The thought has crossed my mind—in my effort to help ease Ashley’s guilt, I’ll simply gather proof that the space heater was in her bedroom after all.
But my instincts tell me otherwise.
So I have to trust myself and keep pushing forward.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
Ashley
“The foundation’s social engagements have shot up in the last week.” Mia beams at me. “You have a knack for this kind of thing.”
“I’m pretty sure Haley is the one who’s driving the engagement.” I smile teasingly at Haley sitting next to me.
Mia, Haley, and I are meeting in Mia’s office at the end of a long work day as we bounce ideas back and forth and go over the pros and cons of how things are going for Haley and me and a new project, which was a fun idea the two of us came up with last week when she was over at my cabin and we’d finished a bottle of wine together.
We were out looking at the stars in the enormous Montana sky, and I pulled out my phone and started a live social video.
Wild West Ash wishes on a star…with plenty of wine
It went viral, thanks to Haley’s ability to ad-lib and be completely herself.
“Should I lick a star?” she said after I introduced her to my followers.
Ever since, we’ve done a Montana adventure nearly every day after work, and we record each of them live.
We’ve done a video of us riding two of the rescue horses Mia had brought in via her foundation.
We recorded Haley and me welcoming in a new rescue horse before we went for a round of beers at a local bar new to both of us. I’m pretty sure Haley’s insistence on me filming her riding a mechanical bull broke the internet.
Haley laughs. “What can I say? You can take the girl out of social, but you can’t take social out of the girl. I love doing live feeds. And Ashley’s the perfect partner.”
“Our videos were supposed to be all about the horses,” I say to Mia. “But then we drank wine. And the videos expanded into us exploring Montana. Two fish out of water women. Me from the south and Haley originally from the northeast.”
“I love it.” Mia shows us the graphic on her laptop. “And the audience loves it. The foundation’s page has so many hits, and we’re getting seen. Which is so awesome for the horses and all the ones we still have to help.”
Haley pats my arm. “This one’s a workaholic. She never stops thinking of ideas.”
I do love my job. I feel like I’m always on the job in a sense because I’m constantly thinking of ways to market the foundation.
But ever since Jared left for his hockey trip a week ago, I’ve thrown myself into work more than normal.
I got bored sitting at the cabin by myself.
I’ve had more free time with him away.
And mainly, I’ve missed him.
A lot.
“Has Jared watched your social feed when you do a live?” Mia asks me.
“No,” I say. “Jared hates social media.”
“He follows you,” Haley points out.
“Yes, but he almost never looks at his feed.”
He did DM me last night, though.
