Page 58 of Securing Samantha

“What brings you here so early in the morning?” Leo asked. “Where’s Hope?”

“She’s back at the cabin. I hoped we might go for a drive. I need to talk to you about a job. You’ll need to work around my therapy appointments, and I don’t know exactly what I can do. I can’t go back into the field,” Whiskey thought of his needs out loud.

“How about an office job? Do you think you can manage the office? We’ll recruit a secretary soon. I require someone to handle getting information on jobs, setting up training for the new recruits, and act as a liaison for the team at the hospital. Helping Matthew locate Ragu and manage the facility with day-to-day operations. It’ll help me focus on the team and the cases we picked up. The Feds asked us to aid them with the investigation of the Seattle Mayor and Julio may be transferring in this direction. I can’t keep up. Now Catherine’s expecting and I want to care for her and Melody. You’d be doing me a favor,” Leo practically begged.

“I’ll do it. Can I stay here until I figure out what to do with Samantha’s old house?” he asked. Whiskey’s mind raced to items at the facility that required attention. The men kept a tidy place, but when they worked a job, things fell through the cracks. The idea of helping others struggling from PTSD gave Whiskey a purpose. He felt a bit of weight release from his chest.

“Sure. Talk to Kassie. She’s talking to the town counsel about a community center and I’ve no doubt she’ll be running for mayor,” he joked.

“I will. And Leo, thank you for coming for me,” Whiskey told him.

Leo stood and embraced his brother. “Let’s go find Hope.”

“I know exactly where she’s at,” Whiskey told him as they walked out the door.

Samantha pulled her suitcase off the luggage carousel. She walked toward the exit when she spotted Bryan holding a sign with her name on it. She dropped LJ off at the team facility and visited with the women and Lizzy before hopping a plane back home. She missed them already.

Bryan smiled as she walked into his arms. “Welcome home, beautiful. How was your flight?” He kissed her and took the bags.

“Considering I purchased a coach ticket and found myself in first class, it went great,” she told him as they walked out of the airport and into the awaiting car.

“Did you talk to Whiskey?” Bryan asked as he held her hand in his.

“No. In fact, no one even mentioned him. I dropped LJ off with Saint. Whiskey texted he would be late and I didn’t get to see him. I needed to leave to catch this flight.”

Bryan seemed relieved.

“Bryan, I told you. I made love to Whiskey for the last time. I don’t want to relive this every time I take LJ to his grandparents or to see Whiskey. You know I’ll be flying home to help Lizzy when I can. This will only make it harder between us,” She sighed.

“We made an agreement. No strings and I appreciated your honesty in telling me. I asked only because you seemed nervous when you left, and I felt concerned about you.” Bryan squeezed her hand.

“It felt weird going back. I’m almost relieved I didn’t see him,” she nestled her head on Bryan’s shoulder.

“You’ll have to face him eventually,” he told her softly.

“I know. I wish I handled the situation differently,” she murmured.

“Listen, you can beat yourself up about it or allow yourself and him some grace. How many people do you know who have dead husbands who reappear suddenly?” he asked.

“One other,” she responded.

Bryan laughed. “You got me there. Besides Catherine, do you know of anyone else? No. The situation’s unique and I don’t doubt there are a ton of unresolved feelings. Did you decide when to tell LJ?”

Samantha shook her head. “Whiskey and I agreed when he came home, we’d tell LJ together. He’s video chatting with LJ nightly before bed. He texts me before the call and I set LJ up on the computer in my office. Usually when I walk in the room, Whiskey suddenly needs to go, they exchange good nights, and he disconnects. I feel like he’s avoiding me,” she explained.

“I imagine he feels as bad about how things ended as you do. Give it some time,” Bryan advised.

“There lies the problem. When I think about time and how we got cheated out of a life together, he missed the birth of our son, because we thought he died. We aren’t always given the gift of time. Lizzy serves as a second reminder even if I forgot the first time,” Samantha sighed. “I don’t want a strained relationship with my son’s father.”

“Did you decide how to handle Christmas? You mentioned you planned on spending it here then taking LJ to the mountain. Did you change your mind?”

“Yes. I left a message asking Whiskey if he wanted to spend Christmas with LJ. It’s not fair I’ve spent every Christmas with him. I’ll pick him up the day after and we’ll celebrate then. I guess I might as well get used to this custody sharing,” Samantha sounded glum.

“The company finalized talks in London this week about a merger my dad worked on before he retired. I delayed going because of you. Why don’t you head to Serenity and spend it with Whiskey and LJ, and I’ll be home two days after Christmas. I’ll pick both of you up and we’ll fly home together?”

Samantha played with the buttons on her coat. “I’ll talk to Whiskey. Maybe we can do a morning Christmas and switch off in the afternoon. It’ll ease LJ into sharing his time between us. I do want to get some gifts to take home with me. Do you have time to go shopping?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.” Bryan placed a kiss on top of her head and Samantha closed her eyes.

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