him and he was feeling awkward on how to tell me that we would be going back to being virtual strangers, and he’d go back to simply being Frankie’s swimming coach for the next few weeks and then…well then, like a puff of smoke, he’d be gone permanently.
“Anyway,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I’d better get going and I’ll let Angela know that…oh sorry what did you say the girl’s name was?”
“Bernadette Wright. I’ve emailed it all over to Angela’s email address that you gave to Christy.”
“Great, I’ll check with Angela that she’s okay to see her in the morning, but I’m sure she will be.”
“Great,” Sam replied.
I chewed on my lip, having no clue what to say. As Saturday had gone on, I’d felt comfortable with Sam, but now the silence was practically static with the discomfort that we both felt. Sam because he didn’t know how to say ‘goodbye and enjoy your life’ and me because in a matter of twenty-four hours I’d become used to him being around us and I wasn’t really sure I wanted that to end.
“Okay, I’ll probably see you at swimming,” I said, giving him a get out if he needed it.
“Yeah, about that,” Sam replied with a loud exhale.
Here it was. This was where he told me he wasn’t going to be doing teaching any longer.
“Yes, what is it?” I slumped in my seat, disappointment washing over me.
“Well, I was wondering if you and Frankie would like to go out for pizza tomorrow night.”
* * *
Sam
What the fuck was I doing, asking her if I could take them out for fucking pizza? I was an idiot, a complete moron and wanted to stab myself in the balls, yet the words had come out as naturally as they would when I asked a girl on a date.
This was not a fucking date. No way, not even close.
“Pizza?”
At the sound of Maisie’s soft, surprised voice, I dropped my forehead to my hand and shook my head at my own stupidity.
“Yep,” I ground out.
When there wasn’t a response, every bit of my hesitancy disappeared and worry gripped me that she might say no.
What the hell was going on with me? I’d quite clearly told my family the day before that there was no way I wanted to be a father to Frankie, and absolutely no way in this world they’d be getting to know him, leaving my mum in tears and my dad almost spouting angry steam from his ears. Yet, here I was asking Maisie for more and feeling shit scared that she’d turn me down. I was playing a damn dangerous game with not only their emotions, but mine and my families too, yet I didn’t have it in me to worry about what spending more time with them might result in. All I wanted in that moment was to take them out for pizza and spend time getting to know them both.
“Yes,” Maisie responded. “Pizza would be great.”
I groaned inwardly at my stupidity, yet somehow couldn’t stop the fucking huge grin that was spread across my face.
Sam
the present
As Frankie tucked into a huge triple cheese pizza, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. It bloody amazed me how much he was like me. He had the same colouring as me and looking at his eyes was like looking at my own in the mirror, but it was more than that, it was his mannerisms too. The way he closed his eyes on that first bite of food, how he rubbed his eyebrow when he was thinking and how he couldn’t hide it in his face when he found something amusing – we both twitched our lips to one side. Not to mention his taste in music and his swimming ability – it was all kind of freaky.
I shouldn’t have been surprised, we Coopers had strong genes. Elijah and I were a mirror image of each other and there was no doubt who our dad was, and they both did the eyebrow thing too and all three of us had the exact same laugh. As for Bella, she was a much prettier, cuter version of my brother, so no wonder my son looked like me.
The words ‘my son’ tumbled around my head, banging against my brain, reminding me with every hit about the strange situation I’d found myself in. It was strange because I’d been adamant that this was in no way what I wanted, but in a matter of days I’d found myself entwined in Frankie and Maisie’s lives and it wasn’t as shit as I’d always thought it would be.
