by Wanda Edmond
Yvonne rolled her eyes “honey, those kids have long passed the adorable stage, when they learned to talk and walk and make a mess of my damn house”. The loving expression in her eyes contradicted her comment. Mary shook her head and laughed. Yvonne had married her High School sweetheart Craig Peters straight out of high school and they produced the cutes kids Mary had ever seen. Kayla who was now seven years but behave like she was thirteen going on thirty old, and Kevonne who was three.
“Girl, I’m walking around town selling raffle tickets for Kayla’s school fundraiser. The school is raising money to make a long list of improvements to the facility. To be honest, I can’t remember half of what is on the list. The child who sells the most raffle tickets gets a free trip for four to the Belle Isle Park. I really want her to win, she is so damn competitive and she is only in the second grade. Anyway, what do you say? Are you ready to spend some cash and buy a few tickets? It’s only two dollars per ticket. I don’t even remember what the prize is” Yvonne said giggling “The winner probably gets a high powered blender or something; who the hell cares?”
Mary smiled and replied “Anything for Kayla. Tell you what give me ten tickets” she said handing Yvonne a twenty dollar bill”.
“What? Alright big spender” Yvonne teased and handed Mary ten tickets, stuffing the bottom of the tickets with the same numbers into her purse. “Thanks a bunch darling you are an absolute doll”.
The two ladies chatted for a while until Mary finished her lunch. They hugged, said their goodbyes and left the deli; Yvonne, to continue selling raffle tickets; and Mary, upstairs to her boring little cubicle.
Four more hours to go, great Mary thought as she walked, shoulders slumped as she made her way back to the office.
Three days later, Mary struggled into her apartment which her hands full of grocery bags and holding her mail between her lips. As she kicked the closed she heard her cell phone ringing in her hand bag. Plopping the groceries down on the kitchen table, she dropped her hand bag off her shoulders and dug around for the phone. Gripping it she quickly pulled it out and answered it before it could go to voice mail.
“Hello, good evening” Mary Lou answered, propping her hip against the kitchen counter.
“Good evening. Miss Mary Lou Carpenter?” An unfamiliar high pitched, way too excited voice greeted her.
“Uh, yes this is she” Mary answered hesitantly, wondering who it was.
“I am Amy Valicenti, Vice principal of Bernard Elementary School.”
“Uh, ok...?” Mary hadn’t the slightest idea why the Vice Principal of an Elementary school would be calling her.
“Congratulations Miss Carpenter! I am pleased to inform you that you are the winner of the raffle draw held this month.”
“Oh. Wow. Thank you”. Awesome Mary thought, shocked and excited all at once. She never won anything. “This is great news Ms. Valicenti. Would you mind dearly reminding what I have won?”
“Yes, of course dear. You have won an all expense paid trip for one week to Cooper’s Guest Ranch and Tours in Oklahoma.” Miss Valicenti answered excitedly.
“A-A ranch? In Oklahoma?”
“Yes! Congratulations again. Please drop by Bernard Elementary tomorrow to pick up your package and receive further information. Thank you again for making our May 2015 fundraiser a success. Enjoy the rest of your evening, Ms. Carpenter.”
“Bye. Thank you.” Mary hung up her phone, drew out a chair from the nearby dining table and slumped down in it, arms folded, sporting a disgusted expression. A ranch, Ugh! What happened to a nice five star hotel here in the city? Hell, even a three star would do. What about the damn high powered blender “or something” as Yvonne had put it? She would be satisfied with that.
“I am so not leaving the city for a ranch” Mary said aloud. “I am going to chew Yvonne’s freaking ear off” she continued, dialling her best friend’s number.
“Hey sugar!” Yvonne answered.
“Don’t you sugar me, I’m pissed. I just got a call from Kayla’s school. I won the stupid raffle draw” Mary huffed.
“Well congratulations and what the hell are you pissed about?” Yvonne asked in confusion.
“Well, a turn out the prize is a trip to a ranch in Oklahoma for one week?”
There was silence at the other end of the line, then suddenly laughing; loud, hysterical laughter. Mary moved the phone from her ear and glared at it, whishing Yvonne could really receive the brunt of her withering glare.
“Wait. What? You won a trip to a ranch? What is there for you to even do for enjoyment on a ranch?” Yvonne could barely get the question out between her bouts of excessive laughter.
“This all your fault” Mary Lou huffed “If you had cared enough to get the full details of the fundraiser, you would have known what the winning prize would be. Now I’m stuck with some trip that I want no part of. You know what? I’m going to go to Bernard’s Elementary tomorrow and politely decline my so called prize.”
“Oh come on, Mary cease the opportunity, take the damn trip. When was the last time you went on a vacation? And it’s all expense paid. A little country air might do you some good” Yvonne encouraged.
“I will take my polluted city air over the country any day thank you very much. Besides-
“Oh please” Yvonne interrupted “The trip might turn out to be fun. You need a little fun Mary; you sure as hell don’t make the effort to have any in the city so the country might just be the thing you need.”
Mary rolled her eyes “You sound like my co-workers, they all thing I’m boring”.
“Uh, well I hate to break it you honey, but you are” Yvonne said with pity in her tone. “Hear is what’s going to happen, you are going to Oklahoma, you’re going to go to a few rodeos, and bang a hot cowboy or two. When you get back, you are going to rub it in your jerk of an ex-boyfriend’s face. You know, the one who keeps calling you-“
“Please, can we not talk about him” Mary whined. Why did Yvonne have to remind her of the doomed-from- the start relationship that she was ended just three months ago? She had though Justin was the perfect guy when she met him last year September at the grocery store. He was tall, dark, handsome and charming as hell. He told her he was a mechanic and he had just moved to Detroit all the way from North Carolina to start his own business.
Mary had been impressed with his bold courage to venture so far to follow his dream. He was ambitious and good looking and seemed interested in Mary-something that she did not experience regularly. At age twenty six, Mary had her first real boyfriend. She was floating on top of the world. She thought she had had it all, a job, someone to love and someone to love her back. She had never experienced that kind of love, neither had she any good example of it growing up. Her father had run off with another woman when Mary was eight years old, and she grew up watching her mother go through a series of relationships that always ended badly. She had though a good relationship was impossible until she had met Justin.
Their new relationship had seemed to be made in heaven, when two months into it she started to wonder why her boyfriend never invited her to his house and never took her out on a real date. They only spent time in her apartment and when she mentioned going out, he always say “Baby let’s stay in tonight, I don’t want to share you with anyone else.” Hearing that back then made Mary feel all kinds of special. Now she knew he was feeding her a huge load of crap.
Three months into the relationship Justin had started to hit her up for money way too many times for her comfort. When she had mentioned it to her mom, she was outraged. Mary could remember he mother’s shrill voice over the phone “Child, I thought I taught you more sense than that. Don’t you be using your hard earned money to support any man!”
Yvonne had told her to break it off with Justin immediately. But Mary had fancied herself in love, poor fool that she was. When she decided to start refusing to loan Justin money his charming personality changed so fast it gave her whiplash. He became verbally abusive
, burying her already low self-esteem in to the ground. But Mary had held on to him and the hope that he would come to his senses and return to the sweet, charming man that she had met. It turned out that he was just a super-sized phony.
It was no great surprise when Justin had dumped her unceremoniously over the phone, but it had cut her deep. The events of her first real relationship and the way it ended, had managed to murder what little life her self-esteem had. Months after their break-up, Justin still called her phone, but she never answered. He kept leaving messages about how he had made a big mistake and wanted her back. Mary was sure he didn’t want her back; it was her bank account that he wanted. Yvonne had attempted relentlessly to set Mary up with a few of her husband’s friends. But Mary refused to even make the effort to talk to another man.
“Mary Lou Carpenter!” the sound of her name bought Mary back from her painful trip down memory lane. “Are you still there?” Yvonne asked, her voice laced with concern.
“Yes, I’m here. Sorry about that. I was just thinking that maybe you’re right, this trip might be a god-sent in disguise. I suppose I do need to get out of here for a while.
Chapter Two
Devin Cooper rolled over in his king sized bed, moaning as the early morning sun burst through the curtains and shone directly on his face, waking him from his slumber; and hauling him out of the incredibly erotic dream that he was having. His dream featured an incredibly hot blond, with legs that went on for days, wrapped around his waist, moaning sweetly in his ears...
Or, was it a dream? As he fully awoke, reality set in and his head began to throb. He moaned again, covering his eyes with the back of his hands. He had gone overboard with the drinking again. He looked over to his left when he heard a small sigh. Holy shit! It wasn’t a dream after all. Beside him, laid the leggy blond, be thought he had conjured up in his sub conscience.
She was still asleep, her blond tresses spread out on the pillow beside him. Damn, he couldn’t even remember her name. Vague memories of the wild night before flashed though his mind, intensifying his headache. He glanced again at the woman in bed with him, coming to the realization that he had yet again picked up a complete stranger. Devin sighed, I hope this one is mentally and emotionally stable enough to understand and accept that this was just a one-night stand he thought; remembering last month’s fiasco with a woman who thought him sleeping with her was a marriage proposal. He shivered and turned his efforts to getting out of bed, not wanting to remember the details of that particular disaster.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and cautiously eased himself out of bed, partly because his head was about to explode and largely in part to not wanting to wake his bed partner. He quietly snorted, as he came to the realization that he was sneaking out of bed in his own damn house. Ridiculous he mused. Turns out the woman beside him was a light sleeper, the slight shift of the mattress quickly aroused her from her slumber. Her eyes fluttered open as she searched the room for him.
Spotting him, she smiled “Good morning”.
Devin forced a smile and responded “Good morning”. He sighed inwardly; time to let another one down easy. “Listen, um...”
The woman frowned, “You don’t remember my name, do you? It’s Carleen.”
“Right, Carleen. I have a busy day ahead of me; I’m already late for work so, I’m going to get going. You can show yourself out, right?
Carleen glared at him. “Are you seriously? You are such a jerk! Not even breakfast?”
“Look, Carleen I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression or led you on in any way, but I was just looking to have a good time... for one night. You understand?”
Carleen jumped off the bed, and searched the room for her clothes, mumbling angrily to herself. When she located all articles of clothing, she quickly threw them on and grab up her handbag. She made her way to the bedroom door and turned to glower at him.
Devin glanced at her, feeling guilty. If looks could kill he thought. He had no idea what to say to her. Rubbing the back of his neck he said sheepishly “Uh, thanks for a great night.”
“Screw you” Carleen spat vehemently and stormed though the door. Well that went well Devin thought.
Heading down the stairs at nine-thirty, Devin heard the voices of his housekeeper, Bernice and Abraham Kingsley, Vice President of Cooper’s Ranch and Tours. As he turned the corner into the vast, state of the art kitchen, they came into view. Bernice was taking freshly baked biscuits out of the oven, while Abe was flirting shamelessly with her. She laughed heartily at something Abe whispered and swatted him on the hand with a dishcloth as he tried to swipe a biscuit off the baking tin.
“Moring all” Devin said “Am I interrupting anything?”
“Good morning” they both piped in unison.
“You’re late boy” Abe grunted “Would your lack of punctuality have anything to do with the blond I saw rushing out the front door this morning?”
Devin gave the older man a small smile, but remained quiet. Abe was not just an employee, he was family. He and Devin’s father were best friends for as long as Devin could remember. When Devin’s father had started Cooper’s Ranch and Tours twenty five years ago, Abe was by his side helping him to build the company into the multi-billion dollar empire it is today.
When Devin’s father passed away four years ago, Abe had stepped in as a father figure and helped to groom the young man in the ways of the business.
“You need to stop running around town with these random girls Devin” Abe stated. They were sitting at the dining table consuming the hearty meal of eggs, bacon, sausages and biscuits Bernice had prepared. “It’s full time for you to settle down boy, you’ll be thirty-one next month. You need to marry a nice girl and produce and heir or two, to continue the legacy your father worked so hard build.”
Devin sighed “When the time is right Abe, a nice girl will fall into my lap and I’ll settle down. Right now, I will continue the with my one night stands, because all these women are interested in is my hefty bank account.”
Abe shook his head but couldn’t bother to respond, his mouth was stuffed with bacon and sausage. After breakfast Devin and Abe thanked Bernice and made their way to Devin’s home office on the left wing of the vast, two story mansion.
The men sat quietly for a few minutes, looking over paper work. Abe glanced at his fancy Rolex “You better get going boy, if you want to make it to the airport in time.”
“What the hell are you talking, old man?” Devin asked, not bothering to look up from the budget statements he was reviewing.
“Damn it Devin, don’t tell me you didn’t remember. We have a guest arriving at the Oklahoma City Airport, in...” Abe paused and pulled out his phone, glancing down at it briefly he continued, “In the next hour and a half. It’s about an hour drive, so you should get going.”
“Of course I didn’t forget” Devlin defended himself “I thought you were dealing with everything.”
I was after all, Abe’s idea to have some raffle ticket winner from some big city come out to the new Guest Ranch they had just built in Norman. There were several Cooper’s Guest Ranches and Tours scattered across Oklahoma. The company’s goal was to provide visitors from around the world with luxurious accommodations and at the same time, a real western experience. Guests had access to Jacuzzis, hot tubs, swimming pools, fine western cuisine and nature hikes/rides and horse riding lessons.
When Abe had somehow gotten wind of a school in Detroit looking for a destination getaway as the first prize for a raffle draw, he had offered Cooper’s and Tours’ services. He thought it would be good advertisement for the new ranch. The company was already beyond successful but Abe was determined was to have this ranch bring in the big bucks.
“All you have to do is collect our visitor from the airport and drop him/her off at the ranch in Norman” Abe said “ Simple, nothing more to it, now get going boy, or you’ll be late.”
Devin sighed, how the hell did he get hampered with
this job, didn’t they have sufficient staff for this kind of thing? He put his thoughts in to words “Don’t we have staff for this kind of thing?”
“The Norman ranch isn’t fully staffed yet, and it would be good to have the owner show our guest some hospitality.” Abe answered.
“Alright, all I have to do is pick this person up from the airport, right? How hard can that be? Guess I’m going to the airport” Devin reluctantly gave in.
Five minutes later Devin was on his way to the airport in his silver range rover. The drive from Paul’s Valley where he resided, to Oklahoma City would take roughly an hour. He wound the windows down and relaxed, nodding his head to a Luke Bryan son blaring from the radio. Damn it, he thought, once again Abe had forced in to something he didn’t want to do. He wanted no part of entertaining this guest, that’s what the company paid other people to do. He put a little more pressure on the gas pedal, watching the speedometer hit one hundred. He wanted to get this pick up and drop off process over with Devin pulled into the extensive parking lot at Oklahoma City airport. He looked at the digital clock on the dashboard. He had made it in time with fifteen minutes to spare. He reached over to the back seat and picked up a piece of cardboard with the guest’s name on it. “Mary Lou Carpenter” he read aloud. He exited his vehicle and made his way to the arrival terminal.
Mary Lou made her way through the revolving doors lugging her huge suitcase behind her, while tugging at the cream mini dress she sported. It was definitely not her style. She would have been happy in a jeans and loose T-shirt, but Yvonne had practically held her down and forced her into the damn dress. The weekend before her trip, Yvonne had somehow convinced Mary to go on a shopping expedition. She had coerced Mary in to buying clothes she had never even dreamed she would wear. Folded neatly in her luggage were shorts, miniskirts, skinny jeans, tube tops and tight dresses, along with completely insensible shoes.
Yvonne had closely monitored Mary’s packing, ensuring that she bought none of her old clothes. When Mary had asked her why she needed to bring such revealing clothes, Yvonne stated “To snag you a sexy cowboy, honey.” Mary rolled her eyes at the memory. Yvonne had also ensure that Mary’s face was well made up with eye shadow and liner, mascara, deep red lipstick, the whole works; and her mass of wild curly hair was glistening and flowing around her shoulders. When Yvonne had mentioned straightening her curls, Mary had firmly put her foot down; she would maintain at least one aspect of her true self. As she made her way through the crowd, she scanned the numerous cardboards and papers being held up, for her name. Aha, there it is. She spotted the card board with her name and pushed her way through the back of the crowd to the person hold it.
