Arizona Sunsets - Sam Hubbard

XXXI

Once again, the week passed far too quickly and Sam's departure drew ever closer. Of course they tried to block it out as much as possible, but the conversations like "what are we going to do before it's too late" and similar things still came up way too often and dragged the mood down.

By now it was Friday again and Sam would be flying back to Cincinnati next Wednesday morning. They had already planned that the whole group would celebrate Sam's farewell at the Western Night on Tuesday evening.

Today Sam had been invited fishing by Ben and James, which is why the girls met alone at the bar for lunch and chatted about the upcoming Scottsdale street fair.

It was an annual festival held on Liz's parents' street. The whole street was blocked off for the evening and almost all of Scottsdale came together. Everyone brought food to the big buffet and organized a small vendor booth or game. There was a lottery, bingo, and a dog race.

It was one of the nicest festivals in Scottsdale, especially since it was one of the only ones that wasn't for tourists but solely for Scottsdale residents, even though the occasional tourist would stray in.

"So are you going to bring Sam tonight?" Ava asked curiously as she sipped her mimosa. It was a girl's round, of course, they were already having mimosas for lunch.

Liz shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I mean, right now the whole town thinks I'm with him anyway, so it won't surprise anyone if he accompanies me tonight" she explained.

"But?" Mia echoed. "Then why aren't you considering taking him?" Liz sighed. "Because then there's no way to avoid him meeting the rest of my family and I don't know if we're ready for me to introduce him to Luke and Dad" she clarified.

Ava and Mia exchanged glances before Mia cleared her throat. "Liz, you know your brother and dad are on the fishing trip today, right?" she asked, concerned. Liz's head shot up. "Excuse me? No one told me" her voice sounded shrill.

"Well, isn't it tradition for the boys to take our families fishing together the morning before the street fair? I mean, all the fathers and brothers are there" Ava shrugged. "I didn't even think of that, oh god, poor Sam. It was enough that he met my mom so unexpectedly, but now Luke and Dad?" Liz sighed.

"Don't worry, Liz. Your dad is the coolest of them all, I wouldn't worry about that. Luke might tease him a little, but no more than Ava does than. Nothing will happen to Sam, and I mean, he's almost besties with your mom, so I'm sure she told her boys to behave" Mia patted her shoulder encouragingly.

"Hey, and be glad, at least that little...accident made sure you don't have to worry about taking Hubbard tonight or not. Now that he knows your parents anyway" Ava grinned at her in amusement.

At about the same time, Sam just got out of James' car with Ben and James and helped them load the fishing rods and tackle from the back of the truck, while two other cars pulled up next to them and a number of older men and a couple of teenage boys joined them.

"Good morning gentlemen" the foremost of them patted Ben and James on the shoulders before turning to Sam and a big warm smile settled on his lips.

"You must be Sam, huh? Marty told me his boy was bringing you along" he ruffled James' hair, who screwed up his face, but the man didn't seem to care. "I'm Robby. It's nice to finally meet you, my wife Violet has told me so much about you" he held out his hand to Sam and shook it vigorously.

"Oh, you're Liz's father" Sam noted, which made Robby laugh. For a brief moment Sam recognized the sound of Liz's laughter, in her father's, which sounded several octaves lower. "That's right, I'm her old man. And this..." he pulled one of the teenage boys toward him and set him down in front of him.

"This is Luke, Liz's brother and my second child" Sam was amazed at how much Luke looked like a younger version of Robby. Instead of the salt and pepper hair Robby wore that made him look experienced and smart, Luke's hair was the same brown as Liz.

He recognized individual features of Liz in both of their faces, though Luke's face was not yet as marked by time as his father's was. Now that he knew both of Liz's parents, he had to admit that she looked like the perfect mix of Robby and Violet.

Luke eyed him up and down and gave him a critical look. "so you're that NFL player from Cincinnati who's dating my sister?" he asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "that's me, I'm Sam. Nice to meet you Luke" Sam replied politely and shook his hand.

He guessed Luke to be about 18, honestly he couldn't remember if Liz had ever mentioned a brother to him. Maybe the two weren't that close. Or maybe Luke was actually in college and currently just at home? He would definitely have to find out.

Luke was still looking at him rather critically. "Why?" he asked. Confused, Sam looked at him. "Why, what? Why am I here? I was invited..." Sam replied, but Luke shook his head. "Why are you dating my sister? I mean, you're rich. You could have any one."

Sam had to laugh out loud. "Because I think your sister is pretty cool..." he explained. "I think you're the only one" Luke scoffed. "...And because I don't think she's just with me because I have money. And honestly, you don't find that very often these days" Sam added.

Luke shrugged his shoulders. "You're probably right about that. She would only use that kind of money to buy more painting stuff" he shook his head. "you don't like your sister's paintings?" Sam asked. "Yes I do. She has some talent" he mumbled.

Sam grinned. Luke was probably at the age where big sister just wasn't cool enough when she worked in a museum and drew as a hobby. Still, he sensed that the siblings had a good relationship, even if Luke would certainly have to be tortured into admitting that.

He decided to leave Luke alone for now. There would certainly be plenty of time during the fishing to learn more about him and perhaps a bit more embarrassing about Liz.

For now, he would first introduce himself to the others and then let Ben and James brief him on where and how to best fish here. Maybe there would be some time left to have a talk with Robby, because as well as he estimated him so far, Robby was in a pretty good mood.

As it turned out, the other men were the fathers of Liz's other friends. Marty, who Robby had mentioned before and was James' dad, was totally excited to meet Sam and as it turned out, he was just as sports obsessed as his son.

He also got to meet Ava's older and younger brother, as well as Mia's little brother who was Ben's younger brother's best friend, as well as James's dog Donnie, who was like a misfired rocket the whole time, chasing through the legs of everyone present.

All in all, the group seemed to be a pretty interesting mix to have a lot of fun with, which the countless beer cans he had discovered in Robby's trunk would certainly contribute to.

WHO DEY🧡