Combo Box does not display data from table until it gets focus

[mjb]

I have a combo box in a subform. When the user selects and account and then
goes to enter the contract for the account, they need to select the
associated contact. When they select the contact, the name appears just fine
and the information is stored in the underlying table, but the next time they
open the database and scroll through the account records, the selected
contacts do not show up in the field. The actual name does not appear until
you give the field focus. If you leave that field selected and scroll
through the records, the selected names appear. If you move focus to another
field, the names don't appear when changing records (on the main form or the
subform).

Any suggestions?