So he did, rallying and getting all of the food put away. Iris cast them both a long look before she walked back out the door.

“It was always like that,” Sammy said. “Wasn’t it?”

“I was never even tempted to bring anyone home,” he said.

“But we were always just...in your stuff, weren’t we?”

“It doesn’t matter. It was for the best that I never did bring anyone. I wasn’t looking for anything permanent anyway. And bringing somebody into this family... You all would’ve jumped on her. Asked if I was going to marry her five seconds after she walked through the door. No, thank you.”

It hit her then just how much of his life actually was kept a secret from her. And she probably knew more about him than anyone else in the family. But she had tended to let him keep separate what was separate, too. Maybe on some level because it might bother her.

The truth of the matter was it had always suited her that he didn’t have girlfriends in a traditional sense. Because they would’ve been jealous of her. And it would have been an issue. Sammy had never wanted to compete with another woman for his attention. He was hers in a way that none of them ever could have been anyway. It would’ve been foolish for them to try to compete with her. At least, that was her humble opinion on the matter.

“Still. I just guess I didn’t really appreciate... I mean I understand that you were basically being the parent while everybody else still got to be a kid but sometimes I think I still don’t fully get everything that you did. For me. For us. For them.”

“I wanted to do it,” he said. “Don’t go acting like I did some kind of great sacrificial thing. I didn’t. When I lost my parents...the idea of being away from anyone else in my family was pretty much unbearable. Taking care of them, making sure that they were okay, that gave me a purpose. And if there were some sacrifices in there... I don’t mind. It was part of it.”

“Well. It would be nice if you could get some privacy now.”

He looked at her far too meaningfully. She felt herself blushing, and she couldn’t remember the last time she blushed before this. Ridiculous.

“Anyway,” she said. “Thank you. For helping with my hands.”

She wanted to thank him for some other things, too, but she didn’t know if it was appropriate. He picked his hat up off the counter and put it back on his head, and damned if the man didn’t tip it at her like some old-fashioned movie cowboy.

“I’ll see you later, Sammy.”

“See you,” she said, and when he left the room, she was almost certain that he had taken the air right along with him.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

WHEN THEY ALL went out for drinks on Friday night, Rose acted scandalized when Sammy ordered a beer.