Chapter 27

Tyler's POV

We spent Sunday at home. While usually we'd go to church, we didn't want to pressure Samantha. We hadn't discussed church or religion with Samantha yet, so we decided there was time to discuss that.

We'd just finished up breakfast and Samantha was helping Jenna with the dishes and I was putting the leftover food away.

The doorbell rang.

Jenna and Samantha looked at me, I looked at them. Samantha looked terrified.

"You expecting anyone?" Jenna asked.

"No. You?" I asked. She shook her head. Samantha moved behind Jenna, ready to bolt out the kitchen door, if she felt she needed to.

I went to the door and looked out of the peephole. A hand was covering it. I rolled my eyes. I had an idea who it was.

"DUDE!" Josh said when I opened the door. "You've had something going on for, like a week and you kept saying you'd let me know what was going on then you totally ghosted me! What the fuck, dude!"

He pushed his way inside.

"Jenna, Samantha! It's okay. It's just Josh!" I called into the kitchen.

"Just Josh? Thanks, man." Josh smirked at me. "And who's Samantha?"

"The 'something going on for, like a week'. Come into the kitchen. I'll introduce you."

Josh followed me into the kitchen, and sat at the breakfast bar.

Samantha was still behind Jenna, and edging ever so slowly towards the back door.

"Samantha, this is the other guy on your t-shirt. My buddy Josh."

She moved back behind Jenna.

"Josh, meet Samantha," I said.

"Hey. So, you're the kid I FaceTimed in the hospital last week?"

"What?" Samantha said, from behind Jenna.

"So, what's the story, fam?" Josh asked.

"So, you remember when I called you to prove to Samantha that I am who I said I was?"

"Yeah," Josh said.

"Well, this is Samantha, and we've sort of, well, we're in the process of adopting her."

"Hold on. Adopting? When did this happen?"

I told Josh the whole story about Samantha. About her dad and how he'd been treating her, and how he'd lost his parental rights when Samantha told her doctor about the night her mom died.  Josh listened, rapt. He was quiet for a long time while he was absorbing the story.

"Samantha, is this all true?" he asked, looking around me at Samantha, who was still standing behind Jenna.

She nodded.

"So, you got emergency approval to foster her, and now you're adopting her?"

"Well, we're in the process.  There are some hoops to jump through still, but I don't see any reason it won't work out."

"So. You  have a kid. We have a kid."

"Jenna and I have a kid. You have, um, I dunno. An honorary niece?"

"Hey, kid.  What do you think of that? Call me Uncle Josh, huh?"

Samantha stared at him.

"Does she speak?" he asked, looking at me.

"She does. I think she's a little awestruck that you're sitting in our kitchen, hey Samantha?" I said.

She looked over at me and slid a little further behind Jenna.

"So," Josh said. "Samantha, what do I need to know about you?"

"What?" she asked.

"Tell me about yourself. I mean, I already know you have diabetes - Tyler told me all that just now. But what about you? What do you like, who's your favourite author? What's your favourite band TwentyOne Pilots, obviously," Josh said.

I looked over at Samantha. She moved a little bit out from behind Jenna.

"Um, I don't really have a favourite author. I love to read, and I read pretty much everything. And yeah," she blushed. "TwentyOne Pilots is one of my favourite bands."

"One of!?" Josh said. "Who do we have to compete with?"

Samantha laughed.

"Um, Panic! At The Disco, Fall Out Boy, Green Day,"

"Oh boy. We're in tough company," Josh said.

Samantha smiled again. It was so nice to see her smile.

"So, Josephs, and Samantha, whatever your last name is, unless you're changing it, and then until you do... What's on the agenda for today?"

"Not too much. I figured we'd stay home. Maybe look at buying a desk for Samantha's room, since she's got the good guest room and she needs one for school."

"Oooh! An IKEA trip it is!" Josh said.

Samantha looked incredulously at him.

"Whaddaya say, kid? Want to hit IKEA with your Uncle Josh? Ooh. I like the sound of that."

"Umm," she looked at Jenna and I.

"Up to you," I said.

"Can you guys come, too?" she asked.

"Of course," Jenna said. "If you want us to."

"Great! It's settled. Let's go get you a desk," Josh said, looking at Samantha. She looked over at Jenna, who smiled and put an arm around her, giving her a hug.

We finished cleaning up from breakfast, and Jenna went upstairs to change. I made sure we had one of Samantha's test kits with us. Jenna tossed some snacks into  her bag and we headed out.

We piled into our car, with Josh and Samantha sitting in the back.  She was sitting as far from Josh as she could, without sitting outside of the car.

"Maybe I should have sat in the front," Josh said. "Let one of you guys sit back here with Sam?"

"Sam? Are you okay?" I asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

"I'm okay," she said, quickly.

"Josh doesn't bite, honey," Jenna said. "But would you be more comfortable if I came back there?"

"No. I'm okay," she said, glancing over at Josh.

"If you're sure, okay,"

We drove to the IKEA and parked. When we got out of the car, Samantha immediately grabbed Jenna's hand and stuck close to her, throwing glances at Josh.

We went into the store and headed to the office section where we could find desks. Josh wandered through a few, areas where there were some desks and Jenna looked at a few. Samantha stayed close to her, and kept stealing glances at Josh.

"Yo, Ty?" Josh said coming up to me while Jenna and Samantha were on the other side of the section.

"Yeah?"

"What's up with that kid?" he asked. "She's, like, seriously spooked around me."

I sighed.

"It's a long story, and since you're clearly staying over at our place tonight, I'll tell you when Sam goes to bed,"

After a little more searching and looking, Jenna and Samantha found a desk that they both agreed would be functional in her room, and would fit, and, Jenna said, was Sam's 'style', which I was still trying to figure out.  We wandered through the store, because IKEA makes it impossible to not browse everywhere, and Jenna and Sam found a few things to make Sam's room a bit more of a teenager's room.  They got some things to help Sam keep her desk organized and some other things, some artwork for her walls, some of which were prints of cities like London and Paris. Samantha looked happy, though she kept looking back and forth at Josh.

"You guys want to eat lunch here or should we go somewhere else?"

"If we eat here, then we don't have to worry about picking out the stuff and leaving it in the car somewhere," Josh said.

"What do you think, kiddo?" I asked Samantha.

"They have a restaurant here?"

"Best Swedish Meatballs that aren't in Sweden," Josh smiled.

Samantha jumped when he spoke to her.

"Um, if we can get the nutritional info, sure. I guess," she said. Josh looked at her with a raised eyebrow. I gave him a look to say not to ask.

We  headed to the restaurant and Samantha looked a little overwhelmed. Jenna put her arm around Samantha's shoulder and I could hear her whispering to her.

"You got this. We can find the nutritional info, once you decide what you want for lunch, okay?"

Samantha nodded.

We got in  line and I watched Samantha's fingers start calculating.

"Dude?" Josh whispered to me. "Is she autistic?"

"No. Diabetic. She's calculating carbs so she can figure out her insulin dosage," I whispered back.

We placed our orders and Jenna asked the cashier if they had their nutritional information available.  The cashier handed her a pamphlet, which she handed to Sam.