Love on the Ranch Read online

Love on the Ranch

  By

  Alice Parker

  Copyright 2016 Alice Parker

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Love on the Ranch

  by

  Alice Parker

  Copyright © 2017 by Alice Parker

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Love on the Ranch

  All rights reserved.

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this work may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording and faxing, or by any information storage and retrieval system by anyone but the purchaser for their own personal use.

  This book may not be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of Alice Parker, except in the case of a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages for the sake of a review written for inclusions in a magazine, newspaper, or journal—and these cases require written approval from Alice Parker prior to publication. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.

  Chapter One

  It's amazing what happens when you get what you ask for.

  One day, I'm at work, hating my job just like anyone else. The next day, I am on my way home with a severance check for two month's pay and a 'thank you for working at the same measly job for five years. Don't get me wrong. I never envisioned myself being there forever, but I most certainly did not want to go to work to be let go unexpectedly.

  But I had to admit that it was what I had asked for. I've been craving freedom, a change in my life for so long, but never knew how to start down that road. Obviously the universe was going to take care of that for me.

  When I arrived home, totally ready to kick off my shoes and lay across my bed doing absolutely nothing, I was met by an envelope stuck in my door. Nothing else could go wrong. Maybe someone saw to it to bless me with an envelope full of money. That would surely make my day. I was not in the mood for much else.

  Instead of opening the envelope, I tossed it on my side table and opted to pour a glass of wine and take a hot bubble bath. Hopefully I would be able to gather my thoughts and figure out a game plan. Although I wanted a change, I had not come to the point where I knew what that change was supposed to be.

  The only thing I could think to do was to take a road trip to blow off some steam. No specific destination, just west as far as I could go. Scenic, spacious, and wild open and free. I had been the responsible one for so long, something inside of me was begging for a little less of the responsibility.

  There was not much holding me back. I had just broken up with my now ex-boyfriend Jeff. After dating exclusively for the past two years, he decided he wanted to see other people. The kicker was that he still wanted to be friends. I was not sure what that meant, so I thought it best to back off. He apparently did not get the memo. I could not get rid of Jeff even though he was the one who broke it off with me. I tried not to let it bother me, because the chemistry between us was unbelievable.

  I actually was not against the fact that we were really just having sex and maybe a little pillow talk. It felt nice not to have to look out for someone else's feelings for once. Jeff and I weren't in a relationship so I did not have to care about the emotions or any of the other extras. I was not sure if Jeff understood that. But it did not matter. He was the one that broke up with me. I did not feel like I owed him anything; no explanations, no excuses.

  The wine was just perfect and the hot bath relaxed me. I could not stop thinking about where I would want to go out west. Maybe now was the time to take that trip, find out exactly what I wanted in life. I had a few months of income saved and it would not take me long to find a job and start over.

  I suddenly remembered the envelope that was on my door. I made my way to the foyer so I could retrieve it. Fingers crossed, I hoped some twenty dollar bills would fall out and make my day.

  Instead, there was a letter on bright pink paper. I had to read it twice in order to make myself believe what I was reading. The long and short of it: the rent was going up five- hundred dollars at the end of my lease in a month. There was no way that I was going to be able to afford to live here. Looking around, it felt like the walls were closing in on me.

  I burst through the front door, falling out onto the porch trying to inhale as much fresh air as I could.

  Think, Christy. Think.

  What on earth was going on? Maybe Mercury was in retrograde because there was no way that I was losing all of this at one time.

  Lost my job, ended a relationship, and now finding out that I had to move all at once. Holding my hand to my heart, I hoped that it would stop racing. This would be one of those times when I could use a little something in a small, white pill form to take the edge off.

  Maybe if I closed my eyes, this would all blow over. Maybe when I opened my eyes, things would be different. I tried it. It didn't work. I was still clutching the pink paper in my hand.

  The earth was still spinning, birds still chirping, and the sun still shining as my life was going down the drain. I would just have to get my life together somehow. Where to start that process was the issue.

  Another glass of wine would help for the time being. As I sipped, I started thinking that maybe this would not be so bad. What if this was the fresh start that I was looking for? What if the universe heard my thoughts and began to simply strip away all of the things that I no longer needed moving forward in my new life?

  The thought started to motivate me.

  First Jeff. He was truly a jerk that did not really know how to love a woman. I learned that at the end of year one of our two year relationship. I spent all of year two trying to convince myself that what I saw during year one was the truth and that I should walk away from it.

  Then there was my job. I had never thought of being a personal assistant for a living. The company I worked for had some big named clients and I was pretty sure with the connections that I made over the years I could tap into my network and easily find new work. That was not what I needed though. I needed to be able to start fresh and chose a new career path that I truly loved.

  And with the final straw being the rent increase, I was sure now that the universe was giving my current life the boot. The wine warmed me as I downed the rest of it. There was a sudden clarity as I searched the bottom of the glass.

  I could do this. Not sure if it was the liquid courage pumping me up or the fact that I did not have anything else to look forward to living here. I snatched up my laptop and got ready to sell off some of my belongings online. I would need money for my cross country trip and there was no way that I would be able to take all of my furniture with me. Especially because I did not know where I was going. And really, I did not want to take everything with me. If this was going to be a fresh start, I needed it to be completely.

  As I began separating the things that I was taking from the things that I was selling, I was more and more excited about moving on.

  Ignoring Jeff's phone calls also added to my confidence. There was no way that I was going to let him disturb me this evening. By mid
night, I had everything in separate piles and I had taken pictures of all of the things that I was going to sell. Feeling accomplished, I finally took Jeff's fifth phone call while I sat amongst my things.

  "What Jeff?"

  "No 'Hello, lover. So happy to hear from you'?"

  "Not at all. Because you aren't my lover and I'm not exactly sure that I'm happy to hear from you."

  He sucked his teeth. "I can't tell that we aren't lovers. Not when I'm in your bed at least twice a week."

  Yes. He was still a jerk. I rolled my eyes.

  "Jeff. Really?"

  "I'm merely pointing out the truth."

  "And I'm not sure that I asked you either way. What is it that you called for? It's well after midnight."

  "Had you answered the other four times I called earlier, then it would have been before midnight."

  I had to massage my temples to soothe the tension that was forming during this phone call.

  "Anyway, I thought that maybe I could take you to dinner or something, but it's a bit too late for that now. So I will just swing by and take you to breakfast in the morning. Be ready around nine."

  My first inclination was to protest, but then I realized that it would be nice to have a meal on his dime. Jeff was never one to have a problem digging in his pockets in order to impress me, or any other woman for that matter. And what fun it would be to have him watch me pack the rest of the belongings in my car and drive off.

  "Instead of going out to breakfast, why don't we stay in and eat? Get kind of cozy."

  I could hear him smiling over the phone.

  "Staying in? Sounds great to me. I'll see you in the morning."

  I threw my phone on the bed. Today was not the best day of my life, but tomorrow seemed to be working out already.