But she couldn't just ignore everything going on around her. "It's okay," she reassured him. "We can replant the daffodil bulbs in the fall and the flowers will bloom again next year. They'll look just as pretty over there." She pointed to a spot a few feet away.
Ryan still looked like he was about to be sick and Zoe was certain the reasons had to run deeper than the fact that he'd messed up Elena's flower garden.
Zoe glanced at Sam. "Honey, why don't you go check on Ima? Take her leash and walk her. She needs to get used to training."
"Cool! I'm gonna take her to meet old Mrs. Morton next door."
Zoe laughed. "Okay, just avoid the spa area, okay? I don't think the clients would appreciate seeing a pig during their visit."
"Okay." Sam started for the house, then turned and ran back to Zoe, throwing her arms around her neck. "This was the best birthday ever."
Zoe's heart melted a bit more and she hugged Sam tightly. Sometimes, despite that Sam was fourteen and nearly as tall as Zoe, her hugs and touches seemed younger, somehow. Sweeter. A lump rose in Zoe's throat as it did each time Sam felt comfortable enough to express her emotions.
As the young girl blossomed, Zoe came to understand just how much she valued her family and why. As a child she hadn't realized how lucky she was to have parents who loved unconditionally and she'd assumed all families were the same way. Sam's background showed just how untrue Zoe's adolescent assumptions had been. Through Sam, Zoe appreciated her clan even more.
Before Zoe could find her voice and reply, Sam continued speaking. "It's been even better than the few I remember with my mom." Her hand shifted to the necklace at her throat.
In six years, Sam's memories of her mother were faded. Because the necklace was the last link Sam had to her mother, she never took it off. Only recently had Sam admitted she'd been with her mother when she'd died from a gunshot meant for the man who'd been her father, a drug dealer Sam never asked about and refused to see. No matter how bad her own choices had been, obviously Sam's mother had done something right in raising her daughter.
Sam fingered the old-looking keys that hung from a silver chain. "Does saying that make me a bad person?" she asked softly.
Zoe shook her head. "No, honey. Just an honest one."
Sam seemed satisfied with that and stepped back, transferring her gaze to Ryan. "You're pretty cool, too, Ryan. Thanks for the books and stuff."
"You're welcome," he said gruffly.
Zoe didn't know which had affected him more, Sam's comments about her mother or the compliment she'd just directed at him.
With a wave, Sam took off for the house, leaving Zoe and Ryan alone.
She didn't know where to begin with him, so she started with the first shock of the afternoon. "You weren't supposed to be here until noon."
"I finished up early at the bookstore. I couldn't see the point in driving around in circles for an hour when I could just come by here." His gaze locked with hers. "I didn't tell her anything."
Zoe nodded. "I know." Sam's happy mood made it clear she hadn't been the recipient of Ryan's news. But that wasn't the only reason Zoe was sure Sam remained in the dark. "I guess I trust you a little," she admitted.
He raised an eyebrow. "I can tell by the way you came barreling out of the house that you weren't at all concerned about me being alone with her," Ryan said wryly.
She laughed at being caught red-handed. "Yeah, well, I think I decided I trusted you about the time I found out you bought Sam the book on pigs."
"If she wants to keep a pet, she should learn how to care for it properly."
Zoe had a hunch she knew where this was heading. "You mean she should follow the rules."
He nodded. "Exactly."
Zoe dug her sneakered toe into the mound of dirt and grass he'd excavated and searched for a diplomatic reply. "Look, Ryan, I realize you mean well and everything, but you should know, the chances of that pig being well trained while living in this house are slim to none."
"That's the wrong attitude to take. You can't go into a long-term commitment like pet ownership on a negative note."
"I'm not. It's just that to train an animal, you need consistency. Everyone who has daily contact with the pig has to do the same thing and in this insane asylum, it's better not to hold out false hope." She shook her head and laughed at herself, realizing she was beating around the point she wanted to make. "Look at it this way. Ari and I turned out just fine. Ima Pig will survive, too." She gave him a direct look. "But I'm really not talking about Ima."
He met her gaze, his brown eyes serious. "I figured that."
"You need to know that Sam's not a follow-the-rules type of kid. And you need to respect who she is as a person." At that moment, Zoe realized she was, in a way, preparing Ryan in case he should end up with Sam.
The thought caused a sharp pain in her heart along with a gaping hole she couldn't cope with right now. But she'd be doing a disservice to both Sam and Ryan if she didn't face the possibility of losing her.
He walked over to a bench and sat down, leaning back against the white iron. "Five minutes alone with her and I knew she was more like her mother than I'd expected." He gazed up at the sky as if there were answers and explanations there. "My family stifled Faith."
Zoe had suspected as much. "And that can't happen to Sam."
Ryan nodded. "I know." He understood what Zoe meant, so much more than she realized.
His sister had stepped out of the bounds of what his family considered proper and she'd paid for her so-called crime by being disowned. Often he had wondered if his father had been glad Faith had disappeared because that way he wouldn't have to acknowledge her problems and addiction. But then he'd heard his mother's muffled crying and known he didn't comprehend as much as he'd thought.
For fear of being cut off from the only life and family he'd known, Ryan had walked the straight and narrow long after Faith had gone. Though his sister had been weak and an addict, she'd had the strength to stand on her own until the end. In an absurd way, he admired her for it.
"Ryan?" Zoe's hand on his arm and her soft voice called to him.
He knew he shouldn't be affected by her, knew he was lying to her family about being a social worker while planning to take his sister's child away with him. He didn't want to want her, yet he did. He couldn't deny the attraction and had a hunch he couldn't avoid acting on it, either.
"Ryan?" she called him again.
"Hmm?"
"I asked why you reacted so strongly to the mistake with the daffodils."
He laughed because he wasn't sure this subject was any easier to tackle than his growing desire for Zoe.
Standing, he walked back toward the patch of dirt. "My grandmother Edna grows roses. She has a garden that I suspect means more to her than any of her children."
"And heaven help the little heathen who hits a baseball into the bushes and tramples the flowers to retrieve it?" She waggled her eyebrows in an attempt to soften the blow of her words, something Zoe seemed to accomplish with ease.
"That about sums it up."
"Trust me, Elena won't bat an eyelash at her lost bulbs. In November, she'll just wake me at dawn to replant."
He grinned. "Thank you for that."
She narrowed her gaze, a small crease forming between her eyebrows. "For what?"
He shrugged. "I'm not sure. For being you maybe? Here we are, two people who couldn't have more at stake or be more at odds and yet you seem to care about my feelings, anyway."
To his surprise, she actually blushed. "It's one of my shortcomings I guess. I blame those Costas genes. We're suckers for people we like."
He stepped closer. "And you like me."
Her lips curved in a reluctant smile. "Yeah. More so when you forget you're a conservative suit-and-tie kind of guy. Like now." Her gaze fell to his bare chest and remained.