by Jude Ouvrard
“I’m going with you.” My voice came out rather loud, startling both of us. “I’m going to Montana with you, Miles.”
His hands found each of my cheeks, and held me in place while our lips met with eagerness. That was as good as a yes in my book. He wanted me there.
VAL
“What about the club and the shop?”
I loved both my jobs, but Miles was a priority. In this type of emergency, we had to stay together and face everything as a single unit. I was his girlfriend, I loved him, and I needed him to see that our relationship meant everything to me. I would never let him go alone.
“They’ll understand. What about you? Can you take time off from work?” What kind of question was that? That was an inconvenient detail when his grandmother’s life was compromised.
“It’ll be fine. I’ll call first thing in the morning.” He hugged me while trying to kiss me everywhere he could. “Thank you for agreeing to come with me, I was kind of hoping you were going to say that.” A small smile washed away the sadness on his face.
“I’ll go wherever you go, Miles. I’m serious about us. You know I would miss you too much.” I gave him a shy smile, and he squeezed me one last time before we worked on a plan.
We packed our clothes and were out the door within the following hour, headed in the direction of the airport. Although we had no idea when the next available flight was, we didn’t care.
Three hours later, we were sitting in a small plane on our way to Montana. We’d have to rent a car once we arrived. Miles never let go of my hand, but he kept quiet. While he had my support, he also had to deal with his thoughts and anxiety on his own.
I couldn’t sleep in the plane. It wasn’t comfortable and I didn’t know what would happen once we landed at Glacier Park International Airport in Montana. Seemed each time I found myself on a plane, it was under stressful circumstances. Leaving my hometown, leaving my ex-boyfriend, and now, meeting my new boyfriend’s family. It would be nice to have a vacation away without feeling all this stress.
I tried reading a tattoo magazine Miles had bought me at the airport while he tried to read a ranch and horse magazine. I’d never seen that before. We came from two different worlds, and it seemed opposites did attract.
For the duration of the flight, Miles watched the dark sky through the small window. Our flight was short, thankfully, but we arrived in the middle of the night, in a small town, with no car or hotel reservations. I knew close to nothing about Montana, which added to my nerves. Gosh, how can I stress about that when we don’t know what the future holds for his grandmother?
Before I knew it, we were exiting the plane with our carry-on luggage. Letting Miles take the lead, I followed him around the airport until we found the car rental desk. It wasn’t open at this time of night, so we arranged for a taxi to get us to the nearest hotel. We’d deal with the rest when the sun came up.
It wasn’t until the sun began to rise that I felt tired enough to sleep. Miles had fallen asleep right away, while I’d taken a quick shower. Wanting to be out the door first thing in the morning didn’t leave us much time to rest. We also had to get a rental car before heading over to the Kalispell Regional Medical Center. I wished we could have gone straight to see Dorothy, but we had to catch up on our sleep, too. We’d both had a tiring day. Getting tattooed for a couple of hours is exhausting, and the same goes for the one doing the tattooing. First thing in the morning, I’d need to check Miles’ tattoo and clean it up. With that in mind, I was swept away to dreamland.
At ten in the morning, we were both up and getting ready to leave. I was starving to the point where my stomach hurt. All I had on me to eat were Starburst, though; and for the first time, they weren’t enough. I wanted real food.
“Hey, cowboy, I know you want to get to your grandmother as soon as possible, but I have to eat or I’ll get sick. After that hot shower sex, you have to feed me.” Oh, yeah, we used half the hotel’s hot water supply. He started laughing, and it pleased me to see him so relaxed.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t eat breakfast before heading to the hospital? I thought you knew me better than that. Why don’t you go grab us a table at that deli we passed. I’ll make the calls to get the rental car and then join you, okay?”
Remembering the small restaurant from late in the night, I nodded. Miles was the type of person who could eat eggs, sausages, and pancakes every single day and not gain an ounce of fat. I envied him since I had to cut back on the greasy food. “I know you well enough, cowboy. You get the car, I’ll get the food. See ya at the diner in a few.”
In a rush to get us on the road, I ordered a simple array of coffee, eggs, and French toast. By the time Miles arrived, our order was on the table.
“It looks delicious,” he said before his tongue wet his lips.
“It was. I’m sorry I didn’t wait for you.” How could I wait when the cinnamon smell mixed with the rich coffee aroma launched their attack on my empty stomach? I couldn’t, right?
“No problem, beautiful. The car will be delivered here in thirty minutes. That gives us enough time to eat.”
He took a bite of his eggs and then drank some coffee while I stared at him in complete lust. My ogling must have been too intense, because he stopped eating and looked around before asking, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you’re hot, and I’m glad I followed you here.”
“You’re the hot one. The way you screamed my name this morning. I bet everyone in the hotel heard you.”
I choked on the bite of pancake in my mouth while my face felt like it turned as red as the strawberries decorating my plate. Hoping to stop coughing, I tried drinking some water while Miles laughed his ass off. “I did not scream,” I managed to say once I could breathe again.
“I’m sorry, Val, but you did scream. Very loud, I might add,” he said not trying to save me from my own mortification.
That was it, I could never return to that hotel again. They would recognize me as “the screamer,” the loud one. I couldn’t even think about it without being embarrassed.
“Don’t worry, tattoo girl. I enjoyed every second of it. My name’s never sounded so good as it did this morning.” He winked and my face reached the blushing limit while my heartbeat thundered throughout my body. “I never took you for such a shy girl, Val. I’m surprised.”
“Miles, we’re in your town. You bring me here for the first time and I do this? What if people recognize you?”
“We aren’t in my town yet. We’re close, but not there. And sorry to burst your bubble, but you should be ready, since I’m Dr. Millard there. Everybody knows me.”
Oh my gosh, when I thought he couldn’t get any hotter, he proves me wrong.
The drive to the hospital after we finished breakfast and got the rental car was enchanting. I loved the landscape of Montana. The mountains and all the green were mesmerizing.
The funny Miles who’d joined me for breakfast was gone, replaced now by a brooding Miles, the man who kept to himself, which I respected considering what was coming. In silence, I prayed again that his grandmother was okay. Love can make a human being do weird things, like praying. It wasn’t something I did, except when my parents forced me to before dinner, or like now, when I didn’t know what else to do.
Family had always been important to me, but since the disaster with John, I hadn’t spoken to my parents. That had been more than a month ago. The first week my mom had tried contacting me at least three times a day, but after a while she’d stopped, and I never called her back. After what had happened, I needed time. Lots of time.
We got to the hospital, parked the car, and then made our way to the entrance. With his arm around my waist, Miles guided me to the reception area and asked for his grandmother’s room number.
“Room two-oh-two, sir.”
Miles’ eagerness to see Dorothy was clear in the way he walked faster and his hand held me tighter around the waist. When we reached t
he door, he didn’t knock, he pushed it open and walked inside. I followed.
“Millard,” an older gentleman pronounced his name with so much pride, I assumed it was Miles’ grandfather.
The woman in the bed, who had to be Dorothy, turned her head in our direction. “Millard! Oh, my God, boy. You didn’t have to come all the way here for me.”
Standing back, I watched their reunion. So many emotions filled the room. Miles knelt by her side next to the bed and held her hand. “You look good, Grandmother.” After he’d kissed her cheeks and told them both how much he’d missed them, the room became quiet and all eyes turned to me.
Once again today, I blushed. “Hi.”
“I’d like you two to meet my girlfriend, Valerie. We met in Boston, and I couldn’t forget about her, so I went back to Seattle to find her.”
“You’re a beautiful young lady. I’m pleased to meet you. I’m Dorothy, and this is my husband Clark.”
“Nice to meet you both. Miles has said many sweet things about you two. He loves you so much and I’m pleased to meet you even though it’s under a… um… difficult circumstance,” I rambled before forcing myself to shut up.
Miles reached for me, and with a kiss to my cheek pulled me toward his grandparents. He sat in a free chair and pulled me onto his lap. It didn’t feel right, being so intimate in front of them when I’d just met them. Since when am I a prude? My nerves were getting the best of me. I had to calm down.
“Do they know what went wrong last night?”
“They said it’s diabetes. I’m getting old, Miles. Health problems are starting to get the best of me.”
“Don’t say that, please.” Miles wasn’t ready to let them go; I didn’t expect he’d ever be. “Do you want me to stay here, or do you need me to go out to the ranch and help out?”
“Your grandmother should be discharged tonight or tomorrow. They’re monitoring her for twenty-four hours.” Clark kept his eyes on his wife. Love flew between them, and I hoped Miles and I would be the exact same at their age. “We’re going to meet with the doctor because they need to tell us how diabetes will change our lives. Dorothy is very strong, I’m sure she will be just fine.” His voice trembled. “I thought I was losing her.” When he broke down, I did, too.
Miles held his grandfather in a hug to comfort him. He whispered few words into his ear, but I couldn’t hear.
We stayed for another two hours before leaving for the ranch. I’d heard so much about this place, and couldn’t wait to see the horses or the house where Miles had spent most of his life.
“When we’re old and our faces have more wrinkles than now, I want us to be exactly like your grandparents. That’s true love,” I spoke the words that meant so much to my heart. Spending time with his family had made me realize what I wanted in my life. I already knew I wanted Miles, I just hadn’t known how much I wanted him.
“We already are, Val. We’re the bomb!” he joked.
“Millard, I’m serious.”
“So am I, beautiful. We’re a younger version of them, and we’re going to grow old to be like them—except we’ll be badasses with tattoos,” he joked again. His humorous mood had returned. Yes!
It wasn’t a long ride before we turned down a gravel road, and I teased, “Are we there yet?”
“Aren’t you impatient, Ms. Lee?” He grinned. “We’re almost there. Look ahead, you can see it from here.”
I followed the line of his finger with my eyes to see a huge mansion-like house with the mountain as a backdrop. The house was made of wood and had plenty of windows. It didn’t look anything like what my imagination had conjured; it was ten times better. So beautiful, so country… and so Miles. Picturing him living here wasn’t hard. It made me wonder why he’d moved to Seattle in the first place. Not for me, I hoped.
My jaw hit the floor of the car. I shook my head in disbelief. “This is incredible. It’s all so beautiful.” In front of the house was a small pond with ducks and swans. In the distance, horses could be seen along with a man walking around. “What are you doing in Seattle when you could have this every damn day?”
Miles smiled at the view in front of us. “I wanted something new, and I wanted you. When Lisa died, it changed things in me. My old life had everything I desired, but it lacked adventure. She was adventurous, a complete nerd, and loved life. I admired her so much. When someone commits suicide, it makes those left behind think they, and everything their loved one once enjoyed, aren’t good enough to keep them from taking their own life. To this day, I still can’t believe she did it. I never saw it coming.” His hands held the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were turning white. “I love this house, too, but for me, it’s bittersweet. While I loved my life here, it’s also where I lost the only family I had left besides my grandparents. When Lisa died, I lost my mind. It was terrible. A month later, I left to follow Lisa’s advice.” He chuckled at the memory. “She always told me I should be a country singer. So I did it, and I met you.”
“Thank you, Lisa,” I said looking up the sky.
“Thanks lil’L,” Miles added as he parked the car with a sigh. “I’m glad my grandmother looked fine. She’s a tough one and will handle her diabetes. I’m sorry if I came across as cold or a complete ass on our way here. I was really scared we could lose her.”
What? No, no, no. He was never an ass. Quiet, yes, but not an ass. Why would he think that? “Hey, cowboy.” I waited for him to look at me, but he didn’t. “Miles, please. You were never an ass. You were quiet, kept to yourself, but you had your reasons and I understood them. You don’t have to be sorry for feeling. Feeling means you’re alive.”
“I was very much alive this morning, yeah?” Laughter bubbled out of Miles while he opened the car door. As usual, he rushed to my side of the car to open my door before I could let myself out. “There you go, tattoo girl.”
Always the gentleman. “Where do we start?” I had no experience on a ranch, but cared more than enough to help.
“We’ll have to check with Stephen, but first, I want to show you the horses. My horses.”
“Okay.”
“Wait here a minute. I’ll be right back.”
I nodded, and he ran inside the house. While I waited, I looked around and couldn’t believe my eyes. This was a place I would’ve paid to stay at, and here I could have the chance to live the dream for free, with the man of my life. Beyond amazing.
“Here, this is for you. It was Lisa’s.” Something was placed on my head, and I turned to see Miles had his cowboy hat on. Good grief, he looked hot. More than hot.
“Lisa’s?” Taking the hat sitting on my head down, I looked at it. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea. This is an heirloom. What if I get it all dirty?”
“Lisa wouldn’t mind. She had a collection of them. Besides, I gave her that one, and now, I want you to have it.”
My throat tightened. “Okay.” The single word came out of my mouth in a husky kind of choking sound. I couldn’t say any more, being so deeply touched by his gift.
“I love you, cowgirl.” Miles grinned at me and offered his hand, which I took with love.
We walked around the ranch in search of a man called Stephen. In my mind, I tried capturing every little detail about the life surrounding the ranch. It inspired me, and I felt alive. So alive.
The difference between my life in Boston and my life now? Quite simple. I had my soulmate by my side. The one person in the world who completed me. Maybe I’d been meant to be with John and move to Boston so Fate could ensure I crossed paths with Miles. No matter how I tried to make sense out of how we’d found each other, I couldn’t.
It had to be destiny.
MILES
In my twenty-nine years, I’d never brought a girl home and showed her around the ranch. Except for one girl, her name was Hope and we’d been sixteen. I think we dated for a month during the summer, nothing of real importance. After Hope, I dated different girls but kept my life private for the most part. I
hadn’t wanted, or needed, someone in my life at that point. My main focus had been on getting good grades and getting my veterinarian degree as soon as possible. Then, I was done but kept working long hours. Although I flirted a lot, and it sometimes led to more, I never wanted more than sex.
I watched Val munch on Starbursts she had packed in her pocket. We walked the field surrounded by the horses, I didn’t think life could get any sweeter. I hadn’t always been fair to women in the past, but with her, everything seemed different. She was wild, creative, and beautiful.
“I’m going to have to clean the stable and feed the horses. You can sit on the porch and draw if you’d like. Make yourself at home. It shouldn’t take me more than an hour or two and then, after that, we could cook some dinner and watch the sunset.” Is that too cheesy?
“No, I want to help you. If we do it together, it’ll take less time.”
“Are you volunteering to clean up horse shit?” I laughed.
“I guess I am,” she answered, also laughing.
Stephen had the first stable started when we got to the barn. “We got this, Stephen. Why don’t you call it a day? You’ve been handling everything all by yourself.”
“It’s alright, Millard.” He patted me on the shoulder. “I’ll feed them if you insist on dealing with the manure.” His smile was mischievous. Like I would insist…
“Alright.”
I showed Val what to do, and then we split up and got to work. Her arms and back would be hurting by the time she was done with the third one. That would leave me with fifteen stables to clean. It could have been worse.
As usual, I started singing my version of an old favorite of Lisa’s, with the tempo slowed down. It was what I used to sing when we had to do chores together, “I Don’t Want This Night to End” by Luke Bryan. Not my favorite singer, but the song would always be a favorite of mine because of its meaning to me.
