Chapter 2
Jake was at River Bend the day that Sam was due home. Though he would have denied it had anyone asked, he had wanted to be one of the first to see her when she arrived.
He still cared a lot about her, but two years was a long time. They were two totally different people now. Sam might not want to be his friend after what he had done to her.
If that were the case, he would bear it silently as he did everything else. In most cases, he had his emotions under tight control. It was one of the things he had learned in the two years that she had been gone.
Wyatt had gone to the airport to pick Sam up, but had gotten in a horse to train the day before. Jake used the horse as an excuse to be at River Bend.
The truck carrying Sam bumped over the bridge and Jake heard it, losing concentration on the horse whose back he was on. The paint mare seemed to realize it and used that instant to buck Jake off over her head.
Sam heard the commotion in the round pen and looked over that way, just in time to see someone go flying. She tore her eyes from the round pen and looked around the ranch yard that she hadn't seen in two years.
One of the first things she noticed was the big black horse tied at the hitching rail in the shade in front of the barn. For an instant, her heart beat double time in her chest thinking it was Blackie. Then she realized it was a mare.
It had to be Witch. If Witch was hereā¦..
Jake.
Sam's mind went instantly to the boy who had been her best friend. She had missed him. Jake had been such a big part of Sam's life that his not being part of it for two years had felt like a gaping hole in her heart. She had missed her family, but it had been Jake and Blackie that she had missed the most.
Blackie. Dad refused to talk about her colt at all. As far as Sam knew, nobody had seen him since her accident or everyone had given up looking for him. Maybe Jake would know.
Sam got out of the truck and gave the border collie who had come out to greet her an absent pat, then wandered to the round pen. Climbing on one of the rails, she looked in and saw Jake sitting in the dirt. He was taking some good natured ribbing from Dallas, the ranch foreman who she recognized, and two cowboys she didn't.
Sam's first impression was that Jake was no longer a boy. As he turned his head towards her, his dark brown eyes pinning her lighter brown eyes, she could see the changes in him. Once she got past how handsome he was.
Sam blushed at the thought and banished it from her mind. Instead, she concentrated on the solemn, sad look in his dark eyes as he looked at her. Just as suddenly it was gone.
Sam was confused.
"Oh Jake, what's wrong?" Sam teased, trying to pretend that she hadn't seen the sadness.
Jake stood up, knocking his black Stetson against his leg to dislodge the dust clinging to it. He was almost smiling at her, but the smile never reached his almost black eyes. He settled his hat back on his black Shoshone hair and came towards her. He had grown out his hair. It looked to be down to the middle of his back.
"Well if it's not little Samantha," Jake drawled in his own teasing deep voice. When had his voice gotten so much deeper? "Still as skinny as a wet weasel."
Sam had met the new neighbor Linc Slocum on the way home and the man had called her "little lady" which Sam had hated. Jake's teasing insult made Sam feel all warm inside. Sam tucked that warmth back deep inside to possibly be brought out and examined later.
Jake had come out of the pen to stand next to her. The two had tentatively smiled at each other, ignoring the glances they earned from everyone else.
Jake had put one arm around her shoulder in a brotherly hug. He couldn't help himself. Sam leaned into him briefly before seeing Gram standing nearby.
"Now Jake, you let her get settled in before you start teasing her," Gram teased him.
Sam left Jake to be enveloped in a hug from Gram. Sam had to fight tears which threatened to spill over. She had missed home.
