Jenna’s gut twisted with concern and a cold prickle ran down her spine when he suddenly frowned and shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, that’s why I’m here.Need to ask you a favor and it’s a big one.”
Sam ran a hobby farm a few miles from Jenna in the next valley, and on occasion he looked after their place when both Tim and she were away, and Jenna and Tim would do the same for Sam when he would go away for a few days fishing or hunting with his buddies.
Lately he’d helped her sister, Ginny, tend to the horses, while Jenna had completed her job responsibilities in the city and was now taking a one year leave of absence from her position at Cowboys Online.
Jenna nodded to her door.
“I was just heading in for some coffee.Join me and we can talk about what you need.”
She knew he liked her coffee and her baked goods.Occasionally she visited his place and endured his coffee.It tasted like black tar, or whatever she supposed black tar might taste like and she always brought along some pie or cake or whatever she’d baked because she knew he had a sweet tooth.
“Sure, yeah, I would love some,” he muttered happily as he followed her into the ranch house.
The minute she entered her home she was greeted by the scent of percolating coffee.She had her coffee maker set on a timer and the coffee started brewing at eight a.m.sharp.That was when she usually returned from setting her horses free into the valley pasture and picking up the eggs in the chicken coop.
“Have a seat, Sam.I'll have coffee ready in just a minute.How about some day old apple fritters?I made some yesterday.”
Yesterday she’d had no morning sickness, and she’d had an irresistible craving for the delicacy, so she’d made up a batch.
“Oh yum!I haven't had homemade fritters in a long while,” he gleefully chuckled and rubbed his hands together with excitement.The way he rubbed his hands together made him look ten years younger, and the sight tugged a smile from her.
“You just sit.I’ll get everything together for us,” she told him, enjoying the eagerness splashing across his leathery, tanned face.
A few minutes later she sat across from Sam at her small table.The warm, inviting aroma of fresh coffee filled the kitchen, and each of them cradled a steaming mug in their hands.He eyed the giant golden apple fritter she’d set on a plate in front of him.
She watched his faded blue eyes twinkle with such delight that once again happiness crackled through the gloom of grief encasing her heart.
“This is such a treat,” he said as he delicately lifted the fritter and took a big bite.
She smiled as she spied drool dribbling from the sides of his mouth as he chewed and groaned his appreciation, occasionally closing his eyes.For a moment, the kitchen felt full again.Not with people, but with the simple comfort of someone enjoying what she made.
She leisurely sipped her coffee, hoping her morning sickness wouldn’t kick in.It had been pretty bad the last couple of weeks when she’d been here all alone.She hadn’t told her sister, Ginny about her pregnancy when she’d been here, or Sam.She hadn’t told anyone.Only her nurse practitioner knew.
Jenna figured she’d keep it a secret for as long as she could.She didn’t need everyone telling her to take it easy, especially when she had lots of work to do with the horses.
“How about another one?”she asked when he finished and began wiping his mouth with a napkin she supplied.
“Oh, I am so full.But thank you kindly.Maybe I can take one home with me?”
He looked at her with hopeful eyes and her heart pinched at the quiet plea in his expression.
“You can take the rest of them.I’ve got three more for you.It will give me an excuse to bake something else.”
“Oh, my.That would be awfully nice, Jenna.I have a friend coming to get me later today and I can offer him a treat.It's why I’m here.”
He was frowning again, and alarm bells went off inside her head.Her stomach dipped, the way it always did when bad news hovered on the edge of a conversation.
Sam was a hermit.It was rare that he got company.Even more rare that someone was coming to get him.
“What's up, Sam?Is everything okay?”
A sheepish gaze splashed across his face.
“I’m having um…cataract surgery, and I was hoping you could pop over to my place daily for a couple of weeks or so?You know the routine, and I can always trust you with my creatures.”
Relief washed through her so fast her knees went weak.It was followed immediately by a sharp stab of guilt for assuming the worst.
