Page 2 of Roped By the Cowboy
“Remember the auction we had last year? We’re doing it again, seeing as it did so well for the ranch. For all of us. With half of my men wifed up or on their way there…we need some fresh meat, Jacob.”
“Whoa…what? You want to…to..” I shake my head at the very idea.
“I intend to sell you to the highest bidder.”
Staring at my boss, a man I respect, who I honestly look up to, I shake my head again. Not because I am against the idea. Far from it. Last year they held an auction to raise some much-needed funds for the ranch. A bonus for several of the men: they found themselves a woman.
“No shit. I mean, you want me to be part of the auction, Cody?”
“Sure do, Jacob. I think with that pretty face and that farm boy charm, you will bring a pretty penny. Some of which you will get, some will go to the ranch, the rest to our charities. I never forced it on the men. Won’t force it on you. It is up to you and no answer is wrong, Jacob.”
Nodding, I sit at the island as the other men start flooding in. Right away they start talking about the auction. I listen to them talk, to the things they have to say about the money raised last year, about how fun it was to have the buyers on the ranch for a night or two.
Cody said the choice is up to me, and I believe he would accept me declining. Truth is, I want to participate. I have heard stories since I started it just weeks after the auctions last year. Cody found his old lady through the auction. Wylder too, found a city girl who found her cowgirl spirit.
Could I find my own cowgirl?
Once I have cleared breakfast away, I take a walk out to the stables. I am still deep in thought about the prospect. Most of my life I have been on my own. No lasting friendships because I never stayed in one place long. If I had any relatives left, they never cared to find me, so I never cared either.
Iron H Ranch feels like home to me. Is it a forever home? Is this where I will stay until I am as old and onery as Sullivan? Or could there be something more out there for me? Another life in another place or one right here with someone. I think I might try finding out.
“Cody,” I begin tentatively after I step inside his office. “I wanted to say that…yeah, yeah I think I would want to be part of the auction.”
Looking up from his work, he grins, tossing a pen on his desk as he sits back in his chair. “Do you? I meant what I said--youcansay no. You take the shit, sometimes literally, ‘round here without a lick of attitude. You work hard. Earn your keep. This is not some final test, Jacob, you’ve passed them all. Iron H Ranch is as much your home as it is the rest of us.”
That seals it for me if I had doubts before he spoke. “Yes, sir, I want to do it. Besides, the boys all said it was a good time for a good cause.”
Grin widening as he tips his head at me, he nods. “Boy howdy, some of us had a damn fine time. Got my wife from that auction. Looking to do the same, Jacob?”
“Reckon I might be, Cody. Just might be.”
Chapter Two
Jillian
Being a divorcee before thirty is not as bad as it sounds.
Sitting alone in the big, beautiful, Victorian house we were making a home is sad, sure. Seeing the den empty of his things, the half-finished kitchen we were having such fun restoring, it hurts. Hearing the silence is what almost does me in. Because once this fixer-upper of ours was full of laughter, of lovemaking, of a life well lived.
Now it is just silent. Not a single sound reverberates in the house.
Sipping at my third glass of wine, I close the wedding album I spent the last half hour torturing myself with. I poured over the photos, the mementos, all of it in search of something. I am not sure what. Answers to what went wrong, a clue to how I wound up where I am now.
Still, there is no one to blame for where we ended up. No lies or abuse, no betrayal or wrongdoing got us here. We got married because we were best friends, we loved one another, we had the best time together. Both of us wanted to build together, to start a family, to get the good life we all want.
One day we will get it—we just won’t get it together.
“I understand,” my words from the saddest day of my life play back in my head. It did not sound like me. It did notfeellike me. “We just…I guess we don’t have what it takes to make it work. To go the distance.”
“Jill, sweetheart, I love you. I love our little girl. I just don’t…I don’t think we’rein love. All the things we wanted changed. The travel agency is great for you. I am just not good at it. I do not want this old house anymore. I am not sure I ever did. Ialwayswanted you. Ialwayswanted Jocie. I love you both more than anything, but I guess…. not more than myself since I am asking for this. I hate that I am sitting here asking this.”
Five years was as far as we got together. Eighteen hundred days. Seven vacations all over the world. Five of the best days: the day we met, the day we first made love, the day he proposed, our wedding day, and the day we had our little girl. Dozens of the best days together, the best memories.
Three of the worst days. A lovely Saturday when we admitted there was love there just no spark or fire. Him moving out as we both cried. The day we signed the papers to end what we had hoped to be a lifetime together. We still loved each other, we were still best friends, good parents, it just...our romance had run its course.
Five months is a long time to grieve a relationship that was never bad. One hundred-fifty-two days of adjusting to life without my other half. Of our daughter sharing time between us. Hugs goodbye that sometimes turn to tentative kisses before we laugh awkwardly. My husband is the best man, the best parent, he is just not the man for me anymore and I am accepting it.
“Jillian you will come through the other side of this in one piece. Come here to Iron H for a while. Come be with me and Wylder. Bring that little girl with you, she would love it here.”
