Different Forms of Happiness

Part 15

Chapter 14 - Graham

"You stole my date," Graham said, stepping into Scott's office as if he owned the place.

Scott leaned back in his chair, a smile on his face.  "If you don't remember, I asked her first."

"Yes," Graham replied as he flopped down into one of the overly large chairs in his office, "but usually, when I ask them, they ditch you and go with me."

"That's happened once, and it was my cousin."

Graham's nose wrinkled.  "I can't believe your mom was going to force you to go to prom with your cousin."

"My date didn't want to wear pink, remember?  It was The Big Fiasco of the Twelfth Grade."

"Wonderful name," Graham mumbled, before dropping the smile on his face.  "Who am I going to go with?"

Scott shrugged at his friend.  Even if he could set Graham up with one of his past girlfriends, would Graham want that?  "You could try Stephanie."

"No," Graham said, a wince on his face.  "The woman is in love with you."

"She was in love with my money, not me."

Graham nodded, not saying another word.  They had this conversation before, had argued about the women he dated.  Neither of them could come to an understanding.  Graham thought that Scott never gave the women a chance, while Scott thought that Graham gave too many women a chance.

His friend jerked up in his seat, making Scott jump in surprise.  "I have an idea!"

"Took you a while," Scott mumbled.

Graham ignored him, a smile spreading on his face.  "I'll take Max."

"What?"

"Max," Graham said in an excited voice.  "Your mother told me I had to take a plus one.  She never said that the plus one had to be a woman."

Scott stared at his friend, waiting for him to connect the thoughts in his mind.  When Graham didn't say another word, Scott let out a sigh.  "Everyone is going to think that Max is your date."

"Who cares?" Graham said, waving a hand dismissively.  "It will be a perfect way to keep your mother from trying to set me up with any woman that crosses our path."

"I should have told her I liked men long ago."

"You like men?" Graham asked, jumping from his seat and staring down at Scott with a little bit of shock.  "I mean when you left your hair that way, I thought maybe, but why didn't you tell me?"

Reaching over, Scott pressed the intercom system, opening his line to his secretary.  "I'm leaving for the day.  I have a party to attend."  Letting go of the button, Scott jumped to his feet while rolling his eyes at Graham.  "It was a joke, Graham, and what's wrong with my hair?"

"What?  Nothing," Graham mumbled, walking towards the door without looking back.

Scott jogged after his friend, chuckling under his breath.  Sometimes, he wondered how Graham could do what he did for a living.  The man had no common sense, but definitely had book smarts.  The trip out of his building was short.  By the time they got to his car, Scott was wondering where Graham's car was, and what the man was planning.

Sliding into his driver's seat, he wasn't surprised when Graham jumped in the car too.  Turning towards him, Graham motioned forward.  "Let's go to Sam's.  I had someone deliver our suits there, and you need to warn her how your mother is.  She needs to be prepared, she needs to have some type of pink on her, she needs to—"

"I get it," Scott interrupted, starting the car and shifting it into drive.  "We need to brief her on what one of my mom's parties is like so she isn't unprepared.  I don't want her feeling uncomfortable."

"Me either," Graham mumbled as he snapped his seat belt on. 

The rest of the trip was made in silence, neither of them saying a word as they drove towards Sam's.  As they pulled up to her house, the first thing that Scott noticed was the fact that her door was wide open.  People left her home, carrying various animals in different cages.  Parking his car on the side of the street, he jumped out, ready to make the people put Sam's animals back. 

"What are you doing?" he yelled, scaring a woman walking past him.

"Hun," a woman said, walking towards him with a sway in her step, "Sam was just holding the animals until the shelter was back open.  It's about time that she got rid of them.  They were killing her mood, if you know what I mean."

Scott froze, looking down at the older woman.  Calling her an older woman was accurate, but even if she was in her forties, she looked good.  Her blonde hair was set in French braid while her clothing was immaculate.  The heels that she wore worried him though.  He didn't know a woman could stand on shoes that tall, let alone saunter the way she did.

"I'm Scott."

"Kate," the woman answered, holding her hand out for him to shake.  "You must be one of Max's friends."

He shook her hand while running another hand through his hair.  "No, I'm a friend of Sam's."

"Well," she purred, leaning towards him with a smile.  "It looks like we have something in common."

"Kate," a male voice called out from the doorway.  Turning, Scott saw Max standing there with a large smile on his face.  "When did you get here?  Sam's on her way now."

Kate dropped Scott's hand and ran towards Max.  She wrapped her arms around the man with a happy squeal.  "When did you get home?"

"A couple days ago," Max said with a laugh. 

She pulled back, looking up at him with a large smile. "When are you going to turn straight for me Max?"

"When are you going to divorce that husband of yours?"

Kate beamed as she took a step away.  "It's been ten years, and I still wouldn't trade him for another."

"With someone like him, I wouldn't trade either."

"Don't let them fool you," someone whispered in his ear.

Scott didn't jump, knowing that somehow, Sam had snuck up behind him.  "What do you mean?"

"Give it a minute," Sam said, coming into view.  "They'll start biting at each other's throats in a minute.  They met through me, are great friends, but they don't agree on anything."   She smiled at him before motioning towards the people leaving her home.  "Since you got here before I did, I'm guessing you figured out that I'm not keeping all those animals?"

"Yeah," he said with a laugh as he glanced over his shoulder at Graham.  "I just feel a little stupid for going through all that only to have them leave the next day."

Sam looked back, staring at Graham.  "Should I keep the iguana?"

"Nah," Graham said, joining in the conversation.  "Then, we won't have even a small mishap.  Plus, what we did wasn't completely useless.  We opened up a room that you never used.  Now, maybe, Max can stay in there instead of your room."

"Maybe," she mumbled, only shrugging.

Scott watched the answer, knowing that, for Sam, it wasn't that simple.  She glanced back at the house, a sigh leaving her mouth.  "Well, you've met Kate," she said with a smile.  "She's my secret weapon.  The woman can make a homeless person look like royalty, and I have a feeling I'll be needing that tonight."

"You will," Scott answered with a nod, hating that he was going to put Sam through his mother's inspection, but if Sam planned to be in their lives, she would have to meet his mother one way or another.  Why not meet her that night?