He carefully considered the pastries in the display case. Normally he's not one for pastries but it had been a long day, and what the hell, he could run it off later.
"Can I help you?" the girl behind the counter asked. She was young, probably in high school, and pretty in a farm-girl type way. She smiled flirtatiously. He was probably 15 years older than her but he smiled back anyway, might as well be polite. It's his eyes, his wife would say. His green eyes dazzle them so much they can't see the reptile inside. Fair enough. Her blue eyes dazzled him and he missed the iceberg inside.
"What would you pick?" he asked.
"The chocolate crepe. All kinds of awesome. However, boss lady told me to push the scones. If it were up to me..." a bell rang, signaling a new customer coming into the coffeehouse. "I'd definitely get the scones." she finished with extra enthusiasm.
"Excellent job, Ilsa. She hates the scones." She said confidentially. Even after 15 years, he recognized her voice. "Can I have one scone, cut in half please? I need half for Ella, even if it is before dinner."
"Thanks mom, I love you!"
"Oh, now you love me?" he could hear the laughter in her voice. This was nonsense, he was afraid to turn around and look at the woman standing behind him. "As opposed to how you felt 15 minutes ago in the mall." She handed a half a scone to the girl that walked in with her. The other half she handed to him, "I just need an honest opinion on these. Just wasting my time making them if..." looking at his face for the first time.
"Sam!" her hand shook a little. "Sam Evans."
"Hello, Mercedes."
"So what brings you to Lima?" she asked, handing him a cup of coffee while sitting down across from him. She'd been a girl when he knew her, not much older than the girl behind the counter, and all the childishness was gone now. She was thinner than he remembered, and wore her hair natural. He remembered her not liking her natural hair when he knew her. There wasn't much about herself she liked when he knew her, just singing. Now there was a joyfulness to her he didn't remember. Their really happy times had only lasted for three months and the last time he saw her they were both crying.
"Family business." he said.
"Really? I thought your family was from Tennessee."
"I'm married now. You remember Quinn from high school? We got married about ten years ago."
"Oh. Quinn. Congratulations." Mercedes tried to think of where she was 10 years ago. Ella would have been 2. The Philippines. "I remember now, my mother mentioned it was in the paper. How is Quinn?"
"Okay. Her mother died and I'm here trying to settle the estate."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."
"Thank you. How are you?"
"Me?" she suddenly remembered something. "Ella? Can you please go get daddy? Please tell him Sam from high school is here. From high school, that's important."
The girl glanced at Sam before heading towards the back of the cafe, only to stop when the front door swung open with a bang.
"Tonight!" A girl stood in the doorway and bellowed "Tonight! Won't be just any night!"
Ella ran over and hugged the new girl. "You got it?"
"You know it!" She squeezed the younger girl in a bear hug.
"Way to go, Jack!" Ilsa said from behind the counter.
"I did just what you said Momma!" the girl threw her arms around Mercedes' neck. "They would have been deaf and blind to say no! Then this girl Rachel's all 'Puerto Rican's aren't black!" and I'm all 'People think I'm Puerto Rican all the time.' Then I cussed her out in Spanish."
"Jackie!"
"If you had been there, if you had seen it, I betcha you would have done the same. Ole! Chicago!"
"Really? I'd never have known." She gave the girl a kiss on the cheek.
The girl looked up, her green eyes locked on Sam's. She tilted her head, as if she was trying to remember how she knew him.
"Daddy!" she ran over to the man standing in the kitchen door. "I'm Maria!"
"I heard. So did half the block. Congratulations baby!" He twirled the girl around.
"Well, my whole family's here so you might as well." she signalled the others. "Blaine, you remember Sam. Sam from high school." She added with significance.
Blaine looked startled for a second, then he half-smiled at Mercedes and reached for her hand. Sam didn't remember a Blaine from high school so he wondered if they had met in college. This guy was short, not super short but shorter than Sam, taller than Mercedes. He had curly black hair, worn longish, just brushing his shoulders. The older girl was introduced as Jackie, the younger girl was Ella. It was obvious that he wasn't the father of the older girl. Ella had a light brown complexion, thick black hair that fell in soft waves and brown eyes like Blaine and Mercedes. Jackie had a slightly darker complexion, still much lighter than her mom, brown hair that she wore in braids and green eyes.
"Do you have time to come upstairs for a few minutes?" Mercedes said. "I guess you have a few questions. Girls, give us 20 minutes."
He looked at his watch, wondering how he was doing against his self-imposed schedule.
"You still have that?" Mercedes asked.
15 years earlier
Sam lay as still as he could, waiting for the sound of her car. She promised to sneak out tonight, no matter what was facing her when she got back. Come hell or high water they were watching the sunrise at the lake. If not today then it was never going to happen, they both knew that. He heard the car pull into the motel parking lot and then his phone vibrated.
Sam slipped out of bed and across the room, past his sleeping parents.
"Sam." his mother whispered. He froze in his tracks.
"Sam." she repeated, getting out of bed. She walked over to him and put her arm around him. "We have to check out at 11am. Be back by 10:30. Thank Mercedes for everything she's done for us. Tell her we all love her."
They sat on the pier, waiting for the sun to rise. They didn't talk, they didn't make love. They just waited and cried. After the sun rose they waited some more, until it was time to leave. They didn't say anything on the way to the motel. There was nothing to say. He was leaving, she was staying. They'd both live happy lives. Maybe they'd be together again? Probably not.
They sat in the car in the motel parking lot, not talking. Finally, he had to go, he might as well go, there was no way not to go. He got out of the car.
"Wait a minute." She called out to him. He could tell she was trying to stay in control. "I got you something."
"But we agreed..."
"Well, I lied. I got you something." she pushed a rectangular box in his direction. "Not now." she said when he started to open it. "Open it when you get there. I know we agreed to a clean break but I just wanted you to have it."
He got back into the car and kissed her, tasted her, for the last time. "I love you, Mercedes."
"I love you, Sam."
Back to the Present
Mercedes was sitting cross-legged on the sofa in their apartment over the coffeehouse. Blaine was sitting on the floor, his head resting on her knee.
"Obviously you're not Jackie's father." Sam started.
"Obviously."
"So who is?"
"You can't figure that out?"
"Blaine!"
"Merce! You knew he'd show up one day. You should have taken care of this 15 years ago."
"Well, why don't you get started on that time machine and I'll do that?"
"You know I love it when you're sassy but now's not the time. Later." He leaned backwards and she leaned forward and kissed him, nearly losing her balance.
"Hey? You wanna take care of that later? I'm still waiting to hear about my daughter."
"Clean break. That's what you said when you left Lima. Clean break."
"You could have made an exception in this case."
"What I said." Blaine said.
"Okay, I didn't know for a couple of months. During that time, I kept hoping you'd call, clean break or not. That was the point of the watch." Sam looked at his wrist. At the outrageously expensive military-style watch she gave him on his last day in Lima. "You know, it's time to call Mercedes? I guess I was too subtle. Then, the day after my birthday, I broke down and looked at your Facebook. Captain of the dance squad. She was so pretty, blonde and thin and you two looked so cute together. Why would you call me, that's the kind of girl you should be with. Like Quinn, she's perfect for you. What could you do so far away and everything anyway? That was early December. After Christmas, and not even a Christmas card, I knew I needed to take care of things on my own."
"I would have done something if I knew."
"What I said."
"Yes, that's what Blaine said." she poked him with her knee. "Call him, I'd want to know, he said. But I didn't. Okay, I just didn't. I got thrown out of New Directions, long story there, pretty much spent Junior year singing jazz, hanging out with Tina and a couple of band kids, had a baby. Tina said you were at Nationals."
"Yes. My school in Kentucky came in 8th. If I remember correctly New Directions came in 4th."
"Yes, we did." Blaine said. "I was there."
"Most of New Directions graduated that year so senior year I came back and Schuester was desperate enough to take me. Blaine was a senior too and we pretty much took over. We ruled that club!" They high-fived each other. "And dragged their sorry asses all the way to a National's championship."
"Well Artie and Tina participated in the ass dragging too." He rubbed Mercedes' knee. "And you wonder why the girls talk the way they do." Blaine smiled and shook his head.
"What did you say about me, to Jackie I mean." Trying to pull them back on track, a place neither one of them seemed to want to go. "Does she think I'm some jerk that left you high and dry?"
"No. She knows you didn't know about her and that it was my decision not to tell you. I'm sure they worked the whole thing out by now, they're both wicked smart. She probably knew the minute she saw your eyes, they're just the same. They both know I was in high school when Jackie was born." She absentmindedly ran her fingers through Blaine's hair. "Blaine's a good father. I mean, I'm sure you would have been great too but like I said..." They were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Can we come in?" the girls called from the hallway.
"Jackie, Ella. I want you to meet Sam Evans. Sam is Jackie's biological father, the Sam you're named after. Jackie's full name is Jacquelyn Samantha Anderson. And Ella Marie Anderson here."
"Very pleased to meet you." Ella said holding out her hand and curtsying. "What I said." she whispered to Jackie before leaving the room. Blaine and Mercedes moved a discreet distance away and started playing chess.
Jackie sat down across from Sam. "So..."
"So." he repeated.
"So, well..."
"Deep subject." he said with a nervous laugh. "Well, get it?"
"You don't have to be so nervous. I don't bite. So tell me something about yourself. Or should I say myself. Do I have any brothers and sisters, besides Ella?"
"Yes, you have a brother named Richard. He's eight. How old are you?"
"Fourteen. Ella's twelve. Where do you live?"
"Connecticut. When's your birthday?"
"February 14th." She looked at Sam carefully, her head tilted to one side. "Why are you here?"
"You want the truth?"
"Of course. I could make up a lie on my own."
"Bagels."
"Bagels?" she laughed.
"Yes, I smelled bagels so I came in."
"The bagels aren't the best here. Best in Lima but not the best in the world."
"Where are the better?"
"Long Island. They're good there. And you wouldn't believe it but Baltimore. Excellent bagels in Baltimore."
"So you're a bagel expert?"
"We're kind of food snobs around here. Actually" she leaned forward. "They've ruined me for school food. Can't keep it down. So you didn't come here looking for me?"
"I didn't know to look for you. How do you feel about that?"
"That's what mom said, you didn't know. She said you were really sweet and you'd love me if you ever met me. She also said you were really poor and couldn't afford to help. And I always had everything I needed. By the time I asked about it, when I noticed Ella and I don't look anything alike, I was seven or so and my dad had always been my dad. We moved around a lot and everybody in this family looks different anyway. It took me a while to notice most families don't look like us. What does my brother look like?"
Sam showed her a picture on his cell phone. She looked from the phone to the man in front of her. "Same eyes." she said finally.
"You have them too. This is my sister, your aunt, Stacey. And your uncle Steve. See, same eyes. Why did you move so much?"
"I don't know. We lived in the Philippines for a few years, then we moved to Europe, then we drove around America. At first, I thought that was normal. Then I had this theory they were wanted for something, or in the witness protection program. That would have been interesting and dramatic. Turns out they're just eccentric, which is kind of interesting. Just not witness protection plan interesting."
"How did you go the school with all that moving?"
"Homeschooled. That's why we're here. I wanted to see what school is like. Conveniently enough some friends needed a coffeehouse sitter for a year. They're musicians on a tour."
"So how do you like school?"
"I'm undecided. Ella doesn't think much of it."
"You sound like military brats, all that moving around. That's why Rick and Quinn stayed in New Haven."
"Quinn?"
"My wife. Her name is Quinn." he showed her a picture. "She went to school with your mother. But I was in the Navy, I just left recently. We figured it would be hard on him, moving all the time."
"I suppose it could be for some people. Maybe it would have been bad if I didn't have Ella. But we had fun so as long as we're together it's okay. Kids here roll their eyes when I say things like that, like I'm not supposed to like my family. Well what else do I have but them?" She thought for a moment. "What do yo want me to call you? I already have a dad."
"Sam. You're old enough to just call me Sam."
"Nice to meet you, Sam." She shook his hand, then hugged him. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. That's from Casablanca, you ever see it?"
