Page 98 of Finding Jess

Suki began directing her on what to do, and they quickly fell into an easy rhythm, talking as they worked.

“So you’re a software engineer, is that right?” Suki asked as she poured breading into a large bowl.

Sam glanced up at her in surprise. Then her eyes flicked to where Mike and Jess sat in the living room talking. Maybe Mike had paid more attention than he’d really let on those handful of times they’d spoken. But even if he had, she was even more surprised that he would’ve brought it up to Suki before they’d arrived.

“Yes,” she said, looking back down as she continued chopping the cabbage. “I work on software for financial analytics right now.”

Suki hummed, placing raw chicken breasts on a plate beside the bowl of breading. “My oldest son is a software engineer, too. He’s always enjoyed it. Although, I’ll be honest, I have a hard time following most of what he tries to explain about his work.”

“I understand,” Jess’ voice floated to them as she entered the kitchen. “I feel like she’s speaking another language when she talks about it,” she said, nodding toward Sam in a way that was far more composed than when they’d first arrived.

Suki chuckled, looking up at her with an excited grin, as if she’d also picked up on her change in demeanor. “Exactly.”

Mike followed behind Jess, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

“Want me to take over?” Jess asked, nodding down at the cabbage she was chopping. “So you can give your hand a break.”

“Yeah,” Sam replied with a smile, knowing that meant Jess was finally ready to have some time to get to know Suki.

“Beer?” Mike’s gruff voice asked from the other side of the island, holding one out toward her.

“Sure,” she said, moving around the kitchen to take it from him. “Thanks.”

She followed as he made his way back to his recliner in the living room. And the corners of her lips quirked up in a smile, hearing Jess and Suki talking and laughing behind them.

She sat down on the couch opposite of Mike, taking a sip of the ice cold beer. The low murmur of announcers floated out from the TV, where a hockey game was playing on the screen.

“You follow hockey?” Mike asked, keeping his eyes off the screen as he took a big gulp of his beer.

“Not really,” Sam answered. “But I like watching most sports. I can get behind anything competitive.”

Mike huffed, throwing a nod over her shoulder while still keeping his eyes glued to the screen. “Just like that one.”

Sam smirked, nodding to herself. “Yeah, she might be the only person I’ve ever met that’s more competitive than me.”

Mike hummed, taking another swig of his beer.

Calm silence fell between them as Sam leaned back into the couch, trying to savor the rare downtime where she didn’t have to think about work.

After a while, she caught Mike glancing at her out of the corner of her eye. Then he shifted in his recliner, clearing his throat.

She looked up at him, curious, as he threw a glance back to where Jess and Suki were still talking in the kitchen.

“So,” he started, his voice slightly lower and somehow more timid than she was used to. Almost—nervous—in a way? If that was even possible for him.

“You guys are uh—” He looked at her with a question in his eyes, then nodded once over his shoulder. “Again?”

Sam’s heart rate ticked up a notch, the question catching her entirely off guard. If there was anything she expected him to ask that night, that definitely wasn’t it.

“Uh—we’re” she stammered, scratching the back of her neck. “We’re friends. Just—friends.”

He watched her for a moment, and she was suddenly transported back to years before when she’d first met him and he’d questioned her about the incident at the clinic. Like he was searching for what she might have been concealing in the words.

But it was true. They were friends. And she sure as hell wasn’t about to give him the full explanation of what they’d been doing that might have blurred those lines.

He hummed, nodding once. Then he looked at Jess once more.

“She doesn’t—” he paused, looking down at the beer bottle in his hand, as if carefully measuring his words. “Tell me much about who she’s dating these days.”

---