SECOND CHANCES AT MG RANCH (13 page)

Chapter 21

The day had finally turned into evening and Loren and Sam had retired to the living room after dinner.
  It was quite in the small living room other than the crackling of the fire.  Sam was stretched out on the couch with his head lying in Loren’s lap as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Loren tried to stop thinking about the pine n
eedles in Stephanie’s hair earlier, but the nagging feeling that something was amiss just wouldn’t go away.  “Stephanie and Jordan seem to be doing well with their riding lessons,” she said.

“Yes they do.
Jordan seems to be a natural at it. Stephanie wasn’t really interested in horses much when we dated before so I am not sure why she wants to learn now.  Maybe she is just doing it for Jordan,” Sam said.

It felt weird to Loren that they would be having a casual conversation about Stephanie and Jordan.
Even though Loren didn’t say it out loud, she knew why Stephanie had all of a sudden become interested in horses.  It was a guaranteed way that she could spend time with Sam, and hopefully win him back.

Loren didn’t like it one bit, but what could she do about it? Obviously Sam couldn’t read between the lines and saw nothing odd about her asking him to teach her
to ride, when she could have just as easily asked Hal.

It irked her even more that Sam couldn’t see what she was up to.  Was he really that blind or was he just ignoring it?  Then again, maybe he just wanted her to think he was blind to Stephanie’s charms, so that she wouldn’t suspect that he was
still riding the fence.  What if Stephanie was right and he was just using her after all?  Not knowing how Stephanie got the pine needles in her hair just kept eating at her.  Darn, her mind was racing again with all these what ifs!

Accepting that her mind was not going to rest until she knew, she
just bit the bullet and asked. “How did Stephanie get pine needles in her hair today?”

Sam opened his eyes to look up at her face.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“When you came back from your trail ride today, Stephanie had pine needles stuck in her hair.
I was just wondering how that could have happened?”

It took Sam a moment to realize what she was thinking.
He sat straight up and faced her on the couch.  “Wait a minute, you think…”

She interrupted him before he could say more.
  “I really don’t know what to think Sam.  I just know what it looked like,” she said.

“First of all, I didn’t even know Stephanie had pine needles in her hair until you just mentioned it and secondly, nothing happened.  At least not what you are insinuating.  The only thing that did happen was that Stephanie fell off her horse,” Sam explained.

“I am so confused that I don’t know what to believe,” she admitted.  She really did want to believe him, but his actions were making it hard to.  His voice had changed to a deeper tone and she couldn’t tell if he was telling the truth or lying to cover up being caught.

Sam looked hurt.  “So, what you are really saying is that you don’t trust me?”

“I do trust…” she stopped mid-sentence when she realized how stupid her words sounded.

“It’s obvious that you don’t.
I think it would be best if I stayed in the bunk house for a while.”  He grabbed his coat and hat as he headed towards the door.

Loren jumped up off the couch to go after him, but stopped when she heard the slamming of the back door.  She wanted more than ever to go after him and ask him to come back, but her pride wouldn’t allow it.

She had asked him a simple question and he had blown up in anger, so in her eyes he must be guilty.  With a heavy heart she carried herself up the stairs to her bedroom.  The room seemed so empty without Sam.  How was she ever going to make it through one night without him?

Loren walked across the room to the window facing the barn, in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Sam through a lighted window in the bunk house, but all was dark there as well.  There was just enough moon-light to see that Sam’s truck was still parked outside the
barn.  At least he hadn’t left, but is still offered very little comfort.

Loren wasn’t sure how long she had been standing at the window staring out at the barn.  It was almost as if she thought she could will Sam to come back to her if she stared long enough.  She finally accepted that it wasn’t going to happen and made her way back across the room to the empty bed.  She pulled
back the covers and climbed in between the cold sheets.

It seemed like days had ticked away since she had first climbed into bed.  No matter how many sheep she counted, sleep was not going to come easy.  Loren’s heart and body ached for Sam.  How long would he stay away from her bed?  She had never felt this empty or alone in her life.

After hours of tossing and turning, she made her way back down stairs and made a bed on the couch.  Maybe sleep would find her there, but even that was wishful thinking.

Loren finally drifted off to sleep in the wee hours of the morning,
but it was just to dream of Sam.  In her dream, a cloudy mist surrounded him making it hard to see his face, but she could still make out the silhouette of his muscular form in the distance.  She was running towards him and calling out his name, but he just kept running farther away from her until he finally disappeared. No matter how fast she ran, she could never catch him.

The dream just kept repeating itself like a broken record.  When she finally woke, her body was drenched with sweat and her face was wet with tears.  Her body ached and she felt tired from the restless night that she had spent on the couch.

What she needed was a hot shower.  As she got to her feet, she felt dizzy.  Her stomach felt nauseated.  Her body swayed, but she did not fall. Once the dizziness passed, she climbed the stairs.

Loren stood in the shower letting the hot water run over her naked body, the events of the night before running through her head.  Because she had acted on her jealousy, she had pushed Sam aw
ay from her.

Loren fel
t much better after her shower, but she still felt a little queasy, just not as much as before.  Hopefully she wasn’t coming down with a stomach bug.  She opted for some toasted wheat bread for breakfast, just in case.

As an after-thought, if she had a stomach bug Sam probably would have it too.  A smile appeared on her face at the vision of him puking his guts out.

It would serve him right for leaving her to spend a restless night all alone.  Hopefully, he hadn’t gotten any more sleep than she had.  The tossing and turning had worn her out and the recurring dream had only made her attempt at sleep more restless.

After Loren ate her breakfast, she sat at the table trying to decide if she should even make her appearance at the barn this morning.  Was she really ready to face Sam?  It was true that they would eventually have to talk about what had happened the night before, but maybe a little space would do them both good.

Well, that settled it.  She would just have to find something else to keep her busy.  It would need to be something that would keep her inside since the weather had turned colder and rain was in the forecast for the next few days.

The beds needed changing, there was laundry to do, floors to clean,
and the whole place could use a good dusting.  By the time she had her to do list completed, she felt confident that she had written down enough task to last a while.

Loren cleaned up her breakfast dishes then went to strip the beds for washing.  Once she had that started, she moved on to dust mopping the floors.  It felt good to be doing something besides pondering on
where her relationship had gone wrong with Sam.

By three o’clock that afternoon, Loren had cabin fever.  Most of her to do list had been done and the feeling of boredom was starting to kick in.  She had to get out of this house and get some fresh air.

She looked out the window and saw that Sam’s truck was gone.  Now would be a good time to walk out to the barn and visit with the horses before he returned.

The cold wind whipped her hair all around her face as she made her way to the barn.  It hadn’t started to rain yet, but dark clouds were moving in fast.  She estimated that it would be raining within the next couple of hours.

As soon as she stepped inside the shelter of the barn, Dakota picked up her scent and whinnied.  The small gesture brought a smile to her face.  She instantly felt guilty for missing her visit with him earlier this morning.

“Hello to you too,” Loren called out to him in response.
Once she reached him, she pulled out the apple that she had stuck in her pocket on the way out the door.  He greedily accepted it as a peace offering.

No matter how depressed or sad she felt, Dakota could always make her spirits soar.  He was the one thing in her life that was always true to her and never let her down.
The love that she shared with her horse was unconditional. That is something that she was absolutely sure of.

The next couple of hours were spent brushing her horse down, and showering him with some loving attention.  Dakota’s relaxed position proved that he loved every stroke of the brush as it moved over his body in a massaging rhythm.

In the middle of tidying up his stall, Loren had started to feel a little queasy again, but she just passed it off as being hungry and proceeded with pitching some new hay bedding into the stall.  The temperature was starting to drop and she wanted to make sure Dakota would be comfortable and warm for the night.

Loren led Dakota back into his newly refreshed stall and secured the l
atch.  Then she gave him a scratch between the ears and wished him a good night.  She would see to the other horses, and then make her way back to the cabin.  When she turned away from the stall door, she almost collided with Sam’s solid form.

She had not heard him come into the barn, so she had no idea how long he had been standing there.  She should
probably say something, but when she opened her mouth to speak, no words came out.

Sam raised his arms like he was about to embrace her, but then he let them fall back to his side.  “Have you already fed the horses?” he asked.

The churning in her stomach gave her a little reminder that the queasiness was back.  She needed to make her escape and fast.  “Just Dakota, I was about to start on the others, but since you are back, I will let you do it,” she answered.

B
efore he could respond to her words, Loren ran past him holding her hand over her mouth.  She barely made it outside the barn before she tossed her cookies.

Sam quickly ran into the small bunk house and retrieved a wet wash cloth.  When he made it back outside the barn, he found Loren sitting on the ground with her head leaned back against the wood planks of the barn siding.  Her eyes were closed, and she looked very pale.

“Loren honey, are you okay?” he said as he began to wipe her face with the cool cloth. She wanted to shout at him to get away from her, but at the moment, she didn’t have the extra energy.  So she just kept her eyes closed and let him tend to her.

It was amazing how quickly the cool wet cloth had helped her to recover. 
At last the queasiness was gone.  She mumbled for Sam to stop and pushed herself up on her feet. “Thank you, I’m fine now.”

“Are you sure you are okay?”  Although she did appear to feel
better, her skin tone was still very pale, and the darkness of the night surrounding them did nothing to hide it.

“Yes, I think I have just caught a stomach bug or something.”  Loren looked into his eyes, and saw that he was genuinely concerned.

“Sam, you really shouldn’t worry so much, I will be good as new by tomorrow.  Right now, I just need to get some rest,” she said, trying to offer him some reassurance, even though he didn’t deserve it.

A
fter their argument last night, she was surprised that he even cared that she was sick.  She had hoped that he had caught the stomach bug too, but he showed no signs of sickness.  Lucky for him, she guessed.

“How long have you been sick like this?” he asked, a puzzled look masking his face.
He grabbed her hand in a gesture to lead her back up to the house.

“Twice, once this morning before breakfast and just now,” she said, trying to pull her hand away from his grip.  “Stop fussing over me, I can walk to the house by myself.”

“Fine, be stubborn if you want to! I will just go tend to the other horses then.”  He let go of her hand abruptly and walked back into the barn, without a backward glance.

She could hear him mumbling under his breath as he stomped away from her, but she couldn’t understand one word of it.  It was just as well, because she knew she wouldn’t agree with him anyway.

Just as she started back towards the cabin, the cold rain set it.  The rain poured out of the black sky in what felt like buckets.  Loren was soaked to the bone by the time she reached the back door.  That’s all she needed, to catch cold on top of the stomach bug.

She began stripping down as soon as she got inside the door and was fully unclothed by the time she reached the upstairs bathroom.  She adjusted the water in the shower to as hot as she could stand it and climbed in.