Heaven and Hell (Page 111)

That morning, after Maris and I chatted for awhile over coffee, breakfast and Hap’s resumed loud snoring, Luci and Celeste showed. They did it with Luci’s flashy, red Corvette stuffed to the gills with beach paraphernalia, as in, stuffed so full her trunk wasn’t shut. Coolers filled with drinks, sandwiches and snacks, bags filled with beach towels and a variety of suntan lotion, chairs and umbrellas.

Maris and I got changed and we carted all of Luci’s stuff down the wooded walkway that led to the beach that Sam and his neighbor shared. Hap, wearing a pair of cutoff jeans as trunks and proving he was indeed made entirely of muscle from jaw to toes, joined us a half an hour later. That was to say, he joined us by arriving then collapsing facedown on a beach towel Luci laid out for him then he again passed out.

Sam joined us an hour after that wearing a loose-fitting tank that to my delight he immediately took off and loose-fitting trunks he left on.

Hap resurfaced, ate four of the sandwiches Luci and Celeste brought and somewhat revived. This included him jogging to Sam’s house and bringing back a football. Sam and Hap played catch while I watched with no small amount of fascination. This was mainly because Sam wasn’t so much playing catch as existing with movement. I found it stunning – throwing, catching, running, reaching, it was all so fluid and graceful, it seemed natural. Not practiced. It wasn’t like a dance. It was like breathing.

Except breathing beautifully.

Watching him, I wished my Dad was there. Dad would love to play catch with Sam. Sam was definitely Sam to Dad, heck, to my entire family. But there were times he was Sampson Cooper and this was one of those times and Dad would get something huge from that.

Then Luci joined them and essentially played run after the ball you dropped which only Luci could make cute and seem like fun. Which she did.

Not long after, Sam came to me, yanked me to my feet and we played two on two beach football, a game I didn’t know existed. I was teamed with Hap which I found a surprise until I realized it was because, if I was on an opposing team, Sam could tackle me. Which he did.

A lot.

Hap and I, by the way, lost. This Hap did good-naturedly but then again, he probably knew we had no shot.

It was a blast and it was then I wished Kyle and Gitte were with us because three on three would be an even bigger blast.

Maris and Celeste chatted in between cheering us and indifferently reading their eBooks.

We gave up on the game and Luci and I frolicked in the ocean for awhile, Sam and Hap joining us therefore the frolicking became horsing around. Then, exhausted (or at least Luci and I were), we dragged ourselves out of the surf, collapsed on our towels, laid out and soaked up some rays.

Early afternoon we packed it in which was to say the women hoofed it to the house while Hap and Sam carted up all our stuff. Luci and Celeste went back to Luci’s place for showers while Maris and I did the same at Sam’s, Sam hitting the shower after me. The women returned looking prepared to sweep into a slightly casual Cordon Bleu restaurant and Maris emerged from her room much the same. So it was lucky for me I chose a pair of dark green, tailored, cuffed short-shorts and a kickass melon-colored tee that was sleeveless and had awesome drapey bits crossed tight at the neckline as well as light makeup, light perfume and a touch of cool-as-hell jewelry I’d picked up at a boutique in Paris.

The day was fun and clearly Sam nor Maris were going to spoil it for anyone by holding ill-will about that morning. It was like it didn’t happen. Sam was Sam, Maris was who I was getting to know was Maris and that was it.

But now, sitting on Sam’s deck with a moment of solitude and a glass of chilled white wine, try as I might, it was creeping back on me.

What Maris said was true. Sam was a professional football player. Then Sam joined the Army and became a freaking Ranger.

But now what did Sam do?

I had no idea except he said he was in Italy on business, business he never explained. And, thinking back on it, he had a lot of phone calls. Not only when we were in Indiana but also when we were on Crete and even when we were on our trip to view La Scapigliata.

And most of these he walked away from me to take.

When someone was out there maybe then definitely out to kill me, I didn’t think about it. Sam had a mission. Sam had a focus.

Now, there was nothing.

And Maris was right. Sam was not that kind of man.

So what did he do?

I could not imagine Sam was a guy who worked out, frolicked at the beach, hung at Skippy’s and followed his girlfriend around.

What I didn’t know was what was next, not only for me but for him.

What I knew from his conversation with his mother that morning was that whatever was next, or, indeed, currently happening with Sam, he wasn’t going to share it with me. I had not been spending much time trying but I hadn’t really broken through. Now I knew my small victories were not small.

They were puny.

“Do you wish to have some time alone, ma belle?” I heard, I turned my head and tipped it back to see Celeste wearing fabulous sunglasses and holding her own glass of wine standing beside me.

“Absolutely not, not while you’re here to spend my time with,” I told her, she smiled then she moved to drag a chair beside me. When she settled, I said, “I love it that you’re here.”

“I do as well, my Kia, and not only because I get to spend time with you and Sam but also because Thomas received his next assignment and he’s in Lago di Como dealing with packers and movers and I am not. I fear, as much as I have done it, I have never grown to like it. But I am fortunate that my husband loves me so he doesn’t mind me flying over an ocean to avoid it.”

I turned my head to look at her. “Where are you moving?”

She looked at me and answered, “London.”

Drat. That wasn’t Chicago or even New York.

As much as I wished she was moving closer, I still smiled and remarked, “Well, I’ve never been there so a new place to visit.”

“Oui,” she murmured on a small returned smile but it died as she turned her head to look over her shoulder then back at me. “We must talk quickly in case Luci joins us.”

Oh man.

“Why?” I whispered.

She tipped her head to the side and I knew she was thinking.

Then she stated, “It is odd…” She trailed off then quickly went on, “You and I, we have discussed it. I sense your anxiety. And Maris’s, Hap’s, Sam’s… but, ma chérie, since our return yesterday, something has changed.”

I twisted my torso to her and leaned in. “What?”