What was that she heard in Loren’s voice? Was it admiration or was it infatuation? Amy hoped that Josh wasn’t going to be sorry that he stuck these two together. She liked Sam, but she didn’t want to see Loren get her heart broken. She was so young and inexperienced about love or the desires of the flesh shared between a man and woman.
“Loren is it okay if Dad and I come for a visit on Saturday?”
“Of course you can. Surely, you know that you don’t have to ask my permission to come visit.”
“Well, I thought it would be nice to ask instead of just showing up unannounced,” her mother explained.
“Okay, I guess we will see you on Saturday then.” She waited for Amy to hang up the phone, but she didn’t. “Well, I need to get back to my mucking since Sam and I have plans to have dinner with his friends tonight.”
“And who might his friends be?”
That last sentence had been meant to end their conversation, not open up another can of words. “His name is Hal and he owns a feed and seed store in town. His wife’s name is Missy. That is pretty much all I know right now, but I will be sure to give you an update tomorrow when you arrive.”
“Okay dear. I will see you tomorrow then.”
Loren hung up the phone, feeling a boost of energy at the thought of seeing her mom and dad.
Remembering their dinner plans with Hal and his wife, she silently reminded herself that she had better hurry up if she didn’t want to show up on their door step smelling like horse manure and sweat.
After about another gruesome hour of mucking, Loren dumped the last load of horse manure out back behind the barn where Sam had instructed her to put it. He kept it in a small lean to and used it for fertilizing the pasture and flowerbeds around the house. Not letting good horse poop go to waste was just another one of his silly rules.
She looked around to make sure she had put everything back in its rightful place because that was another one of Sam’s rules. Always put it back where you got it and the way you found it. He was so organized about everything that it almost disgusted her.
Chapter 10
Sam came to retrieve her promptly at six o’clock. He was standing on the front porch, leaning up against the rail while waiting for her. What was taking her so long?
He wasn’t overly excited about their dinner date, but the sooner he got this over with the better. Hal and Missy would not leave him alone until he did.
Loren walked out onto the front porch. Sam’s breath caught in his throat at the sight of her. He had never seen her in anything except faded jeans, and her almost worn out cowboy boots.
She had chosen to dress in a brown calf-length, western style skirt along with a cream-colored sweater and stylish two-tone brown boots to match. Her hair was let down and flowing around her face. She wore a light shade of makeup, just enough to accent her natural beauty.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked trying to calm his nerves. Why did he feel so nervous? This wasn’t a real date, he reminded himself.
“Yes.” She gave a hand gesture that indicated that he should go first.
“Ladies first,” he insisted, while waiting for her to pass in front of him. He enjoyed watching her skirt swish with the sway of her hips as she walked on ahead of him.
As usual they rode in silence. The Brown’s farm was at the south end of the county, which was about a twenty-five minute drive from the ranch.
A wooden sign hung above the entrance with the word Welcome carved into it. The long drive was lined with huge live oak trees and a wooden rail fence. The place was very impressive, Loren thought.
Beyond the fence on both sides, you could see several horses turned out to pasture. Loren counted about fifteen horses on one side and three mares with their foals on the other side in front of the house.
A charcoal gray foal was suckling on his mother as they passed by. He was beautiful in color and very well proportioned in build. He would grow into a fine horse one day.
“I would name him Clouds of Smoke,” Loren said out loud.
“What did you say?” Sam asked, turning to look at her.
She turned in the direction of Sam’s voice. “I said that I would name him Clouds of Smoke if he were mine. He is so beautiful.”
“He is a fine horse and he comes from a good bloodline that goes way back,” Sam replied. “Besides owning the feed and seed, Hal is well known for his breeding stock.”
“So tell me about Missy? What is she like?” She was curious about Missy’s personality.
“She is a little sassy sometimes, but nice all at the same time. It is hard not to like her. But I will warn you, she does like to talk, and I do mean a lot.”
“I think I can relate to that,” she answered, remembering again what her friends used to say about her talking to a brick wall. It looked as if she already had something in common with Missy.
It appeared that they were both talkers. This gave her confidence that they would get along just fine. Excitement rushed through her veins at the thought of making new friends.
They came to a complete stop, directly in front of the three-car garage. It was evident that Missy and Hal were well established when it came to money. The ranch style house was large in size and from the looks of the place they owned a lot of acreage too. The surrounding fields stretched farther than the eye could see.
Hal came out to greet them. “Come on in, dinner is almost ready.”
They walked up on the big porch that spanned all the way across the front of the house and entered through the front door behind Hal. Their home was decorated with antique furniture and a few western paintings hung on the walls.
Missy came out of the kitchen at the sound of their footsteps on the hardwood floor. She was average in height and very pretty, with sleek dark hair that flowed down her back like a black river of night.
She greeted Sam with a big hug and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Well look what the cat dragged in,” she exclaimed with a beaming smile. “I was beginning to wonder if you were even still alive.”
“Still alive and kicking, I’m afraid,” Sam replied, smiling back at her, still holding her in the circle of his arms.
Loren stood back and waited for Sam to make the introductions. She could tell that Missy thought a lot of him by the warm smile she gave him. If she remembered correctly, Sam had said they had all been friends since high school.
It could tell that Sam had a strong connection to Missy, which seemed a little odd to her. It was almost like the two of them shared a secret of some kind.
Shaking away the feeling, Loren extended her hand to Missy. “Hi, I’m Loren,” she said, making her own introduction. She hoped that Missy would not view her as being rude, but it didn’t look like Sam was going to do it. With all the excitement of seeing his friends, he must have forgotten that she was standing behind him.
“Oh,” she gasped. “I am so sorry! I guess I was so excited to see that Sam was still among the living that I have forgotten my manners. Please forgive me,” she said, taking Loren’s hand in a friendly manner. “I’m Missy, and it is a pleasure to have you in my home.”
Now that Loren had turned everyone’s attention towards her, she wasn’t sure what to say. “Thank you. You have a lovely home,” she finally managed.
Missy took Loren by the arm pulling her in the direction of the kitchen. “You can help me set the table while we get acquainted.” Missy looked back at Sam and gave him a wink as they entered the kitchen.
The kitchen was spacious like the rest of the house. Rustic wood cabinets lined the walls. Missy began pulling the dinnerware from the cabinets and stacking it on the counter top.
“You set the plates and silverware. I’ll get the glasses,” Missy said.
Loren picked up the plates and silverware and carried them into the adjoining dining room and began setting out the places on the large round oak finished table.
Missy followed with the glasses and a huge pitcher of iced sweet tea. She had prepa
red a country dinner of cubed steak, mashed potatoes with brown gravy, green beans, slaw, and rolls.
“It smells wonderful, Missy. You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.” Loren said, setting the last place.
“It was no trouble at all. Didn’t Sam tell you that I love to cook?”
“No, but he did tell me that you love to talk.” They both burst out laughing right as Hal and Sam entered the dining room.
“What’s so funny?” Hal asked.
“Nothing really, we were just having some girl talk,” Missy said. Both girls looked at each other and burst out laughing again. Loren knew that in spite of whatever secrets Missy might hold with Sam, they were going to be good friends.
Sam and Hal both just looked at each other with raised eyebrows and a shrug of their shoulders. They both knew better than to try to figure these two out and they were more interested in eating anyway.
The food was good and offered proof that Missy knew her way around the kitchen. The meal was followed with an apple pie made from scratch and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
While Missy and Loren cleared the table and cleaned up the kitchen, the men walked out to the barn. A new foal had been born the night before and Hal wanted to show it off.
Hal sold most of his foals, but according to Missy he planned to keep this one. It had been born the same day that Missy had found out that she was pregnant with their first child. Hal had declared that he would raise this foal, and train it for his first-born.
Missy had confided in Loren that they had tried for years to become pregnant without much luck. It had finally happened when they had almost given up hope of having a child of their own and were considering adoption. This was a very special time for them.
Seeing how happy Missy and Hal were, Loren realized that they had that special kind of love that most people only dreamed about. If the truth were to be told, it was the same kind of love that she dreamed about sharing with Sam.
Knowing that he would never love her like that, she pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind with a heavy heart. It was only a dream and would never be anything more because he was still in love with his high school sweetheart, Stephanie. She doubted that she would ever be able to change his feelings.
After the kitchen chores were done, Missy led Loren out to the stables to see the new foal. The night air had gotten cooler and the stars were shining bright. She leaned over the railing to get a better look at the newest addition to their family. He was a golden colored palomino male, with two white socks on his back feet and a white star on his face.
“We have already named him Shining Star with Two Socks, but we will call him Two Socks,” Missy told her.
“That name suites him,” Loren replied.
Two Socks got up from his sleeping position, still a little wobbly on his new legs and began to drink milk from his mother.
“Hal tells me that Sam is staying at the ranch with you for a while.” Missy said. “How is that working out?”
“He is a little stubborn and bossy sometimes, but I like having him around. He has taught me so much about taking care of the ranch.”
Loren felt comfortable talking to Missy and told her about being adopted. They talked about her biological parents and learning about the ranch on her twenty-first birthday.
She explained that it was her father’s idea to have Sam stay on at the ranch for a while and how it had not set well with her at first, but now she was glad that he had agreed to stay. He was good company and she felt safer with him there.
“Sam always thought that your father would sell the ranch to him someday. It never crossed his mind that you might actually want to keep it. You should know that if you ever decide to sell and move back to Atlanta, he would make you a good offer.”
Loren wondered if Sam had put Missy up to feeling her out to see if she would be interested in selling the ranch. She was guessing that he probably did. To sum it all up, he wanted her ranch, but he wasn’t interested in her. She reminded herself that he was still in love with Stephanie. Why did she keep forgetting that? Maybe it was because her heart wanted her to.
She chose to ignore Missy’s comment. “It is getting late. I should probably find Sam. I’m sure you are probably getting tired too and you need your rest.”
Missy was quick to realize that Loren was changing the subject and in an effort to not upset her further she said, “You are right, I am a little tired. Let’s go find those men.”
Heading off in the direction of the house they both fell silent. The men were found lounging in rocking chairs on the front porch. Sam and Loren bid them both good night and thanked them for a wonderful dinner and all agreed that they should do it again soon.
Chapter 11
Both Loren and Sam had been awake for most of the night, thinking about each other and the events of their dinner date with Hal and Missy. Him remembering the sweet, soft, sound of her laughter and her remembering that he wanted her ranch, but he didn’t want her.
The morning chores went quickly, since they had both agreed to skip their usual morning ride. Loren’s parents were due anytime now and she needed to get the house ready for their arrival. Loren wanted them to be proud of her new home; the home that she intended to keep, with or without Sam.
In the meantime, Sam had busied himself in the workshop, hoping that by trying to stay busy, he could get Loren off his mind. Through all the grinding, sawing and hammering it wasn’t working. He couldn’t stop thinking about her or how natural it had felt to have her by his side while entertaining with friends. It had felt like she belonged there. Last night had given him a glimpse of what Hal and Missy must have in their relationship. He then found himself daydreaming of a relationship like that with Loren.
By noon Loren’s parents had arrived and she had lunch prepared and ready for them. Amy and Josh suggested that she go ask Sam to come have lunch with them, but Loren insisted that he was probably too busy. At their persistence she finally gave in and marched herself to the barn to invite him to have lunch with them back at the house.
He was creating so much noise that he didn’t hear her enter the workshop. Loren was amazed at what she saw; the same style of log furniture that the house was furnished with.
So now she knew that Sam had made all the furniture. All though it didn’t really matter, she was impressed and it made her home feel even more special just knowing that Sam had added so many special touches.
She spoke his name a couple of times, but when she realized that he couldn’t hear her over the noise, she reached out and softly tapped his shoulder. Her touch startled him causing him to jump like he had been caught red handed at doing something illegal. Giggles of laughter escaped her mouth before she could stop them.
“I didn’t mean to startle you. My mom and dad were wondering if you would like to come up to the house and have lunch with us.” She chose her wording carefully; she didn’t want him to think that it was her idea to invite him.
After what she had learned last night, she had decided to try to keep as much distance as possible between them. Loren also needed to make for certain that she kept her feelings to herself.
Hopefully by keeping her distance from him, she would begin to think about him less, and she was hopeful that thinking about him less would make this love sick feeling in her stomach go away much faster.
He smiled at her, loving the soft expression that laughter brought to her beautiful face, and the way it may her eyes light up.
He appeared to be in a cheery mood, she observed. “But what do you want?” he asked, catching her off guard.
“What?” she stammered.
“I asked…
“I know what you said,” she blurted out, interrupting him. “Lunch will be served in fifteen minutes if you wish to join us.” She spun on her heels to leave without another word or glance in his direction. Her words had come out rather sharp but she didn’t have a mind to care at this particular moment.
“See you in fif
teen minutes. It is always a pleasure to see your parents,” he called after her sarcastically. It irritated her that his mood was still so cheery.
Sam sensed that something was wrong with her. He had been hoping that she had enjoyed last night as much as he had, but apparently she had not. Come to think of it, she had been more than a little quiet and tense on the drive home.
It had him wondering what might have upset her. She seemed to get along well with Missy. He would make a point to ask her later and if she wouldn’t give him any answers, he would just have to put a little pressure on Missy. He would find out what he wanted to know one way or the other. That was just his nature.
As promised, Sam arrived at the house for lunch in exactly fifteen minutes. Josh met him half way across the back porch with his hand extended. They shook hands.
The weather was a little unusually warm for this time of year, making it a nice day for lunch outside. Some old folks around town were saying that the unusual weather pattern indicated a big snow was headed their way. Loren loved snow, and was hoping that their assumptions were correct.
“Nice to see you could join us, Sam. I hope Loren hasn’t been too much trouble for you.”
“No, she hasn’t been much trouble at all.” Sam replied to Josh, but he was looking directly at Loren when he spoke. Of course Josh didn’t seem to notice, but Amy did.
If her instincts were correct, Sam was a bit taken with Loren and vice versa. Since their arrival, she had noticed that Loren tensed up every time that Sam’s name was mentioned and now that he was present, the tension was much more obvious.
Sam pulled out a chair to sit down between mother and daughter. His eyes met with Loren’s and held them for a few minutes as he planted his backside firmly on the seat.
Loren had a feeling that he was thinking about the dinner that they had shared just a few days ago at this same table. She wondered if he was thinking about the kiss they had shared as well? She mentally scolded herself for letting the memory slip back into her thoughts, and pulled her eyes away from his in an effort to clear her mind.
SECOND CHANCES AT MG RANCH Page 6