Page 12 of Scoop Me Up (Love in Maplewood #7)

Gabe

Sam opened the door to The Striped Maple and gestured to me. “After you.”

I stepped inside the pub and looked around, cool air swirling around us as we entered.

The building was nondescript from the front, the same as any Maplewood building, but inside, it gave off strong Irish pub vibes.

Everything was stained wood—the floor, the wall paneling, the beams on the ceilings—and the room had a soft glow to it.

Behind the bar stood a man with auburn hair and green eyes, average build, and a bright smile. He leaned forward when he spotted us.

“Hi, Sam. And, Sam’s date.”

Sam’s eyes widened and they shook their head. I suppressed a laugh by pretending to clear my throat. “Just a friend.”

My stomach sank at Sam’s words, just a little. I didn’t want to think too hard about it.

“In that case…” The bartender tilted his head and looked at me. “I’m Conall. Nice to meet you.”

“Easy there,” Sam said. “He’s straight.”

My neck and chest heated and I opened my mouth to protest before shutting it quickly. You are straight. What are you thinking?

“Can’t win ’em all,” he said, stepping back and placing his palms on the bar top. “What can I get you two?”

Sam glanced around. “Is Cooper here yet? Or any of the others?”

“Cooper’s over there in a booth. None of the rest of the usual suspects, though.”

Their brow dipped in confusion. “Thanks. Can I get a Doctor Maple?”

“Sure. Anything for you, Sam’s friend?”

I laughed at the nickname. “I’m Gabe. Whiskey?” I pointed at a bottle on the shelf. Naturally, it advertised a maple-flavored local whiskey.

“A man with good taste. I’ll be right over with those drinks.”

We made our way to the booth that Cooper was occupying and I eased down onto the empty seat.

Sam glanced between the two of us briefly before sitting next to Cooper.

He must have kicked Sam under the table, because they grunted and shot a look at him before putting some space between the two of them.

“Hi there,” Cooper said with a mischievous smile.

Sam frowned and gestured to the empty space in front of Cooper. “No drink? What’s up?”

Cooper shook his head. “I can’t stay. Early morning tomorrow. You know how it is.”

Sam closed their eyes briefly before looking at Cooper again. “Tomorrow’s Sunday.”

He shrugged. “Work waits for no one.”

“Where’s everyone else?” Sam glanced around, presumably looking for their friends.

“Couldn’t get anyone else to come tonight.” There was a heavy pause before Cooper spoke again. “Well, that’s that. I have to get going. Sorry about tonight. Rain check?”

I frowned and lifted my hand in a small wave. “Rain check,” I echoed quietly. Is he… did Cooper just set us up?

Cooper nudged Sam until they stood, before sliding out of the booth and calling out his goodbye.

When Sam sat back down, they looked both annoyed and embarrassed, their cheeks and throat turning deep pink.

I swallowed hard, my eyes on their throat, my mouth going dry.

Stop it , I chastised myself. Friends. But I couldn’t stop the thought of my mouth on Sam’s throat from racing through my mind, unbidden.

Heat flushed through me as my jeans tightened a little.

The more time I spent with them, the more… intrusive my thoughts seemed to get.

Before Sam could say anything else, Conall arrived with our drinks, placing them in front of us. “Let me know if you need anything else,” he said with a nod before heading back to the bar.

I picked up my glass and took a sip of the whiskey, letting the sweet heat make its way down my throat and into my stomach.

It was good, really good, and I caught myself taking another sip right away.

For a moment, we sat quietly, and when I looked up from my drink, Sam was watching me.

The second we made eye contact, they looked away, down at their glass.

I had the urge to reach out and touch them, but I settled for taking a possibly too large sip of whiskey to calm my nerves.

“This is a great place,” I said, breaking the silence.

Sam nodded and sipped their beer. “It’s been here forever. A Maplewood staple. Like that whiskey you’re drinking.”

I sipped it again, already noticing the way it warmed my body, making me feel just a little more at ease.

I put the glass down. It was nearly empty already and I bit my lip to tell myself to slow down.

I was a lightweight, always had been, especially considering we hadn’t had anything for dinner, and I did not need to overindulge and embarrass myself in front of Sam.

Not on our first night of being roommates. “This whiskey is a Maplewood staple?”

They hummed and nodded. “The maple comes from my cousin Jason’s farm, just a little ways that way.” They gestured westward.

“Your cousin Jason has a maple farm?”

“Been in the family for generations, actually.”

I nodded appreciatively. “That’s cool. Nobody in my family has anything of note going on.”

“Come on now,” Sam said. “Ellie’s going to change the world. We both know it.”

I couldn’t tell if the heat blossoming in my chest was from the whiskey or the deep happiness of someone else believing in my kid the way I did.

“She just might,” I said with a nod. “I’m glad you’re helping her this summer.

She’s never been a big reader, but she just loves your class.

She’s reading a lot more independently now. ”

Sam’s smile was shy and they sipped their beer again. “Thanks. It’s all Ellie. All I’m doing is encouraging her.”

“It takes a great teacher to get through to kids.”

They shrugged and smiled brighter. “Thank you for saying that. I’m just glad she’s having fun. Summers at school aren’t exactly the most exciting thing in the world.”

I took the final sip of my whiskey—how was the glass empty already?—and placed my empty glass down on the table. “You can say that again. I was the same way. Took summer school for years.”

“Not a star student, then?”

“Not in the beginning. And then once I had gotten better in school, I realized if I took summer school, I could get ahead. After that, there was no looking back. Some of my best summer memories are in school, actually, as silly as that sounds.”

“Not at all,” Sam said. “It just shows you had priorities. I spent my summers with my grandma, helping her in the kitchen mostly.”

I laughed again. “I would’ve thought you were the type to spend summers at the park, making out with someone. I mean, looking like you do, I’m surprised you didn’t attract crushes like bees to honey.”

Sam snorted and sipped their beer. “Hardly. Like I said, no relationships of note.”

“Just because you didn’t have relationships doesn’t mean you weren’t a hookup artist or something.” The idea made my stomach churn with jealousy.

A laugh burst out of them. “Not even a little.”

Good. Once again, I didn’t know why it mattered to me. I didn’t have any right to be jealous of Sam’s relationships, past, present, or future. We were friends.

“How about you? Hookup artist?”

At that moment, Conall stopped by our booth, noticing my drink was empty. “Can I refill that for you?”

“Yes, please.” I passed him the glass. “Thanks.” He only took a couple of moments to return with a full glass. I hummed appreciatively and sipped the maple-flavored whiskey. When Conall left us alone again, I looked back at Sam. “Where were we?”

“Hookup artist,” Sam prompted.

“Oh, right. No, definitely not. Like I said earlier, Jennifer and I met in grad school. Before that, there were a handful of girls, but nobody special.”

They nodded thoughtfully. “What about since the divorce?”

I snorted a laugh and sipped my whiskey. “Definitely not. I told you, I haven’t even been out for drinks in the past year. Definitely no dates.”

“Can I ask…” they started, but hesitated.

“About what happened?”

Sam shrugged and waved their hand as if waving away the conversation. “It’s none of my business. You don’t have to tell me anything.”

“No, it’s fine. Nothing really happened.

I guess that was the problem. We thought it was going to be forever, especially once Ellie came along, but…

we just… grew apart. The fact that I worked nearly constantly didn’t help.

” I took another large swallow of my drink and exhaled sharply.

“One day we looked at each other and pretty much said it at the same time.”

“How have you been since then?”

Another sip of whiskey. “Fine. I’m fine.

Even more boring than I was before, really.

I want to get out of freelance consulting for a while.

I work so damn much, I don’t have time for a life outside of work.

I had to pass on several freelance jobs just to come out here for the summer and spend time with Ellie. ”

“If you weren’t consulting, what would you do?”

Thoughts of the job offer pounded through my head in time with my accelerated heartbeat.

“I don’t know,” I deflected. I could barely think about anything but Sam’s mouth.

“Like I’ve said before, I’ve always wanted to invest. Watch a business grow from the ground up.

That’s kind of like consulting, but more personal. More… invested.”

Sam chuckled. “That’s sort of in the name, isn’t it?”

“You’ve got me there.” We were quiet for a moment, just watching one another, before Sam took a breath.

“Your glass is empty again.”

They were right. It was. My mind was pleasantly fuzzy and my limbs were loose and warm. I knew it was probably time to wrap things up and head home, but I couldn’t help wanting to be near them still. “One more drink?”

Sam nodded and finished their glass before standing. “Be right back.”

While they were gone to the bar to get refills, I stood up and made my way to the restroom.

My head spun a little. Good grief, you really are a lightweight , I thought, as I walked down the hallway.

There were two female-presenting people standing in line for the bathrooms and I took my place in line behind them.

One of the ladies looked at the other. “Sam looks so good tonight, don’t they?”

At first, I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly. I pulled out my phone to look busy enough to eavesdrop while they talked.

The second one nodded and fanned herself. “What is it about the teacher thing that does it for me?”

Okay, I’d definitely heard correctly.

The first laughed and elbowed her friend. “You’re not the only one. I’d let them… Oh, my turn.” One of the bathroom doors swung open and the woman exhaled in relief. “Be right back.”

At that moment, I felt a tickle in the back of my throat. Unable to suppress it, I coughed, catching the attention of the remaining woman.

The other woman turned to me. “Oops. I didn’t see you standing there. You’re new here, right? Ellie’s dad?”

I looked up from my phone, eyebrows raised in an attempt to look innocent. “Me? Oh, yeah. Ellie’s dad.”

“Are you here with Sam?”

My heart stuttered to a stop. “Sam?” I repeated.

“Yeah, you know. I noticed you two over there. Are you a thing?”

Heat flooded my face and neck, burning even my ears. “No, we’re not a thing.” I’m straight , I wanted to protest, but at this point, it felt disingenuous to say out loud, even though I’d only ever been with cisgender women.

She shrugged. “Too bad. You should be. Sam’s a good one, and by the way you were looking at them—” The other bathroom door opened then. “Have a good evening,” she said as she disappeared inside.

My stomach churned. Could she tell how I was feeling?

How was I feeling, anyway? Was I attracted to the objectively hot nonbinary elementary school teacher who dreamed of owning an ice cream shop?

Wow. Even in my thoughts, I can’t hide. Yes.

Yes I was. And just because my feelings for someone other than a cis woman were new didn’t mean they should freak me out, right? Of course not.

After I did my business, I made my way back to the table carefully, feeling just a little unsteady on my feet.

Just enough unsteady that I knew having a third drink was probably ill-advised.

The realization that I wasn’t as straight as I’d always thought was crashing down on me like a ton of bricks, though.

My heart pounded in my chest and I couldn’t take a full breath.

I sat heavily down into our booth. I didn’t know what to do next.

Sam’s brow furrowed. “You doing okay?”

With a nod, I slid the drink toward me and took a sip. “Better than ever.” When they didn’t look away, I shook my head and waved away their concerns. “I’m a lightweight. But like you said, I don’t have to worry about driving.”

Sam tilted their head to the side in a conceding gesture. “Fair enough.” After a moment, their face relaxed into a smile and they sipped their beer. “Well, here’s to roommates.”

I was unable to take my eyes off of their mouth, their full lower lip spit-damp and shining. My breath caught in my throat. I lifted my glass. “Roommates.”

We both drank.