Chapter 38

Previously: Melanie had stopped by Freddie's place to find Sam there.

"You knew I was coming by, why is Sam here? And why is she cooking dinner?" Melanie asked as soon as the door was closed, giving them privacy. She was obviously not pleased seeing her sister in the Bensons' apartment.

"To be honest, she makes us dinner more often than not." He replied with a shrug. "Since mom got hurt, she's been spending most of her free time here and helping me out."

"That was months ago, your mom's not laid up any more; she's even back to work for Pete's sake. And why do you need help, you're more than capable of cooking. You can probably cook better than most people I know."

"Since I took the supervisor position, I have to work at the office more and I guess Sam really enjoys helping out. She doesn't always make dinner, sometimes Carly does, or Spencer and then we all eat together. I don't know how I could have made it through the last few months if it wasn't for all their help."

"I'm not stupid, Freddie." Melanie huffed. "I can see what's happening here."

"What the hell are you talking about? What's happening where?" Her visit had him a little on edge and to be accused of something unfounded made him angry.

"You and Sam! You two are practically playing house right here in front of our daughter. Don't you have any shame? Or respect for me?"

"If you mean that Sam was helping me while my mom's laid up with her back, yes. She's been taking Alex to Sunshine Girls and the dentist and making sure she gets picked up from school when I can't leave work. Sam makes dinner for us and helps get her to bed on time and takes her shopping if I'm tied down. It's not like you've been here to do anything." He replied, with a certain annoyance. "I have a lot on me right now and I'm thankful Sam's been here to give me some backup. I'm grateful for her and her willingness to help and glad to have her friendship."

"Psh! Friendship! Why wouldn't she help? I know she spends the night, Alex left it slip about your little sleepover when we were talking weeks ago." Melanie crossed her arms and propped on the wall behind her. "Even though she probably wasn't supposed to tell me."

He wasn't going to admit how often it happened, especially right after his mom's accident. "Did Alex also tell you that Sam sleeps in my mom's room?" He scowled at the accusation.

"You-you mean you didn't . . . "

He referenced the first night it happened. "Sam and Carly had an argument over something stupid and she was tired. It got late and she asked if she could crash on the couch. I told her to take Mom's bed because our couch is about as comfortable as a park bench."

"Really? You and Sam aren't messing around?"

"How long have you known me, Melanie?" He questioned. "Am I attracted to Sam? Yes. Do I still have feelings for her? Probably, if I'm being perfectly honest. But I wouldn't act on it while I'm still married. What have I ever done to make you think that I'm the kind of guy to go cheating to begin with, let alone with your sister?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe how as soon as I was gone, she was here and you two are all buddy buddy with each other. And you don't think I see the way she looks at you and the kind of stuff you say around her. It's so damn obvious you're both flirting it's not funny. I saw her feeding you a taste of the spaghetti sauce as soon as I came in. You two are acting like a couple of horny teenagers around each other."

He calmed himself before he blew up at her accusation, now was the perfect time to bring up the elephant in the room. "It's not that I'm holding out hope for us, it's just that I'm still married. I wouldn't do that to you. Or Sam. In fact, there's something I want to talk to you about." Her sudden attitude gave him the resolve to bring up what he should have months ago.

She knew immediately what he was going to say. "Divorce? You haven't said it in a while but I know you well enough to know what you're thinking." She sounded scared to even utter the word.

"It doesn't have to be some drawn out, nasty legal battle, Mels. It's just a piece of paper we both need to sign. We literally had no marital assets except for a savings account and my car. And most of our savings was eaten up when you went to finish your degree. I think it would be pretty easy to find a way to divide things up."

"What about Alex?" She sneered. "We have to think about her, who she would do best with."

Freddie's eyes grew wide and he felt like snapping but remained calm. "Do you really feel that deep down inside you have the ability to give her a normal home life, full time, 52 weeks a year? And do you really want to uproot her and take her to Oregon?"

Melanie thought for a minute and responded with less vigor. "Well, with my dad there to help me, I think I could do a pretty good job."

Freddie stifled a scoff. "All due respect to your father, he hasn't exactly proven himself to be the poster child for model parenting. I have my mom, the Shays . . . "

Melanie cut him off. "And what about when your mom is working. And Spencer and Carly have their own lives. They can't be responsible for our daughter. She's my responsibility not Carly's."

"I was about to say I have Sam." He stated plainly. "Sam has my back. She's committed herself wholly, fully and completely to Alex. She loves that little girl like she's her own."

"Psh. Sam's not committed to anything. She's the last person who I would think as a stable help mate for raising a child. She's more likely to join a biker gang than the PTA."

"You don't even know her!" He shouted before lowering his voice. "Sam isn't the Sam of twelve years ago. Or even five. She's a good helper and a great aunt. She goes to parent teacher conferences, she's even joined Sunshine Girls as a group leader."

Melanie just looked dumbfounded. "My sister goes to Sunshine Girls? Seriously? Her in that getup would definitely be something to see."

"Look Mels, I'll fight you on this if I have to but I don't want to. We both know that with your track record even the most feminist judge in America would have trouble awarding you full time custody. And honestly, I am not sure if you could handle it."

Melanie scoffed.

"I'd much rather we work something out that we can both live with that doesn't end up hurting Alex."

"In case you don't remember I live in another state. It's not like I can take her every other weekend like most people do. I'm tired of only seeing my daughter on a screen for ten minutes a day, Freddie."

"So you want me to? I'd be OK with her going to see you for a weekend here and there. Besides, you can always move back to the area and then you could see her as much as you want you know."

"Well, since my job is in Oregon I can't hardly do that now can I? And it's pretty obvious you hardly even let me talk to her without you being within earshot. I know you're always lurking around when we chat I can see her watching you, even if I can't see you on the camera. And as uptight as you and Marissa both are about public transportation I really can't see you putting her on a bus for another state and not having a nervous breakdown."

"There's got to be a happy medium, Mels." He steadied his voice. "And you work for your step mom, at her clinic. It's nice of her to give you a job but you could surely move back here and get a job doing the same thing at any doctor's office in Seattle. What about what you went to college for? Doesn't it kind of seem like a waste to work as a receptionist with a college degree, when you could literally do that even if you didn't graduate high school?"

She again scoffed, knowing he was right.

He again tried to play the voice of reason. "Let's try to work this out without emotions and pre-conceived ideas, alright? And I'd really prefer if we just concentrated on our daughter's birthday tomorrow and worry about all this chiz later."

Melanie sighed. As always, Freddie put Alex ahead of all else. This more than anything proved with him was where the little girl belonged. "You're right, Freddie. Come on, we should go back inside and I think it sounds like I should maybe get to know my sister a little better, too."

For the duration of her visit, Melanie observed Sam's actions and how she treated Alex as well as how she acted around Freddie. Sure, some of her actions made Melanie a bit jealous but Sam was a good partner for Freddie, even if they were just friends as he stated. By the day before she was due to leave, she called her sister. Sam was at work and not knowing if there might be something wrong with Alex or Freddie, she answered Melanie's call.

"Hey, Mels. Everything OK?"

"Hi Sammy. You have a minute? I realize you're at work."

"Make it fast if it's not an emergency." Sam snapped, clearly not appreciating the interruption. "I'm gonna have to work through lunch to get caught up as it is. I've got a ton of paperwork to do and a co-worker out sick today."

"Well, I was just wondering if we could maybe try to get together before I leave to go back to Portland. Maybe meet up for dinner tonight or something." Melanie proposed.

"As long as you're buying and I don't have to go to Pam's to meet you." Sam replied.

"I was thinking that little diner down by the Crown Ridge mall. The one that Freddie talks about that has the coconut cream pie and the extra crispy bacon."

"Eh, OK. But I might have to work late. Like I said, I'm really behind. I took off early Wednesday afternoon to pick up Alex after school because Freddie had a dentist appointment."

Melanie was shocked at her reason but not dissuaded "Can you maybe text me when you're about to leave. I can just meet you there?"

"Sure. But bring your credit card. They raised the price of the country fried steak dinner." Sam smirked, if Melanie was buying she'd take full advantage. "And I'm not eating there without a piece of that pie or even a whole one to take home for later."

The girls hung up and hours later, Sam met up with Melanie in front of the restaurant. "Thanks for meeting me, Sam." Melanie plastered on a fake smile after she got out of the taxi.

"You did agree to buy the food, who am I to say no." Sam cracked with a shrug. Seeing Melanie's deflated look, she softened a bit. "And we really haven't talked in a while, so I guess it's not the worst idea. You said you're heading back to Portland soon?"

Melanie nodded and smiled genuinely at her sister's less aggressive attitude. "Yeah."

"Come on, let's get a table before the old guys in the bowling league across the street start showing up. Believe me, you don't wanna come here after six thirty and try to get a seat." Sam grabbed the door handle and headed inside. "And God help you when the bingo hall lets out. This place is standing room only."

After finding a table, Sam started talking. "How's life with Pam. I was over there with Alex and Freddie a couple of weeks ago. You know, things didn't look quite so dingy. I see she finally got a new sofa."

"Yep and she quit smoking, too. At least for now." Melanie shrugged. "She must have had the carpet cleaned because it doesn't smell like tobacco smoke in the living room quite so bad."

Sam nodded in agreement. "Still smells like cat pee in the hallway. You know, if you could get her to give up the beer completely and trashy men and she might just be halfway to normal."

"Oh man, you should see this guy she's hanging out with now, Tony. He works at the school as a janitor. Decent guy but not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He must be stealing toilet paper and chiz too, because the roll in her bathroom is one of those big industrial rolls like they have in schools and stuff. It's too big to fit on the holder, so she has it sitting on the floor beside the throne. And there's a case of light bulbs in the laundry room."

"Eh, could be worse I guess. At least he's got a job. How about her, she still working at the dollar store?" Sam asked.

Melanie nodded this time. "She claims she's assistant manager. So you said you took off work early to pick up Alex the other day?"

"Yeah. I sometimes do. If Fredlumps can't get away from work or whatever. Sometimes we ask Spencer to pick her up but his car isn't really all that reliable. You'd think he could afford something better with the money he has. I mean, I've tried to make sure that one's safe for him but there's only so much I can do without parts that they haven't made since we were in kindergarten."

"What about the Sunshine Girls thing? Freddie said you volunteered to be a troop leader or something."

Sam smiled at the thought. "It's kinda cool and Alex loves it, even though the uniforms are way dorky. You should see the weird little hats. But she's finally made some friends there. It's good for her."

"What about you?"

"I know a couple of the moms. That bunch that was trying to run it before I joined. I swear they were either ditzy air heads who had their kids in high school or a bunch of middle aged Karens who think they know everything. God, the arguing over how to do every little task. And the micro-managing was awful, like they'd spend a whole hour talking about how to do something that takes three minutes. I couldn't stand it, even just sitting at the meetings and listening was like nails on a chalk board, so I finally told them all to shut their pie holes and just get it done."

"How did that go? Karens usually don't like being called on the carpet."

"I got some dirty looks and had to quietly 'invite' red head Karen to the bathroom and explain to her that if I heard her opinion one more time about how little girls should be taught to be proper ladies, I'd shove her head down the toilet and flush it four times. Her and those two bratty, stuck up, little future skunk bag cheerleaders of hers left and never came back."

"Sam! It's a wonder you didn't both get kicked out." Mel gasped.