The Challenger Read Free Page B

barn. Sam watched him go, feeling guilty, because she knew Jake hated any hint that he wasn’t a hardheaded realist.
    Sam jumped up and shouted after him. “I think Slocum’s wrong! Does that make any difference?”
    Jake didn’t come back, and Nate didn’t quit layering straw into a stall.
    â€œHe’s putting Royal away, is all,” Nate said.
    â€œRight,” Sam said. They both knew Jake was mad. Through the barn door, she watched his jerky movements.
    â€œHow come,” Sam said slowly, “whenever I’m around Jake, I end up picking sides?”
    â€œHmm,” Nate said.
    You’re a lot of help, Sam thought. An almost-eighteen-year-old should be able to come up with something better than that.
    â€œMaybe it’s because Jake knows where he stands, and he won’t back down.” Nate looked pleased with himself—until he met Sam’s eyes. “It’s partly ’cause of you, he’s so mad at Slocum.”
    â€œBecause of me?” Sam squeaked. What could she have to do with Slocum and the cougars? “No way.”
    â€œHe had this dream.” Nate peered out the barn door to make sure Jake hadn’t doubled back. “In it, something disturbed the cougars and they started killing wild horses—something like that.”
    â€œ Something like that?” Sam demanded.
    â€œIt was just a dream,” Nate said. “No big deal.”
    No big deal, Sam thought, except Jake had been so uneasy about the dream, he’d told Nate.
    She swallowed hard. No big deal, except that he’d risked a fight to discourage Linc’s interest in the cougar.
    And, she decided, it was a very big deal when Jake was ignoring Royal to stare up at the ridge as if something terrible was coming their way.

Chapter Three
    S am didn’t have a chance to nag Jake for details of his dream, and she had only a few moments of silence to worry over the wild horses.
    Gram pulled into Three Ponies Ranch, looking rushed and bothered. She waved Sam into the Buick before she could say a proper good-bye to the Elys.
    Sam knew they were going to meet Brynna for dinner at Clara’s Diner, but why was Gram in such a hurry?
    â€œYou’ll need time to shower and change,” Gram explained as they pulled onto the highway.
    â€œWe’re just going to Clara’s, right?”
    Gram nodded. “I want you to wear a dress.” She lifted one hand from the steering wheel and rubbed at the line between her brows, as if telling herself to relax.
    Gram was keeping something secret, but Sam didn’t ask what. She had an outfit she’d been savingfor an “occasion,” and this might be the best chance she’d get.
    â€œHow about my black skirt and new sweater?”
    â€œFine.” Gram sawed at the wheel, swerving off the road and over the River Bend bridge much too fast.
    Instead of barking a greeting, Blaze scampered out of the way. He bounded onto the bunkhouse porch, tail wagging at half-mast.
    A cloud of steam still hung in the bathroom when Sam went in. She heard Dad whistling in his bedroom, and froze.
    The last time she’d heard Dad whistle…
    Dad never whistled.
    After showering and blow-drying her hair into a smooth cap, Sam pulled on her new scoop-necked sweater. Jen, Sam’s best friend, had insisted Sam buy it the last time they’d been at Crane Crossing, the mall in Darton.
    Sam tugged at the sweater’s hem and considered it in the mirror. Not too tight or too baggy, the sweater fit fine. She was almost embarrassed that it matched the reddish brown of her hair. On the other hand, it was a sweater, not a horse.
    Sam leaned close to the mirror to put on rose-tinted lip gloss. Why was Gram making such a big deal about this dinner?
    â€œReady to go, hon?” Dad leaned in the doorway.
    His dark hair was wet and slicked back above thecollar of a blue-and-white checked shirt. His jeans were new, and he was