Thank you guys for being patient and knowing that Real Life gets hard. But I love writing for you because it makes me feel like I am doing something to bring joy to people. Thank you for reading this, thank you for reviewing. I am almost at 200 reviews that is the most I have ever had and I love it. So thank you and stay blessed.
When Mercedes arrived at Sam's house, she rang the doorbell twice before anyone came to the door. When Sam finally opened the door, he was holding a metal spoon.
"Hello darlin" he said moving to let her in. "Come on in." Sam sniffed the air and smacked his teeth. "Dammit the chilli is burning."
He hurried to the kitchen and Mercedes shut the door, then followed more slowly. She stopped to say hi to Savannah who was happily watching TV in what now looked like more a of family room then a dining room. The house already looked more lived in, more like a home.
Mercedes peeked into the kitchen, it was basically a disaster area. Sam was stirring a huge pot, mumbling to himself. The smell of burned chilli hung in the air. He turned off the burner and sighed.
"I guess its done now."
"Can I help?" Mercedes asked as Sam looked at her. "If you want you can make the salad."
She nodded going to the fridge. There was no lettuce. So mercedes grabbed a red onion, tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots and decided to make due.
Sam puttered around the kitchen, adding more stuff to the chili. It seemed that he had put every condiment out of the kitchen cabinet, adding to the general chaos of the kitchen.
Sam went to check on Savannah, then he walked over to Mercedes he wrapped his arms around her waist kissing her neck. "What kind of salad is that?"
"Cucumber-tomato… I couldn't find the lettuce."
Sam smacked his head. "I forgot the lettuce!"
Mercedes kissed his cheek. "Its okay, this is almost done, why don't you go and set the table."
Mercedes took the rolls out the oven and smiled as she ladled the chili into the serving bowl. When she carried the bowl to the table she smiled seeing Savannah helping Sam.
"Mercy look I washed my hands."
Mercedes smiled. "They look great Savannah! Want to help me make some lemonade?"
Savannah nodded as they went in and made the lemonade, Mercedes found herself glancing at the little girl closely looking for traces of Teddy. His words echoing through her head. She made up her mind, good or bad she would tell Sam about what Teddy said and let the cards fall where they may.
Getting back to the table they sat and ate, enjoying the moment together. The Chili wasn't bad, it wasn't amazing but it was edible.
"I do spaghetti too, and eggs, oh and i can grill a mean steak." Sam said boasting.
Mercedes nodded. "Have you advertised for a housekeeper yet?"
"I called today, they are sending some people to the office tomorrow for me to interview." He took a bite of his chili then stopped and looked at her.
"Hey! Was that a backhanded shot at my chili?"
She shrugged. "At least its edible."
Sam frowned mumbling. "Edible."
Then he turned to her and smiled. "Domestic activities were never that high on my list of accomplishments."
Mercedes smiled at him with a nod, her eyes fell to where the painting of Marley used to hang. Her mind went to Teddy again and how he said she died. IT was just all too sad.
The insistent ringing of the doorbell interrupted both dinner and Mercedes thoughts. Sam excused himself and went to answer it as she heard the shrill voice of Holly.
"How could you! How could you take everything from my son!?" She cried.
Sam returned silently to the dinner table and picked where he was eating. "Holly, would you like some dinner?"
Holly moved to the dining room and banged on the table. "I was talking to you about my son dammit!"
Sam sighed looking over to her. "Yes you were, and I was asking you if you wanted some dinner. Since you're so persistent, I'll say this: Teddy brought this trouble on himself. I didn't take anything away from him."
Savannah was staring at her grandmother wide-eyed. Mercedes moved to take Savannah from the room, but the little girl protested.
That's when Holly burst into tears. "Please, give my son another chance, he is penniless Sam, I can't believe you would allow this to happen!"
Sam continued to much on a dinner roll, saying nothing. Holly picked up the tray of rolls tossing them to the floor. Mercedes laughed internally, seeing the family resemblance more than ever between Teddy and Holly. Holly smacked her teeth, "You have always wanted everything for yourself. Now you have got it. I hope you choke." She said glaring around the table.
Savannah had picked up a dinner roll from the floor and dunked it into her chili watching the antics as if she were engrossed in her favorite cartoon.
Sam polished off his chili and helped himself to more salad. It was then that Holly's gaze fell onto Mercedes, who was taking a sip of her lemonade.
"You! This is all your fault, you wanted to get even with Teddy for breaking up with your slittish, two timing-"
Sam threw down his napkin and stood up. "Since you are obviously not interested in dinner, you may leave. And if I ever hear another word of insult to Mercedes from your lips, you are no welcome into this house again."
Holly gasped. "You- you can't be serious." she stuttered out.
"Oh but I am." Sam said dangerously. "I am getting extremely tired of hearing Mercedes being spoken of with disrespect. You don't respect her, you don't respect me. And like i said if you don't respect her, then you are not welcome in this or any other house I may have. Now if you want a part in our lives, you better change your attitude, because if you make me choose, you will not like the answer."
Holly stared at him with tears in her eyes, "I am sorry Mercedes. You must understand that I am upset." With that she turned to leave.
"I am so sick of these scenes." Sam said with a huff.
"Your family does tend to the dramatic don't they?" Mercedes said and Sam nodded.
"Yes, is it too much to want a nice family dinner? For the rest of the night, I just want peace. Thank God its just the three of us."
Mercedes sighed "Yeah peace… that's what this is." She said softly.
Sam looked at her. "Merce what's wrong? Did Holly upset you?"
"No I just, there is something I have to tell you, its about Teddy."
"Merce I really just want this weekend to be fun about all of us please. No drama, no Teddy."
She sighed. "Okay."
Mercedes and Sam lay in the hazy afterglow of a lazy Sunday morning of lovemaking. This weekend had been idyllic, Mercedes thought. Both she and Sam were homebodies and loved nothing better than to spend Saturday night enjoying time with Savannah, then sitting back in his man cave watching the fire and listening to music.
Mercedes had been allowing Sam to do all the cooking, and he had basically made everything he was capable of making. So she decided to take pity on him and make brunch.
A big overstuffed omelet would be nice she thought, with freshly squeeze orange juice, and biscuits. She sighed happily making her way to the shower, she would make Sam brunch, and she would talk to Sam about what Teddy said. Then they could start on building on what their lives could really be like, and she would help him through it. This time she wouldn't be stopped.