Open Skies

by Marysol James

  “Sure.”

  Mattie came in carrying a stack of paper. “OK, so I’ve gone over all the CVs and I’ve narrowed them down to the last five candidates. I think you should take a look at them and let me know what you think. You’ll want to meet them too, right?”

  Julie gazed at Mattie, bemused. “CVs? For what?”

  “For the trainer job.” Mattie was looking back at her, equally bewildered.

  “Wait. You’re not leaving, are you?”

  “No, honey, not me. Jake.”

  Julie’s heart stopped. “What?”

  “Yeah. He’s leaving in two weeks. Did you lose track of time too? The four months has flown by, huh?” She grinned. “I mean, we’re in no rush to replace him right away. January and February are our dead times in terms of people coming here for horseback riding – almost all of our guests will be skiers, you know – so me and Phil and Rosie can more than handle things with the horses. But we do need to have someone chosen and trained up by March.”

  “Mattie,” Julie said slowly. “I have no idea what you are talking about. None. What do you mean, Jake is leaving?”

  “Oh. Oh, Lord.” Mattie was horrified. “But – but how is that possible? I know the Denver lawyers accepted his letter of resignation and sent in on to the New York office. Did they not give it to you?”

  “When? When did he resign?”

  Mattie looked at her. “In September. The day that we all found out that you were named in Dave’s will as the new owner of the ranch and hotel.”

  Julie was stricken silent.

  “He quit on the spot, gave four months’ notice. He wanted to stay until the first week of the New Year, see out the busy season and leave when the lull started, so as not to inconvenience us…” Mattie peered at Julie.

  “The day you all found out…” Julie was thinking hard. “When did you find out about me being the new owner?”

  “The day after Dave’s funeral.”

  Julie clicked on the calendar in the corner of her laptop screen, scrolled back to September. OK, so… she’d met with Hawkins on the second Monday of the month, and he’d said that her father had died – what? – a week before that, right? And she’d gone back to the law offices the day after and signed all the papers… and Hawkins had given her a manila envelope of documents. Stuff he said had been handled by the Denver office, nothing for her to worry about. She’d glanced through the papers without any interest, she remembered now. Oh, God. Had Jake’s resignation letter been in that envelope? Is that why he hadn’t been on the staff list she’d received? Had he already been removed?

  She felt sick. He’d resigned as soon as he found out about her taking over. OK, in light of what they’d all heard about her from Margaret, she could see that. But he hadn’t withdrawn the resignation after she had arrived and shown herself to be different. And he hadn’t withdrawn it after things had started up between them.

  He had been fucking her this whole time, knowing that he was leaving at the beginning of January.

  He had been fucking her this whole time, assuming that she knew he was leaving at the beginning of January.

  He thought she was just temporary for him; he was fine with just being temporary for her.

  Jesus Christ. Breathe, Julie. Blue, blue. It’s OK. It’s going to be OK.

  “Julie?” Mattie stood up. “Should I go get Jake?”

  “No.” Her voice came out calm and level. “I’ll call the stables, ask him to come up.”

  “OK.”

  “Don’t say anything to him, please, Mattie.” Julie looked up at her. “I need to think how I want to handle this.”

  “I understand.” She backed out of the room. “I’m sorry, hon.”

  Julie barely heard her. She stared out of the window, looking at the mountains. She thought that maybe she had started to have strong feelings for Jake, but she knew, for certain, that she was in love with the Rockies. She had been looking forward to many days here at the ranch with Jake, but if he wasn’t going to be around, how did she feel about being at Open Skies without him? She looked to the mountains for an answer and they stared back down at her, implacable.

  She reached for the office phone and dialled the extension out to the stables.

  “Stables.” Jake’s low, warm voice was on the other end.

  She flashed back to that voice whispering in her ear last night as he fucked her from behind. She had never been able to come in that position before, but Jake had managed it. He had stayed right on top of her the whole time, his chest pressed to her back, one hand between her legs as he thrust inside her, the other hand playing with her breasts. She had rocked back and forth on his bed, almost passing out as the pressure had built and burst, a dam of emotion and sensation that left her shaking and overcome.

  “Jake.”

  “Hey.” A teasing, private note entered his voice now. “How you doin’, Julie?”

  “Fine.”

  “Hey, listen. I made that reservation for us at the B&B. December twenty-fourth through to the twenty-eight. Mattie has said that she’ll work out the schedule for the horses over the break, and Rob says he has all the stuff for guests covered. He’ll need your help with New Year’s Eve, though.”

  “Good. Actually, I want to speak to you. Could you come up to the Big House in ten minutes?”

  He paused, a bit taken aback by the coldness in her voice. “Uh, sure. Everything OK?”

  “No,” she said icily. “But it will be.”

  She hung up.

  **

  Ten minutes later, she opened the door of the Big House and stared at Jake.

  “Hi, babe.” He reached for her to give her a kiss but she ducked away and stepped aside.

  “Come in,” she said.

  He looked at her, puzzled. She looked strange.

  “Julie? What’s wrong? You OK?”

  She shut the door behind him and walked over to the sofa. She sat down deliberately. He followed and sat next to her.

  “Julie? You’re kind of worrying me now.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” She bit off every word.

  He shook his head, starting to get angry. “What? Are you mad at me for some reason?”

  “Oh, no. I’m thrilled that you’re leaving in less than two weeks.”

  He leaned back, confused. “Well, yeah. You knew that.”

  “No, Jake. Actually, I didn’t. I just found out from Mattie fifteen minutes ago, when she brought me her preferred five candidates to replace you. Before that – I had no clue.”

  Oh, shit, he thought.

  He had quit when he had been angry and grieving and furious. It had been a spontaneous thing – a fuck you to Dave for dying and his daughter for being the one to take over. He had just wanted to get away from here after Dave died in his arms; away from the memories, both good and bad. At the time, he hadn’t considered the fact that Open Skies had been his home for seven years. He forgot that he loved it here.

  Then he met Julie and she was not a trust-fund brat pissing and partying away Daddy’s money in the big city, after all. She was smart and beautiful and educated. A respected interior designer, for Christ’s sake. He had looked her up online and found article after article about her and her work. She was polished and professional and accomplished: everything that he wasn’t, and never would or could be.

  Jake had never been to college, and certainly not on scholarship. He knew he wasn’t dumb, but he was no genius. What he was good at was horses. That’s it. He knew it and he’d never been ashamed of it. But he knew damn good and well that a woman like Julie would need someone intelligent and well-travelled and rich. Someone like her.

  He’d been going along this whole time thinking that the whole reason – maybe the only reason – she had anything to do with him was because she knew he was leaving. They were hot together – God, so fucking hot – and they had both enjoyed the sex with no pressure, no commitment, no future. He wasn’t sure how he felt now about leaving Open Skies, and le
aving Julie, but no way he’d humiliate himself and ask her to let him stay.

  He hadn’t even been able to bring the subject up with her, so he’d just carried on with his preparations: packing up a few boxes and shipping them out on runs to town, buying a plane ticket to his new job. He figured if she wanted him to stay on, she had plenty of time to raise the issue. The fact that she hadn’t done so told him that she was just fine with how things stood between them: lots of hot sex and nothing more.

  The truth was that she’d started to mean more to him that just a fantastic lay, and if he was being totally honest with himself, she had been more than that from the very beginning. That first night that he had sat on the floor in the firelight and listened to her talk about where she had come from, and what she had managed to overcome, he knew that she was an extraordinary woman.

  She hadn’t been handed her whole life on a silver platter – she’d fought for it. Under that careful polish and gorgeous exterior, she was tough and focused and determined. But she was also vulnerable, and he had responded to both her strength and her softness. He had been unable to keep himself from reaching out and touching her that night, and he’d been unable to stop himself ever since.

  Now here she sat, her eyes so accusing and angry, telling him that she’d had no idea this whole time. That, unlike him, she had started up with him with no clock ticking down on them.

  Had she hoped for something more serious? Something long-term? Does she feel that way about me? Even though I’m just some uneducated hick who knows nothing about anything except horses?

  Jake didn’t know what to say, so he said nothing. He waited to see what she wanted to do… maybe she’d ask him to stay. If she did, he’d say yes.

  Julie stared at Jake, waiting for him to explain why he hadn’t changed his mind about leaving once he had gotten to know her, once he had found out that she wasn’t that spoiled little bitch they’d all been told about.

  Then it occurred to her: maybe he hadn’t changed his mind because it didn’t matter to him who she was, in the end. Because she didn’t matter to him. It had been about sex for him, right from the start. That was all it could ever be for him, since he knew it would be over soon enough. He knew it would end.

  She felt like such an idiot, thinking she was at the start of a relationship, one which had time to grow, to deepen. One which had a chance to be something solid and permanent in her life. She thought she meant something to someone; she thought she was wanted. Finally.

  She was wrong.

  Well, if he wanted to treat her like a temporary fuck, fine. She’d show him that she hadn’t been in it for anything more than his amazing dick. Her pride rushed to her rescue and she raised her chin.

  “No, I had no idea. I’m really pissed off that I haven’t been more involved in finding your replacement, to tell you the truth. I’d have taken part in everything sooner, if I’d known. I don’t like delegating things like this.”

  “Oh, right.”

  She shrugged. “And as for what’s been going on with us, it’s been lots of fun… but it was never going to work long-term. I don’t want you to feel badly that I didn’t know about it ending so soon – I knew all along that it had to sometime.”

  He leaned back, surprised by how much that hurt. So, the stupid stable boy was just a hot fuck after all. Even though she had no idea that I was leaving, she was just in it for the sex. OK. Well, so was I. Right?

  “Yeah, I agree. I’m sorry that you didn’t know about me leaving, since it puts you in a bit of a bind. But you do have time to find someone, you know. It’s our dead period for lessons and riding camps and stuff.”

  “Yeah, Mattie said.”

  “And as for us… well, I’m glad that we were on the same page the whole time. Considering the mix-up, it could have gone another way, maybe. Somebody could have been hurt.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Yeah.”

  They looked at each other.

  Jake stood up. “OK, well. If that’s all, I’d better get back to work.”

  Julie got up too. “OK. And I’d better start arranging interviews for your replacement.”

  “Right.”

  “Right.”

  “So, I’ll see you later?” he asked.

  “I certainly hope so,” Julie said, trying to sound normal.

  “And you still want to go away for the Christmas break?”

  “Absolutely. It’ll be fun.”

  “OK, good. No time to waste. The countdown has begun.” Jake tried to smile.

  “Exactly.”

  “I’ll come by around eight tonight, then?”

  “Perfect.”

  He was walking to the door, walking away from her, and she felt a crunch deep in the pit of her stomach.

  Oh, God, I don’t want him to go. I want him to stay here with me and hold me and make me feel wanted. And loved. Shit, he’s turning around. Quick, look composed. Stand straight, Julie.

  Jake turned and looked at her. She was beautiful and distant and detached and she just didn’t care. He had the urge to get on his knees and ask her to reconsider. He wanted to stay here, with her. This was his home; she was his home. But now he knew the truth, the one that he had assumed all along: he was just a way-station for her.

  The door shut behind him. Julie waited until she saw him go back in to the stables before she sank down on the sofa. She didn’t cry.

  **

  A noise broke in to Julie’s confused thoughts. It was an insistent sound, a buzzing that wouldn’t stop. She looked around. Her cell phone was ringing over on the kitchen counter. She picked it up without any interest and saw that it was an unknown New York number.

  “Hello?” she said.

  “Hello. Is this Julie Everett?” A woman’s voice.

  “Yes. Who’s this, please?”

  “My name is Catherine Lawson, and I’m a nurse at the ER at Bellevue.”

  “Bellevue?” Julie was slowly regaining focus. “You mean, Bellevue Hospital in New York?”

  “That’s right. Ms. Everett, your friend Tamara Jenkins was brought in to the ER here early this morning.”

  Julie stood bolt upright, quivering. “She what?”

  “Ms. Jenkins has been badly beaten, ma’am. I’m sorry to say that she’s in very bad shape. According to the HR person at her work, you’re her emergency contact. Can you come?”

  “I’m in Colorado,” Julie said. Oh, my God, Tammy. “I’ll get there as soon as I can, I promise you. Is there any – any urgency?”

  “Well, some. With head injuries, it’s hard to predict what may happen. She was conscious when she arrived, but she’s been unconscious for an hour now.”

  Julie sat down, the shock too much for her body to take.

  “Ms. Everett? Are you there?”

  “Yes. Yes. Do you know who beat her up?” A horrible thought came to her. “Was it her boyfriend? Marco Fernandez?”

  “Nobody knows who did it. Ms. Jenkins was at a bar for a Christmas work party, and she left alone. She was attacked in an alley a few blocks away, so it may have been someone from the bar who followed her out. It looks like an attempted rape gone wrong.”

  “Tammy was raped?” Julie whispered.

  “No, ma’am. No, she wasn’t. It seems that she fought back, and got away.”

  Julie sighed in relief. “Listen, I’ll be there as soon as I can get myself on a plane. I’ll go to the airport right now and fly standby.”

  “OK. We’ll see you when you get here. I’m very sorry to give you such bad news.”

  “Thank you.”

  Julie hung up the phone and stared at it for ten full seconds, trying to process what had just happened. She called Rob.

  “Hi, Julie.”

  “Rob, I need your help.”

  “You OK? You sound strange.”

  “No. I’m not.” Julie explained about Tammy and said, “Rob, I need you to please get me a taxi to the airport right away.”

  “I’ll drive yo
u…”

  “No, thank you. I’d really rather be alone. I need the time to think.”

  “Julie, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. You’ll need someone there – you want me to ask Jake? I just saw him go down to the stables.”

  “No. Rob, you are not to tell Jake anything about this. Not one word. Are we clear?”

  Rob blinked in total confusion. “Umm. Yes. If you’re sure.”

  “I am. Just please get that taxi here in the next twenty minutes. And can you maybe check on the flights to New York? I’ll fly stand-by if I have to, but I may luck out and get a seat.”

  “OK. You got it.”

  “Thanks.”

  Julie hung up and looked at her hands. They shook, stopped, shook again. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Hang on, Tammy. I’m coming.

  Then she got to her feet and went upstairs to the bedroom. Mechanically, totally numb and on auto-pilot, she started to pack.

  **

  Jake saw the taxi pull up to the main building, and saw Rob pointing towards Julie’s place. What the fuck?

  The cabbie drove the extra hundred feet or so, and stopped in front of the Big House. Julie emerged, lugging one of her big suitcases with her. The cabbie jumped out and helped her. She said something to him and he nodded. She got in to the back seat, slammed the door.

  Oh, my God. She’s leaving. She’s leaving.

  Jake started to walk up to the main building and as he saw the taxi start to speed up, he broke in to a run.

  Julie saw Jake coming up the long road from the stables, and she leaned forward. “Could you hurry, please? I have an emergency in New York – a friend has been badly hurt in an accident. I need to get on a flight.”

  He glanced at her in the rear view mirror. Wow, this was one good-looking woman: all pink and gold and green. She looked panicked, and he knew that she was serious about that emergency she was trying to get to.

  “Sure thing.” He pressed down on the accelerator and Jake flashed by, his handsome face no more than a blur.

  Jake stood in the road, dazed, watching the taxi drive away. Rob hurried down the stairs to him. “You OK?”