Chapter 71

Samantha was standing by her window, shaking like a leaf.

"Samantha!" I said running up to her. "What happened?"

"I- I got up to go to the bathroom and I saw something move in the woods. I thought it might be an animal, so I looked to see. It was a person. With a camera. They were taking pictures of the house."

"Samantha," I sighed. "Paparazzi do that sometimes. They try to get pictures of us around the house. It was probably one of them."

"I swear he could see me and he was taking pictures of me," she said.

"From the woods?  He wouldn't be able to see into your room."

I pulled her close to me and hugged her as tight as I dared. She was shaking so hard.

"It's okay. You're okay," I said soothingly. Jenna was rubbing Sam's arm.

"You still want to nap?" I asked her.

She shook her head.

"I think I'm wide awake now," she said.

"Okay. Come downstairs. You can play video games with me if you want."

"Okay," she said.

"Also, our friends Brendon and his wife Sarah, and Zack and his wife Kala flew in early and are going to come for dinner so you can meet them tonight instead of with everyone else tomorrow. That way, you'll at least have met them and you'll know them before you meet the others."

"Um. Okay," Sam said. I could see she was a bit nervous, but she'd already said new people make her nervous.

The three of us went downstairs and I set up the video game console. I was going to teach her Fortnite.  It would also be something she could have in common with Brendon when he came over. The boy is obsessed.

We played for a little while and she got pretty good. Kids. They pick this stuff up like a fish to water.

The doorbell rang and Josh, who'd been downstairs, went to get it.

"Ty, did you order Chinese food?" He asked.

"No. Why?"

"There's like, four people here with a Chinese food delivery," he said. I looked over and rolled my eyes at him.

"Come on in guys!" I called out. Brendon and Sarah came in first and said hello to Josh. I looked over at Samantha.

"Ready?"

She shrugged and then nodded.

Brendon and Sarah came into the living room while Zack and Kala put the food in the kitchen.

"Tyler!" Brendon said, giving me a hug. "And you must be Samantha."

Samantha nodded.

"Can I give you a hug? I'm a hugger," Brendon said.

Samantha nodded.

"Just be gentle. She's got a couple of broken ribs," I said. Brendon gave her a light hug then held her at arm's length.

"What happened? How'd you break your ribs?"

"I stood up to a bully at school. He didn't like that too much. So he beat me up."

"You poor thing!" Sarah said, wrapping Samantha in a light hug.

"It's nothing. I've had worse," she shrugged. It bothered me how cavalier she was about the beatings her birth father would dole out.

"Did the school do anything?" Brendon asked. "When Jessie..."

He stopped and swallowed hard. A tear fell from his eye. Four years ago, Brendon and Sarah had adopted a girl from a children's home in LA. She'd died just this past May. She'd been sick when they adopted her. She'd had AIDS. Some eighth grade boys had beaten her up at school when they found out she was the kid with AIDS. She'd been in a coma for a few days and Brendon had had to leave tour. They'd sued the families of the boys involved.

"Oh," Josh said. "Shit. I wasn't thinking when I invited you. I'm sorry."

"No," Sarah said. "Don't be. We're thrilled to be here. Just because Jessie is gone doesn't mean we can't celebrate our friends."

I hugged Sarah. Their daughter had been an amazing kid too. Smart, humble. Jenna and I had flown out to LA towards the end of April when Jessica was declining. By then she was bedridden and couldn't speak. We'd been with them when she died.

"We didn't follow up. Sam wasn't too badly hurt, all things considered, so we didn't think to pursue it," I said.

Brendon nodded.

"So," Brendon said, his voice still a little shaky. "Sam, tell us about yourself."

"There's not much to tell," she said. "Uh, I'm me, I'm 13, I have diabetes, and my dad - my birth father, is in prison. And Jenna and Tyler adopted me."

"What happened to your mom?" Brendon asked.

"She died," Samantha said.

"Oh. I'm sorry sweetie," Sarah said. "Was she sick?"

"No. My ... my birth father killed her. That's why he's in prison."

Sarah gasped.

"Yeah. You guys heard a little bit from Josh what she's been through," I said.

"Yeah. But not that part," Sarah said.

"Well," Brendon said, "You lucked out in the parent department. By the way, this is my wife, Sarah. And this is my buddy Zack, who is also my security guard, and his wife, Kala."

They all said hello and then we finally sat down. Brendon looked over at the TV

"You play Fortnite?" He asked Samantha.

"Tyler just taught me," she said.

"She's pretty good," I said.

"I challenge you," Brendon said. "Well, I mean, let's play a round after dinner. Cool?"

"Yeah," Sam said, smiling. "Maybe."

Samantha got her kit and insulin, looked over the dishes Brendon and Sarah had brought and frowned.

"Everything okay?" I asked her.

"I'm trying to figure out how to dose for this. I think I need to add a few units for the sauces," she said. "But I'm not sure how much. Five seems too high."

"What if you did two and half, if you can. If you spike you can take a couple extra units," I suggested. The classes through her doctor's office had helped us understand how she dosed her fast acting insulin.

"I'm going to take three extra. But I'm going to have to test a couple extra times after dinner," she said.

"That's okay, you know that." I reassured her.

Samantha took her insulin and joined us at the table.

"Fork or chopsticks?" Brendon asked her.

"I don't know how to use chopsticks," she said.

Brendon smiled and handed her a pair and spent the next fifteen minutes trying to teach Samantha how to use chopsticks. Sarah smiled at the two of them and laughed when Samantha sent a piece of breaded chicken flying across the table. It landed on Zack's plate.

"Thanks!" He said, and ate the chicken. Samantha frowned at him.

"Taking food from a growing kid?" She laughed.

Samantha warmed up quickly to the four of them. She asked Brendon why he needed a security person and Brendon told her who he was.

"Really?" She asked, looking at me. I nodded.

"What, you don't listen to 'Panic!'?" He asked, pretending to be hurt.

"Well, kinda?" Sam said, clearly worried she upset Brendon.

"She listens to all of us. Wait until she meets Pete and Patrick tomorrow," I said.

"Pete and Patrick who?" She asked.

"No. Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump. Neither are names Who," I joked.

"You're kidding," Samantha said.

"I am not," I smiled.

Samantha looked around the table. It seemed to have suddenly dawned on her just how much her world was changing.