Jesse's Brother (11 page)

They walked under a banner stretched over the sidewalk. The smells of food filled the air from the restaurant booths as they walked past. A little girl tap dancing caught her attention. She paused for a minute to watch the girl. A top hat sat on the cement with a sign that read, “Please help pay for my dance lessons.”

The girl was pretty good for being around six years old. Samantha dropped a ten dollar bill into the top hat, and several other people did the same as they gathered to watch the show. “She’s so cute,” she whispered to Jesse.

“Let’s go. There’s better stuff to see.”

“I’d like to watch her for a little bit,” she said.

“Let’s go,” he repeated and pulled her away. “We’re not here to see every performer and booth—just the good ones.”

“I thought she was good,” she said as she tossed a look back at the young dancer.

“You’re in my world now, Samantha. We have standards here.”

* * * *

Daddy was sitting at the kitchen table when Samantha entered the kitchen at six the next morning. She couldn’t stop thinking about her date with Jesse and dreaded the thought of seeing Noah again.

As soon as the clock had struck five-thirty, she had hopped out of bed to get ready for the day. She’d keep busy on the farm, she had thought, but realized that was a sure-fire way to run into Noah. It would be in her best interest if she stayed away from him.

“Good morning, Daddy,” she said as she plopped into the chair across the table from him. She poured herself a glass of orange juice and the relief of her mother’s absence washed over her. She didn’t even ask where her mom was.

“Hi, sweetheart. How did you sleep last night?”

“Okay.”

“Any plans for today?” He glanced over the top of the newspaper.

“I want to hang out around here. Probably work in the garden.” “Noah handles the garden now, Sammy. I had him take it over so you’d be able to enjoy your summer.”

“I miss working in it. Noah won’t mind. It’ll give him a chance to do something else.” She’d been looking forward to getting out her frustrations while working with the flowers and glanced down in disappointment since that wasn’t going to happen.

He nodded. “Fine. You can help Noah then.”

“But, Daddy, I’d like some time alone. Can you please tell him I’ll be doing the garden today so he won’t need to go over there? He’ll have less work to do so it’ll be like doing him a favor.”

“Samantha…”

Calling her Samantha was a red alert of Dad’s irritation. He knew she was avoiding Noah.

“I’m sorry, Daddy, but I really need to do this. I don’t want him to bother me so please call and tell him.” She gave him her most loving daughter look. “Please?”

“I won’t disrupt his morning but when I see him, I’ll tell him. Is that fair?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Okay, so maybe her plan wasn’t going totally her way, but this was better than nothing.

Once she reached the garden, she let out a sigh of relief when she saw no sign of Noah. She sat down to start her work. To her surprise, Noah had kept the garden up to her standards, with some of the areas even better than what she’d done. In her late high school years, she had gardened as a project for one of her classes and had gotten hooked on it. The garden was filled with vegetables, fruits, and the outside was bordered with flowers. A bench sat in the middle of her little plot of land for her to relax, making it the best place to read.

She blocked out all of her troubles once she began to pull the weeds from the soil, ignoring the growing ache in her legs. Some of the vegetables were in bloom and she couldn’t wait to pick them so she could make a salad for dinner.

Heavy footsteps approached the garden. Hopefully it was Dad. Not wanting to be disappointed, she kept her eyes on the job in front of her.

“Oh,” said Noah, “I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“My dad didn’t call you?” She refused to look at him. Her gaze remained fixed on the section of garden she had been weeding. “He was going to have you do something else today.”

She glanced up as he took a step closer. “Haven’t seen him, but I would’ve come here anyway,” he replied, putting his hands into his back pockets.

“What for?” The hand tool dropped down on the soil and she stood up, more to stretch her legs than anything else. Her arms were crossed over her chest.

“About the wedding…”

“If you didn’t want to go, then you should have said so. It would’ve been okay.” So that was a lie. After all, he had lied, so why couldn’t she?

“Sammy, I did want to go.” He stepped toward her again.

“I don’t like to be stood up and I don’t feel comfortable with you calling me Sammy.” She reached down and picked up her gardening tool. The metal jabbed into the dirt with as much force as she could find. She was pissed. Not only because he had stood her up, but because he’d made her cry again.

“Will you at least listen to me?”

Don’t look at him, she ordered herself, then answered, “Fine.”

“I took some cold medicine and set my alarm so I’d be up in time to get ready for the wedding.”

She let go of the small shovel and dropped down to the dirt. She didn’t care if her butt got dirty.

“I didn’t know you were getting sick.”

“I tried to stop it before it reached that point. I didn’t want to let you down, Sammy.”

“Okay,” she whispered. She didn’t want to accept his apology or try to understand why he’d stood her up. Instead, she wanted to forget about Noah and move on to Jesse, but her heart suddenly screamed otherwise. Damn it, Mom was right. She had to be dumb if she didn’t have enough sense to realize something else could’ve been wrong with him.

“I promised to be there and I wasn’t. I’m so sorry for breaking my promise. Please, let me make it up to you.” He walked over to her.

For a split second, she wished he wouldn’t put his arms around her. It would be easier if he didn’t touch her. If Noah turned away from her, left the garden, and stayed away, her life would be so much easier.

However, Noah did the opposite. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He tilted her chin up to kiss her gently on the lips. Fireworks shot through her. He lifted her up into the air and swung her around.

“Put me down.” She giggled. Her legs flew out behind her, giving the sensation that she would fall at any moment. Unlike her heart, her body was secure wrapped in his strong embrace.

“Only if you forgive me.”

“Fine.” Her laugh filled the air before he put her back down onto the ground. She smiled at him again but he pulled away.

“Forgive me?” he asked.

She kept her eyes on his strong facial features. The internal fireworks slowly died down and let the beginnings of uncertainty creep into its place. What about Jesse?

“Of course, I do,” she whispered.

He kissed her again, then walked over to the edge of the garden. He gave her a smile like one she had never seen before. “I have to go finish rebuilding the side wall on the barn, then run some errands in town. Can we do something tonight?”

She nodded. He gave a small wave, then turned to go back to the barn. Confusion filled her heart as she returned to her work. Good thing there wasn’t much to do. With a groan, she finished picking the ripe vegetables off the plants. Her legs and back began to ache even more, making her wish she had chosen a different chore for the day.

“What am I going to do?” she said aloud.

Jesse was so distinguished and handsome. He made her feel like a whole new woman, bringing out a side she’d never known existed. When they were together, she felt as beautiful and exotic as a movie star. He’d opened a door to a whole new world she’d only dreamed about.

At the same time, Noah was the dark and rugged man who made her heart melt. He understood her love for the hard work on the ranch. She was most at ease with him. How could she choose? No matter what, she’d have to make the decision soon.

She grabbed the basket of vegetables. On her trip back to the house, thoughts of Jesse and Noah flashed through her mind. Memories of time spent with each of them took turns running through her head like a film strip on a movie reel, sending exciting shivers through her body. She was falling for both men. She couldn’t make the decision until she’d had time to get to know each

of them.

CHAPTER 15

June passed in a whirlwind of activities for Samantha. The goal was to divide her time between the two men she adored in order to know them as much as she possibly could. It was wrong to date both men at once but she needed the time in order to make the perfect decision.

It was only while lying in bed alone that she let those guilt-laden thoughts creep into her mind. On those nights, she spent little time sleeping. In fact, she was plain miserable. She thought of Jesse and the way he treated her, like she was a princess. Then Noah would pop into her mind with his warm, strong embrace.

Lucky for her, Noah invited her out most nights, and she preferred to spend the days with Jesse while Noah was working. Jesse was working less to spend more time with her. Oh yes, life was getting complicated. She enjoyed the days with Jesse but her favorite was the evenings. With Noah.

* * * *

“How are you and your mom doing?” Dad asked, coming up the stairs where she’d been waiting for Noah.

“I was actually thinking about that. She’s been trying really hard to respect the boundaries.”

He nodded. “I’ve noticed.”

“I was thinking I should do something nice for her. Any suggestions?”

“Why don’t you get up early and cook breakfast? It’s been years since she’s slept in.” It was the perfect plan. Her mom needed to relax for once. “Can you shut the alarm off when you go to bed tonight?”

“Sure thing. I’m going to invite Noah. Maybe she’ll take the chance to get to know him a little. Won’t that be nice?”