by Ivy Jordan
Afterwards, when we were putting the horses back in the stable, I turned to Harper.
“The two of you were amazing,” I said to her when Jackson appeared by her side. “Half of riding is just getting the horses to trust them. You can’t do tricks without trust. I’m very impressed with how much the two of you have gotten the horses to trust you so quickly.”
I smiled at Harper as she climbed off Thunder with ease. I wondered just how far she could go if she really applied herself. I had a feeling that she was learning more about herself out here than she ever did back in the city. She looked so happy with herself. When our eyes met, I smiled at her. “You were great,” I whispered, and I think I saw her blush.
Chapter Twenty
Harper
“So, have you worn the dress yet?” I asked Allison over lunch the next day. The two of us looked like we belonged to the same family now that I was wearing her clothes. I hadn’t realized how alike we were until now.
She chuckled. “Not yet. I’m waiting for the right moment. I’ll probably wait for this tour to be over. Mike is too busy right now, and I want to have his full attention. But I’m sure I’ll do it soon enough. How are you enjoying my clothes? You look great in them by the way. I’d even go as far as saying that they might suit you more than your other clothes.”
I groaned. “Don’t say that. I’m supposed to be this city slicker girl, remember? But, to be honest…” I said and then giggled. “I’m loving the clothes. I feel a lot more comfortable in them out here. My other clothes are great, but they were a bit ridiculous. I could barely get on the horse the first time around because my jeans were so tight. This is all so much better. Thank you.”
“The pleasure is all mine. I’ve really enjoyed having you here, Harper. I don’t always get along this well with my guests, but I feel like you and I have shared a connection even though we’re so busy.”
I beamed at her. “I thought so too. I wasn’t sure if this is just what you were like with all the guests though, so I didn’t say anything. But I’ve been feeling the same. I’ve had a great time with you.”
“You do realize you’re going to have to come back and visit more often now,” she said.
I grinned and immediately thought of Travis. I had no problem with that. “Only if you come and visit me in New York.”
“Oh, it’s an absolute deal. Hey, where’s Jillian today?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. She looked a bit distracted earlier, but I thought she’d be out at lunch. I’m going to go and see her after this.”
“I don’t think she’s enjoying it so much out here. I feel so bad. I wish there was something I could do, but I guess it’s just not for everyone. I always take these things to heart. I keep wondering if maybe we’ve pushed her into doing something she didn’t want to do or something. Have we been awful to her?”
I looked at Allison, and my heart went out to her. I didn’t realize she’d take Jillian’s mood so personally but of course it only seemed natural now that she would. Allison, Mike, and Travis just wanted everyone to have a good time here so that we could pass the word on to others. I worked in public relations, so I knew all about the importance of word of mouth.
“This has nothing to do with the ranch or the experience,” I said to her. “Jillian really likes you guys. Yeah, this isn’t really her thing, but I think she would’ve enjoyed it a lot more if she had come at another time. To be honest, Allison, I wasn’t meant to come here with her.”
She frowned. “Yeah, she had another name originally. I wanted to ask but I didn’t think it was my place to say.”
“She was meant to come with her boyfriend, Thomas. They were going through a rough patch and thought the holiday would do them good. She was so excited about it. Then he broke up with her, so she asked me to come in his place. I didn’t want to come, but I felt bad leaving her. In the end, I think I’m the one that’s enjoying it while she’s still thinking about Thomas.”
“Oh no. I feel so bad for her. Think they’ll get back together?”
I shrugged. “I’ll be honest. I have no idea. I hope so. Either that or I hope she moves on and finds someone else to make her happy. I don’t really care what happens as long as she is happy.”
“You’re a good friend, Harper.”
“Speaking of which, let me go and see how she’s doing.”
“Why don’t you take her some food? I’m sure she’s hungry, and there’s still plenty.”
I put some food on a plate and headed back to the room to see Jillian. When I got there, I was surprised to see that she was packing.
“Hey, what’s going on? I was worried about you. Are you leaving?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”
“Jill, just because you’ve had a rough few days doesn’t mean that you should take off. You should stay. It’s not that much longer anyway.”
She shook her head, and I noticed that she didn’t seem at all upset. In fact, she looked happy. I could see that she was pleased with this decision. “I spoke to Thomas.”
“You did?”
“Don’t worry. I didn’t call him. He called me.”
“Really? Did you tell him you were here?”
“Yeah. Apparently, he went to my house to surprise me, and when he saw I wasn’t there, he gave me a call. He was so surprised to find me here. He couldn’t believe I actually came without him. And you know, I’m glad I came here. If I didn’t, he would’ve probably found me at home moping. I’m glad he got to see that I can go out without him. He doesn’t need to know what a rough time of it I’ve been having, of course,” she said and giggled.
“You look happy. What did he say? Did he apologize?”
She looked up and smiled. “Yeah. He did. He said he realized how much he loves me. He said he was only scared because it had gotten so serious so quickly, but now that he’s been without me, he realizes that he wants it to be serious. He wants to give it another go, Harper. He wants us to be together again.”
“Really? Jillian, are you sure about this? I mean, what if he just hurts you all over again?”
She shook her head. “He won’t. I know he won’t. I know you don’t understand, but trust me, Harper, this is the guy for me. I know it. I’ve always known it. I’ve already called a cab. He’s coming in an hour and a half. I’ve already purchased tickets to go back home. I need to go back and see Thomas. My heart is just not in this. You know that. I’ve been miserable without him. I want to go and make it work. I want to at least try.”
“I’m happy for you, Jillian. I just want you to be happy, and if Thomas is the guy that does that for you, then that is fine by me. Well, I better get packing then,” I said even though I felt deflated at the thought of going.
“No, goodness, no. You’re not coming back with me.”
“What do you mean?”
She chuckled. “Harper, you’re staying. By some crazy twist of fate, you somehow fit this place, and I can see that you’re having a great time. I want you to stay. Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean you have to leave too. I love you so much, Harper, and I appreciate all you’ve done for me. But you’re staying for sure!”
Relief washed over me. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
I realized I was standing with the plate of food the whole time so I walked over and handed it to her. “I bought you food by the way.”
She smiled as she looked at the plate. “Now this I’m going to miss. That woman sure can cook.”
“I know. She’s incredible. Do me a favor, will you? When you’re done packing, maybe just go and talk to her. I think she’s worried that you didn’t enjoy the experience because they did something wrong. I told her about Thomas, I hope you don’t mind, but I think it would sound better coming from you.”
Her eyes widened. “Really? She thinks that? Oh no. I’ll definitely tell her. Thanks, Harper. I was going to go and say my goodbyes anyway. I’ll pack here, finish this food and then g
o out to say goodbye to everyone. And when you get back I think we need to go for dinner so that you can tell me everything that happened once I left.”
I chuckled. “That sounds like a plan. And you can tell me everything that’s happened with Thomas. All the details!”
“Oh, there’ll be plenty of those,” she said and giggled, a devilish glint lighting her eye. It was so nice to see her in such a good mood again. I’d missed this Jillian. It was sad that the rest of the group didn’t get to see this side of her. “So,” she said as she packed, “while we're on the topic of love—or lust, even—how are things going between you and Travis?”
“What? What do you mean? Nothing is going on!”
“Then why are you blushing?”
“I’m not. It’s just hot in here.”
She looked at the fan, which was blowing right onto us, and laughed. “Is that so? Well, I think that there is something going on even if the two of you won’t admit to it. You know, this is an opportunity that you shouldn’t pass up on, regardless of your preconceptions.”
“I don’t know, Jillian. I like the guy, and he really is good-looking, but I’m not sure I want to get involved with him. At the end of the day, we are just from such different worlds. I don’t know…”
“Well, remember what I thought about Thomas when I first met him?”
I laughed. Jillian couldn’t stand Thomas when she had first met him. He’d been rude to her, and she’d been fuming mad at him. “How could I forget? You couldn’t stop talking about how much you hated the guy.”
“I was so angry at him. I thought he was the rudest guy I had ever met. And even though he was a city guy, he just seemed so different to me. Different jobs, different backgrounds, different personalities. But… then he took me out to coffee to apologize to me, and I saw a whole new side of him. After that, I realized that it didn’t matter how different we were. What mattered was that we were similar where it counted. We had the same values and the same sense of humor, and we could spend hours talking without ever getting bored of one another. And I know that you are going to tell me that you don’t have that for Travis, but I’m not so sure. I’ve never seen your eyes light up the way that they do when he walks into a room. And the guy is completely besotted over you. I’m not the only one that thinks that either by the way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Barry was telling me that he caught Travis staring at you the other day. He said he’s never seen a guy look at a girl like that. The guy is obviously attracted to you. Come on, will you at least think about acting on it? Maybe try and get to know him a little more now that I’m not going to be around?”
I thought about it. It was going to be hard not to talk to him now that Jillian wasn’t here. She was the person I had hung around with the most, but without her, it would leave me vulnerable. Did I want to get to know Travis more? Of course I did.
“I’ll think about it. Oh, why do I have to be so attracted to a guy that I have no future with?”
Jillian grinned at me. She seemed delighted that I was finally admitting how attractive I found him. “Never say never, Harper. Stranger things have happened in life. I mean, I never thought I’d see you in clothes like that.”
“Well, I’m certainly not moving here,” I said. “No matter how much I like it here.”
“Then have a wild romance,” she said.
I laughed. “I don’t know. That’s not why I came here. Anyway, I don’t even know if he likes me.”
“He does. Come on, we both know it,” she said, and I couldn’t help thinking about the time our eyes had locked. Maybe she was right? But the big question remained, should I act on it? And if he really liked them, then why hadn’t he done anything about it? Maybe he also didn’t want to get involved with someone that he saw no future with.
Chapter Twenty-One
Travis
“Hi, Travis.”
I turned to see Jillian bounding up towards me with a big grin on her face. It was the happiest I’d seen her since she’d arrived and I wondered what was going on. Ever since our little interaction the other night, the two of us hadn’t spoken to each other much. I hoped she wasn’t coming to flirt with me again because I’d feel so terrible having to turn her down all over again. I laughed at the thought of what my friends back home would think if they knew I had turned down a girl as beautiful as Jillian. They wouldn’t let me hear the end of it.
“Oh, hey, Jillian. What’s up?”
“Uh, I’m leaving. I just wanted to let you know.”
“You are? Is everything okay?” Shit, had I made her leave? Mike and Allison were going to be upset if they knew I was the reason behind her going. It was important for them to make sure everyone was having a good time. I hadn’t been rude to her though, had I? I desperately tried to think back to figure out if I had said something wrong, but I couldn’t think of anything. And up until now, I thought we were fine.
“To be honest, Travis, I just can’t be around you any longer. I have to leave.”
“What? Oh no. Did I do something wrong? Shit, Jillian, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean…” I trailed off when I saw that she was laughing. “Are you messing with me?”
She laughed. “I’m sorry, Travis. I couldn’t help myself. I’m not upset with you.”
“Oh thank goodness. You almost gave me a heart attack. Are you okay though?”
“Yeah, everything is fine. It’s not working out for me. But it’s got nothing to do with you guys. I just want to say a big thank you for being so great to me. I’m going to go and have a talk with the rest of the group and talk to Mike and Allison, too. But I can't waste any time—my cab to the airport will be here any minute. I just didn’t want you to all think I was leaving because of you. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. Long story.”
“Sure you don’t want to talk?”
“I just don’t have the time. I’m so sorry. I probably should’ve spoken to you all about this from the start. Anyway, I guess I was just trying to run away from my problems, which was never going to end well. Ask Harper to fill you in. I really have to get going soon.”
“Harper’s not going back with you?”
She grinned. “No, she’s staying. She likes it here.”
I knew that the smile on my face probably gave my feelings away but I couldn’t hide it. “Well, that’s good. Uh… I’m glad she’s staying. Although, we’re going to miss you.”
She smiled. “Who knows, maybe I’ll come back when I’m in a better head space. Anyway, I just wanted to say goodbye. I need to talk to everyone else too, so mind if we hug it out? I don’t want any hard feelings about the other night. You were right. There’s nothing between us. No spark. And that’s all right. I shouldn’t have made you feel that way. But… enjoy the rest of your time with Harper.”
“Uh…”
She chuckled. “And with the rest of the group, of course.”
I smiled as she gave me a big hug and watched her bounce off. I wondered what was going on, but all I could think about was the fact that Harper wasn’t going too. I wouldn’t have liked that. Why had Jillian grinned at me like that? Could she see that I liked her? Was I that transparent? Probably. The biggest question on my mind was no longer whether or not I liked Harper; it was now whether she liked me.
That evening I went to look on the animals and found Harper petting the sheep. It was a sweet sight, and I wondered if she knew just how pretty she was out here. For a while, I just stood there, watching her. Eventually, I realized that I was going to look like a creep if anyone saw me watching, so I made my way to say hello. She smiled when she saw me.
“Oh, hey, Travis. I was just saying hello to Simon and Sally here.”
I laughed. “You named them!”
“Of course. I named them all. There’s Shelly. She’s a sweetheart.”
I chuckled. “Hi, Shelly.”
“Oh look there’s Sebastian.”
“Shelly, Simon, Sebastian, and Sally. Hmm, I detect
a trend here. Let me guess, that one over there is called Shaun or something.”
She raised her eyebrows. “No. Don’t you even know your own sheep? That’s Bob.”
I laughed and shook my head. “You’re crazy.”
“You’re probably right about that. I never thought I’d be hanging around with sheep as company.”
“They’re funny creatures. So, everything go okay with Jillian? Did she get her flight?”
Harper nodded. “Yeah, she sent me a message when she got to the airport. Can you believe she deserted me? How rude,” she said, but I could see she was smiling.
“She seemed happy to go.”
“It wasn’t because of you guys, though. I hope she told you that. I told her to come and talk to you guys before she left.”
“She did,” I said. “But she also said I must ask you why she left. She was in too much of a hurry to go into any detail. Something about running away from her problems.”
I listened as Harper went into detail about Jillian and her boyfriend. I had a feeling that something was up with Jillian from the moment she walked in, and now it all made sense. No wonder she couldn’t concentrate on anything while she was here.
“I had a feeling something was going on. Jillian seemed sad. And I found it strange that someone who was so enthusiastic that first day wasn’t really enjoying any of it. I didn’t think it was my place to ask her though.”
“Yeah, her mind hasn’t been here. She told me that she flirted with you and that you turned her down though.”
My eyes widened. “She told you that? Ah, no, I feel bad. She’s a beautiful girl. It was… well…”
