Page 155 of Shattered

“Quite a few times, I believe.” He kissed the top of her head.

It was true. She had recently started telling him everything she loved about him. Sometimes it was his eyes, sometimes his hair or tattoos. Sometimes it was the way he folded the bath towel or loaded the dishwasher. Sometimes it was just how he let her be. It was her way of telling him she loved him without saying the actual words. That was still too frightening of a concept.

But she did love him, and that scared her more than she wanted to admit.

August

She had been rushing around all day, trying to make everything look perfect. She had swept three times and vacuumed twice. The counters had been wiped down, and she had fluffed the pillows each time she walked by them.

Fall semester of her senior year was less than a month away, and they were still in the process of looking for a place to rent for that year. There were only two more weeks left on her and Kristin’s lease, so they needed to hurry. But tonight Sam wasn’t worried about moving, or rentals, or credit checks.

Tonight, she was having Ashlyn Clemmings over for dinner.

“Can you calm down?” Callum laughed from hisspot on the couch.

Kristin had left about an hour ago, shortly after helping Sam get ready, and was at Micah’s for the weekend. Tonight it was just her and Callum…and his mom.

She was hosting her boyfriend's mom for dinner for the first time. Sam felt like that was a completely normal reason to be nervous. The twelve panic attacks she’d had over the past three days were more because this would be the first time she and Ms. Clemmings had sat down together since that disciplinary meeting back in the spring.

“What if the chicken tastes horrible?”

“We both already taste tested it. It’s amazing, as always,” he tried to calm her.

“What if she thinks the house is a mess and thinks I’m a pig and doesn’t want us together?”

Callum shook his head.

“Have you forgotten what my room looked like before?” Then he gestured to the room around them. “This place could be on the cover of a magazine.”

Sam assessed the space. She and Kristin had spent the better part of the last week cleaning, and organizing, and buying decor to make it look absolutely perfect. Which was silly, really, since they were only going to be here a few more days. She was thinking through all the extra stuff they needed to pack when a rapid knock on the door brought her back to the present.

Callum stood and opened it. Sam stood a few feet behind him.

“Hi, sweetheart. I brought some wine. I wasn’t sure what Sam preferred, but this is a favorite of mine. I hope she likes it.”

Sam couldn’t see Ms. Clemmings, but she could tell from her voice that the woman was all smiles.

When she tilted her head around Callum to find Sam, that inkling was confirmed.

“Samantha!” Ms. Clemmings left Callum standing at the door with the bottle of wine in his hands as she rushed inside and wrapped Sam up tightly in her arms.

Sam gave Callum a wide-eyed stare.

Ms. Clemmings lingered for just a moment and then pulled back.

“You know. I knew there was something special about you. I just wish I had known how important you were that day. I would have kicked all those other fussies out before it even started.”

“Hi,” Sam awkwardly stated and then started to laugh.

Ms. Clemmings hugged her once more, and this time when she pulled back she surveyed the room.

“Oh, this place is so lovely!” She squeezed Sam’s hands as she spoke. She was really glad her brain allowed her to enjoy all this physical touch from Ms. Clemmings. The therapy was really helping.

Callum promptly poured them each a glass of the wine his mom had brought. Sam was beyond thankful. It was only then that

she realized she should have probably taken a shot—or two or three—before Ms. Clemmings arrived.

As Callum plated dinner, the two ladies sat on the couch. Sam was so very nervous that Ms. Clemmings would bring up her classes, or future plans, or Christian, or really anything else that might have been in that folder that held the secrets to Sam’s life. She had hoped tonight would be free from the constraints of her past and, true to Ms. Clemmings’s character, she didn’t bring up a word.

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