The Client

Chapter 6

Dinner + Movie

"Come on, I'm starving." She said reaching for his hand and unlocking the door. They walked down stairs and into the kitchen where all eyes were on them as they appeared. Mercedes rolled her eyes and moved towards the table with Sam in tow. They sat next to each other with Marie and David at the heads of the table and Mark and JJ on the other side. Mark and JJ exchanged some looks at each other then with Mercedes, it was clear they had a secret language and were trying communicate with each other.

"Stop that." Marie said to her kids rolling her eyes.

"So Cedes... wasn't your hair down before you went upstairs?" JJ asked trying to stifle a laugh and Mark lowering his head laughing. Mercedes inhaled and kicked JJ under the table.

"Can you not act your ages?" David asked sternly.

"Mercedes say grace." Marie said grabbing her son and Sam's hands. Mercedes grabbed his other hand and her dads and David grabbed JJ's hand. They all bowed their heads as she blessed the meal then began to eat. Marie made pot roast with potatoes, carrots and gravy along with rice and cornbread and vegetable medley. It was all very delicious, Sam hadn't had a home cooked meal in years and this took him back to his childhood days. Mercedes was in heaven, her mom knew how to cook the best meals and this was her absolute favorite. She took one bite and groaned, she had really missed good food, sure she would cook when she was home but nothing compared to her moma's cooking.

"So, Sam... I take you like Mercy?" Mark asked not looking up from his plate. Sam felt Mercedes hand on his leg and he looked at her before answering.

"I do actually." He said calmly. He felt her hand begin to slide off before grabbing it and placing it back on his knee. She shifted in her seat avoiding eye contact with everyone.

"She likes you too, she's just gonna play coy about it. She's only ever had one guy over and he was a real ass-" Mark started before Marie gave him a death stare.

"I mean he was a real jerk." Mark said correcting his language.

"So back to your hair... what's up with it being up all of sudden?" JJ asked again with a huge grin on his face.

"I think it looks good pulled up." Sam said looking at Mercedes as she tried to hide a blush.

Marie and David exchanged glances before David smacked JJ across the head. Everyone laughed and continued their meal with small talk. Everyone asked about Sam's career and how he managed it all which he contributed to having an amazing assistant. He learned that Mark was three years older than JJ and five years older than Mercedes.

Mark owned his own towing company and had a great deal of success being able to open five location in the mid- west. JJ, which was actually short Justin Jones, was also successful. He had his own accounting firm and serviced all of Lima and surrounding areas along with a few out of state clientele. Mark was engaged to his high school love Jessica and the wedding was fast approaching, JJ was as he states was a "forever bachelor" and had absolutely no plans of settling down, much to Marie's disdain. David was retired from dentistry and still had his own dental office running and Marie was a former lawyer turned homemaker.

There was so much love between all of them, they really enjoyed being near each other and he was quickly learning their favorite past time was embarrassing Mercedes. He could understand why, she reacted so adorably every time. They each had a funny story to tell him about her: like when she was five and got her first bike, she thought her bike was like her brothers sports bike and could move her peddles backwards while still going. She would peddle really fast and come to a screeching halt each time and break down crying because her bike didn't do what she expected. He had to turn away to laugh because he could see her doing it over and over again with the same results.