“Beckett,” Zoe said in way of getting her attention, her elbows on the table and her head in her hands as she looked right at her. “How did you and Sam meet?”
“Sam was my history teacher during senior year. I made his life hell.” Turning to the woman, Natalie tried to see if there was any resemblance between Zoe and herself, but she came up empty. There was nothing.
“Really? Isn’t that against the rules? That has to be against school rules,” Evie piped in from the next table over. It seemed she was paying attention to the conversation.
“It would have been, but we’ve only been a couple for a little while. Not while she was my student. That’s just when we met,” Sam informed them, his baseball talk was over, it seemed.
“Rules didn’t really apply to me back then, or so I thought.” Images floated through her mind of her senior year—what she had of it, at least.
When they finally got back to town, she hoped the people in Landstad wouldn’t believe that anything had happened years before. There was no way she wanted Sam to get in trouble or be questioned about being inappropriate. With any luck, her being away from town for a long time and almost getting married would prove they were just what they seemed back then: teacher and student.
“Sounds like you, Zoe.” Della’s words surprised her. Though Zoe was by far the most outgoing of the siblings, she didn’t seem to have the wild streak Natalie herself had.
“So, you were her teacher for just one year then?” Max asked Sam, the entire group now in on the conversation again.
“No, just fifty-one days.” He surprised her with his answer.
Had he always known the day count? And he even removed the weekends from the count. Had he been counting? Had he always known?
The number surprised her, and she realized she had been in a coma longer than she had been a senior. More days had been spent sleeping than living life. Turning, she caught his eyes, and he smiled at her, and it warmed her that he knew the exact time.
“That’s a steamy look. Must have been some great fifty-one days. Are you sure nothing happened back then?” one of the husbands asked. She couldn’t remember their names.
“Not steamy then, just now. Back then, she was super annoying. Every one of them.” Sam put his arm around her and pulled her closer for a kiss on the forehead.
“I did my best.” She melted into his side, thinking about all the stuff she and the May kids got into—most of it he didn’t even know. She knew her smile had faded with the memories.
“It’s okay,” he whispered in her ear. How he knew what she was thinking, she didn’t know.
Glad when the conversation was overtaken by Zoe talking about her high school hijinks, Natalie was able to just listen. As the sisters talked about the past, she could tell they got along and spent a lot of time together. All except Zephyr, who didn’t add a lot to the conversation about growing up.
As the conversation went on around them, Zephyr leaned toward her and asked, “How old are you? I can’t really tell.”
“Twenty-four,” she lied. Her birthday was tomorrow, but it was close enough.
“Only three years younger than you are, Zephyr,” Zachary said to his wife. Then said to Natalie, “Zephyr is the youngest of the sisters.”
Zephyr smiled at her husband and said to Natalie, “You and I are closer in age than I am with Zoe, who is the next closest to me.”
“You don’t have the same memories as them? You’re not joining in,” Natalie said.
“I didn’t grow up here. I was raised by our mother in Florida. They didn’t know I existed until a few years ago. So I don’t have as much in common like they all do.” Zephyr looked over at the sisters, who were fighting over who someone was that had lived near them years ago.
All conversation stopped when Max got up and said that supper was ready. To Natalie’s surprise, it was delivery pizza. Many, many of them. It was brought into the ballroom, and the kids came running down the stairs. The noise level in the room skyrocketed, and conversations were not possible.
The rest of the evening was spent in the ballroom talking about sports teams, new movies, actors, and people they knew. It was comforting to know that Zephyr was not involved in most of the conversations either. Sometimes she chatted with her husband or fussed over their kids, but she didn’t feel the need to say something when she didn’t want to. Natalie wanted to be more like Zephyr in her life—just let it go when possible. Let life happen around her without needing to join in.
Before the sun had set, Zachary announced that they would be going to the B&B for the night. With his words, Sam also stated that they should get going. Goodbyes were said with a round of hugs. Some even gave Sam and Natalie hugs. It was odd being included when she was wondering if she was even a part of the family. And if she was, they didn’t know that.
As the other families headed to their cars, Zachary and Zephyr carried their kids across the road to the B&B, Sam and Natalie following behind. Once inside, Zachary remembered that he had forgotten to take out all their luggage from the car and headed back to get it. Sam went out to help him, carrying Zion.
Natalie sat down with Zephyr in the living room. “Zachary’s very nice,” Natalie said.
“That he is,” Zephyr said, looking out the window at her husband opening the truck of the rental car.
“Can I hold her?” Natalie pointed at the baby.
After handing her off, Zephyr leaned back on the couch and asked, “Are you and Sam going to have kids?”