Sam and I both turn, spotting Mr. and Mrs. Harris sitting with Mason and Jacob at a table near the windows. They only have drinks on the table and must have just sat down.
“Should we walk over like everything is normal?” I ask.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Sam smiles and takes my hand, leading me over to his family. The table only seats four, and Sam effortlessly grabs a chair on his way over and adds it to the table.
“Hey, guys. Did you order yet? I’m starving.”
Everyone looks up, stunned for a split second, and then Mrs. Harris jumps out of her seat.
“Sam!” She throws out her arms and goes to hug him and then stops, noticing me. “And Chloe!” She pushes Sam aside and pulls me into a big embrace. “Oh my goodness! What—when—what are you doing here?”
“We thought we’d come into town for the weekend,” Sam tells her. Mrs. Harris lets me go and hugs her oldest son. “We actually stopped by the house, but you weren't there.”
“Did you just get into town?” Mr. Harris asks.
“We got in late last night,” Sam tells him. “We stayed at Chloe’s dad’s house.”
“Sit down, join us!” Mrs. Harris says and waves her hand at Mason. “Get up. Give Chloe your seat.”
“I can get a chair,” I say, and Mason rolls his eye.
“I was the golden child for a whole two minutes, asshole,” he grumbles to Sam.
“Really?” Jacob mutters under his breath.
“You’re just jealous you’re never special,” Mason says without missing a beat. “You’re always here. Mom doesn’t get excited when she sees you.”
“Yes, I do!” Mrs. Harris exclaims. “I’m always excited to see any of my children. And you all know Rory is the golden child.”
Mr. Harris laughs, and I shake my head. “I missed you guys,” I say as Sam gets another chair from a nearby table for me. Mrs. Harris hugs me once more and sits back down, big smile on her face.
“What a nice surprise! I wasn’t expecting to see you, Sam, and you brought our Chloe with!”
“I’m glad me coming in this weekend was just the consolation prize,” Mason huffs, and I smile again. He always gave Rory a hard time for being dramatic and emotional—dramotional, as he used to say—but he’s just as dramatic as the best of them.
“Oh, hush,” Mrs. Harris says with a shake of her head. “All my boys are home now, and having Chloe is an added bonus. Now if only Rory and Dean were here with my sweet grandbaby.”
“How long are you in town?” Mr. Harris asks.
“Only until tomorrow,” Sam says. “I have to work on Monday so we’ll leave Sunday evening so I can get home and get decent sleep before getting up for work.”
“Are you staying?” Mrs. Harris asks me hopefully.
“Why would Chloe stay here when Sam goes back to Chicago?” Jacob asks, picking up his coffee. “I mean, I wouldn't blame her. I’d be sick of him too.”
“And you think she’d rather stay here and hang around you?” Sam counters.
“We could talk about horses,” Jacob quips.
“I would like that,” I say with a nod and then look at Sam. “And I do like to talk about Spartan.”
“See?” Jacob says pointedly, trying not to laugh. “How’s the leg injury?”
“So much better! He was cleared for light work by the vet, but I’m giving him another week or so off, obviously since I’m here, but he does get out and walked every day.”
“Yeah, that’s enough horse talk,” Sam teases, putting his arm around me. The waitress comes to the table to take our orders and is surprised to see two extra people at the table. She brings another table so we’re not so crowded together, and we put in our order.
“I take it things are good between you two,” Mrs. Harris says to me as Sam talks football with his brothers, who are giving him shit for liking The Chicago Bears now that he lives in the city.
“They are,” I say, unable to keep from smiling.
“I told this to Sam, and I don’t know if he told you, but it makes me so happy to see you two together. I could tell there were several times one of you or the other had feelings, but I never wanted to meddle. But I always hoped you two would find your way back to each other eventually.”
“Things have a way of working out, I suppose.”
“They certainly do. And I don’t want to overstep, but you know me and you’re already family to me…”
I smile, waiting for Mrs. Harris to go on. It’s endearing how she thinks she doesn’t meddle or overstep.
“And I know you two only officially started dating a few weeks ago, but I can already see us all together at holidays, and maybe sometime in the near future—” She shrugs as she talks, trying to make me really believe this is all casual talk. “—there would be another Harris baby in the family.”