“Oh, really? Is that so?” I bit down, feeling my jaw tick. I didn’t know what was going on with her, but she was starting to cross a line. “Sam, I gotta go.”
“You are. You’re making a huge mistake.” Her voice was flat, unemotional, but her blue eyes were blazing. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, because I do. I know what you’re up to. You and I . . .” Her voice trailed off, her eyes gazing into thin air as she lost herself in whatever memories she was reliving. She looked back to me again, this time visibly steeling herself. “We have this connection, we always have. I don’t know why you don’t see it. Or maybe you fight it, I don’t know. I’ve thought before it was because I was so close to your family or something. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t make it untrue. You and I are meant to be together. I won’t stand here and watch you ruin everything!”
“Ruin everything? What in the hell is wrong with you, Samantha? We are friends, if that. You are a friend of Brielle and I’m trying to help you get your life together since I-”
“Since you’re the reason it was fucked to begin with!” she shouted. “You are never there for me! You act like I’m a piece of trash, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks! It doesn’t matter what I do, it’s never good enough for you. I’m never good enough for you,” she said, her tone changing to anger. “Why, Max? Why am I only some little girl you pity?”
I wiped a hand down my face, unsure as to how in the hell we got to this point. I never looked at Sam like that and I sure as shit didn’t lead her on to believe I did. What the hell?
“Sam, I’m sorry if you think–”
“You’re sorry? You’re sorry that you leave me every time I need you? Well thanks a lot, asshole.”
Her insinuation started to piss me off. “I would give anything to take back what happened to you that night. I’ve bent over backwards ever since to make sure that nothing happened to you again. But I’ll be damned if you are going to somehow try to think you have some say in my life! It’s none of your business.”
“It is my business! I love you!” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized her mistake. She covered her mouth with her hand and let out a small shriek. “Max, I . . .”
Did she really just say that?
She looked like she was going to get sick.
Yeah, she just said that.
“I had no idea.” I took off my hat, pretty much speechless. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but I wasn’t about to let her get between me and Kari, either. “Had I known, I would’ve done things differently. But I love Kari, Sam.” I turned to look at her, the sadness on her face making me nervous. I hated knowing I was the one that caused her pain.
Again.
I tried to change tactics. “You’re like my little sister. I just . . . I could never see you like that.”
“You can. I know you can! Just give me a chance. Please!” She raced forward towards me, but I kept her at arm’s length. Her eyes were wide, pleading with me to listen to her. “Give me six weeks. You’ve never given me a chance to show you who I am, what I can be to you. I’m always there for you when you need me. Look at how much I’m helping at work! Look at who came and got you when Kari left you! Me! I deserve a fair shot, don’t I? It’s the least you can do for me and it won’t cost you anything, besides saving yourself from making a mistake.”
She took a step forward and ran her hands down my chest. I wrapped my hands around her wrists and removed them from my body, wincing. “No, Sam. There’s nothing between us to give a chance. I’m sorry.”
“Fuck you,” she seethed, her demeanor turning on a dime. “Everyone thinks you’re this gentleman, this amazing guy and really, all you care about is yourself!”
“I hate that you think that, but it isn’t going to change anything.” I turned towards the door. “I’m leaving now.”
“But . . .” I heard her behind me as I walked to the door. “Max! You can’t leave! This isn’t over!”
I grabbed the handle and opened the door, turning to look at her briefly. “It’s over Sam.”
KARI
I woke up lazily the next morning in a guest room at Cane’s cabin in Payson. We had arrived late, snuggled on the couch, and watched movies in front of the fireplace. I wasn’t even sure how I got into bed.
Cane’s cabin wasn’t the “cabin” I had expected. I expected a mountain cabin with four walls and a bear skin on the wall, a wood-burning stove that you had to heat water up on. But it was anything but that.
It was a beautiful, 2-story structure with three bedrooms. It had everything you could want but not a thing more and it was perfect. If I was Jada, even with Alexander House, I’d want to live here. The smell of the pine when you walked outside, the fresh air, the sound of the frogs in the pond out back—it was perfect.