Sam buried her face in her pillow after fumbling for the "off" button on her alarm clock. She had stayed up so late reading, it was really hard for her to wake up, but she did it anyway. I'm so glad it's summer! Sam thought. She waddled to the kitchen and saw her Gram was making breakfast.
Sometimes it was fun living on a ranch in Nevada. Sometimes it wasn't. Looking at the gigantic breakfast Gram was making, she was pretty sure it was a good thing.
"Good morning, Sam." Gram said.
"Hey." Sam replied.
She went out to do her chores. It went by really quick, and so she spent some time chatting with Ace before she went inside.
"Buddy, everything's coming so fast. School's coming up, which is going to get rid of practically all my free time. And," she whispered, "Jake's leaving for college." She whispered it just in case anyone was around. She didn't mean for it to actually mean something, but as the words slipped out of her mouth, they did. She stroked Ace's nose. Even if he called her Brat, even if he was way too overprotective of her, Sam couldn't help thinking of Jake. She then realized what she was doing and pounded herself in the head with her palm. She left the stall, abandoning Ace for the moment.
She kindly greeted Pepper, one of the ranch hands, not knowing that he had been outside the stall and (accidentally) heard her conversation with her horse. He smiled when he realized that she had a little bit of a crush on Jake, but he was shocked when he thought of what would happen if Wyatt (Sam's dad) found out. He was very strict and overprotective to his daughter. But Sam didn't know, so she just sauntered on.
It was a perfect weather day. Warm but not too warm. Cool but not too cool.
She started back to the house. She was surprised to see Jake standing outside the barn a ways.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" she asked, slowly approaching him. The corners of her mouth started to curl up and she made herself stop. She found herself staring at him and then blinked her eyes and payed attention.
"Wyatt wanted me to work on some fences for him."
"Okay." Sam wondered why he was just standing there, he doesn't idle much, now that she thinks about it.
"So hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go riding soon?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
Sam knew he usually only did that when he was nervous. "Oh, sure." Sam said. "I'll go have breakfast quick."
"I'll go work on the fence." He said. Sam was almost surprised that that many words came out of his mouth at once.
"I'll help you when I'm done," Sam offered.
"Great... Er, thanks." Jake said, and walked away.
Sam felt something in her stomach. It didn't hurt, it just felt... weird. I must just be hungry, she thought. But she knew that wasn't it. She couldn't really have feelings for the tall, broad-shouldered Shoshone who was pretty much her brother, could she? She thought about it... maybe, just maybe, she did.
"Okay, well if you didn't notice, this isn't working very well." Sam said. They were working on fixing some of the fences that were damaged in the recent storm.
Jake looked at her stupidly. "Well, thanks, Brat," he said, calling her by her nickname.
"Okay, well, you hammer it in, and I'll hold it up. If I'm strong enough, that is." sam said with a smile.
When Jake's hand reached down to get the hammer, his hand brushed against hers. It was just a simple gesture, but it made Sam's whole body tingle. She couldn't believe it. This was Jake. What was she thinking? She still had herself in shock. Again, she thought, I can't really have feelings for him...
Jake snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Anybody in there?" he asked.
Same blinked awake. "Sorry." She mumbled. She held the fence board up for Jake but she couldn't stop thinking about him. What would she do when he left?
Before they knew it the fences were done.
They went to the barn and tacked up the horses.
"So, where are we going?" Sam asked curiously.
"Surprise." Jake replied. Leave it up to him to answer her question with only one word.
"Of course."
She still couldn't get over the fact that she liked Jake. They're relationship had been changing. He used to just always feel like her older brother, but now, for some reason, it was different.
She saw what was in front of her. It was the Phantom's Secret Valley. She gasped. Of course, the snow wouldn't've stayed there forever.
