Willow
My heels click against the tile floor in the lobby as I walk toward the elevator. It’s a beautiful day in New York, which means I am already sweating. You know what no one warned me about twelve years ago when I moved here? Humidity. Wyoming was so dry when I was growing up, I never experienced humidity. Sure, I knew about it, but it was never something I put thought into.
But it’s fine. The humidity makes my skin glow, and not a single thing can bring me down today. I’ve been working at Jones and Sons agency for four years. I've had to scratch and claw my way to where I am now. I started as an assistant, but today I get my very first assignment. Working for a consulting company comes with its challenges, like never really knowing what type of project you’ll be roped into, but that also makes it exciting. I like the challenge. Struggle and pressure are where I shine. I step into the elevator and press the button for the twentieth floor.
When the elevator doors open, the air-conditioning hits my skin, and I instantly cool off. While I’ve done well for myself climbing the ladder, I am still not quite at the level to have my own office, so I drop my purse off at my cubicle and head to my boss’s office. He’s part owner in this firm. Someday I hope to sit beside him as an equal, but for now, I am content with where I’m at. If you had told eighteen-year-old me that thirty-one-year-old me would be happy with this, she’d laughin your face. But life doesn’t always pan out the way you think it will, and it’s taken years for me to be okay with that.
I thought I would be married now, but I'm not. I have the ring, just not the last name yet. It’s coming, but I don’t think Josh or I are in a big rush right now for that. We’ve both been busy building up our careers, and I’m finally leveling up in mine.
It’s taken me years, but this project is going to be it for me, I just know it. I knock on the door and pull on the cold metal handle to his office, peeking my head in.
“Hey, Tony. I’m a couple minutes early. Is that okay?” His fingers type away at his keyboard, and I almost think he didn’t hear me.
“Sure, come on in. Please take a seat so I can get you briefed.” He’s straight to the point, which I can appreciate. No time wasted when you’re living with New York minutes. “You’re from Wyoming, right?” He asks the question and it makes every hair on my body stand up.
“Yeah. I lived there until I was eighteen,” I say, my hands holding the arms of the chair a little too tightly.
“Great, it’s good that you’re familiar with the area because we’re going to be sending you there for the next three months, potentially longer if you run into any setbacks.”
Trying to hide the chaos wreaking havoc on my nervous system right now, I keep it professional because I really need this big break to prove to these guys I can get shit done better than anyone. That’s how you reach the top here, you can’t just outperform, you have to blow socks off. “Okay. When does the project start and where exactly in Wyoming?”
The creeping feeling up the back of my spine has me guessing where he’s going to say before I even hear it, because that’s how life has gone for me. Every time I finally start to get ahead, I get knocked on my ass.It’s exhausting. It’s stolen a lot of the joy I used to have for life, but one thing about me is I’m always going to find my way back to my feet.
“It’s on a ranch in Windy Peaks, Wyoming, actually, it’s called Windy Peaks Ranch, so that should be easy to remember,” he says nonchalantly, not knowing he just dropped a bomb on my life.
The blood drains from my face, and I can see his lips moving, but I can’t hear a word he’s saying over the ringing in my ears. That ranch holds so much of my childhood. And the boy on that ranch still holds more of me than I’m willing to admit. I shouldn’t still have this feeling. It’s been twelve years and we were just kids, but we were so much more than just kids together. And he ruined it. He broke me in a way I don’t think I’ve ever come back from. I’ve been walked out on by my parents, and yet, him leaving me the way he did still cuts the deepest.
I’ve managed to stay as far away from that town as possible. I’ve only visited my grandpa five times since I left, because that man is all I have. He raised me on his own, but I haven’t been able to enjoy a minute in that town since the day before I left for college and now I have to go back and stay for three whole months.
“You’ll find all the information in this packet.” His voice finally comes back to me, and I have to nod like I heard the last two minutes of his briefing. “Your plane will leave Sunday night, and you’re expected at the ranch Monday at eight am.”
“This Monday?” I choke out. It’s Thursday, which means I only have a few days to prepare not only for the job but for my life getting flipped upside down.
“Correct, if anyone can do it on this late notice, it’s you!” He looks annoyingly cheerful for how much of a crisis I am currently having, but no one cares about your feelings in this office. It’s about money in and money out, so I plaster a fake smile on my face.
“Thank you for the opportunity. I won't let you down.”
Grabbing the packet, I walk out of the office in a daze. When I get back to my cubicle, I stare blankly at the wall as my thoughts tumble through. If I want to prove myself, I have to do this. And even more than that, I need to prove to myself that I can go back there and see Weston. I’m engaged to another man, for god's sake. Josh and I’s relationship doesn’t make me feel the same as Weston and I’s, and I like it that way. The way I loved Weston was all-consuming. He made my heart race and made me feel alive until he didn’t. I learned the hard way what happens when you give every ounce of yourself to someone, and it’s not good. Josh is comfortable and dependable, and that’s what I need most.
Maybe seeing him again will be a full-circle moment. Although it felt like it did, the world didn’t actually stop spinning when Weston decided I was old news. Showing up there and leading a project will be good for me. I've worked hard, and I deserve to be happy and proud of myself.
Taking a deep breath, I open the manila envelope and pull out the file. My eyes scan over the details. They need to update their filing and accounting systems. Maybe Jack is finally getting with the times, which is surprising, that old man is as stubborn as an ox. Kind of excessive to hire someone from New York for that. As my eyes read on, I get to the meat of it.
“Ohhhh,” I say out loud to myself as I see their plans to renovate the run-down cabins into vacation rentals, which, honestly, is a great idea. That place is gorgeous and is a perfect destination for a fresh breath of mountain air.
As I finish reading through the file, it’s clear this will be a big undertaking. They need a lot of help with project and business planning to bring the ranch into the twenty-first century.
“This is just a regular job. You’re going to get in, make this an epic success, and get back to New York,” I mumble to myself.
“What?” My cubicle neighbor pokes his shiny, bald head over, and I feel my cheeks heat. Guess I should keep the conversations with myself internal. My coworkers are going to think I’m losing my mind.
“Oh, just walking myself through this upcoming project,” I explain as I pick up the stack of papers for emphasis. He gives me a look that confirms my suspicions about them thinking I'm crazy and he goes back in his hole.
Stretching my neck out, I log on to my computer and get to work. At least I get to surprise my grandpa. That is the silver lining, I tell myself, this time internally. I can’t wait to see my grandpa’s face when I tell him I'm staying with him for three months. He’s always begging for me to visit, and now I can work, climb the ladder, and spend some much-needed time with my favorite person.
But first, I have to tell my fiancé that I am going to be out of town for months on end.
Chapter 3
