Page 433 of A Matter of Time

“Sam.”

He chuckled. “But they better be good to you, or we’re done.”

“You did?” I husked, absolutely floored. “That’s what you told them?”

“Of course,” he snapped at me. “You’re it. You’re the man I love, so yeah, they gotta get on board.”

“I said the same thing to all mine,” I told him.

“Well, see, lookit us on the same page an’ all.”

I took a breath.

“And so yanno, Pat and Chaz, they like you just fine, they just weren’t sure how to bond with ya, so we’ll fish next weekend and see how it goes.”

I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly.

“Jory?”

“Pardon me?”

“Pardon you what?”

“What’d you say?”

“When?”

“About next weekend.”

“Oh, we’re gonna fish.”

“Fish?”

“Yes.”

“Like with a pole and stuff—all day sitting outside?”

“Yep.”

“Oh God,” I groaned.

“I’ll get you a cool hat.”

“No, no, no, that’s okay.”

He chuckled, and the sound rolled right through me. I missed him like crazy. “And for the record, I know your friends like me. I just need to get comfortable with them too. I’ll work on it, you’ll work on it, and we’ll go on.”

“Jesus, Sam, you’re such a grown-up.”

“Somebody has to be.”

I let it go. “I thought maybe you wanted out.”

“Never want out.”

“Okay.”

“I wanna be in.”