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

84. Sarah

I led Dylan to the back door. Before I let him go out to Sam I stopped him.

"Dylan, I know you know about what happened to Sam last year. It played a part in Saturday. Please, for the love of god, Dylan, be gentle with her, okay?  She's really been struggling the past couple of days."

"Sarah, I just want her to be okay. I know I can't fix what happened to her. I know what happened isn't my fault. But I can't stand her being in so much pain. And I'm so upset that I might have contributed to even more pain."

We both looked out the door at Samantha. She was facing away from the house, trailing her hand in the pool.

"She's really special, Sarah. I've never felt for anyone the way I feel for Sam. I'll wait years if that's how long it takes for her to tell me what happened," Dylan said. I smiled at him.

"Just be patient. Okay? This is going to be hard for her. Even if she does tell you, she may still push you away. She blames herself."

"Sam internalizes so much. It's not fair. I want to share that with her. So maybe she won't hurt as much."

"Sam is really lucky to have you, Dylan.  I just hope you're able to make her see that," I said. I pulled the sliding door open.

"Sam? Dylan's here. I'm going to send him out, okay?"

She didn't turn her head but she nodded. I closed the door after Dylan went outside, and stood by, watching. Ready to intervene if it looked like she needed help. Or Dylan did.

"So, why were you two so late coming back from Dr. Angela?" Brendon asked as he came up behind me and looked out the door with me.

"I took Samantha to the pier where we used to go. Where we still go to talk about Jess. I didn't want to bring her home and let her sit in her room, isolating herself."

"Sarah, you can't force her to do things she doesn't want," Brendon said.

"I didn't force her to do anything. We just sat. I just sat beside her. I told her about going there to talk bout life, and Jess. That we like the quiet mixed with the busyness. But I didn't bring anything up until she did. If she hadn't, well, I would have brought her home and let her isolate herself again. But I had to do something. I couldn't watch her curl up on her bed every day, getting further and further in her own mind. She was so upset, Brendon. She thought she messed everything up with Dylan. And she's afraid he's going to hate her when, if, she tells him about Tristan."

"He knows about Tristan," Brendon said.

"Sam doesn't know that. And it's up to him if he wants her to know what he knows. But that's one of the things that's been weighing on her. What happened with Tristan and not knowing whether she should tell Dylan."

Brendon was silent. He had his arms around me, his chin on my head and we both stood and watched the two teens by the pool.

Sam was avoiding looking at Dylan, but Dylan was holding Sam's hands. I watched as he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. I watched as he spoke only briefly. He was letting Sam do all the talking. He was listening. His gaze never left Sam. He never looked away, even while she did.

I watched as she covered her face with her hands and began sobbing. Brendon held me back as I was about to go out to her.

"Leave it," he said. "Dylan's got her."

He was right. Dylan had shifted closer to Sam and pulled her into his arms while she cried.  Then he sat back and he started talking. Sam suddenly sat up away from him and looked defensive and angry. And still, Brendon wouldn't let me go to her.