A/N and Disclaimer: I own nothing from Glee, Carr's story, or any other copyrighted material. I hope you enjoy it. Please as always forgive all of my mistakes. Like I said in the last update, I am not going to carry out the drama for very long, so I combined the next two chapters, so we can get this conflict resolved by the next update. After this, there will be two more chapters. Thanks again for all of your support. There are so many updates/new to me Samcedes stories thanks to Keshbeast and Rontora, and I haven't a chance to read any of them because I am stuck on this story. Three chapters at one time oh well...This is my final update until Sunday, since I have to be on the road all day. Enjoy all this Samcedes goodness and support them and others as they are out doing this thing consistently, which I will never be able to do. They are G.O.A.T.

Chapter 9

Mercy lay on the couch and stared at the television. JJ was watching his favorite Jake and Never Land Pirates video, while she maintained the same zombie-like demeanor she'd acquired since walking away from Sam at the ball field.

She'd laughed.

That was the one thing she couldn't let go of.

The days prior to that practice, she'd resisted the urge to respond to his texts, angry and hurt that he'd slept with her, made her think she was special, only to find out that he had a date planned with Kitty.

The front door opened. It was probably Tina. She'd been Mercy's saving grace, taking JJ to practice this afternoon, so she didn't have to face Sam again, then running out to grab them all a pizza for dinner.

"Here we go," she said, walking into the living room. "A large half supreme, half pepperoni" She glanced around the room and sighed. "Wow. Neither one of you has moved since I left."

Until Tina pointed it out, Mercy hadn't noticed JJ had acquired her sullen mood. He was lying on the floor, his head resting on an oversized pillow, sucking his thumb.

He hadn't done that in nearly a year. And it had been a hard habit to get him to break. She'd noticed in the last year or so, he only did it when he was over-tired, scared, or sad.

Mercy forced herself to sit up and plastered on a smile. She couldn't keep feeling sorry for herself in front of him.

"Hey, JJ," she called out. "Why don't you come sit next to me on the couch?"

He perked up. "We're going to eat here? In front of the TV?"

Mercy nodded. She could count on one hand the number of times she'd been allowed to eat dinner in the living room, and she'd felt the same excitement JJ did at the moment.

He bounced up from the floor and Mercy placed a slice of pizza on one of the paper plates Tina had carried in.

"Be very careful," she cautioned. "It's greasy and we don't want to get it on the couch."

"I will," he said, dropping from the couch to his knees, his plate resting on the coffee table. His attention returned to the movie as Mercy poked a straw into his juice box. She was relieved he appeared happier than he had a few moments earlier.

"I got something for us too," Tina said, looking at the kitchen. "Bottle of wine. It's chilling in the fridge. After the munchkin goes to bed, we're having a slumber party."

Mercy smiled appreciatively. "Thanks. That sounds perfect."

It really did. She'd had trouble sleeping the past few nights, guilt suffusing her as she played that damn conversation after practice over and over.

She'd actually decided they weren't going to practice on Tuesday, her anger over the text and being made a fool of was off the charts. She wasn't sure she could trust herself to stay in the bleachers rather than storm out on the field and give Sam Evans a piece of her mind.

She'd decided he was a Big Dick and it had nothing to do with what was hanging between his legs.

Unfortunately, JJ wouldn't budge on skipping it. He'd whined, pleaded, and then, in the end, cried. Her son's tears were her undoing. So…they'd gone to practice. By the time the eternal thing had ended, she'd actually been pretty proud of herself. She'd only snuck about two thousand peeks at Sam, and only ninety-nine percent of those had made her horny.

Mercy had foolishly thought she'd get off easy. That she and JJ could leave and she'd spend a few days regrouping before she had to go back again.

Then she'd seen Sam talking to Kitty and her temper spiked.

Even that would have been okay, but then the Big Dick followed her to her car. She couldn't believe his attitude or hubris. There must have been steam coming out of her ears, but he didn't even seem to notice.

"Mommy," JJ said, once he'd finished his first piece of pizza. "Can Sam come over tomorrow to play catch?"

Mercy glanced at Tina, who gave her a sympathetic smile, as she shook her head. "No. Not tomorrow, JJ."

"What about Monday? We could have sonya again."

"Lasagna," Mercy corrected. "And I'm pretty sure he has to work at the fire station." She had no idea if that was true and she hated lying to her son, but right now, it seemed like the easiest way. All she could do was hope JJ would stop asking at some point. Though with Sam still coaching the tee-ball team, she suspected that wouldn't happen soon.

JJ wilted a bit, then started watching the movie once more.

Mercy made a mental note to see about setting up a playdate with one of the kids in her class or with Silas. He and JJ had become fast friends, which opened another can of worms, considering he was Sam's little brother. Sam seemed to do a lot with the boy.

What happened if she set something up and Sam was the one to drop him off or pick him up?

She wasn't ready to face him again. For three days, she'd done nothing but drive to and from work, and hide in her house all night. She was low on gas—again—and the refrigerator was bare. Problem was she didn't dare risk a trip to the gas station or grocery store, lest she run into Sam.

Not because she was angry anymore.

All that heat and hurt went away the second she'd laughed.

Mercy had no idea why her anxiety had come out that way.

She'd struggled through the entire conversation because, once again, she couldn't make Sam into a ladies man, the local playboy, who'd cut a swath through all the single ladies in town. He had seemed…sincere and sad. And the only thing that kept her going, that allowed her to fight back was the memory of those texts from Kitty, and the way the bitch had thanked him for that date right in front of her.

He was sleeping with Kitty, a woman Mercy had taken to calling her arch enemy. Kitty's backbiting and shitty comments about Mercy's wardrobe and her good girl ways at work had grown to outright bullying. The woman genuinely hated her. Which was fine because Mercy wasn't too fond of that hellcat either.

So when he'd looked at Mercy and asked why she wasn't considering him for the position of husband and father, she'd laughed—out of anger and nervousness and downright agony. It was that or sob, and she wasn't giving him the benefit of her tears.

She hadn't cried in front of Jake Puckerman, and she'd be damned if she did it in front of Sam. She didn't care if that made her prideful or bitchy. For her, it meant holding on to the last shred of dignity she had left.

The second she did it though, the moment that horrible sound came out, and she saw his face, she knew she'd hurt him worse than he had hurt her.

She didn't know how she knew that, but she did. And the guilt had eaten her alive ever since.

After dinner, Tina insisted on watching Encanto. JJ pretended to be annoyed by the selection. Lately, he'd been very sensitive to what he considered boy things and girl things. It drove Mercy crazy because she hated distinctions like that. She was sure he was picking it up from the other kids in school. Or perhaps it was driven by his deep-seated desire for a father. He was trying to figure out what it meant to be a man and with only a mom to show him, he was struggling.

Of course, when she'd mentioned those theories to Tina at work yesterday, she'd given her hell for overthinking it, claiming JJ was a normal, rough-and-tumble five-year-old boy and that Mercy should lay off the armchair psychology before she screwed him up.

Given her tendency to overanalyze everything in her life, Mercy decided it was another reason why Tina was the perfect best friend for her. She was practical and easygoing and not prone to drama. Whenever Mercy got worked up about anything at school, Tina only had to give her that "seriously…chill out" look, and she felt instantly calm.

Unfortunately, her friend's calm reassurances that she hadn't been overly cruel to Sam weren't helping to alleviate her guilt. Tina had the benefit of a long history with Sam, and because of it, she seemed certain that the only thing Mercy had hurt had been his ego because he was always the first to walk away.

No matter how many times Tina said it, Mercy couldn't make those facts fit with his face on Tuesday.

Encanto had been the perfect movie choice, especially when paired with a delicious red blend. JJ giggled as she and Tina belted out "Waiting on a Miracle" at the top of their lungs and when that blasted song about Bruno was sung by JJ, Tina would replace Bruno's name with Sam's name to Mercy's ears, and by the end of the movie, Mercy was feeling buzzed and better.

Tina helped her put JJ to bed and then the two of them returned to the couch. Rather than put on another movie, they opted for listening to music, taking turns selecting the songs. Tina's choices were upbeat numbers, like "Dancing Queen" and Missy Elliott's "Work It."

When it was Mercy's turn, she forced her best friend to endure her current favorite, "Womanizer."

"Britney Spears," Tina muttered. "Really Mercy."

"What?" Mercy asked aghast. "I love this song."

Tina rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you do. It's practically the anthem for brokenhearted women who've just been played."

Mercy sobered up when she considered Tina's words. "Brokenhearted?"

"You liked Sam. And more than as a one-night stand."

"But I knew going in…"

"Knowing doesn't have a darn thing to do with feeling. It's why you're lying around this house, listening to sad songs, drinking wine with your friend, and feeding your kid pizza in the living room."

"I swore after my son's sperm donor, I'd be smarter about men."

"I shouldn't have convinced you to sleep with Sam. I feel bad about that. You were obviously hurt by your baby's daddy because he only wanted one thing from you. Encouraging you to use Sam the same way wasn't a great idea. Mainly because it's not in you to use someone that way. Sex and emotions go hand in hand in your world."

"Whatever, like you and I are not alike?"

"Well, I think you need to put that vibrator of yours to good use, so at least you aren't feeling deprived sexually."

Mercy groaned. "You mean the vibrator I no longer have."

"I can't believe you left it at Sam's."

Mercy couldn't either. Mainly because Sam had definitely shaken something loose inside her. Depression meant a lack of sleep, and a lack of sleep meant she had too much time to remember that night in his bed. She'd rolled over more than a few times, intent on grabbing the vibrator.

"I'm really screwed up right now, Tina."

"I know. Here. Elixir of the gods. Guaranteed to cure all that ails you…for tonight while you are drinking but tomorrow…we will save thoughts about tomorrow for tomorrow." She topped off Mercy's glass and they talked, drank, sang loud and and even danced until that bottle of wine—and another—were gone. Finally, around two, they fell into Mercy's queen-sized bed together, fully dressed, giggling, then passing out.

When Mercy opened her eyes again, it was only a little past seven on Sunday. She was surprised to find Tina awake as well.

"I've got an internal mom alarm clock," Mercy said, her voice hoarse from laughing and singing until the wee hours. "Thought you'd sleep longer."

Tina shrugged one shoulder casually. "I can't make the pieces fit."

"What?"

"Kitty has pursued Sam for years and he's never taken the bait. So why now?"

Mercy didn't have an answer for that. She'd only seen Sam and Kitty together a couple of times and they seemed friendly enough. And there was nothing in that text thread she'd read that made her believe Kitty's flirty, sexual innuendos were unwanted. He'd told Kitty to behave, but he'd said the same thing to Mercy. It was obviously just part of his playful banter.

"I don't know why," Mercy said at last.

"I think you should ask him about her."

Mercy shook her head, thinking back to her past and her baby's daddy. She'd been mortified, and she wasn't sure she was strong enough for that kind of rejection again.

"Hear me out," Tina continued. "There's a chance this is all a big misunderstanding. I don't think you'd be feeling this guilty over that conversation on Tuesday if you hadn't sensed that there was something real between you and Sam."

"Tina, I have zero experience when it comes to reading guys and their feelings."

"Which is why you should pursue this. Consider it furthering your education. Go to Sam's and ask him about the text. About Kitty. Call him out on it. Get to the bottom of it and then figure out where to go from there."

It was actually pretty sound advice. Mercy had spent too much of the last few days confused by Sam's comments…and his face when she laughed.

What if it had been a mistake?

What if she'd been a blind idiot, casting Sam in the role of her baby's sperm donor because of past hurts and too much pride?

Had she seen something that wasn't there and pushed him away before he could hurt her the same way that Jake had?

What about me, he'd said.

It was those three words that haunted her the most.

"Tina?"

"Yeah."

"Can you stick around a little while? I'm going to Sam's."

Her friend's big grin gave Mercy the strength she needed to sit up. The hangover, however, almost sent her back down.

"Keep going," Tina said encouragingly. "You're doing the right thing."

Mercy went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and hair after a quick shower and putting her braids into a quick ponytail, and then she swiped on some mascara and lipstick. Looking at her reflection, she realized she'd be smarter to wear more make up and better clothes, but she couldn't wait another second.

She missed Sam.

She glanced back in the bedroom. Tina hadn't stirred. "You probably have about twenty minutes more before JJ wakes up and starts looking for breakfast. There's just enough cereal and milk left for the two of you."

Regardless of what happened with Sam, Mercy was going to have to break down and hit the grocery store today.

"Go get 'em, girl!" Tina cheered her on, still lazing in the bed. Mercy was pretty sure her friend would be asleep again three minutes after she left.

As she drove to the fire station, she practiced what she planned to say. Funny how she'd done the exact same thing just a week earlier, except that time she was trying to figure out how to get Sam to sleep with her.

This time…she was hoping to convince him to date her.

Last week's request seemed simple in comparison.

She pulled up at the fire station and glanced at the clock in the dashboard. Seven thirty was way too early for a social visit, but if she put this off until later, there was a good chance she'd chicken out completely.

After parallel parking, Mercy got out and crossed the street. She was nearly to the fire station door when Kitty walked out.

Kitty's short skirt and blouse were wrinkled, her hair mussed up, and there was a thick layer of mascara under her eyes. She was a little wobbly on her heels. She was clearly dressed for the bar…last night.

If there was a picture in the dictionary for Walk of Shame, it would have been of Kitty right now.

Mercy glanced up at Sam's window. The lights were still off in his apartment. No doubt he was sleeping off his night with Kitty.

She'd come to confront him about Kitty. To ask him if her assumptions about him sleeping with the woman were correct.

She didn't need to do that now.

She'd just gotten her answer.

The only thing left was to figure out which emotion was stronger at the moment. The one that wanted to rage, curse, and hit something, or the one that wanted to sob uncontrollably.

"What the hell is wrong with you, man? You've been walking around like someone pissed in your Cheerios for weeks."

Sam looked up at Mike, not bothering to paste on a smile that would be fake as hell.

It had been exactly eleven days—he glanced at the clock—eight hours and twenty-seven minutes since he'd offered his heart to Mercy Jones on a silver platter.

Eleven days since she'd driven a stake right through it with her laugh.

"Nothing's wrong," he muttered.

"Mmm hmmm." Mike had been Sam's best friend since elementary school. He had recently just moved back to Lima and reconnected with Sam two weeks ago. He knew Sam better than he knew himself. Which meant, he wasn't getting out of this conversation that easy.

Sam felt like a failure whenever he talked to Mike. Mike left Lima to pursue his dreams and only returned because of his dad's health. He had reunited with Tina, and the two of them were happy.

The few times Mike had been over lately, Sam had been saved from talking about Mercy, and how she'd crushed his heart, by a rash of minor emergencies. In the last two weeks, the station had run four rescue calls, responded to a couple fender benders, and fought one legitimate fire—a bonfire built by some drunk teenagers that had gone array.

Mercy no longer brought JJ to tee-ball practice. Apparently, that task now fell to Tina, who sat in the bleachers and shot daggers at Sam the entire time. Sam knew better than to try to talk to Tina when she was pissed off, so he'd given her space.

Besides, what was there to say?

Tina had clearly chosen a side, and it was Mercy's.

Tina, like everyone else in town, had tucked Sam neatly into the bad boy box. A place he'd resided since he was eighteen.

Not that he could blame anyone for that. Shit, up until two years ago, he'd prided himself on it, figured it made him smarter than the fools, who'd tied themselves to one woman for the rest of their lives.

Until Mercy appeared in Lima, he'd been living in a fool's paradise. Claiming life was easier without messy entanglements. He didn't have to worry about screwing up relationships the same way his parents had because he never let himself go out with anyone he might seriously come to care for. And if he didn't have kids, there was no risk of hurting them either.

"I have to admit, I'm not surprised you're acting this way."

Sam frowned as he locked eyes with Mike. "What way?"

"Pissed off. If I were you, I'd be kicking my own ass too."

Sam wasn't sure how to respond to that. Mike was probably the only guy in town who didn't buy his press, didn't believe all the gossip. Because Mike knew Sam was ninety-nine percent bluster. Knew he eschewed serious relationships because he was afraid he was too much like his father. Mike now knew he hadn't slept with a woman—before Mercy—in two years, even though there'd been a handful of women bragging about shit that hadn't happened.

What Mike didn't know—because Sam hadn't known how to talk about it—was how he truly felt about Mercy. His best friend didn't have a clue that he'd fallen in love for the first time in his life.

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.

"Just answer me this first…how drunk were you, man?"

Nothing Mike said made a lick of sense. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Kitty."

Sam frowned. For some reason, he thought his friend was talking about Mercy. Sam had figured Mercy had given Tina an earful, and now Tina had recruited her brother to the Protect Mercy Jones cause.

"What about Kitty?" Sam asked.

"Last Saturday night? Only thing I can figure is you were drunk as a skunk. Although, in all honesty, I didn't think there was enough booze in the world to make you sleep with Kitty Wilde."

Sam's temper, which had been on a slow simmer ever since Mercy walked away from him at the ball field, exploded. "What the hell are you saying? I was in Cleveland Saturday night. Took Silas to a basketball game for his birthday. We got a hotel room, then hit the stadium early on Sunday to meet up with some buddies of mine from the station over there."

Mike, who'd been helping him polish the truck, dropped the cloth in a bucket and walked over to the table in the corner to sit down. "Wait," he said, shaking his head. "Why didn't I know about the game?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "I didn't tell even Silas where we were going until we hit the city limits."

He grinned, despite his anger, as he recalled Silas's face when they rolled into Cleveland. Sam had tossed him his present, tickled by his loud hoot when he pulled out the new basketball jerseys and saw the tickets lying underneath. His kid brother was probably a bigger Cavaliers fan than Sam was. Those few hours they'd spent at the game together were the only bright spot in a very long, miserable couple of weeks.

"I'm totally confused," Mike muttered.

"That makes two of us." Sam claimed the other chair at the table. "Why would you ever believe a rumor like that? You know me better than that."

Mike sighed. "Yeah. I do. But there seemed to be incontrovertible evidence."

Sam laughed at his friend's big word. "You need to stop streaming those Law and Order shows."

Mike narrowed his eyes. "Well, if it wasn't for your past, you wouldn't be in this mess if you'd stop screwing around."

"I haven't screwed around in a long time and you know it."

Mike leaned back in his chair. "That's not exactly true, is it?"

He was right. Sam had slept with Mercy.

Mike persisted. "You never talk about her."

"Who?" he asked, even though he knew exactly who Mike was talking about.

"Mercy. Usually you're the kiss-and-tell guy with me. I figure I've had a ringside seat to most of your antics—sexual or otherwise. You haven't told me one thing about Mercy."

Sam crossed his arms, swallowing heavily. He hadn't said anything about her because everything about her was different, foreign, confusing. So he took the easy way out, changed the subject. "What evidence was so convincing that you actually thought I slept with Kitty?"

Now it was Mike's turn to hesitate, and Sam realized he didn't want to tell him something.

He leaned forward slightly. "Spill it, bro," he insisted.

"Mercy came by here early Sunday morning to see you. She never made it inside because Kitty met her at the door. It was obvious she'd spent the night. According to Mercy, Kitty said you would be too worn out for her."

"What in the hell?!" Sam shouted.

Mike rose as well, his hands raised in an attempt to calm him down. That wasn't going to happen.

"Tell me you're kidding, Mike." Even as Sam made the request, he knew it was true. Kitty had been stirring up shit in his life since the first time he rejected her when she was a senior, and he was a junior. She'd invited him to prom after he had been dumped by Santana, and he'd said no. Because it was Kitty, she pressed him, assuming he'd already asked someone else and was just being too nice to dump that date to go with her. When he insisted there was no one else, that he just didn't want to go with her, she snapped.

Sam and Mike had decided it was because no one in the rich princess' life had ever said the word "no" to her. Her parents gave her everything her little heart desired and—the truth was—she was popular because she was a rich cheerleader. All the guys at the school buzzed around her because of her ability to supposedly suck dick like a porn star. It was pretty much a no-brainer. Kitty was used to being pursued for sexual favors never a relationship by every guy except him and Mike, who was in love with Tina, at that point. And she became obsessed with him since he didn't have a girlfriend as an excuse to continually reject her.

Kitty seemed to like the challenge, the thrill of the chase.

"I wish I was kidding. Sit back down, man. Let's try to figure this out, okay?"

Sam picked up his chair, though sitting was the last thing he wanted to do. He started pacing the concrete floor. "I wasn't here that night."

"Who was on call?"

Sam and Mike looked at each other and groaned.

"Ryder," they said in unison.

A head popped out of the back room. "You guys call me?"

Sam nodded at Ryder. "Get in here. You spend the night here Saturday?"

"Yeah. You know I did."

"Alone?" Sam asked.

Ryder glanced from Sam to Mike and back again. There were station rules for the volunteers and top of the list was no sex in the bunk room.

"I, uh…"

"Don't bother lying. We already know Kitty was here," Mike said. He was a hell of a lot calmer than Sam at the moment, so it was probably smart to let him take the lead.

"Dammit." Ryder rubbed the back of his neck. "She promised she wouldn't tell anybody."

"What the hell was she doing here?" Sam asked loudly…and stupidly. He knew exactly what she'd been doing. And who with.

Ryder gave them a sheepish grin, not even pretending to be remorseful. "She came by after a few drinks at the bar. Must have been a quiet night at the local bar. She showed up here around midnight."

"Was this the first time?" Mike was kicked back in his chair, looking way too relaxed. Meanwhile, Sam was a powder keg about to blow.

"Well…" Ryder shrugged. "Kind of damned if I do if I confess to that, right?"

"So you're Kitty Wilde's booty call." Sam dropped back down into his chair.

What a freaking mess.

Ryder's grin was genuine delight. He was a good-looking guy, in a buff, goofy way. He was a local and younger than Sam and Mike by about three years. No doubt Kitty had been the fantasy girl in Ryder's wet dreams when he hit puberty. "I can think of worse things to be."

"You know there's no sex allowed in the bunk room," Sam reminded him.

"Yeah. I know. I'm sorry about that. You're not gonna write me up, are you?" he asked Sam.

Sam shook his head. "No. But next time, do the hookup at your place."

"I live with my mom." Ryder was clearly upset to lose the bunk room.

"This place isn't your bachelor pad. Go to Kitty's."

"She lives with her folks too!"

Sam rolled his eyes. "She's got a whole damn wing in that monstrosity to herself. Her dad won't even know you're there."

Ryder shrugged, looking a bit miserable. "Maybe not, but she doesn't want people to know about us. That's why this place works so well. If anyone sees her leaving, they'll just think she spent the night with you."

And that was the problem. "No more, Ryder. I mean it. Kitty has spent her last night in this station. Got it?"

Ryder sighed and nodded, then returned to the back room, making Sam feel like he just took his beloved puppy to the pound.

Sam rubbed his eyes wearily.

"You still look miserable," Mike said once they were alone again.

"Yeah. I'm not sure what Mercy wanted to talk about Sunday morning, but her rejection came before that."

Mike studied his face for a moment, then a slow grin slid into place.

"You're enjoying my suffering?" he asked.

"You're in love with the kindergarten teacher."

Mike didn't ask a question, so Sam didn't bother to acknowledge that statement. Didn't need to. His friend already knew the truth.

"Doesn't matter. It was over before she saw Kitty sneaking out of here the other morning. She's looking for a different kind of guy." Sam recalled Mike's comment earlier. "She wants a grown-up, someone who'll be a good dad to her son, not some well-hung firefighter with a shitty reputation when it comes to commitment."

"You're selling yourself short, Sam. You're great with kids. You've got a steady job and while you seem to think divorce and infidelity are hereditary, I'm here to tell you they aren't. You're not going to make the same mistakes your parents made because, unlike them, you've learned from them."

Even if Sam could be that man, the one his best friend saw, Mercy didn't see him that way. She'd taken all the stories about his reputation and tossed him into the same category as JJ's father. In her eyes, Sam was just another faithless man who would let her and JJ down.

"Did the two of you sleep together?" Mike asked.

He nodded. "I thought Tina filled you in on everything."

"No, we don't spend all of our time gossiping about you."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Right."

Mike sighed and it was obvious he was still confused. Hell, so was he. Maybe if they pooled their resources. "Tell me the parts you know and I'll fill in the blanks."

"So the two of you slept together and everything was good," Mike started.

Sam's mind drifted back to the night she'd come back after running out, drenched from the sudden rainstorm. Despite his aching heart, the memory was too perfect. Mercy had looked adorable, water dripping from the ends of her long red hair, her clothes plastered to her body in a way that left nothing to the imagination.

"Okay. You just answered that question." Mike shook his head, his grin still in place. "Oh hell, man. You're wearing your heart on your sleeve. Put the damn thing away."

"It…God, Mike…it was the best night of my life. I don't know how else to describe it."

"And then?"

"Then I woke up in an empty bed. I was afraid I'd hurt her…you know…physically, but when we spoke at the ball field, she swore that wasn't it." His eyes were lowered, his hands clenched in fists in his lap.

"Of course, it wasn't. It was actually the other part of the story that I thought made sense until you just told me you didn't sleep with Kitty."

Sam raised his head to look at his friend. "What other part?"

"Have you been texting with Kitty? Making plans with her?"

Sam frowned and shook his head. Then he reached for his phone and a light went on. There were a handful of texts between them. Sam looked at the timestamp on them. The last two had come through the morning after his night with Mercy. And the whole conversation looked pretty damning when read without context.

"Mercy saw these?"

Mike reached for his phone, his eyebrows rising as he skimmed through them. "Apparently, she woke up the morning after," Mike finger quoted the next part, "'the greatest night of your life' when the phone pinged. She thought it was her cell. Picked yours up by mistake and saw this. Dude. You realize it looks like you had a date with Kitty planned…sex too."

Sam stood up again, all the pieces falling into place. "It wasn't a date. Far from it. Shit. All of this has been one huge misunderstanding."

Mike rose as well. "Yeah. I think it has been. So what are you going to do?"

"I'm in love with Mercy Jones." Sam had always avoided those words, certain he'd feel like a jackass saying them.

Mike slapped him on the shoulder. "It's about time."

Sam circled the room, looking for his keys.

"What are you doing?" Mike asked.

"Going to see her, to talk to her. To tell her how I feel."

Mike chuckled and pointed to the clock that hung on the wall next to the big bay doors. "Settle down, Romeo. Mercy is at work. I'm pretty sure you'd get her fired if you burst into the kindergarten classroom and swore your undying love in front of a room full of five-year-olds."

While Mike's argument made sense, Sam was in no mood to wait. "I have to talk to her, Mike. I can't stand that she thinks—"

Before he could finish, the fire alarm sounded and he cursed. "Hell no."

Mike rushed toward the rack that held their jackets and hats. Sam watched him without moving, his feet felt like they were sunk in mud, Mercy the only thing he could focus on, think about.

Ryder ran out from the back. "Sam, we gotta hurry. It's the school."

"Which school?!"

"North Lima Elementary," Ryder explained. "It's on fire!"