"Thanks for inviting us. We had a good time tonight." I hugged Connor briefly, feeling Jacob's eyes on me the whole time despite the fact that he was hugging Joey.
"Anytime. I think we enjoyed it too. And Penny liked having someone to play with, I think." Connor smiled at his daughter who had fallen asleep in his arms a few moments ago.
"Yeah. Jess enjoyed it too."
"Well, I guess I'll see you on Monday then?"
"Yeah, definitely." I hugged Jacob as well before following Joey out to the car.
"Did you have fun tonight, Sammy?" Joey asked as he helped Jess into the car. I was already sat in the driver's seat starting the car.
"I guess." Sam mumbled.
"What's up, buddy?" I asked, looking at him through the rear-view mirror. He shrugged and flopped down in his seat. "Sam, remember you've got to talk to us. Don't keep it bottled up."
"Did something happen at school?" Joey looked up at our son who shook his head.
"No."
"Joey..." I turned to face my husband who just looked at me. I sent him a look and he nodded, dropping the subject for now. He climbed into the passenger seat beside me and we pulled out into the street. I waved back at Connor who was still stood in the lit up doorway of this house.
Back home, we sent Jess up to bed seeing as she was practically falling asleep on her feet while Joey and I sat in the living room with Sam.
"Sam, what's bothering you?" I asked.
"Nothing. I'm okay." Sam wouldn't look at either of us.
"Sam, we're here to help you. Whatever you tell us, we won't be mad or anything. We just want you to feel like you can talk to us." Joey assured him and he looked up at me, faint fear in his eyes.
"You won't get mad?"
"Of course not. Why would we get mad?" I reached over to rest my hand on his shoulder.
"I was watching you, dad, at dinner. I just thought, I don't know, I thought I saw..." He trailed off and looked away again. "I don't want Joey to hear..."
"Hear what? Sam, anything you tell Troye, you can tell me." Joey said, a little shocked but Sam shook his head defiantly.
"No."
"Joey..."
"What?"
"Let him go. If I think you need to hear it, I'll call you in." I spoke quietly, hoping to calm Sam a little. Joey looked as if he was going to fight it but when I nodded subtly, he gave in, giving Sam one last hug before getting up and heading up to our bedroom. Only when the door clicked shut did Sam look up at me again. "Now, what's so bad that Joey can't hear?"
"I-I thought I saw, with Connor, I thought you were, I don't know, maybe flirting a little bit." My eyes went wide at the suggestion.
"Flirting? Why on earth would I be flirting with Connor?"
"I don't know. I just thought I saw, or heard, a little. I'm sorry dad." I closed my eyes and sighed, thinking back over the evening. I tried to pin-point what I could have said or done to make him think I was flirting with Connor. "Dad?"
"Sorry, buddy. I'm just a little surprised. What exactly did you hear?"
"Nothing specific. It was just, sort of, the way you talked and reacted to what he said."
"Okay." Sighing again, I took Sam's hands in mine. "Sammy, if I was flirting with Connor, it was completely unintentional. You know I love Joey. And Connor has his own husband."
"I know. But I couldn't help but see..." Sam chewed on his lip for a moment. "I think he was doing it too."
"Who?"
"Connor. I think he was flirting back."
"He's just a naturally flirty person, Sam. I've seen it at work. He does it with a lot of the staff. It's just who he is." Suddenly, Sam started crying and I pulled him into a hug.
"I just don't want to lose my family again."
"Oh, Sam. I promise you, no matter what, you and Jess will never loose Joey and I. We will always be here for you. You'll always have us."
"B-but if you s-split up..."
"Sam, Joey and I love each other. We're not going to 'split up' or get a divorce or anything. You don't have to worry about it." Sam just sniffled against my shoulder, nodding his head.
"What if..."
"Look, even if, in the highly unlikely event that Joey and I separate, you and Jess will still be loved by the both of us. You're our children and we worked hard to get you. We're not going to let something between us cause your lives to get upset. We know what you've been through already."
"You promise?"
"I promise. On my life." I hugged him again before pulling back to look at him. "Why don't you get some sleep? All this emotion will have tired you out."
"Okay." He stood up to go but turned back to face me. "Dad, I'm sorry if I upset you, or said something I shouldn't."
"Sam, I want you to be able to talk to me. I don't mind. If you have anything you want to talk about, I'll always listen, okay?"
"Okay. Thanks, dad. Love you." He'd barely gotten the words out before he darted out the door and upstairs. I sat there, almost in shock, for a moment. It had been a long time since Sam told me he loved me. He'd stopped when he got about half way through middle school because he thought it sounded immature to voice affection towards Joey and I. I jumped when I heard Joey come up behind me.
"Tro?"
"Huh?"
"What happened? Is he okay?"
"Oh, uh..." I shook my head to clear my thoughts, patting the seat beside me. Joey sat down, his legs laid over mine and took my hands in his. "Yeah, he's fine. He told me he loved me."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It just kind of threw me for a moment."
"What did he want to tell you? That I couldn't hear?"
"Oh, he thought Connor and I were flirting with each other a little at dinner."
"Oh."
"I assured him we weren't and that you and I are still going okay."
"He's got an imagination in that head of his."
"I know. But I've told him it's okay. He was worried about what would happen to him and Jess if we weren't together anymore." I laughed dryly and looked up at Joey.
"Hypothetically, what would happen?"
"What? Joey, it's never going to happen. So why would we even talk about it?"
"I'm just curious. I'm talking hypothetically, of course."
"Joey. Don't even think about it. It's hard to even think about being separated from you. I can't even imagine it." I shuddered at the thought.
"Sorry." He squeezed my hands gently. "Hey, let's go to bed. I'm exhausted."
"Me too." I let him pull me up and we quickly locked up the house before heading upstairs to bed for the night. It didn't take long before we were both fast asleep, curled up together under the blankets.
