The Rancher's First Love. Brenda Minton

and more work.”

      “Yeah,” Parker practically shouted as he pushed himself through the front door. “And Nurse Sam will be here to check on me. Wait until I call Danny and tell him.”

      Remington let Aunt Lee follow the boy inside and he stayed on the front porch where there was fresh air and fewer excited statements about a certain nurse. He looked out over the ranch his father had grown up on, the ranch he’d now help his grandfather care for.

      In the field beef cattle with red coats and broad backs grazed on spring grass, biting off the tender morsels. The distant crow of a rooster broke the silence. As did the sound of a car on the highway. His thoughts weren’t as settled or as peaceful as his surroundings.

      Samantha Martin. She wanted distance. He wanted her close. He wanted to mend fences that had been broken. If things had turned out different, he wondered if he and Sam would have dated a few years, then gotten married. Or would they have broken up after that summer? That’s what his mom had predicted. She’d told him that was how most summer romances ended. It felt like something that would last forever. But usually, she’d assured him, it faded with time and distance.

      He’d actually believed her until he saw Sam at the hospital.

      Seeing her made it all come rushing back as if they’d never been apart. Unfortunately Sam didn’t seem to feel the same way. She seemed to have put him and their relationship behind her.

      He guessed he’d either have to accept that, or change her mind.

       Chapter Five

      Sam visited Parker the day after he’d left the hospital. It had been an easy visit, with a little boy excited by his new room, his new home and a new puppy. She’d seen the shadows in his eyes, though, and knew there were things he didn’t discuss. If he pretended everything was okay, maybe they would all believe nothing had changed and they weren’t grieving people who were suddenly missing in their lives.