Along Came Love (4 page)

"I'm afraid Grandpa makes a sorry pot of
coffee, Pumpkin. Good thing you don't drink it."

"Daddy won't let me. I tried it once, just a
sip, it was awful. But it smells so good. I wonder why?"

"It's an acquired taste, honey."

"What does that mean?" she giggled.

"It means you have to drink it a while before
you realize you like it."

Jake didn't see the face Sammie Jo made at
that remark.

Despite the fact that Sammie Jo was
completely changing his well thought out routine at the ranch, he
couldn't be angry with her. She was the one person in the family
that accepted him just as he was. He loved her too much to be
mad.

Vacations, Jake mused, turned out to be more
work than working. Yet being close to his family again made him so
comfortable, he almost forgot his old life back in Peaceful. He'd
been a Sheriff there for ten years. Those two letters on the top of
his dresser nagged at him, though. He'd have to make a decision
soon, and that decision was going to change the rest of his
life

***

The school parking lot was full, and most of
the Junior High School kids had arrived. Sammie Jo watched her
friends gather around her and her Uncle as they admired the Harley
and him.

Jake indulged their questions, and then
nodded to Sammie Jo to take the lead. Sammie Jo had other plans,
and in no time, her and her friends were wandering off. He still
didn't know the counselor's name. He'd been too busy with his own
thoughts to ask Sammie Jo.

Ignoring the dreary-eyed smiles from the
young girls he passed in the hallway, Jake headed for what looked
like the office. He opened the door and found several women staring
up at him with the same kind of smiles.

"Can we help you?" the voice came from the
receptionist desk.

"Yes, I'm here to speak with my niece's
counselor, about her work."

"Of course and what is the student's name?"
The principal asked coming towards him. "I'm Ms. Hughes, the
principal here at Marshall Junior High. I'm so glad to meet
you."

"Thank you, it's Sammie Jo Travers."

"Oh, then you must be Mr. Travers, her
father?"

"Yes, but no, actually, I'm her Uncle, I'm
sort of filling in for them as they are out of town." Jake smoothed
his hair back as the wind and his helmet had played havoc with
it.

The principal watched, her eyes lingering on
the action, and then she cleared her throat and smiled, "Oh I see.
Well, then, which counselor were you suppose to speak with?"

Jake smiled, "To tell the truth, I'm not
sure," Jake turned his head.

"Well, that's perfectly alright; I'll look
that up and be right with you, then." She went back into her office
and Jake switched his stance as the receptionist continued to stare
at him with an engaging smile.

Young girls staring didn't bother him, but
women his own age should have known better. Uncomfortable with her
blatant glances, Jake looked out the plate glass window of the
hallway office and spotted Sammie Jo and a couple of her friends
heading down the hallway.

Dear God, he murmured to himself, Sammie Jo
had nearly grown up, could it really be that she was almost
fourteen? Where had the time gone? He could remember cradling her
in his arms and whistling a tune in her ear as she went to sleep in
her crib.

"Yes, I have it now," The Principal was
saying as she scribbled a name on a piece of paper for him. "That
would be Samantha Courtland."

The principal smiled and extended a badge
like object to Jake. Jake took it and pinned it to his chest, aware
that it was a security measure in all schools now when strangers
wandered the hallways. He liked the fact that the school observed
the rules. He appreciated her thoroughness to detail. At least his
niece was safe here.

Ms. Hughes picked up the phone and was
talking before Jake could grasp the name. She was speaking to the
counselor and then she looked at him again, "She'll be right
here."

"Thank you, ma'am", Jake cleared his throat.
He felt uncomfortable standing there in the middle of the office
with all the women gawking at him.

His thoughts were cut short though, when a
well-dressed woman with long golden brown hair and the most
engaging green eyes walked into the room. She was fairly tall, and
it took him by surprise not to have to look down into her face. He
liked that. But this was the woman that had looked at the house.
This is the woman he'd taken to dinner and she acted as though he
were a stranger. But she wasn't!

Barely glancing at him, she smiled demurely
and directed him to an inner office.

Jake watched the interesting sway of her hips
as he followed her. But as a student passed them in the hallway, he
suddenly felt guilty watching the counselor's cute little tush
twist.

Jake didn't have that much time to size the
woman up, but there was a definite air of familiarity about this
lady and not just from the other day. He couldn't put his finger on
it. And he aimed to find out.

As she took her place behind the big desk,
she avoided direct eye contact with him, unlike all the other women
in the office. She barely gave him a second look. That was what was
familiar, the put down she gave him. She'd done this before. He
suddenly racked his brain trying to remember and then it hit him
like a sledge hammer, this was Samantha Wilson, the girl that had
snubbed him so much in school. The girl he doubly tormented because
of her snubbing. How could he not know her? So she'd trimmed down,
gotten about as beautiful as a woman could get why hadn't he
recognized her before?

"Funny," she shook her head, as though to
clear it, glancing down at her paperwork. "I didn't expect the
father to be here."

"Oh, I’m not a parent. I'm her Uncle."

"Oh," she gave him a quick glance then laid
the papers down. Jake glanced at her and smiled.

"Well then, I guess you know why you are
here? And perhaps you are the right man for the job, after
all."

Jake stiffened. He had no idea why he was
here, except Sammie Jo was having math problems. What that had to
do with the counselor he wasn't sure. .And he certainly wished she
be friendly, he wouldn't mind taking her out again. In fact, now
that he knew who she was, he definitely wanted to take her out
again.

"Look, I don't think I'm following you on
this. Suppose you start from the beginning. I'm new at this sorta
thing. I'm supposed to be here about Sammie Jo's math problems. I'm
sorry, but I thought I'd be speaking directly with the teacher
concerning this."

The woman's mouth flew open, her well shaped
brows knitted, "Math?

Oh yes, I see. Well, that's one of her
problems, yes. But I’m afraid that isn't why you are here, Mr.
Travers."

"No? Please call me Jake. I believe I called
you…Sam."

"Oh yes." She adjusted her reading glasses.
"Yes of course, if only it were that simple." The woman looked
uncomfortable. She glanced from her notes to him.

"No you see, Sammie Jo has been quite
inattentive in class lately."

Jake still wasn't getting this. And why was
he looking her over like a piece of beef? Why was she acting like
they'd never met, never shared anything of themselves. None of it
added up to him. He'd liked her years ago when they were kids. He
still liked her, only there was the same old problem, she didn't
seem to realize it. He'd been so frustrated at trying to get her
attention all those years ago, he'd started aggravating her.
"Inattentive?"

"That's right."

Jake stood up now, pacing the small space
between the door and the chair, and then looked at the woman as
though she'd suddenly grown two heads.

"My niece isn't paying attention in class and
that's why you've called this meeting?" He gestured upward with his
hands.

"Mr. Travers…." The counselor was eyeing him
now, with a huge frown. Back to being formal, back to being
Samantha Wilson.

Okay, so she was a teacher, did that mean
they had to go back to the old routine of hating each other?

"Jake, the name's Jake. Don't you remember?
We did have dinner together not too long ago. At least you look
like Sam."

"Yes, I remember… Of course, I do. But this
is a different matter. This is business." She was shaking her head
and not looking at him.

"Yes, a very important matter. Anything
concerning Sammie Jo is important to me." Jake did a retake of the
woman and again that same feeling of being shunned by her caused
his temper to flare even though he found her immensely attractive.
"Look, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you before, but I certainly do
now. I know who you are, now!"

She let a slight smile cross her face as she
crossed her legs, "No you never knew me, but we did go to the same
school most of our lives."

Jake's brows knitted, "I never knew you
because you spent the better part of our time together putting me
in my place."

"You're kidding, right?" she almost
chuckled.

"Samantha Wilson, the biggest snob in the
territory. You gave me hell for at least a year, until you moved
away." He cleared his throat as his gaze swept her.

"I gave you….hell? You must be mistaken. We
barely spoke to one another back then."

"I tried to speak to you, but every time I
opened my mouth, I managed to put my foot in it, and you managed to
remind me of it." Jake's expression changed.

"I was that bad?" she frowned over her
glasses. "You were very mean to me back

then, as I recall."

"I know. You snubbed me every time I got
close. And believe me, I tried to get

close. Because of you, I didn't go to the
prom." Jake almost bellowed.

"Well that's news. But, I'm afraid chubby
girls get ignored for the most part, don't

they? I didn't go to my prom either, but for
an entirely different reason. Why you wanted my attention I'll
never know, probably just to make fun." She picked up the pen again
and began to make more notes. "Now, shall we get back to Sammie Jo?
This is quite a serious issue, Mr. Travers."

"Jake, it's Jake, for goodness sake, lady. I
took you to dinner and we talked for ages, and you still want to
call me Mr. Travers? And wait a minute…" he raised his finger and
pointed at her as he glued her to her chair. "I thought you and I
had more in common than anyone else on the campus. Both of us had
more brains than sense. And because of that, I wanted to get
closer. You just wouldn't allow it."

Now Samantha cleared her throat, "Yes, well,
we were talking about Sammie Jo."

"You'll pardon me, but I didn't ignore you,
back then. But every time I tried to talk to you, you'd move away
as though I were bothering you."

"Oh please, Mr. Travers I don't think this is
neither the time, nor the place to discuss our past, or lack of, do
you?" She knitted her brows and frowned.

"I don't believe this. the other day…you
were….nice…sweet even. Now, it's almost like I was in high school
again." He boomed.

She turned away obviously to ignore his
outburst.

"That's exactly what you used to do, every
time I tried to get close to you, you'd frown just like you're
doing now and then move away. No, I'd say if there was any
ignoring, it was on your part, not mine." Jake sat down satisfied
that he had solved the puzzle for them both.

"Mr. Travers," she emphasized his name, to
bring attention. "That's not how it was, but regardless, that's not
why you are here today. So let's get back to the business at hand."
She corrected firmly, her face coloring just a bit.

He liked that, she was flustered and
obviously the counselor didn't want to be flustered.

"The conversation will keep, Ms. Courtland,
but I'm sure we will finish it, one day." He winked. "This clears a
lot up. I knew I'd recognized you from somewhere. Why didn't you
say something? You let me go on and on like some idiot. Well, I
guess it clears things up though."

She looked at him as though she didn't have
the faintest idea what he was talking about. "Clears what up?"

"I thought you were the biggest snob in the
world back then."

He was softly laughing and it hurt from the
look on her face.

"Oh now, Samantha, forgive me, that was years
ago, and surely you won't hold it against me. Don't worry, you were
the snob and I was the nerd."

"Nerd? You had the highest marks in class,
you were valedictorian, no

less. How could you ever say you were a
nerd?" she spat out, covering her own lips with her hand as though
to silence herself.

Jake smiled with new understanding, "Look, in
a cow town a boy is sized up by his ability to ride, rope and chase
girls. I was good at none of those things. I became better as time
went on, but not during my school days here."

Samantha stared at him strangely, as though
considering his words for the first time. "I never imagined."

"Imagined what?"

"That a man like you could lack self
confidence," she murmured with amazement.

He smiled engagingly at her, "I wasn't a man
then. Thank God we outgrow things. Now that we let down our
defenses, maybe we can talk about Sammie Jo."

"Yes….yes of course," she seemed rattled.

"Exactly what do you mean by inattentive?"
His tone seesawed with irritation.

Samantha seemed to relax now that the
conversation was no longer personal. "I'm sure you are aware that
Sammie Jo is growing up."

"Of course I'm aware, I don't like it, but
I'm aware." Jake shifted in the chair as though it suddenly was too
small for him and he was uncomfortable.

"That's understandable. But, unfortunately,
Sammie Jo's cousin, Clay Travers is in some of her classes with
her. And the two of them consistently write notes to each
other."