“I have no idea where my phone is.” She said her shoulders slumping in yet another defeat. She raised an eyebrow at Jake. “Is everything okay?”
He nodded towards Cara, and she pulled out two envelopes from her pocketbook. She winked at Jake as he took them from her. Sam stared at the envelopes suspiciously before looking back up at Jake.
“Yours and Luke’s test results came in the mail yesterday.” He said and reached for her hand, squeezing it lightly.
Sam’s eyes widened as she looked into her brother’s hopeful eyes. She looked at the envelopes that he clutched in his other hand, and she felt the tears well in her eyes. The contents of those envelopes held the information that could potentially save Jake’s life. She could be the match and be the one who rid him of the cancer.
“Oh my God, Jake. Why didn’t you open them yet?” She asked hoarsely.
“Because, I wanted you and Luke to be there when I did.” He shrugged his shoulders, as if it having them both there made all the sense in the world to him. Sam shook her head. Jake never failed to amaze her. He held the answers to his future in his hand, yet he waited so they could all be together. Sam turned and looked at Cara, who was smiling.
“We told him we’d come pick you up when we couldn’t reach you. He’s expecting us to meet him over at the garage.” Cara explained.
Jake squeezed her hand again, and she turned back to him. He grinned at her.
“So go on and get dressed. I’m dying to know which one of you gets to save my life.”
Chapter Three
Nick pulled his truck into the parking lot of Lanza Automotive. He spotted Luke immediately at the front of the garage working on a classic car, they were restoring for an upcoming car show. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for the wrath of a grumpy Luke. Nick didn’t get why he was always so bent out of shape these days. He thought settling down with Leah would soften him up, and make Luke less cranky. Yeah, not so much. Luke hated when Nick was late, and as he looked at his watch Nick realized today he would be two hours late. He didn’t think it would make matters any better telling him about his little ordeal with Sam this morning.
Speaking of the blonde firecracker, she had left her phone in his apartment that morning. The damn thing hadn’t stopped ringing. He grabbed it from the passenger seat and slid it into his pants pocket for safe keeping. He’d have to figure a way to get it to her. The thing was, he was fairly certain he’d pissed her off enough that, if she saw him, he feared his family jewels were at risk.
He climbed out of his truck and remembered Sam’s friend Mallory’s little declaration. Sam didn’t like her nickname she preferred to be called Samantha. He had teased her last night about it, but for some reason now he wondered why he never realized it after knowing her all these years. He always had paid close attention to Sam, even when she was a teenager and she thought he ignored her. As he made his way towards Luke, he realized something. Maybe more of Sam changed than he had thought. It had been seven years, after all, she had done a lot of growing up in that time. He was playing off the Sam he left behind all those years ago, not taking a moment to learn about the Sam that he had missed out on getting to know. Maybe that was the problem, maybe that’s why she hated him so damn much.
“Hey hot shot, nice of you to grace us with your presence.” Luke said sarcastically as he polished a new rim for the car he had been busy working on since early this morning.
Nick scratched at the stubble of hair along his jaw, making a mental note that he needed to shave badly. “Did you know your sister doesn’t like being called Sam?” Nick asked.
Luke shook his head. “I should’ve known this had to do with her.” He rubbed his face tiredly. “What’re you talking about? That’s her name.”
Nick looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. “No, her name is Samantha.” He waited for Luke to acknowledge the difference and when he didn’t Nick felt the need to explain. “She'd rather be called Samantha instead of Sam.”
“She’s twenty-five she decides this now?” Luke shook his head and continued with his work. After a few moments he lifted his eyebrows at Nick, who still stood pondering his revelation. “Look you and Sam, excuse me Samantha, can go over the name thing. She’ll be here any minute.”
“What is she coming here for?” He wondered if she had told Luke about last night. What could she truly tell her brother? It wasn’t like she remembered much. She must be coming for her phone he thought.
“The test results are in for the bone marrow match.” Luke said solemnly.