Page 26 of Without You, Scotch and Sammy 2

I don’t stop yet. It’s still early and they’re hours away from opening, so I keep moving and push Lily’s stroller ahead of me. I inhale the warm scent of fresh bread and coffee as I wander past the bakery and continue on my self-guided tour. The main street stretches six blocks, with the final block transforming from shops to industrial buildings, and Sam’s apartment is up that end, so I stop at the end of the fifth block and turn around again.

I’ll be seeing him again today. And tomorrow. And every day forever until I get what I need. But not right now. Not in the dark and cold before I’ve had time to prepare. I push Lily’s stroller and smile as her eyes grow heavy. I pull the hood up on her seat to block the orange glare of the streetlights, and I pat her blanket down tight because she likes to be snug.

I’d hoped to find a diner of sorts, or even to find Dixie’s had transformed into more of a restaurant like she always planned, but as we meander past, I look in the windows to find it’s still just an ice-cream parlor. Shame. A cooked breakfast would have been nice, but any breakfast, and especially coffee, is good enough. I continue walking back down the south end of Main, humming under my breath a song I forgot I knew, and though I’m surprised it doesn’t hurt to remember, I embrace my newfound power and smile as we walk.

I have a lot of business to take care of while we’re here, but life isn’t all bad. Lily and I are okay, and it’s not like the state is clamoring to split us. They want us to be together, I just have to ‘tie up my loose ends.’

Juggling the stroller and pulling open the heavy glass door of the local bakery, I bump it open with my ass and shimmy us out of the cold and into the deliciously warm scented air of croissants and coffee. The stroller’s rubber wheels squeak on the clean floors, and I grunt and maneuver us in.

A large hand takes the weight of the door and I almost fall inside the store. “Here, let me help you,” he says kindly, holding the door wide and stepping back so we can squeeze in.

I pull my hat off and toss it onto Lily’s hood, then turning with a smile, the words ‘thank you’ freeze on my tongue. My eyes meet his and his smile freezes too. I can’t even be totally sure I’m seeing who I think I’m seeing, and if it wasn’t for his face turning a ghostly white, or his Adams apple bobbing nervously, I could almost brush it away as a doppelganger. But I can’t brush it away, and his big pouty lips and dark eyes and thick brows won’t let him brush it away either.

“Soda?”

A nervous cough catches in my throat. “I haven’t been called that in a very long ti--”

“Thirteen years,” he interrupts coldly. “Thirteen years since you vanished on us.”

I take a deep breath and bite my bottom lip. He’s mad. Just like Sam was last night. I look Angelo up and down, from his dirty and scarred work boots, up long legs covered with stained jeans. Over large hands that are stained black under his fingernails, then to hair that’s tied up in a bun at the back of his head and has wispy bits falling from the tie already, despite the fact it’s so early in the morning. Once upon a time, had we been separated for a while and reunited, he probably would have taken me in a quick hug. Purely platonic, but oh so comforting. But not today. And despite the fact I haven’t been hugged by him in more than a decade, it almost feels like it was only yesterday, so my heart hurts that he doesn’t automatically step forward.

“Hey Ang. You look so grown up.”

He continues to frown, and he looks me up and down. “Scotch know you’re here?”

My heart thuds to an instant standstill, almost winding me from the sudden stop. “Scotch?”

Angelo watches me like a hawk. He always was an observer, and I always thanked my lucky stars he liked me. I wasn’t the enemy, so he was always watching out for me, not watching me with suspicion. Until today. “Yeah, Scotch. You remember him, right?”

Angelo’s sarcastic remark doesn’t hurt like he probably expected. I’m still stuck on Scotch. “Sam still goes by that name?”

He continues to stare at me for a long minute, biting his tongue and considering me. Eventually, he nods quickly. “I literally don’t think anyone even remembers his real name anymore. He’s gone by Scotch since… well… you know.”

“Yeah,” I sigh. “I know.”

I jiggle the stroller when Lily starts making a whiny mewing sound, and the instant the movement begins, she resettles, but my actions have Angelo’s eyes snapping to her in accusation. “Wow… Congratulations, huh?”

I look back to her, then to him. “Yeah, sorta, I guess… not exactly.”

He chuckles in exactly the same way I remember from so long ago. “That sounds really complicated.”

“It is a little bit.”

“Are you married?”

“To someone other than Sam, you mean? No.”

Angelo’s eyes flash quickly; humor, approval, more suspicion. “It’s been a long time, Soda. Why are you back now?”

“I have to talk to him.”

“Are you here to break his heart… again?”

His jab lands perfectly. So perfectly, I actually rest my hand over my jumping stomach. “It’s not like that anymore. It’s been too long. I don’t have the power to hurt him anymore.”

Angelo looks around the small bakery, then lifting his to-go coffee and pastry between us, he nods back toward the door. “Wanna sit for a bit? Catch up.”

“You’re screening me before I see Sam?”

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