7. Samantha
7
SAMANTHA
S amantha sat alone at her desk the next morning gazing out at the snowy village.
The office thermostat was on a schedule, and it was still early, so she shivered a little and pulled her sweater closer around her as she admired the Christmas decorations on the shops across the street and watched the early commuters walking to the train station.
Mornings at the office were generally quiet, but Sam liked to arrive before they officially opened. She had nothing else to do at this hour after dropping Amelia off at the elementary school.
Back in the city, she learned that a lot of the veterans kept the habit of rising early. It was pretty normal for someone to call or stop by before the office officially opened, and if not, then she got a nice jump on the day.
But since the Homecoming Heroes Center had just opened, she didn’t have nearly enough clients yet to expect many unscheduled calls or drop-ins, no matter the time of day.
Glancing around the empty office, as if anyone would be here to witness it, she logged into her computer and navigated to the page for the local community college.
Before they lost their parents, Sam had been in school majoring in Social Work. But she was barely into her second year when her whole world fell down around her ears and she had to leave.
She’d spent pretty much all of last year in a state of constant emergency. Mom and Dad definitely hadn’t planned on dying young, but she guessed not many people did. Somehow, their homeowners policy hadn’t been enough to cover them after the fire, and Sam had struggled to get what was left of the house sold just to get fully out from under the mortgage, see that the bills were paid, and find a cheap rental for herself and Amelia—all while trying to find a job that would hire a desperate nineteen-year-old.
She’d spent what little was left of her time and energy trying her best to provide comfort to her heartbroken sister, which meant saving her own grief for late at night, when she couldn’t sleep anyway.
When she’d been hired at last as a part-time admin assistant at a small veterans’ foundation in Philadelphia, it had taken all she had not to break down in tears of relief right there on the phone.
The pay wasn’t much, but it covered the rent. And Sam loved the hustle and bustle of working at the non-profit. It felt good to give back to those who had already given so much.
Though her main job was greeting vets and walking them through some simple steps to help the counselors get to know them quickly, Sam paid close attention to what the counselors needed, and what they offered to the clients.
Her boss was pleased with her when she began going above and beyond her regular intake duties to ask follow-up questions that saved the counselors time, and when she started getting the vets closer to their goals by assigning them to counselors who had relevant background experience or common interests.
It was for this reason, and the fact that she wasn’t a counselor with her time already booked, that she had been assigned to talk with Captain Anderson when he came in to learn more about their organization as part of his research for starting his own.
He later told her that her enthusiasm and curiosity were the reason he offered her a position at his brand-new foundation here in Trinity Falls.
“But I don’t have a college degree or a certification,” she had told him at the time. “You’ll want someone with a Masters, at least.”
“When I find the right person with those qualifications, I will absolutely bring them in too,” he’d said with a warm smile. “But right now, what I need more than anything is someone who understands the heart and soul of this work—the why , not just the how. Someone who can set people at ease right away, make them feel glad they stopped in, and help them feel seen and heard.”
She had just blinked back at him stupidly. Anyone would understand how important this work was. And surely anyone would listen and try to help.
But Captain Anderson knew what he wanted. The package he’d offered her was full-time with benefits. Out here in the countryside, she could stretch a dollar a little further than in the city, and the elementary school had good online ratings. And he assured her that Amelia would be welcome at the office after school and on days off.
So far, he had fulfilled every promise to Sam, and most of the time she just felt grateful. But sometimes she worried that she was going to let him and the veterans down with her inexperience and lack of training.
Her old colleagues were always glad to lend a moment of advice when they could spare the time. But she knew she was going to have to stand on her own two feet eventually.
On slower mornings like this one, she had taken to exploring online programs to see if there was one with flexible hours that she could afford to start. It was tricky though, because the best programs were for students who already had an undergrad degree.
But today, she was feeling a little tickle of hope.
Mallory from the bakery just down the street had stopped in yesterday with a plate of muffins during Sam’s lunch break. She had caught Sam looking at an online school on her phone, and suggested that she check out Trinity Falls Community College.
As she clicked around the site now, Sam realized Mallory was right. There were some really interesting programs that might help her with her work—Human Resource Management, Psychology, even a Social Work program . And it was even possible that they might let her count some of the classes from the year of school she had already completed.
She was just digging into the details when there was a tap at the front door. She looked up and was surprised to see Wolf Cassidy standing outside with baby Ezra strapped to his chest, and a paper cup of coffee in each hand.
Sam hopped up and ran to the door.
“You two are up early,” she told him with a smile. “Good morning, Ezra.”
“I’ve always been an early riser,” Wolf said. “And it turns out that babies don’t like to sleep in either.”
“Definitely not,” she agreed, laughing. “Come on in.”
“It’s chilly in here,” he said, looking around.
“Well, we’re not officially open yet,” she confided. “The thermostat will kick on later, but I like to get an early start, so I come in once Amelia is at school.”
“Girl after my own heart,” he said, then cleared his throat.
“Well, I’m glad you came by,” she told him. “We can jump right into brainstorming your new plans.”
“Oh, I didn’t come in to make you work,” he said. “We were just taking a little walk and saw you in here, so we thought we’d bring you a coffee and say thank you.”
“That was very nice of you both,” she teased.
But Wolf didn’t even smile as he passed her a coffee. The man was so serious.
“It has milk and two sugars,” he said.
“Wow,” she said, impressed at his good guess. “Is that how you take yours?”
“Black,” he said, shaking his head.
“So, you just assumed that I’m a lightweight?” she teased.
He frowned at her, then seemed to realize she was kidding and gave her a half-smile.
“I asked the lady at the café,” he admitted.
That tracked. Holly Cabrera from the café was one of the first people Sam had met in town. As soon as they unpacked their things, Sam had taken Amelia over to Jolly Beans for hot chocolate, and Holly had welcomed them so warmly that Sam had known right away that Trinity Falls was the right place for them to call home.
She took a sip of her coffee and then groaned in appreciation.
“Thank you,” she told him.
“No, thank you ,” he said. “We only survived our first night because of you and your sister.”
“We were glad to help,” she told him honestly. “Amelia really loved reading to you, Ezra.”
Ezra had been looking around, his eyes drawn to the ceiling light. But when Sam spoke to him in her brightest tone, he turned to her, his little eyes wide with amazement.
“Hi, Ezra,” she said. “Good morning to you.”
He kicked his little legs like a frog in a pond, and she could only smile as she gazed at him.
“He’s such a sweet boy,” she said, shaking her head.
Wolf smiled proudly, and her heart gave a sharp tug at the idea of the big soldier already so attached to the little guy.
They knew what they were doing leaving their baby with him, she thought to herself.
“I’ve been thinking about you a lot this morning,” she said, then blushed a little and swallowed hard when she realized how that must sound. “You and Ezra… What I mean is, how are you and Ezra going to be if you can’t start the job you had lined up? Captain Anderson will want to know how we can help.”
“We’re fine for a while,” Wolf said with a frown. “I was planning to stick around for the holidays anyway. The job doesn’t start until after New Year’s.”
She couldn’t help noticing that his wording made it sound like maybe he was still thinking of flying for that commercial airline in the city after all. And she told herself the twinge of sorrow she felt over it had more to do with the way that schedule would be hard for a single dad than with her being sad that she and Amelia wouldn’t see them around anymore.
“Do you have any idea of what else you might like to do?” she asked. “If you don’t take that job with the airline?”
It was silent for a moment, except for the sound of Ezra panting a little as he danced in his carrier.
“I’ve never thought about being anything but a pilot,” he told her.
“Airplanes, right?” she asked.
“Choppers too, but yes, mainly planes,” he told her. “It’s hard to imagine using my piloting skills out here though. Or anywhere, with a small child at home.”
“So, you might consider staying in Trinity Falls?” she asked, her heart beating faster for some reason.
“I know I can’t really,” he said, shaking his head. “It would just be nice. I have extended family here, which would be a big plus. And knowing this was what Barry and Lynne wanted…”
He trailed off, his eyes on Ezra’s little head.
“Did you like being a pilot?” she asked, remembering that he’d already mentioned his love of flying, but hoping the change of subject would lift his spirits.
“Sure,” he said, glancing up and nodding. There was a spark in his eyes now.
It didn’t surprise her. Pilots were highly skilled professionals. It would be difficult to imagine what else could give him that same feeling of being respected and important.
She was sure that flying had to be thrilling too, though he didn’t strike her as much of a daredevil. She hoped she could ignore that aspect of the job and try to think of another field where he could be a sort of authority figure.
“We’ll come up with something interesting once you answer a handful of questions for me,” she told him firmly. “And then you can do a better job deciding when you have all the options in front of you.”
He looked at her appraisingly for a moment, his cerulean gaze pinning her in place the moment their eyes met, leaving her almost breathless. Something passed between them for a second, and she felt as if time were stuttering.
Then he nodded and turned his eyes to her computer, causing time to stagger forward once again.
“What have you got for me, Samantha?” he asked.
She did her best to ignore how good her name sounded in his mouth and focused on her computer instead.