We entered a large window-filled room where the November sun shone through, giving it an accurate name of sunroom. A man and woman were embracing.
"Oh, God. When are you guys ever going to learn to get a room?" Vivie moaned.
The man and woman turned to look at us. I'd met a lot of rich families growing up in the wealthy Wheatly family. Most had an air of snobbery to them, just like Sam had talked about when meeting the very unsnobbish people at Dane's party. As his parents came toward us, I could see they didn't have that air of superiority.
"Welcome to our home," his mother said, giving me a hug. Sam and his siblings took after their mom, at least in their hair coloring. She was a blonde while his father’s hair was dark, peppered with gray along the sides. But Sam and Max had their father’s green eyes.
"How was the trip?" his father asked.
I felt my cheeks heat as the image of Sam making love to me came to mind. I cleared my throat. "It was fine. It’s very nice of you to have me for Thanksgiving, Mr. and Mrs. Clarke."
His mother waved her hand. "Please call me Juliana."
“And I'm Drew."
"You're probably exhausted, but we have coffee, juice, and breakfast if you’d like,” Juliana said. Max and Vivie were already seated at the table with food.
"Pancakes?" Sam asked.
Both of his parents rolled their eyes. "Of course, there are pancakes."
His mother looked at me. "As if I wouldn’t have pancakes for Sam. I swear, if he could get away with it, it’s all he’d eat."
I grinned at him. I remembered his asking me if he was too old to be having pancakes the day we had breakfast in the diner.
"We have breakfast set up as a buffet, so please help yourself to whatever you want," Juliana finished saying.
The nausea returned, and I worried I might embarrass myself by getting sick. I turned to Sam. "Is there a restroom where I could freshen up?"
"How rude of me. I should've thought of that. Here, let me show you where it is." Juliana led me out of the sunroom and to a bathroom off the kitchen.
As I entered the room, Juliana said, "We really are glad that you're here, Kate."
I could see in her eyes that her words were sincere, and it helped alleviate some of my nervousness. They were friendly and kind, and I got the impression that they knew of my past with Sam. I wondered what they thought when he came home with Sandra instead of me?
After freshening up, I managed to eat a piece of toast and drink herbal tea. Afterward, Sam took me up to his room.
“That went fine, didn’t it?” he asked.
“Your parents are very nice, and I can see that you’re a close family.”
“We are.” He clapped his hands together like he was scheming. "I have so many plans for us today, but I know that with jet lag, maybe you're tired and want to rest."
"What sort of plans?” I asked as I sat on the large bed in the spacious room decorated in dove gray and crisp white.
"Well, I'd like to take you over to my Aunt Bri’s club. I think you'll really like her. You and she are a lot alike. For dinner, I thought I'd take you to the Rourke, which is one of the top restaurants in the city, and it’s owned by my Aunt Bri's family. And then afterward, I can show you the first club Max and I built not far from my Aunt Bri's in the East Village. In between those plans, we can check out tourist sites or whatever you want to see.”
I felt fatigued just thinking about everything he had lined up, but his face shone with excitement at wanting to share all these things with me. It was an expression that made me feel Sam was safe now.
But of course, the cautious voice reminded me that I had thought he was safe five years ago. Sandra had shown up and ruined all of that. Where was Sandra now? I really needed to find that out, but just like I was too much of a coward to tell him about the baby at the moment, I also didn't want to know what happened to Sandra and Chelsea. I didn't want reminders of the past.
"It sounds busy, but I’d like to see all that, like to see the Sam I never got to know."
His head cocked to the side, and he came over to me, kneeling on the floor and taking my hands. "That was another mistake I made five years ago, not having you meet my family and know all about me. I'm an open book, now Kate. I want to show you my world and answer any questions you might have of me."
I imagined he was referring to Sandra and Chelsea and whatever it was he’d been trying to share with me from the start. If we were to have a future, I needed to ask the questions or at least let him say his piece.
Instead, I said, “Show me New York.”