A Couple is Three: The Beginning (book 1 & 2 Completed)

Chapter 28 - Early Arrival

Wednesday, Late Morning, Winnipeg

The last two days, Samantha had fallen back into her new routine of sleep, eat, run, work, and talking with her boys. She had enjoyed her time at the quarry with her friends. It had been a relief when none of them had decided to discuss that morning's sermon. She wasn't sure what she would have done if they had. It had been two days and some of the comments made were still floating in the back of her mind.

She tried to ignore the comments when they surfaced. She usually succeed until she started receiving texts from Cheryl again. She figured that Cheryl didn't know that she was talking and texting with the boys daily as Cheryl kept trying to insinuate clandestine meetings with Josh. Each of these texts just served to remind her of the difficulties that they faced going forward.

After her morning run, Samantha started to slowly pack for her trip to Calgary. Jake and Josh had told her that they would be by sometime in the afternoon to pick her up.

She was excited to go. Everything that she had heard about the Calgary Stampede was that it was an event that everyone should attend at least once in their life. Not only was it a ten day Stampede, it was also a music festival with big name acts every night, a fair with lots of rides, and a foodies' paradise. There was no way for her to get bored!

She had all her clothes for the trip sorted on her bed for packing when she heard the doorbell ring. She looked at her clock, which read 11:30 am, and wondered who it could be. She didn't rush to the door knowing that her parents had both decided to work from home so that they could see her off.

She heard her mother answer the door.

Then heard heard the sound of a voice that made her insides melt. She looked over at her clock to confirm that she was just hearing things. It couldn't be. It was too early.

She heard her mother speak again. This time the answering voice was different. Instead of making her melt, it wrapped her up in the biggest hug.

She jumped up from the floor where she had been busy packing. "OMG, they're here!"

She walked as fast as she could without completely giving away her eagerness to get to the front door. The moment that she saw them her face broke into the biggest smile as she clamped down on all her muscles, trying to keep herself from flinging her body across the room into theirs'.

"Hello," she called out startling them from their conversation with her mother.

At the sound of her voice, Jake and Josh turned to look at her, standing just feet away. "Samantha," they both breathed out.

She walked over to them, trying to slow her pace at her mother's laughter. She didn't think. Instead she reached out and pulled them both into a hug. "I'm so glad that you're here," she mumbled into their chests.

"So what brings you boys here this early?" questioned Barb. "I thought that Samantha had told us that you wouldn't be here until later." With a sly smile at Samantha she continued, "I don't even think that Samantha has packed yet."

"Mom!"

Samantha pulled away from the boys laughing. It was too hard to stand so close to them when their chest were rumbling with suppressed laughter.

Josh and Jake looked at each other. They had been prepared for this question, but thought that it would have come from Samantha when they were alone, not from her mother. Their prepared answer would have to change. Jake nodded, allowing Josh to make up an answer on the spot.

"We were able to finish our chores early and something came up on the farm for later. So we decided to head out early," Josh explained as he ran his fingers through his hair.