Page 129 of Bucked Hard

“I had my phone. I didn’t get any calls. And what are you talking about me taking off with Abigail? Who the hell is Abigail?”

“The blond, dumbass. Came in yesterday. The one you rode off with.” She raises her voice and her eyebrows. “What’s the fuck’s the matter with you?”

My head is spinning. “I didn’t—” The spinning is replaced by anger. “Where is Mary Beth? Is she okay?” I pound the keys on the phone, frustration tightening the muscles in my neck, and my head is suddenly pounding.

“Give me that.” Harriett snatches the phone and presses a button on the side for a few seconds, then I hear the thing beep, and she shoves it back toward me, the screen lit up showing four missed calls.

“Fuck.” I start scanning around behind me. “Where is she?”

“Gone.” Harriett throws up her hands in frustration, then reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a piece of paper. “Said to give you this.”

She stomps off, and I put my hat back on with one hand and flip open the piece of paper with the other as I start to read.

Cowboy,

There’s so much I want to say. I’m a writer, and I’ve tried to write this four times, and nothing is coming out quite right. So, here’s the abridged version…

I left. I’m not sure what happened today with you, and honestly, we barely know each other, and I have no claim on you. However, I did see you riding away with another guest after you left me this morning when you said you were going out alone to take care of the cattle.

Second, I tried to call a bunch of times. You promised to have your phone with you, and I guess that may have cramped your style with your other ride along today. I get it.

Third, even if items one and two weren’t an issue, I don’t belong here, and you don’t have any interest in my world, from what I know. I think fate took over, I got a call about an opportunity I’ve been waiting for, and it was very clear I needed to leave now or lose what I’ve been working toward.

I did try to call, as I said. I would have preferred to talk to you in person about this. Leaving a note wasn’t my first choice but came to be my only option besides leaving without a word, and I’m not that girl.

I guess I added everything up that happened this morning and came to the conclusion that maybe this isn’t what I thought it was. Don’t worry, my article about Big Sky Ranch will be positive. I’m a professional, after all.

Take care, cowboy. In the immortal words of Rod Stewart, “You stole my heart, but that’s a pain I can do without.”

Mary Beth

I bring a hand up to cover my mouth, trying to hold in the choking sound that rips from my throat. I crash through the door of the house with one thing I need to do. One thing I need to get.

I’ve had a glimpse of heaven, and now it’s gone?

Nope. Not if I have anything to say about it.

And I have a lot to say.

ChapterEleven

Mary Beth

“Everything okay?” Jessie, the young lady who helps cook and also drives the airport shuttle for the ranch, looks back at me with a sympathetic smile. When my phone rang a minute ago, I was sure it would be Garrett.

My heart had been in my throat but the number on the screen wasn’t Garrett, it was Conde Nast.

The van jostles and jerks as she makes our way down the dirt road, leading away from the ranch. We’ve been driving only about five minutes, but with every minute little shards of my heart are left in a trail behind us.

I lower my phone from my ear, feeling sick.

“Yeah. I’m okay,” I lie.

I’m not okay. I’m so far from okay. I don’t know my way back to okay.

I look down at my phone, re-playing over in my head the conversation I just had with Jeffery Conway.

My eyes are burning and that hole I felt in my chest earlier now feels like the Grand Canyon.

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