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He turned to Jess instead. “You should’ve seen these two when they were kids,” he said with a grin as he shook his head. “They were incredible on the field, even from a young age. They were at the same private school, and they went undefeated for three seasons in a row until—”

He paused, as if finally catching himself, before continuing what he was about to say. A sheepish look crept over his features.

“Well,” he mumbled, throwing his wife a quick look that said he needed rescuing, “the team was much better when you were on it.”

Mrs. Jacobs let out an awkward laugh as she waved a hand dismissively. “He likes to reminisce too much. And once he starts talking about sports, you can hardly get him to stop!”

Everyone in the circle laughed, and although Sam tried her hardest to join, nothing came out.

She raised the water bottle to her lips, tilting it back far enough to get a couple of big gulps down.

She was only vaguely aware of Liz changing the subject to something work related, before they all began talking again. She followed each person as they spoke, trying to smile or laugh at all the right moments. But the tightness in her chest didn’t recede.

It was as if she was suddenly twelve years old again. Nothing more than an outsider looking in.

Mrs. Jacobs said something to her before laughing, and Sam smiled, forcing a response to come out of her mouth. She wasn’t entirely aware of what she’d said, but it seemed to be the right thing, because the older woman burst into laughter.

Sam planted a wide grin on her lips as if she didn’t feel like nothing more than a shell of a human being at that moment. The laughter buzzed in her ears, and she couldn’t tell if it was theirs, or her own, that she was hearing.

Suddenly, a soft hand squeezed her bicep.

She blinked, looking to where Jess stood beside her.

“Hey,” Jess said, a nonchalant smile on her face. Although the look in her eyes was anything but. The concern in them seemed to ask some sort of silent question. “I’m gonna step out for a sec and get some air. Wanna come?”

Sam swallowed as the world came rushing back to her. “Yeah,” she nodded slightly, emerging from the daze she’d entered. “Yeah. That sounds good.”

They excused themselves as the rest of them continued talking, the laughter fading with every step they took toward the nearest exit.

Jess kept a hand placed gently on her shoulder, leading them to the door that led to the main lobby area. And the instant they stepped past the threshold, a calming quiet greeted them. The lobby had mostly emptied, leaving only a handful of people saying their goodbyes.

Jess led her out to a vacant part of the lobby before she stopped, dropping her hand.

“You okay?” she asked, turning to look at her with that curious concern she’d seen in her eyes just a few moments before.

“Oh—yeah.” Sam shook her head lightly, with a tight smile. “Yeah. All good.”

Jess’ features hardened then, as if they were deflecting the obvious lie. And it was hardly a surprise. She always seemed to have some deep sense of how she was feeling, like their emotions were tangled together as one.

Sam swallowed, hating how transparent she felt beneath Jess’ gaze. Or maybe she didn’t hate it at all. And maybe that’s what she really hated so much.

“Yeah,” Sam said softly, looking away. She fiddled with the bottle in her hand. “Its just a lot, I guess.”

Jess’ eyes traced her face. “Seeing her parents, you mean?”

Sam nodded.

It’d been one thing to see Liz again after all those years. It felt odd, but not necessarily in a bad way. Just different. Unexpected.

But seeing her parents was something else.

As a child, she’d never understood why they hadn’t let her stay with them. Why she couldn’t have kept the life she’d had. The school. The friends. They’d been her only hope of that.

And—they didn’t want her.

As she got older, she understood more of what a big commitment it would’ve been on their part. And she didn’t blame them. Not really. Or at least, she never thought she did.

But seeing them like that—so happy, so unbothered—stirred those old, repressed feelings.