Intro
"And when you figure out love is all that matters after all, it sure makes everything else seem so small."
Samantha Forster stared up at the winking stars overhead. She lay on the cold desert ground, trying her best to avoid Jake Ely's eyes.
"Sam?" he whispered, his voice trembling for the first time. No! The world fell to pieces when Jake broke down.
Why'd he have to ask her that question? They'd had a perfectly fine evening, riding the range. But then he had to go and ask her how she really felt about him.
Whatever happened to the cowboy Jake that only opened his mouth when absolutely necessary? The Jake that you had to practically fight to pull words out of? Because Sam sure liked that Jake a whole lot better than this new, inquiring one.
Suddenly, dust was stirring beside her. Jake got to his feet and strode toward his horse. After sliding the bit into Witch's mouth, he uttered one sentence. Then he mounted his pitch black mare and rode into the night.
Jake's words echoed in Sam's head as she lay on the ground, unable to move. They were so final, so filled with pain that they'd frozen her heart.
That's the way it is, then.