The Cowboy Who Strolled Into Town

by Riley Moreno

  “Fine Jack I’ll go, but I want you to know I am not happy about this at all.” She said firmly.

  “You’ve already made that clear earlier.” Jack stated.

  “What am I supposed to wear to this meeting? What am I supposed to say? Jack this is a nearly impossible situation for me to be in.” Sandra said.

  “Just don’t be rude.”

  “That’s a lot of help. You tell me to the guy who I told off last night. I think it’s a little late to tell me to not be rude.” Sandra stated.

  She heard Jack sigh. “Yes it’s a little late. But please don’t add to it.”

  “I’ll try, that’s all I can promise.”

  They hung up and Sandra began to wonder what she should wear to meet a man she hated. Maybe hate was a big word, but he was part of a crowd that one times too many had made her feel inferior.

  Looking through her closet she finally picked a nice black dress. It hung on her perfectly. She’d gotten many compliments in the past about this dress. “Why am I even worried about what I look like when I meet him? I should go in my jeans and t-shirt!”

  That was it she decided that was exactly how she was going to go too. She knew if she dressed up he would think she was trying to impress him. As far as she was concerned she didn’t need to impress him. “He’d do good trying to impress me.”

  She didn’t know where this hatred of the ultra-rich came from for sure. In college she had met plenty of rich people. She had been friends with a few of them even, but only the ones who were normal like her. They had been the people who you often had no clue they had money.

  Her first boyfriend had been one of them. She thought back to Jason Jones. He was something else. He had dated her and offered to show her the world. However, in the long run his wondering eye had cost them a lot.

  “No it wasn’t his eye wondering at all. If it had just been that we might still be together.” She said out loud.

  He had gotten another girl pregnant while Sandra and he had been engaged. She had come to Sandra and informed her that she was having a baby and it was Jason’s.

  “I don’t believe you, he wouldn’t cheat on me.” Sandra had told the girl.

  Why she had trusted him she didn’t know. The girl had produced pictures of the two of them together. Clearly they weren’t sleeping in the bed either. She also shared some rather explicit live videos of Jason and her.

  Sandra had left, hadn’t even asked him about it. She had been devastated that he had done that to her. It had made her self- conscious for years too. The girl Jason had slept with was a cheerleader on the campus. Sandra was a bigger girl even then.

  She had confronted him about it later on that day. “Why did you sleep with her?” Sandra had asked him.

  “Because she wanted it and I could.” He had answered her. He hadn’t felt guilty about it one bit.

  “You act like your proud of it.” She had stated.

  “I’m not ashamed of it if that’s what you’re saying. I could have any girl on this campus right now. But the fact was for a bit you were my flavor of the month. I got tired of you and moved on; you just didn’t take the hints.” Jason had said to her.

  Sandra had run out of the apartment. Ever since that day she couldn’t stand anyone who was rich. It was kind of funny when she got into charity even planning. Her main job was to woe money out of people’s hands. When she dealt with the rich, she would often try to make them feel guilty about not donating more.

  She went and sat on her couch. Sandra was wearing her favorite shirt and jeans. They were well worn and comfortable. She waited for his car and driver to show up, wondering what she would end up saying to Mr. Harold Washington today.

  Chapter 10

  Harold woke up and went to his study. Sitting on the fax machine were papers from his man. He picked them up to learn all he could about Sandra Sims.

  “Well this is interesting.” He said while he read the report.

  Sandra Sims, never married, attended Harvard University on student loans. “She still has a huge pay off on those loans too.” He noted. “Never married?” He went back to the other interesting point of the report. “How did no one ever tie her down?” He asked.

  Looking through the sheets he finally found the one he was looking for. “Here it is: past and current boyfriends.” He looked through a surprisingly short list.

  “She’s a beautiful creature, how did she not date more men?” He noticed that his guy did a bang up job on his research.

  “Let’s just call good old Jason Jones here and see what happened between the two of them.” Harold said as he dialed the number that was listed on the report.

  “Hello.” He heard a deep voice answer the line.

  “Can I speak with Jason Jones please?” Harold asked. By his estimations Jones would be around 39 right now. According to his guy he was a rich boy who didn’t do much of anything. He simply was a play boy who moved around from city to city.

  “This is him. Who is this?”

  “My name is Harold Washington.”

  “Of the California Washington’s?”

  “Yes the one and only.”

  “Sure what can I do for you?”

  “Do you remember a Sandra Sims from Harvard University?” Harold asked.

  “Oh yeah Sandra, I remember her. She was a feisty tiger, I miss fucking her. I’ve read a lot about her in the past, but I’m not really sure what she’s doing now. I’m a bit too busy.” Jason answered.

  Harold wanted to say. “You’re a bit too busy doing what?” But he didn’t. “What happened between you two?” Harold asked instead.

  “Oh well I’m not the type to settle down I slept around when I was dating her, ended up getting the other girl pregnant. That was it she was out the door. Sometimes I miss her though, never had one who could suck like that. If you know what I mean!” Jason laughed heartily on the line.

  “Hm you don’t say? Well that’s all I really need to know.” Harold said.

  “So what’s she up too?” Jason asked.

  “She’s meeting me today. You might want to read the headlines in the papers to find out more. That is if you are really interested.” Harold closed.

  “Not really, I have other things to do.” Jason admitted. “Tell her I said hi though.” He hung up.

  Harold whistled under his breath. “Now I know why she had an attitude about rich men. Shit he’s a real douche bag. But once she sees I’m nothing like him, I can have her!” He smiled hoping it was as easy to convince her as he felt like it might be at the moment.

  Harold got dressed. He was really looking forward to seeing this beautiful woman once more. Now that he knew a bit more about her he also felt more comfortable with how he would proceed. Throwing on a pair of jeans and a polo shirt he wanted to be completely relaxed when she showed up.

  He looked at his watch, “It should be any minute now she gets here!” He smiled. Harold was a great negotiator it had helped him keep the majority of his money during hard times. He’d seen plenty of the ultra-rich lose a fortune since he was in his mid-30. But Harold had always been able to stay in the positive.

  Chapter 11

  “Sir there’s a Ms. Sims here for you.” He answered the phone in his study. Harold got up and went to her, instead of having her brought to him. He figured that would show something on his part, maybe that he felt she was just as important as Harold.

  “Hello Ms. Sims. First off I think I owe you a huge apology. I’m very sorry for my unnecessary behavior last night. I have a lot of females who approach me and have the smell of money in their sites. I just really have to be careful.” Harold said as he extended his hand to welcome him to his mansion.

  He saw the look of confusion pass over her face. Harold smiled he knew she hadn’t been expecting that at all.

  “Please call me Sandra. I guess I’ve never lived on your side of the fence and have never had to deal with that. Perhaps I do owe you an apology as well. My reaction was quite harsh.�
�� Sandra admitted.

  “Really, I deserved every word that you said to me. It let me know where I am. In this world we are all humans. No matter how much money someone has they still live and breathe the same as every other person here.” Harold stated. “I don’t expect you to understand my life, and I should assume to know about your life either. But for some reason I thought differently of you, when I shouldn’t have. Of that I am very sorry. I would like to have another chance to now make a first impression. If you don’t mind, can we act as if this is our first meeting?” Harold asked, and looked at her inquiringly.

  “Well, I guess that’s fine. I’d like that too, honestly. I think I might have misjudged you as well Mr. Washington. Yes I think I would like to start over with you too.” Sandra smiled.

  Chapter 12

  Sandra had walked into his house thinking this would be another mess. But when he approached her in the hallway, she had a feeling something might be different.

  When he opened his mouth and said he owed her an apology, she could have fainted on the spot. It wasn’t what she had been expecting at all. In fact she figured he would demand an apology from her. Not only verbally right then and there, but something written up for the papers too.

  So when he said he owed her an apology, she just stood there for a second. Not knowing exactly what to say. Her mind was going a mile a minute and her words could barely form. “I think I might owe you an apology too. I think I’ve misjudged you.”

  She was shocked at the honest words that came from her mouth. But they were just that honest and heart felt. Sandra looked at him differently all of the sudden. She noticed that Harold Washington was a very good looking man. His black hair was just getting a few touches of gray here and there. It made him look very sophisticated.

  “Oh shit, I think he’s different?” She questioned and said to herself at the same time. She still didn’t trust her instincts on this. It had been years since Jason Jones, but she still felt the pain of that event.

  Needless to say she had to question anything her heart felt when it came to anyone who was rich. “But he could be different.” Her mind stated.

  He honestly seemed like he was trying to apologize though. He wouldn’t do that if he was like Jason. Jason was not sad for what he had done, not at all; he rubbed it in my face for years.

  Sandra had cried so many tears for Jason Jones. She had given him her whole heart, and when he cheated on her and said the things he had. It broke her heart into a million pieces.

  Slowly she had put it together. But there had been times when she was feeling better, and Jason would stab at her again. He’d call her to ask how she was doing. Sandra had believed he cared for her several times he done that in the past.

  “Look Sandra, you know I love you. I’ve missed you so much.” She remembered he had purred it to her over the phone.

  Sandra had smiled thinking he was coming back to her. She let him back a few times too. Those had been the worst mistakes of her life. Each time he had gone back out and cheated with another girl. Not the same one he had the baby with either. Hell that might have made it at least a little better. She could understand him running back to the mother of his baby. But Jason was just a slut. He loved women and he couldn’t stick with one female.

  It had taken her forever to learn that about him. The amount of tears she had cried over him had been insane. When she had finally recovered, she never wanted to let her heart out to any one again.

  For that reason over the years she had never dated again. She did have a few sexual partners, but really not many. Sandra thought in her head, besides Jason she had been with two other people.

  Not many and she didn’t think her heart would ever feel a touch of light again. But when Harold Washington had apologized she felt an inkling of something. It wasn’t something she was sure about. Sandra was also not sure if she liked the feeling.

  The last time she had those feelings in her heart, she had hurt far too long. She looked at Harold’s smile. It changed his face to something that was amazing. Sandra couldn’t explain it, but he actually became a mixture of handsome and beautiful at the same time.

  “Oh shit.” She thought to herself. “Hold on to your heart Sandra, don’t get carried away. He didn’t say he wanted to marry you.” Her mind chastised her feelings.

  Chapter 13

  Harold had watched her face change as she was processing what he had told her. Each time that Harold said something that shocked her, he swore he could see her reliving parts of her past.

  With his information he was almost positive she would be thinking of Jason Jones at those points. He could see her face change as she experienced some of the pain from her past. It hurt him to see that pain in her eyes. The look made him think of Emily and the pain she had gone through in the end.

  Harold realized something at that point. He had seen this look of pain in her eyes more than once. It had always been when she was pleading with him to end her life.

  “Harold please just let me die. I don’t want to have this pain anymore.” Emily had begged more than once.

  “I can’t Emily, I love you too much. I don’t want to let you go.” He had cried.

  “If you really loved me Harold you would let me go.” Emily had pleaded.

  Harold realized just how badly he had hurt Emily in those last few years. He felt bad about it. “I’m not a nice guy.” Harold thought to himself.

  He tried to focus on Sandra, she was just like Emily. He loved that about her. Was there more he loved about her? Was it far to have her just so he could have the parts of her that were just like Emily?

  He didn’t know if he really cared of not. But when she agreed to give him a second change he knew he was going to use that to his benefit.

  “So the first thing I’m going to do is call David and get your job back for you.” Harold told her.

  “Really you don’t need too. I can find another job on my own.” Sandra said.

  “But you shouldn’t have been fired. I did deserve your comments.” Harold stated.

  “No I should have been fired I would do it if I was the CEO of the company.” Sandra admitted.

  “But what about your school loans, how will you continue to pay those?” Harold asked.

  He watched her face as she went from calm and serine to angry.

  “What did you just ask me? How do you know about those? Not even Jack knows I’m still paying on them.” Sandra looked at him with a glare.

  Harold knew he had messed up as soon as he had noticed her face get angry. “Shit I will have to explain this one.” He thought.

  He let his head sink. “I’m really sorry. You have to understand I can’t go by my instinct all the time. A beautiful woman who stands up for herself can happen quite often. I know it makes me seems cynical, but I have to be careful. I may not have an heir to my fortune yet, but I hope to one day.” Harold stated. “I hired a man to look into your background and make sure you weren’t someone looking for money.” Harold figured it was best just to say it and get it over with.

  Sandra’s mouth fell open at his words. “You did what? You have absolutely no right to pry into my personal life. I didn’t invite you into it. I didn’t ask you for help? Maybe I wasn’t wrong about you. You use your money to control people.” She looked at him disgustedly.

  “I deserve it, but I’m not trying to control you at all. Don’t you understand that? I don’t want to control you, no I think you’re perfect just the way you are. You’re so much like Emily.” Harold stated.

  Chapter 14

  Sandra was appalled at learning he had run a background check on her. “How dare you do that?” She had said a lot more but by that time she had no conscious control over the words. They flew out on their own. She couldn’t have stopped if she wanted too. Her anger controlled her at points like this.

  Then we he said. “I deserve it, but I’m not trying to control you at all. Don’t you understand that? I don’t want to control you, no I t
hink you’re perfect just the way you are. You’re so much like Emily.”

  She could have been knocked over again. “Oh my goodness he isn’t doing it on purpose. He’s honestly just like this. He’s cautious.” What’s wrong with that? She asked herself.

  Sandra herself was just as cautious about her life. Well her personal life that was, because her career was done. Unless she actually let him call David and get her job back. But right now Sandra didn’t want to focus on that at all. She wanted instead to study and learn more about Harold.

  At that moment she wished she had access to his type of connections. She would run a background check on him too.

  “Who’s Emily?” Sandra asked honestly.

  She watched as his eyes clouded with pain. “She’s my wife.” He saw her shocked face and held his hand up. “I’m not done and I said that wrong. She was my wife; she’s been dead for 10 years.” Harold stated.

  “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry.” Sandra uttered.

  She wondered how she was like this Emily. But then she saw the pain in his eyes and felt bad for yelling at him once again.

  “Look it seems like I’m judging you by someone else’s record. I don’t mean too. Really I’m sorry I can’t apologize enough for my behavior. How did she die?”

  “She had lung cancer. It ate her up bad. I wasn’t a very good husband in the end either.” Harold hung his head and shook it back and forth.

  “I’m sure you were just having trouble dealing with the upcoming loss of your wife.” Sandra said she really felt like hugging him. Not sexually, but to comfort him.

  She walked over to him and put her arms around him. Sandra felt as the tension in his body left. He broke down and cried in her arms. She didn’t know what to say, so she just stood there and let him cry.

  Sandra’s heart lurched at that moment. She knew a lot of the feelings that were coming up from her were sympathy. But she felt another pull of her heart. It was that one that held the area of love. She couldn’t let it out. However, she felt it beating against the wall she had thrown up and built up through the pain of Jason.