Fighting Fire - s.k.

Chapter Eleven

It was bright and early on Saturday morning when Stevie found herself in the heaps of the dreaded task of cleaning out the garage storage. Last night, the group had taken the boat out and had a nice afternoon together on the water, but Sam suggested that they utilize the twins' help while they could.

Sam and Stevie were sitting at the bow of the boat, his arm firmly placed around her hips, holding her close to him. Jake was driving the boat back to the dock and Josh was sitting at the back, watching the ripples in the water behind them.

"We can get a lot of stuff done tomorrow with them here," Sam said and Stevie looked over at him, "Like what?"

"Well," he smiled, "I know you don't want to do the garage! We can make them do it."

Stevie laughed and shook her head, "We could ask them for help, sure."

Sam leaned forward on his elbow, turning to smile at her and instead of talking about it anymore, he pulled her into a kiss, earning some indistinct shouting from Jake behind them.

So, here they were. None of them had stayed up very late after making the plans for the morning. They got up around six and started working, deciding to combine the garage cleaning and the garage sale all in one.

Stevie had been dreading this only because of how much stuff she knew her dad kept in here. However, Sam might have had a point about the twins being helpful to them in this task because after about forty-five minutes of working, they had already made a pretty big dent in the items they were keeping and getting rid of.

Stevie was chucking some junk into a trash bag towards the back of the garage when she heard Sam gasp. She turned and found him ripping an old sheet off of her dad's piano.

"Oh man," Sam muttered and ran his hand along the old, damaged wood of her father's piano, "What a beauty!"

She smiled at him and turned back to what she was doing, but stopped again when he spoke, "I gotta get this fixed up!"

Stevie watched him and chuckled, "For what, Sam? That thing is a piece of junk."

Sam opened the piano up to look at the keys and smiled, shaking his head, "Yeah, but it's my piece of junk, Stevie. I'm calling dibs!"

He pressed on a few keys lightly and looked at her, "Besides, I know a guy."

"A guy out in Nashville?" Stevie pestered, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sam nodded, "Mhmm, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind making a trip!"

"You really wanna keep that thing?" Stevie laughed and he looked at her with wide eyes, "Of course I do! I might even get a U-Haul to take it home! Or should I keep it here? What do you expect me to play when I'm here with you, Stephanie?"

The sentiment made her body tense, thinking about Sam coming back to visit her. Part of her was delighted by the possibility, and part of her was very unsure how to feel. It sounded as if they were exclusive and she didn't know what she thought about that. She was scared to get into a serious relationship, especially considering everything that happened the last few days.

She made a face and shook her head, "Maybe a piano that isn't falling apart?"

Sam scoffed, "Please! It's great! Don't even worry about it!"

Jake's voice behind her caused Stevie to jump, momentarily forgetting he was there too, "We will probably need a U-Haul or a trailer or something though! We can't fit all this stuff in the Jeep!"

"Jesus," Stevie clutched her chest, "I forgot you were here!"

"That'll happen sometimes with him," Sam chuckled and Josh chimed in too, "Too occupied with tunnel vision, hmm?"