Leave The City (Book 8 of Adopted by the Josephs)

64. Dylan

Spending so much time with Sam's family this week has been so fun. Her sisters are so cute!  And funny. Rosie. Wow. She is some kid. She has me laughing practically the whole time she's around. There's something between her and Sam that is really... weird? Interesting?  She doesn't have it with Junie, although there's no doubt she doesn't feel any less towards Junie than she does Rosie.

Sam tried to explain it to me once around the time when they were telling her about Rosie waking up screaming at about the moment of Sam's accident. Sam felt so bad that Rosie had... felt that. They just share this incredible bond. Sam told me that when she was in a coma when she was 13, she remembers seeing this sort of golden light. She remembers it saying it was someone she needed to wake up to meet. And from the moment Rosie was placed in Sam's arm, in the hospital, Sam started to improve. And Rosie stopped fussing anytime she was around Sam. Sam can get Rosie to agree to just about anything. It's amazing. I joke with Sam that she has to be careful because, and I quote Spider-Man here, 'with great power comes great responsibility.'  She always jokes back that she promises to use her powers only for good. I always joke back and say, 'good. I knew you were responsible.'  And she always jokes back, 'I didn't say whose good,' rubbing her palms together, grinning evilly. Sometimes, she'd try an evil laugh, but it always made me laugh because her evil laugh was too cute to be evil. This then results in her pretending to be offended, which just makes me laugh harder because she's so cute.

I've never, and I mean never, felt like this about someone. I mean, I've had other girlfriends, I guess you could call them.  But I don't know. Samantha's just... Samantha.

Most days I drive her home from school and we'll do homework or something. Usually, Brendon or Sarah, or both, are home. Sometimes not. But you know what? I have absolutely no desire to 'take advantage of the situation,' as some of the guys say. I just, respect her too much. And I think, I think I really love her. Like, I can picture us married and happy, maybe living in California. We'll have to be by the water. I do want to be a marine biologist, after all. But I'd follow Sam anywhere her career takes her.

She says she's still not one hundred percent sure what she wants to do when she's done college. She already has, sort of, a business. So she's thinking of studying business on one hand. Then she says she'd love to be a psychologist. She says her first therapist back in Ohio told her his story when she was getting ready to come out here. When he'd formally discharged her from his care. She said that when she was little she'd run away from her dad fighting with her mom. And one time, she remembers the police finding her and taking her to the hospital. A really nice doctor came to talk to her, and she remembered being cold, and he offered her a sandwich and a hot chocolate. She'd agreed, and he'd gone to get them.

But her dad, her birth dad, had shown up and taken her home before the doctor got back. She remembered him because he'd been funny and had asked if her stuffed hippo wanted anything. He'd made her laugh.

He told her that the day she showed up for her first appointment with him, when finally she looked up at him, he knew she was that little girl. And he knew he couldn't say anything while she was his patient, but once she'd been discharged, she could be a friend and he could tell her all this. They still talk, Sam and her old therapist. But she mostly just tells him about school and us, and regular stuff you'd talk to a family friend or an uncle about.

She told me he helped her through most of the worst things she'd faced. The shooting at her school, her kidnappings, losing her leg, and other stuff.

There's one thing I don't know if I should tell her though. Or if she ever feels comfortable enough to tell me, do I tell her I already know?  I know about the asshole at her school. At the dance. I know what he did and I don't know if I should let her bring it up?  I think that's probably best. It's not my place to bring that up. I don't want her to think I'm trying to pressure her to do something she might not be ready for. And besides, I don't want to. I mean, I'm a guy, yes, I want to, but not until I know Sam is ready. I want her to feel right about it. I want her to, I guess, enjoy...