***This is my first short, but maybe not my last. I hope you enjoy, and please feel free to leave any praise or criticism; I will gladly appreciate either.
It was a little past closing time at Clara's Coffee Shop, and Sam, along with her co-worker, Junie, had been chosen to be the night's cleanup party.
As if we had a choice, Sam mused.
When she had arrived at the diner for her shift, the restaurant had practically been empty. So when their manager, Clara, had decided to take off early, Sam didn't think about it twice.
At least not until evening struck.
"If only Clara had known." She grumbled as she placed her hands on her hips, and scanned the diner with a critical eye.
A large group of Californian tourists had suddenly shown up at their doorstep, and filled up the entire diner in less time that Sam needed to greet them. With only her, Junie, and Larry, the kitchen's cook, they had no other choice than to get to work by themselves. The two waitresses scrambled about taking each customer's order, relay it back to Larry, and then take the plates of food that he would leave on the kitchen counter to deliver them to hungry customers.
After the last tourist had stumbled out the door, all that had been left for the two of them were a few lousy coins as tips, and a really big mess to clean. Not only were the floors littered with pieces of napkin and crumbs, chairs that hadn't been pushed back under their tables were askew, and heaps of dishes were waiting to be washed.
Sam stood behind the counter, feeling her misery puddle at her feet. It was already ten o'clock She hated driving in the dark, and knowing that she had to stay out even longer to help clean did nothing other than tune up her anxiety.
She looked around the diner once more before she let out a heavy sigh.
"It sure doesn't cross anyone's mind to clean up after themselves." she muttered, glancing at Junie.
Junie, who had been counting money from the cash register beside her, hummed in agreement but didn't offer any other sympathetic gesture.
Sam knew she wasn't going to hear much from the aged woman anytime soon. She let out a determined huff before stomping into the kitchen to start washing the dishes.
She wasn't surprised to see that Larry had already left. It's not like she didn't understand why.
Larry's eyesight was getting bad. Half of the sun had already disappeared below the horizon by the time he had finished up with the last order. Sam knew that Larry drove to and home from work, and he didn't want to risk himself or others around him by driving at night.
He must have left through the back door, Sam thought. She didn't remember seeing him leave through the front.
Enough.
Sam shook her head as if to dispel any other lingering thought. The more she let her mind wander, the more time it would take for her to finish cleaning up.
Sam began filling one of the twin sinks with hot water as she placed the dirty dishes inside the other. She grimaced at the amount of leftovers left on the plates. Why hadn't the customers ask for smaller portions if they were going to leave so much of their food behind? They even could have asked either her or Junie to wrap up their food to take it with them. One of the two solutions could have worked just fine.
"What a waste." Sam complained as she scraped away the leftover food in the waste bin.
"Waste of what?"
Reeling in panic, Sam turned to face the voice that had been hovering above her ear.
The stranger had just enough time to stumble back a few steps before the plate Sam had been holding plummeted to the floor, breaking into several pieces.
Sam's eyes flashed up towards the lean figure to see that it was only Jake who had lingered behind her. Their eyes met for an instant before dropping to stare at the mess on the ground. Neither of them spoke. Finally, Sam shook her head with a tired sigh.
"At least Clara isn't here." Sam finally said.
Glancing up again, Sam saw a sheepish smile flash across Jake's face before he rubbed the back of his neck.
Before either of them could do anything else, Junie's sharp voice cut through the still air.
"Samantha, turn the tap off before that sink overflows."
Sam and Jake looked towards the kitchen's swinging doors and saw Junie holding them open. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the situation at hand.
"I'm sorry." Sam apologized as she gingerly reached behind her to crank the tap the other way to stop the water from running any longer. Her eyes widened at how dangerously close the water had risen; it had been lapping at the rim of the sink.
"Sorry." Sam repeated again, but this time she sneaked a quick glance towards Jake. She hid a smile as she saw that his face had flushed a deep crimson under Junie's gaze. He tugged his black Stetson down as if to block the old woman's eyes.
Junie tapped her foot impatiently as her glare switched back from Sam to Jake several times. Then, she shook her head and gave Sam a stern look that overlapped her amusement.
"The broom and pan are in the closet to your left. Make sure you put that," Junie pointed to the broken glass scattered across the floor. "in the black bin. That's usually where broken dishes go."
She hesitated for a moment before she chuckled.
"If you hadn't worked twice as hard as you did this evening, I might not have let you off so easy as I'm doing now." And with that, Junie let the doors swing shut behind her.
Sam returned her gaze back to Jake and smirked at his obvious discomfort.
"Mind helping me with this?" she asked, stepping warily around the bigger pieces of glass that were sprawled everywhere. Jake lifted his hand towards Sam as if to steady her, but then dropped it back to his side.
"Careful." he ordered instead.
Sam rolled her eyes as she retrieved the broom and the dustpan from the closet. She shoved the pan towards Jake.
"I'm not made of the same stuff as this, you know." Sam grumbled, staring pointedly towards the glass fragments.
Jake snorted and took the dust pan from Sam before squatting down to the ground.
"No. You're made of weaker stuff, I'd say." He looked up at Sam, mischief hanging around his eyes.
Sam bit back a childish retort before sweeping the mess towards Jake.
"What do you know?"
It was already eleven thirty at night by the time Sam was able to leave for home. If it hadn't been for the row of streetlamps that stood beside the road, darkness would have engulfed the entire neighbourhood.
Junie had stayed behind to finish some paperwork for the restaurant, but promised to that she would head for home before midnight.
"Do you think she'll be alright?" Sam asked Jake as they headed towards their trucks.
Jake shrugged.
"You thinkin' about chauffeurin' her home?" he asked.
Sam rolled her eyes and felt irritation spike through her body. However, she ignored his tease and followed behind Jake instead when a thought flicked across her mind. She stopped in her tracks while Jake continued on his way before realizing that Sam wasn't echoing his footsteps. He stopped walking and turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised.
"How did you get inside the kitchen without coming through the doors?" Sam asked. She would have heard the creak of the kitchen doors as they swung, or the bells chime from the main entrance to warn that customers had entered.
Sam furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"I remembered that you work on Saturdays when I was picking up some chicken feed at Phil's. Thought I'd stop by." Jake answered.
Phil's Fill-up was a gas station that sat two houses down from Clara's shop. It also stocked many hardware appliances and groceries for the local citizens that resided in Alkali. It was a place where many ranchers, like her dad, went to find what they were looking for.
"That doesn't even answer my question." Sam remarked.
Jake sighed with exaggerated patience.
"Back door wasn't fully closed. Heard you talkin' to yourself, figured I'd see how you were." he explained again. He turned on his heel and continued walking back to his faded blue truck.
"Why did you?" Sam's question made him stop to turn around again.
"Why did I what?"
"Why did you stop by?"
Jake gave her a strained look.
"You gonna keep interrogatin' me?" He snapped, but when Sam kept silent as she waited for an answer, he growled under his breath. He turned his head to look at her sideways, then mumbled something under his breath before ducking his head so that he hid under his Stetson. Jamming his fists in his pocket, he scuffed the dirt with his boot in embarrassment.
Sam strangled a frustrated cry before stomping towards Jake. She grabbed his left arm and gave it a good shake before letting go.
"You better stop being so fussy because it's really getting on my nerves!" She barked, crossing her arms across her chest. Trying to lighten up her voice, since she knew Jake would clam up if she snapped at him again, Sam repeated the question.
"Why did you decide to come visit tonight?"
Her eyes bore into Jake's hat until he lifted his head. The street lights barely illuminated Jake's face, but Sam was still able to see his eyes pained with embarrassment and annoyance. He shook his head with resigned quietness.
"Said, I missed you."
Sam blinked in surprised as Jake's eyes locked in with hers, refusing to let her look away from him. He frowned, his expression goading her to say something else that would distress him even more.
All on its own, Sam's right fingers closed into a tight fist as it swung towards Jake.
"Ow!" Jake yelped as her hand came into contact with his belly. He shrank away from Sam before shooting her with an accusing glare.
"What was that for?" He demanded, rubbing his aching stomach.
Sam ignored him as she rubbed her stinging knuckles. She forgot to take into account Jake's lean muscles that were plated across his abdomen. She blew cool air on her hand before snapping her head up to look at him.
He flinched away as if she had been pointing a gun at his head. Before he could back away from her any further, Sam rushed to him and tackled Jake with a fierce hug. He grunted in surprise as she coiled her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her. She buried her nose at the base of Jake's neck and breathed in the faded scent of horse, denim, and something close to a spice. Sam didn't let go even when he hands placed themselves on her hips to push her away; she only held on tighter.
"Gotta breathe, Sam." Jake cautioned, but he gave her sides a small squeeze before gently tugging her arms loose from his neck.
Sam reluctantly gave into his pull and sank back down on her heels. Suddenly feeling foolish, she kept her eyes glued to her tennis shoes.
Silence hung over them like a thick fog, but neither of them seemed willing to brush it away. Then finally, Jake released a quiet laugh.
Looking up, Sam saw him smirk down at her. She peered at him warily.
"You remembered to keep your thumb outside your fist." he said, his eyes twinkled with amusement.
"Sorry I hit you. I didn't actually mean─ I don't know where that came from..." She stammered, feeling a small clutch of guilt grow in her stomach. Yet it vanished completely when she heard Jake chortle.
"You seemed to know exactly what you wanted to do." He hinted.
Feeling the heat rush up to her cheeks, Sam was about to return a sharp jape until she realized how close they were standing next to each other. She could feel Jake's body heat radiating towards her, his breaths gently brushing against her face as he exhaled. Sam felt him consider her with a raw emotion hidden among others.
Before she could shuffle back a few steps, Jake reached for the nape of her neck. His fingers were cooled by the night's air, but strangely his touch warmed her to the bone. His thumb rested on her jawline.
"Hold still." His voice was almost inaudible, but it was there, deep and familiar as Sam had always known.
Jake stepped closer until she had to tilt her head up to meet his eyes. A moment later, he rested his forehead on hers while his free hand reached for Sam's. His fingers interlocked with hers.
"Hold still." He repeated, drifting closer.
And Sam held still.