Chapter 41

When Mark returned and said Sam’s parents were okay about him staying the evening, Sam got out of his chair and, much to my surprise, came and sat between Mark and me on the sofa.

Mark told Sam a funny story about a girl he knew at school who kept pestering him for a date. “I went out with her a couple of times.”

“Really?” Sam said.

I wondered the same myself.

“Yeah. I only did it so I could go to her house. I fancied her older brother something rotten.”

This got Sam laughing, although I felt a twinge of jealousy; stupid because I didn’t even know Mark back then.

* * * *

Sam stayed with us for the rest of the day; we fed him, and didn’t let him go home until it was his bedtime. Mark and I walked him back to his house, even though it was only a couple of doors down.

Helen invited us in when we arrived.

“Feeling better now?” she asked, touching Sam’s cheek.

“Yeah. Mark and Simon were great.”

We smiled at him.

“Thanks,” Helen said to us and offered us a cup of coffee.