anywhere except the kitchen and Riley's bedroom. Sam sat on the
uncomfortable sofa trying to relax and read the paper. She shifted several times
trying to find a comfortable spot. Riley glanced over the third time Sam shifted
restlessly.
"You don't like it here much do you?" She asked indicating the room.
Sam flushed and started to stutter. Riley placed her fingers over Sam's mouth
stopping her. She looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time.
"I don't blame you." She laughed. "I don't like it much either."
Sam's surprise showed on her face.
"My aunt and uncle picked this place out for me. My aunt hired some prominent
designer to decorate. I was never here very often and when I was I spent most
of my time in the bedroom. It's the only room in the house where I insisted on
picking out everything. I didn't much care for the way the place was decorated,
but like everything else I just let it go to avoid a conflict. I realize now what a
waste of time that was," she acknowledged as she fingered the bruises on her
cheek. "Let's get out of here. Take me to your place."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sam opened the door to her apartment. She had her arm wrapped around Riley
and they stumbled in the door laughing.
"Nice of you to join us," said a voice from the couch.
Chapter Twelve
Both women jumped and then turned to face the person in the room.
"Hey Jess, what're you doing here?" Sam asked surprised to find her sister in
her living room.
Jess raised her eyebrow at her sister questioningly.
Sam stared at her for a second then remembered. "Oh shit! I'm sorry." She
turned to Riley explaining. "I asked Kim and Jess to come back down this
weekend since we cancelled our plans last weekend."
Riley looked uncomfortable. Sam squeezed her shoulder. "Don't worry about it."
She told her softly.
"So why didn't you just call my cell?" Sam asked.
"Well Kim did, but it wasn't turned on."
Sam blushed, she'd turned the cell off the previous day determined not to have
her time with Riley interrupted. With everything that'd happened, she'd forgotten
to turn it back on.
Kim had been in the kitchen making some sandwiches for her and Jess when
she'd heard Sam's voice in the living room. She smiled when she saw Riley was
with Sam. She noticed their body language. Riley was tucked under Sam's arm
with her arm wrapped around Sam's waist. Sam's arm was wrapped securely
around Riley's back.
"Hi guys." Kim said as she came into the room. She walked over to Sam giving
her a one armed hug. "Hi Riley, it's good to see you again." She greeted before
giving Riley a quick hug.
Riley hadn't said anything so far. She was nervous not knowing how her
presence would be received. It was the first time she'd see Kim or Jess since
Sam was in the hospital. She relaxed just a little at Kim's friendly greeting.
"Hi Kim, glad to see you both too. I'm sorry about messing up your plans last
weekend." She apologized.
"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're alright." She reassured Riley reaching out to gently squeeze her arm.
"I was just making us some sandwiches. Want one?"
Riley glanced at Sam and she shrugged her shoulders.
"Sure." Riley told Kim with a shy smile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sam had told her and Kim that she'd been spending the nights at Riley's condo
and taking her back and forth to work ever since the confrontation with her
uncle. Uncharacteristically she hadn't provided any real details.
"So where did you two disappear to all day yesterday? Wasn't Riley off?" Jess
asked as they sat eating their lunch. We tried your cell several times and just got
your voice mail. Kim did leave you a message reminding you we'd be down
today."
"I... ah... I haven't had a chance to check my messages."
Kim watched the interplay between Sam and Riley; they shared a quick
meaningful glance. Sam wasn't usually as secretive as she was being.
"So what did you guys spend the day doing?" Jess asked again with a smirk. It
was starting to dawn on her just what they'd been up to. When matching blushes
spread over both women's face, Jess was sure.
"We...umm...we...umm... just hung out at Riley's condo." Sam explained with a
stutter, glancing worriedly at Riley. Everything Riley had shared with her was
very private and she didn't feel comfortable sharing such intimate details of
Riley's life with her sister or Kim. Riley's eyes were glued to her plate.
Now Kim was really intrigued, this wasn't like Sam. She normally had no
compunction about talking about her love life even if the woman in question was
sitting right next to her. She never gave any details but was never embarrassed
to admit she'd been with someone and they'd spent the day making love. Which,
unless she was reading this situation wrong was exactly what Sam and Riley
had done. Whoa, this is bigger than I thought. She's worried Riley will be
uncomfortable and is trying to protect her. I wonder what else happened
between them.
"So Riley we heard on the news about the big construction accident. Did you get
a lot of traumas from that?" Kim asked before Jess could press Sam again. Sam
threw her sister-in-law a grateful look.
Riley looked up from her plate, happy for the abrupt topic change. "Yeah we did.
It was a mess. There were several people with major crush injuries as well as
multiple head trauma patients. We had all five operating rooms going non-stop
for over twelve hours. It really screwed with the rest of the week's schedule, as
we had to bump the routine patients to another day.
They continued to chat about the hospital as they finished their lunch. Much to
Jess's annoyance whenever she tried to steer the conversation back to the
previous days activities, Kim deftly changed the subject.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They settled back in the living room after lunch. Kim and Jess settled on the
couch, Sam and Riley sat on the love seat.
"So what do you say we head for the Quail botanical gardens?" Kim inquired.
They'd talked about it the previous weekend but never made it.
"Yeah, that sounds great; we haven't been there in quite a while." Sam agreed.
Riley leaned close to Sam. "I should get going." She told her softly.
"Why don't you like the Quail botanical gardens?"
"I don't want to intrude on your time with your sister. I already messed up part of
your day. I'll just head back to the condo. I should get some laundry done and
maybe read some journals." Riley told her in a quiet voice.
"You're not intruding on anything. Do you like botanical gardens?" Sam placed
her fingers on Riley's lips stopping what she was about to say. "Yes or No?"
Riley smiled against Sam's fingers and nodded her head.
"Good then it's settled."
Kim and Jess had been listening to the conversation, it was impossible not to.
Kim spoke up when Riley started to protest again.
"We really would like you to come with us Riley. You're not intruding on anything.
Would you please join us at the botanical garden?" Kim asked formally.
"Yeah, come with us... you can keep an eye on Sam she always gets in trouble."
Jess added teasingly.
Riley smiled brightly at both women. "Thanks, I'd love to come with you." Sam