SECOND CHANCES AT MG RANCH by Karen England Page A

some old movies. Oh Lord, was that an old movie of her as a little girl? She was sure that her parents must be crazy!
    Sam heard her footsteps on the hardwood stairs and looked up at h er as she descended down to the living room.  Her eyes quickly met his. He knew in an instant that she was mad because her eyes looked as if she were about to shoot sapphire flames from them.
    H e cleared his throat and smiled, “Look who finally woke up? Would you like some pizza?” he offered, trying to lighten her mood.
    It didn’t work. She walked right past him as if he hadn’t said one word, grabbed a light jacket and stalked out the door. He was guessing that she was headed for the barn.
    Josh got up to go after her, but Sam stood up and gestured for him to sit back down.
    “If you don’t mind, I would like to go talk to her. I think I might know what is bothering her,” Sam said, causing Josh to look questionably at Amy, just to have her nod in agreement that Sam should be the one to go after their daughter.
    Donning his jacket, Sam quietly let himself out the front door. Then he headed straight for the barn, feeling certain that is where he would find her since she always seemed to turn to her horse for comfort when she was upset.
    Once Sam was out the door and out of hearing distance, Josh turned back to Amy. “What the heck is going on?”
    Amy was pretty sure that Loren was in love with Sam, and considering that she had never lied to her husband in all their years of marriage, she decided to just lay it out on the table as she saw it. Hopefully her husband would at least try to understand.
    “Josh, I believe that Loren is in love with Sam.” She waited for a response, but he just sat there with a blank expression on his face.
    “Josh, did you hear me?” Amy asked again when he didn’t answer.
    “Yes I heard you, but I think you are dead wrong this time. They have only known each other for a very short time, seven days to be exact. That is hardly long enough to fall in love. Besides, I have known Sam for a very long time and I think he would tell me if he were in love with my daughter.”
    Amy looked at him with a worried frown on her face before speaking. “That is all probably true, but I said that I thought that Loren was in love with Sam, not that they were in love with each other. And I would also like to remind you that we fell in love within one week of meeting and was married within two. So, yes she has had time to fall in love.”
    With that new realization sinking into his mind, Josh grabbed his hat and jacket and headed for the door.
    “Where do you think you are going?”
    “I swear if he has touched my daughter, I will kill him.”
    Amy quickly jumped up off the couch and met him at the door with the intention of stopping him.
    “I think you should wait until we find out for sure if anything has happened between them,” she said, trying to buy some time.
    He knew that she was right, but it was hard to force his body back down onto the couch to wait and find out if Sam had broken his little girl’s heart.
    Amy also knew that it was very unlikely that Josh would kill Sam if he had broken Loren’s heart, because he didn’t have a violent bone in his body.
    She could also tell that Josh was feeling torn between the daughter that he loved more than his own life and his long-time friend that he had come to love like his own son. She hadn’t spent all these years loving him so strongly without learning how to tell what he was feeling.
    Sitting back down on the couch beside him, she took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze, causing him to look at her. He tried to look away quickly, hoping she wouldn’t see the tears in his eyes, but it was too late. She had already seen them and it made her heart ache.
    “Josh, please don’t fret so much. Loren and Sam are both going to be fine. I feel it in my heart.”
    She lied for his benefit, hoping to make him feel better and hoping that she was right all at