Page 54 of Without You, Scotch and Sammy 2

“Most lawyers are assholes.”

She laughs softly. “Can’t say I disagree with you there.”

“So you really don’t keep in contact? You guys were basically inseparable once she moved here. She left not long after you, so we assumed you both took off to live the socialite life together.”

Sammy’s eyes flash with hurt, but she tamps it down quickly. “No. We text once a year. She asked me to be in her wedding – but I declined. She and I had a fight a long time ago. It was my fault, but I felt like I was being judged, so I distanced myself. Before I knew it, a year goes by between texts.”

“What did you fight about?”

She watches me for a long minute, hesitating before finally answering, “You… She felt like I was making the wrong choice by leaving. She was nagging me to come back.”

“Well shit.” I can’t say Meg was wrong.

“Yeah… Anyway. We went off to different schools, our texts dwindled, and that was that. Now we just send a happy birthday text once a year.”

I slowly approach the opposite end of the long couch. When she doesn’t scream or cry or run away, I sit down gently and pick up my guitar for something to keep my hands busy. Resting it on my lap in the way that’s as familiar as breathing, I look up and meet Sammy’s eyes, but my fingers move freely and play by feel. “What did you study at school?”

She smiles softly, tapping the side of the half empty bottle with her fingernail. “Psychology and social work… among other things.”

I nod and look back down to my hands. “Just like you always planned.”

“For the most part. The reality of working with families isn’t quite the same as the fantasies of a teenager with notions of saving the world.”

My fingers slide up the neck of the smooth instrument I know like I know my limbs. “That’s pretty much how it goes.”

“But I still get to help people… I do the best I can. And that’s how I met Lily’s mom, so it worked out in the end. I can’t save everyone, but I’m sure as shit going to save Lily’s world.”

I’m impressed by Sammy’s mild swearing. She was always too proper for even that, and I smile as I continue to strum the guitar softly. It feels like déjà vu, except back in high school, we’d be touching; leaning on each other, lying on each other, even her feet in my lap the way they were in Luc’s earlier.

Lily sucks the bottle dry, so removing it from her lips, Sammy looks around awkwardly for a place to sit it. I hold my hand out in offer, and after a long pause, she gingerly passes it to me. She picks the baby up and starts patting her back as tiny little bubbles make their way up her throat. “What did you do after… for school?”

“I screwed around a bit. Travelled. Moped. Then once I made up my mind, I went to law school.”

Her eyes snap up. “Law school?”

I laugh at her embarrassed smile. “You’re still right, most lawyers are assholes. I got my degree, passed the bar, told your dad to go fuck himself – in my mind. Then I went back for another year so I could work with kids too. Now I’m a guidance counsellor for troubled youth.”

Her grin grows quickly. “You are? Is that a hard job?”

I shrug. “Similar to yours. I do my best, I try and help. I win some, I lose some.”

“You have more wins than losses?”

Mac’s smiling face flashes through my mind. “Lately? Yeah. I’m having some wins at work.”

She continues to pat Lily’s back as Lily’s head lolls around lazily. “I’m really pleased to hear that, Sam. Do you guys still play music?”

I look down at my guitar and nod. “Yup, we do. We’ll never stop.”

“All of you?”

“Yeah. All of us. We still play. We have a regular gig at a local club here in town. We do that a couple nights a week.”

“Did Marc and Kari…” She pauses for a long beat as she considers her words. “They’re good? Does she still live around here?”

“Yeah. Kari went off to nursing school after graduation. She was gone for a couple years, but she was only in the city, so she was home weekends and most summers. No way in hell was Marc letting her go further than that. She’s back now, and she works for the same hospital as Luc. And Marc moved into his own place not long after graduation. He didn’t have to, but he’s always been about independence.”

“Yeah… What does he do?”

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