“You don’t know if you’d vote to overturn Roe? That doesn’t make you much of a supporter of women’s rights.”

“No,” Sam shot back, “it makes me a supporter of those who can’t speak for themselves.”

“I never would’ve guessed,” Nick said, incredulous.

After a long period of uncomfortable silence during which Nick stared at her, Sam cleared her throat. “I think I smell something burning. I’ll go check.” Getting up quickly, she went into the kitchen and leaned against the counter, trying to stop the pounding in her chest. How had she let the conversation get so heated and out of control?

“What the hell was that?” Nick fumed as he followed her into the kitchen.

“What?” Sam asked, opening the oven and peering inside—more for something to do than anything.

“Were you baiting him?” he asked in an exaggerated whisper.

“You were baiting me!”

Ignoring that, he said, “Have you forgotten he’s our guest?”

“Your guest.”

“Right.” He stormed around the kitchen, adding dressing to a tossed salad and retrieving dishes warming in the oven. “It’s not like we’re a couple who’d do something so committed as entertain together or anything.”

Sam folded her arms, her back rigid with tension. “Maybe I should just go.”

“Fine. Run away. That’s what you do, isn’t it?”

“No,” she said softly, “usually I stay, which is how I ended up unhappily married for four long years to a man who tried to control my every thought and action.”

Nick’s expression shifted from anger to regret.

The anger, she decided, was easier to handle.

“Sam—”

She held up a hand to stop him from approaching her. “I’m going to go so you can visit with your friends in peace. I don’t belong here.”

“That’s not true. You know it isn’t.”

“Tell them I got called into work,” she said, desperate to get out of there before she embarrassed herself by getting emotional. “I’m sorry.” With a last glance at his unreadable face, she darted from the kitchen, grabbed her coat and headed out the door while contending with a huge knot in her throat.

Chapter 11

The lobster had been flown in from Maine, but to Nick, it might as well have been cardboard. The meal he had planned down to the garnish received rave reviews from his guests. He couldn’t have cared less. Oblivious to his dismay, the other three laughed and talked and told old stories. Even though he participated in the conversation, Nick wished they would leave so he could go after Sam and nip this thing growing between them before it couldn’t be fixed.

They lingered over dessert and coffee and then asked to see the rest of the house.