Not the Way He'd Planned It

Sam gives the ring back, and Pete heads back to Denver.

Disclaimer: These are not my characters. I'm just borrowing. There is no profit involved, unfortunately.

Pete swung onto the interstate and pushed the pedal to the metal. He was hurt, he was frustrated, and he was mad.

Hurt because the woman he thought was his, finally, wasn't. Slipped right through his fingers, and not that long before she would've been Mrs. Pete Shanahan. Frustrated because he couldn't, for the life of him, figure out why. And mad because he had wasted several months of his time, not to mention money.

Money. Oh, yeah. It cost money to wine and dine Sam, it cost money to buy that "rock," and it sure as hell cost money to put a down payment on that house – money that he, and he alone, was going to lose, since the only "John Hancock" on that dotted line was his.

Sam. Samantha. She was cute, even beautiful, but mostly cute. The way her face dimpled when she smiled, her eyes all aglow, back when they were dancing. And hot. She was hot, he had to admit that, oh yeah.

Smart, too. Really, really smart. Actually, maybe too smart, too independent for her own good. Came from being in the military, from doing all the stuff she had to do. Why hadn't he seen it sooner? The way she didn't want to commit. Figured she needed a little bit of time to get her head screwed on straight, but it never really happened. Just like his first wife.

Wonder if there was someone else...? Pete dismissed the thought almost as soon as it surfaced. Why would she want anyone else, if she had him? Besides, he had his cop instincts, and his cop instincts never let him down. Nah, nobody else.

He thought of the moment he'd met her dad. Now that was weird, that symbiote thing. And even weirder was that they thought him weird for thinking so! Jeez! Maybe they both had had one too many trips through the 'gate. He supposed that could make someone a bit loopy. That, and Sam had had one of those things in her once. It all made sense, now that he really thought about it.

I just thought you'd respond differently, she had said. Like, duh! How the hell is a guy who's just been dumped supposed to respond? Well, he knew one way he could respond. He reached over and pulled out his "little black book" from the glove compartment, dropping it onto the passenger seat, next to the black velvet ring box.

The puppy in the back seat barked. He mentally riffled through the pages. Carol? Julie? Jennifer? Yeah... Jennifer. Jennifer liked dogs.