CHAPTER NINETEEN
It was good to sit down for lunch with friends like Nate and Paige. They were in New York City, along with their twin babies who were back at the hotel being minded by Nate’s mother and a nanny, working on the movie adaptation of Paige’s book. Nate had teased that the children were going to become intrepid travelers by their fifth birthday. The three of them spent the time while waiting for their dinner looking at pictures of the babies on Nate’s cell phone.
Off in a quiet corner, no one bothered them but then this was New York City. People didn’t get starry-eyed about a couple of actors eating antipasto at a small out-of-the-way restaurant in Little Italy.
Nate took a sip of his water. “You probably heard that I turned down the new Thunder movie. They had no idea how they were going to write me in since my character died. Honestly, it sounded like they hadn’t really thought about anything. They just wanted us all together again.”
That was the understatement of the year. The studio seemed to have the belief that the script didn’t matter as long as the four men were on the theatre marquee.
“I turned it down as well and I have to agree with you. If there had been a decent script…or any script at all, well, I might have made a different decision.”
“Were they willing to finance your next project?”
Sam chuckled as he remembered that conversation with his agent. “Yes and no. They were willing to finance a project, but they wanted to be far too involved in it for my liking. When I produce and direct a film I like to have control over it. I’m funny that way.”
Paige nodded in understanding. “I’m learning that about myself, as well. I think you both did the right thing.” She glanced at her husband and then at Sam. “But that doesn’t mean that you can’t work together again. If the project was right.”
Interest piqued, Sam leaned forward. “Do you have any ideas? I’m listening if you do.”
Nate was already shaking his head. “Don’t encourage her. I didn’t realize what being married to a writer was going to be like. She gets ideas for stories all the time. Anywhere and everywhere and at all times of the day or night. She has a notebook filled with them and one whole section is devoted to stories that I could star in. Now she’s thinking about movies that all of us could do together.”
Sam couldn’t think of men he’d rather work with than his Thunder castmates. They’d made some hellishly awful shoots much more bearable.
“Send some of those ideas over. I’d be open to all of us doing another picture together, just not another Thunder movie. That franchise needs to go out while it’s still on top.”
Paige gave her husband a smug smile. “See? I told you he’d be open to it.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Nate laughed. “You’re about to be bombarded with texts twenty-four hours a day.”
“I look forward to it.”
“You’re always such a gentleman,” Paige sighed. “Now enough about us and the babies, tell us how your vacation was. Did you get some well-deserved rest?”
Poor Paige had no clue how loaded her seemingly innocent question was.
“Some. It was nice to see my mother. She might come visit me here in the city in a few weeks.”
“What did you do?” Paige pressed, taking a bite of her lasagna. “I love the beach.”
Paige was originally from another part of Florida, but she’d made her home in London with Nate. She was still getting used to the rain and cold.
“Really not much.” Sam didn’t like being evasive with his best friends, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to get into this with them. Lately he wasn’t sure of anything at all.
Blissfully eating his chicken piccata, Nate didn’t appear to have a clue the inner turmoil that Sam had inside, but Paige was a different matter altogether. Like so many women, she seemed to have a sixth sense about things. Right now, she was looking at him with the same shrewd gaze his mother had.
Shit.
“Did something happen while you were on vacation, Sam?”
He took a big bite of his pasta. “No.”
Paige wasn’t buying what he was selling. She set her fork on her plate and cleared her throat delicately.
“I hope you know that we’re your friends and you can tell us anything. We’d never disclose what was said in confidence.”
“I do.”
“So if something happened and you’re upset about it, it might help to talk it out.”
“Maybe.”
Another sigh, but this one wasn’t nearly as happy as the last one. “Let me stop beating around the bush and get right to it. Do you realize that you’ve been answering me in one or two-word replies?”
“So?”
“It rather suggests that there’s something you don’t want to talk about.”
Nate placed a hand on his wife’s arm. “Then maybe we should take the hint, sweetheart. If Sam doesn’t want to discuss it…”
She was looking him up and down or as well as one could when he was sitting. That sharp gaze was appraising, probing, seeing right through his bullshit. Heaven help poor Nate. He’d never get away with even a tiny fib, but then Paige had a teenage son so she’d had to have finely tuned mother-radar.
“It’s a woman.”
The pronouncement was calm and sure, like Paige herself.
Nate winced and shook his head. “Then we really need to mind our own business. Let the man eat in peace.”
“We just want to help,” Paige said gently. “But I’ll drop it if it bothers you.”
These were his friends and friends wanted to help. They simply didn’t understand that there was nothing they could do to make this better. It was far too late.
“I appreciate that but there really isn’t anything you can do. You’re right, I met a woman, but I doubt I’ll be seeing her again.”
This time it was Nate who spoke. “Why not? Did you argue?”
“Not at all. She’s a lovely woman and we got along very well. She’s a kindergarten teacher and a friend of my mother.”
Paige smiled with excitement. “She sounds perfect. Why aren’t you going to see her again?”
“Because she’s the type of woman who wants a real relationship,” he explained patiently. “Commitment, children, an actual home life. Not a man that gallivants all over the world for work and is never home. We’re too different.”
Nate frowned, his gaze narrowing. “And you don’t want any of that? Not even a little bit?”
“I had it,” Sam reminded his friend. “I had it and I blew it. I’m not cut out for happily ever after.”
“One mistake doesn’t mean you can’t try again.” Paige reached for her husband’s hand. “The second time around can be pretty great. As for your marriage, it takes a lot of work from two people, not just one. You can’t take it all on your own shoulders.”
He could because they didn’t know the whole story. A situation he wasn’t anxious to rectify.
“Let’s just say that Trish had a good reason for divorcing me.” He realized how that sounded, though. They’d think he cheated on her.
“You were young,” Paige argued. “I doubt you’d make the same mistakes.”
He wouldn’t want to but he might, and he couldn’t take that chance. Not again.
“Trish was pretty clear when we split up that I was the worst husband on earth. She hated me and said she never wanted to look at my face again and she hasn’t. The divorce settlement was very generous. It’s the least I can do for ruining her life.”
Nate frowned, his brows pinched together. “Is that what she said? That you’d ruined her life? That’s harsh.”
She’d said that and a few other things that day. The last day he’d seen her. Even during the divorce he hadn’t seen her again; they’d conversed completely through attorneys.
He hoped she’d found some sort of happiness in her life. He’d loved her once and he wanted the best for her.
“I don’t really want to talk about my ex, if you don’t mind. Let’s just say that I’m not looking to get married again and leave it there.”
Paige looked like she might cry. Damn, she was soft-hearted. “I think it’s sad, though. I don’t want you to live your life alone, Sam. You’re a good person and you don’t deserve that.”
“I’m living my life…on my terms. It’s all good.”
Tilting her head, Paige seemed to consider his words. “But she made you think about it? Just a little bit.”
More than he should have. Riley wasn’t for him. Obsessing about what could be wasn’t good for his mental health.
The buzzing of his phone mercifully interrupted their conversation. The phone displayed a photo of his mother that he’d taken when he was home.
“Excuse me, it’s my mom. I need to take this.”
Nate and Paige nodded in understanding, turning toward each other to give him a little privacy.
“Hey, Mom. What’s going on?”
“Um, Sam? This is Tara, your mother’s friend.”
Why was Tara using Paula’s phone?
“Hi, Tara. Where’s Mom?”
A cold feeling was beginning to crawl through his veins, a sense of foreboding he couldn’t shake. Tara had a tone in her voice that Sam didn’t like.
“That’s kind of why I’m calling. Your mom collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital. She told the doctors not to call you but both Riley and I think you should know. We’re here with her now and the doctors are running tests. It might be nothing or… Anyway, we thought you should know.”
His mother was the single most important person in Sam’s life. Damn right they should have called him. He’d have a talk with Paula. Later. When she was recovered.
His mother had always been in excellent health but she was getting older, a fact that Sam had been conveniently ignoring. He didn’t want to think of his life without her in it.
“Give me a few hours and I’ll be there. And Tara? You did the right thing calling me.”
He only hoped that this time he wouldn’t be too late.