"So you never told me," Freddie said, nearly an hour later, as him and Sam sat at her kitchen table. "Why'd you come to New York of all places when you left Seattle?"
Sam shrugged. "Seemed like the place everyone came to make it. Too bad it didn't exactly work out that way for me."
Freddie didn't know how to respond to that, so he simply took a sip of the herbal tea Sam had made him. She said she didn't have coffee, as she threw away everything unhealthy from her kitchen the second Leah was put back on dialysis. Freddie took a moment to appreciate how that gesture really reflected on Sam's parenting.
"So," Sam said, breaking the silence. "Is your mom still insane?"
"Absolutely," Freddie replied at once. "If anything, I'd say she's gone more psycho over the years."
Sam let out a small laugh. "How could she have gone more psycho?"
"Well, see, now that I'm all grown up and out of her care," Freddie sighed. "Her motherly instincts are feeling a bit…unused. So now, in addition to trying to steam me for ticks at all hours of the night or coming into my apartment and smashing up all my fruit into fruit sauce, I now have her hounding me to give her grandkids."
Sam snorted. "Are you sersious?"
"Very," Freddie said. "I swear, she must try and set me up on five blind dates a month."
"Well," Sam said, shaking her head. "That's absolutely crazy, but actually…I can sort of see where she's coming from with the overprotective bit now."
Freddie stared at her in shock. "What?"
"I mean, she did take it overboard a few times," Sam said. "Or a lot of the times…but I can kind of see her side of that now that I have the twins."
"Are you saying you became as overprotective as my mom?" Freddie grinned.
"Well, I never took the girls to have chips implanted into their brains," Sam smirked. "Or had them wear cloud block…But, I mean, a couple of years ago, when Kira begged and begged me to let her start walking to the bus stop down the street by herself, I sort of followed her without her knowing for at least six months. And when Leah was younger, she used to play with all these dolls and she had a bunch of accessories for all of them. And I was really freaked out that she'd wind up swallowing the little parts even though she was like, six years old, so one night when she was sleeping, I took all the tiny things and threw them away."
"I guess you are pretty overprotective," Freddie said. "But still, nowhere near as bad as my mom was."
"Good," Sam said.
"Hey, tell me more about the twins," Freddie said. "I've only gotten to meet Kira for about two minutes, but I don't know too much about either of them. Are they a lot alike?"
Sam smiled. "They're polar opposites. Kira is the most like me out of the two. She hates girly things. She'd rather spend her time playing basketball at the park with her friends than going shopping or putting on makeup or any of that stuff. But she's actually really good at singing. She's pretty shy about it, which is why I'm happy she gets to sing at her assembly this weekend. And believe it or not, the kid's already got a better left hook than I do."
"No way," Freddie laughed. "I feel bad for anybody who gets on her wrong side then. Because I think I still have some bruises on my arm from your hooks."
"I taught her well," Sam said proudly. "And Leah…Leah's real sweet. She's really into fashion. I think she must have a dozen subscriptions to different magazines. She likes to look at the clothes and try and draw her own designs. She can entertain herself for hours by just painting her nails with a bunch of crazy patterns and colors or by doing her hair. She'll do my hair, Kira's, if she lets her…she wants to be a fashion designer someday."
Freddie noticed how Sam's face lit up as she talked about her children. It was clear they were her whole world.
"Hey, what about you?" Sam asked.
"What about me?" Freddie shrugged.
"I dunno, give me the lowdown on you," Sam said. "All I know really know is that you're working at the Pear Company and you still have a whacko mom."
"There's not much more," Freddie told her. "I don't really have that exciting of a life, you know. I go to work and come home."
"Come on, I'm sure there's more than that," Sam said. "Hey, what about college? How did you and Carly do there?"
"It was pretty nice, I guess," Freddie said. "You know me…I practically lived in the library."
"What? You didn't go crazy and party there like everyone else?"
"Parties weren't really my thing," Freddie said. "Not that that was a surprise to anyone."
"No, I guess not," Sam agreed.
"I went to a few with Carly," Freddie continued. "She really liked them. A little too much, at times."
Sam nodded.
"But still, it wasn't bad," Freddie said. "I got away from my mom, after all. She called at least five times a day, but it was better than living with her. I think…I think it would've been more fun, though, if the three of us had gone together."
Sam took a swig of her tea. "Yeah, well, that would've never happened. I didn't get in, remember?" She sighed and looked down at her lap. "Sometimes I wonder what it would've been like…if I had gotten into college with you guys or I had gotten to go to that cooking school…I wouldn't be in New York, for starters, I probably wouldn't be a cop…I wouldn't have the twins…"
"I think you did well for yourself, though," Freddie said. "You have a nice apartment, great kids…"
"I don't regret moving here," Sam said quickly. "I just sometimes wondered if it would've been…easier staying in Seattle."
"Don't dwell on that," Freddie said gently.
Sam didn't reply.
"Hey," Freddie said, his lips curling into a smile. "You know what I've been sort of missing these past twelve years?"
"What?" Sam asked.
"Your insults."
Sam almost choked on her tea. "My insults?"
"Yeah," Freddie nodded. "As much as they destroyed my ego…they always kept me on my toes."
Sam laughed. "That's probably the weirdest thing I've ever heard."
"I know," Freddie said. "But it's true."
Sam rolled her eyes. She looked down at her phone. "Whoa," she said. "It's past midnight."
"Wow," Freddie said. "I guess we sort of lost track of time."
"Yeah," Sam replied. "Um, I-I sort of have work tomorrow morning."
"Oh, right," Freddie said quickly, getting to his feet. "Sorry for keeping you up then."
"No, this was…cool," Sam said. "Um, thanks."
"I guess I'll see you around then," Freddie said, turning towards the front door.
"Yeah, see you," Sam nodded. She waited a moment, and then added, "Nub."
Freddie looked back at her and grinned before heading out of the apartment.