Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers by Emily Matthews (best mystery novels of all time TXT) 📗

“Well, she did lie. About being married.” Sam sulked.

“Maybe there’s a good explanation for that. Just like for the crib. You said she wanted to explain, but you wouldn’t let her. Who knows what her reason was?”

“Hm.” Matthew was probably right.

“And we’re back to whether or not you love her. Whether you’re going to fight or give up. It won’t be easy to win her trust again. You need to decide right now if she’s worth the effort.”

Sam picked up his drink and swirled the amber liquid around. Did he love her? He’d only known her for a short time, but in that time, she’d become important to him. He enjoyed spending time with her, he wanted to do things to make her happy, he felt comfortable around her, and lord knows he was physically attracted to her. It wouldn’t seem like it to her, but he trusted her more than he’d trusted any other woman. Was that love?

And even if it was, how could he repair the damage he’d done? Should he just let this be the end of it? His heart was saying go for it, she’s trustworthy, but his brain wouldn’t stop with the doubts and cynicism. Could he overcome the self-sabotage and get his heart to override his mind?

Matthew interrupted his thoughts. “The way I see it, you have two options. You can do the bare minimum, go apologize, and smooth things over in order to salvage a working relationship, or decide you want more…that you want to make amends but also move forward with a personal relationship. That road will be harder.” He smiled.

“Have you ever been in trouble with Lucy? Like, real trouble?”

“Uh, yeah. We’ve been married for twelve years. Of course I’ve been in trouble. You remember that time I bought a boat when we were just getting started and barely had a nickel to our names? That didn’t go over so well.” He chuckled at the memory.

“What did you do to get out of the doghouse? I’m thinking flowers won’t be enough.”

Matthew laughed out loud. “No, they won’t be. At least you’re not a complete idiot. There’s some hope for you. See, I could tell you what I did then, but you have to think about Annie. What would mean something to her? What does she love? What type of gesture would get her to forgive you?”

“I should just go talk to her and see what she’s thinking. Maybe it’s not as bad as I thought, and she’ll forgive me if I just ask.”

“Sure. Try that.” Matthew smirked. “So cute. So naive.”

“Humph. Fine, I’ll think of something. I was hoping to resolve this before I left for New York, but that’s probably not going to happen. Damn. I hate leaving things hanging.”

“Good thing you have a shit ton of money. That may come in handy. Big gestures are often expensive.” Matthew winked.

Sam racked his brain, trying to come up with something on the spot. “What if I ask her to marry me?”

Matthew’s eyes got wide, and he sat up straight and leaned forward. “You want to marry her?”

“Well, I’m not sure, but that would be a big gesture.”

Matthew sighed and shook his head. “Sam, when you ask someone to marry you, you’d better be damn sure that’s what you want. A marriage proposal isn’t something to fuck around with and dangle in front of someone as a means of forgiveness. I wouldn’t do that unless you are one hundred percent certain that’s what you want.”

“Okay, okay. You’re right. That was just off the top of my head. I’m heading to New York this weekend for Mitch’s bachelor party, but I’ll talk to Jake on the way out there and maybe hit up my other brothers for ideas as well. Between the five of us, we’ve got to be able to think of something!”

“Just remember what I said about making sure it is something specific to Annie. It has to be heartfelt. None of that bullshit flowers and balloons stuff.”

“Go big or go home. Got it.”

“And, Sam, if you figure out you do want to marry this woman, I’ll be so happy for you. You deserve someone special to share your life with. Marriage can be tough, but it’s definitely worth it.”

“Thanks. I knew I could count on you for some good advice. I’ll keep you posted.”

“You better. And once you pull your head out of your ass and patch things up, invite Annie to dinner at the house. Lucy and I would love to meet her. The woman who caught Sam MacDonald…she must be amazing.”

“She is. I’ll figure out a way to fix this.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Even after spending several hours at the park thinking about everything, Annie still spent the drive home replaying the conversation with Sam. She’d accused him of not trusting her but couldn’t stop the niggling feeling that the fact that she kept a locked room just for his sake meant that she didn’t totally trust him either.

Why hadn’t she told him about Avery sooner? She thought maybe he’d feel sorry for her or see her as damaged goods in some way. Or worse, that she’d been a terrible mother. But what did that say about how she saw Sam? She was assuming he’d see the worst in her, and it wasn’t fair to assign feelings to him she didn’t know he had, or would have, had he known about Avery. It appeared the lack of trust might be a two-way street.

What would Brody Robinson say? She’d spent countless hours listening to Brody’s CDs and reading his books. What would he advise? Think of things from Sam’s point of view. Okay. Seeing the crib would be very confusing to Sam. Understandable. She could also understand why he was pissed thinking she’d lied to him about being married. It was inadvertent on her part, but he wouldn’t know that.

So many people had tried to take advantage of