*Flashback*
Wyatt Forster looked up from scraping his boots, in time to see his daughter Sam, slip her hand from Jake Ely's grasp. It was only then that Wyatt noticed Jake's blue-jean colored pickup parked near the barn.
"Howdy there Jake, I saw your dad not an hour ago, and he forgot to tell me you came back for the weekend. You been tearin' up Reno lately?", Wyatt asked.
"Dad…Jake's not…can Jake stay for lunch?" Sam cut in before her dad could further question Jake.
"He hasn't seen me yet, sir." Jake replied quietly, "and no, Reno's fine."
"I see, what'd you come straight here?" Wyatt joked, then noticing the look Sam gave Jake, he laughed and said, "well come on in and have a bite to eat Jake, you look like you could use some home cookin' or is Maxine expecting you?"
Taking a quick glance at Sam, Jake replied that yes he could stay for lunch. Then the two teenagers followed Wyatt into the ranch house in time to see Gram sliding a tray of warm, puffy biscuits from the oven. Brynna was standing to the side of the stove, taking pieces of fried chicken out of a Dutch oven, and putting them on a large blue platter. While Jake and Sam ran upstairs to wash their hands, Wyatt washed his hands at the kitchen sink, and then took his seat at the head of the table.
While Sam and Jake were stealing a quick kiss in the bathroom, Wyatt was asking Brynna and Gram what they knew about Jake's being back from Reno. So far neither of them had even heard Jake was going to be coming home for a visit.
Jake clumped down the stairs, a step ahead of Sam, and into the kitchen, the three adults looked up almost guiltily as the two entered the room.
"What?" Sam asked, noticing the funny looks.
"Jake, do your parents know you're back in town?" Brynna asked the question, on the three adults minds.
"No, not yet I mean, I wanted to come check on Sam and Ace before I went home." Jake said, taking a breath only when he finished.
"I noticed your truck parked out by the barn nearly an hour and a half ago now? How long have you been here?" Gram questioned.
"An hour and a half about. I was keeping Sam company while she groomed Ace." Came Jake's wordy reply.
"Jake why didn't you go home first?" Wyatt posed the question to the now nervous looking cowboy.
"Guys, do you mind? So what if he hasn't seen his parents yet? Can't he just eat some lunch, then he can go home, talk to his folks, get Witch and we can go for a ride?" Sam asked.
"Okay, sure.", the adults replied, all at the same time.
Jake and Sam took their seats at the table, and once Gram had said grace, the whole group hungrily dug into the feast of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and fresh biscuits. It was only once Jake had ingested three times the food someone his size would normally eat, that he began to act like the old Jake. After Gram had served the coconut cream pie, everyone began to relax a little. Brynna asked Jake how he liked his classes, roommate, and college life; Wyatt asked if Jake had a girlfriend; and Gram, true to form, asked if he had been getting enough to eat, just as Jake polished off his third piece of pie. Once dessert was finished, and the table cleared Jake and Sam excused themselves so Sam could finish cleaning Ace's stall, and so Jake could head home and get Witch. The two stood on the front porch for a few minutes, and made arrangements to meet at Witch Rock Lake in an hour.
Sam and Jake seemed to be remembering the same things at the same time, because Jake pulled himself from his reverie long enough to mention how good Gram's coconut pie was.
"Do you remember that time we bought that pie at Clara's and sat right here on this rock, and 'ate' it?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, man I haven't thought about that in a few weeks." Jake replied, still somewhat drowsily.
"Mhmm, that's a whole other memory, but one of my favorites," Sam said, searching again for the perfect spot for her head to rest on Jake's chest.
Jake dropped a kiss on the top of Sam's head, and whispered, "Baby, we have lots of good memories."
