Sam had gotten more entertainment than he was ever likely to admit to, watching the littles all dance around Pete in almost desperate bids to entertain and impress him. He was obviously the most interesting thing to happen to the entire Guthrie tribe in a long time, and they were all taking full advantage of it. It had been hard to keep from laughing at the way Lizzie and Mel both watched Paige jealously, obviously convinced that she was going to do something while she was out with Pete 'to herself' to cement her chances with him and edge them out. Both of them appeared to have completely forgotten that Paige saw him pretty much every week. It was kind of cute, in an incredibly disturbing way.
It had been even harder to keep from laughing as Pete dutifully joined in nodding and smiling and replying with the appropriate 'yes ma'am's in all the right places when Momma'd delivered the obligatory lecture before letting them out of the house.
Though it was more than a little weird having someone to share the responsibility of that particular ritual with. Especially someone Momma obviously considered in charge, given Pete's greater age and size. That part he wasn't sure he could get used to. But now they were free and he breathed a sigh of relief and rolled his shoulders, boots crunching in the snow as they headed through the cold evening air for the cars.
"Whichever you want, I'm easy," Sam answered Pete's question. "Or I guess whichever one th'birthday girl wants." He smiled over at Paige. His accent had come back pretty much full force in just a few days, not that it was ever particularly absent, and his words were a warm, smooth Southern drawl.