Page 22 of Sam (Eye Candy Ink)

I grin, remembering how she said that to me the first night we met. Atlas and Darcy turn and both are beaming as they walk back to us and we head out the front door. I had offered to take them out anywhere but apparently their first date was at Abernathy Brewhouse and so we headed there. I tell them that dinner is on me as we head into the private room in the back. Mischa cheers and Nico just rolls his eyes.

We spend the rest of the night eating and drinking until we’re stuffed. We laugh and talk about our plans for the future, toasting the new married couple until everyone’s eyes start to droop. At the end of the night, we all say goodbye. I watch as Mischa ushers Indie into his car and wave at Zeke and Nico as they head over to their cars. Someone, probably Mischa and Indie, tied cans to the bumper of Atlas’s car and he and Darcy laugh when they see it. He kisses her as he tucks her into the car and I realize that he hasn’t stopped smiling all day.

I help Sam into the car and I realize that I haven’t stopped smiling all afternoon either.

15

Max

FIVE YEARS LATER…

“Doyou think mom is going to be mad?”

I look down at my daughter, smiling slightly. We got married about six months after Atlas did and found out that Sam was pregnant a month after that. Our daughter, Catherine ‘Cat’ Schulz was born nine months later.

I had asked her dad and both of her brothers before I proposed. I had anticipated it being a fight and prepared this whole speech about how no one would ever love her as much as me but in the end they gave me their blessing right away. Her dad even said that he had been expecting it sooner.

Sam had cried when she said yes and to this day, it’s been the only time that I’ve seen her cry. Although, she did shed a tear or two when Cat was born.

We took turns bringing Cat with us to work until she started preschool last year. Uncle Zeke and Nico both missed playing with their niece and I know that Uncle Atlas and Mischa missed seeing her in the shop too.

“I think your mother would have done the same exact thing.”

“Are you mad?” She asks, looking uncertain.

“Did you tell your teacher that that boy was bothering you?”

“Yeah like every single day for the past week.”

“What did she do?”

“She just told me to ignore him but I couldn’t cause he kept following me around and messing with me. Then she said that he just liked me but I don’t like him and that’s not how you show someone that you like them.”

“That’s right and I’ll be talking to your teacher and principal about how they handled this later. You stood up for yourself, Cat. I’ll never be mad at you for doing that.”

She hugs my legs and I wrap my arm around her, sighing as my cell phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and answer when I see my wife’s name on the screen.

“Hey,”

“Hey, sorry I was with a client but I saw I had a missed call from you and from Cat’s school. Is everything okay?”

“She punched that Decan kid,”

“Good.”

“I knew you’d say that,” I say with a smile.

“That little bastard had it coming.”

“Let’s try to remember that he is five, dear.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah. We’re almost to Eye Candy now,” I say as we turn onto the block. “See you in a minute.”

We open the door to the shop a minute later and Cat runs ahead of me. Sam already has the gate open and Cat runs into her arms.

“You okay?” She asks, kneeling down so she can check Cat over herself.

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