Dating the Cowboy

by Ann B. Harrison

  “No, it’s perfect. You deserve a break. And if I were you, I’d book a flight anyway. There’s no way they’re going to turn you down, you know. They’ve already checked you out and found out how clever you are. That questionnaire is merely a formality. Trust me on this. Nancy will get a real shot at running this place in your absence. That way you won’t feel so worried when you go.”

  “If I go.” He was so sure and determined to get rid of her.

  “As if they’re going to turn down someone with your brains. You can bet they’ve already figured out exactly how well you’ll fit into the company.” Crease strode around to his desk and sat down. “Book your flights and go pack. You can leave tomorrow morning and have a day’s relaxing and sightseeing before your first test. I’ll take you to the airport myself.”

  “Fine. I will then.” Alice booked her flights and gave herself a full two days off before coming back to Marietta. If she could survive that, she could survive actually leaving him.

  At least that was what she told herself while she filled in the questionnaire and sent it back.

  *

  It was actually happening. Alice was really going to Seattle. After all the years of talking about it, planning for it, it had actually come to fruition. And he was the one pushing her to go. Damned stupid fool.

  He dropped her bag on the conveyor belt when she checked in and watched as the staff tagged it and sent it on its way. “Gate four, Ms. Winter. You’ll be boarding in forty-five minutes.”

  “Thank you.” She turned to Crease. “You don’t have to stay. You know how I hate goodbyes.”

  No more than he did. But he put on a brave face. “You’re right. That’s not the way you want to arrive in Seattle, sad about leaving me. I get it.” He joked through their goodbyes and only held her for a short time. Crease kissed her unruly curls and pushed her away. “Go get ’em, Alice. And have a good time.”

  “I will.” She blew him a kiss and turned away, hurrying to the gate to catch her plane.

  He swallowed the lump in his throat and watched until she was out of sight before leaving the airport. All the way back to the office, he cursed himself for being so considerate. He should’ve tried to talk her out of going, insisted that they meant too much to each other to part. But that was his heart talking, and she’d turned him down too many times over the years for him to believe they were anything but best friends. Better to hang on to what they had than risk losing even that.

  His mood when he got into the office was bordering on foul. Even the prospect of a new group of students didn’t make him as excited as it usually did. With Alice gone, there was a shadow looming over the business and his personal life. He ignored the ringing phone and ran up the stairs to their apartment.

  The emptiness screamed loud in the quiet room. With Alice gone, the joy he usually felt in the apartment was gone. Would she take the trinkets dotted around that she’d collected? The sea glass Alice sprinkled along the windowsill they’d collected on vacations at the coast, the photos of the two of them at the German beer festival last year, and the cute his-and-hers glass paperweights that threw light over the ceiling they’d found at an artists’ colony in Florida. Would he be left without the memories they’d made together? The happiness that usually bounced around the walls when Alice was here had gone, leaving him deflated. His cell vibrated in his pocket.

  “Why aren’t you answering your damned phone?” Nate’s voice stabbed his numbing brain. “I’m outside the office and I can’t see anyone in there, but your lights are on in the apartment. What the heck’s going on, Crease?”

  When he let his brother inside, Crease threw himself into the lounge in the corner of the room. “She’s gone.”

  Nate looked around. “Alice?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Where is she? Have you two had a disagreement?”

  “She’s in Seattle applying for a job.”

  Nate sat down, a dumbfounded look on his face. “What the heck for? You really have had a fight.”

  “I may as well tell you the truth. We were never a couple; it was all fake.” The words churned in his gut. How he wished it wasn’t the truth. “Just like me.”

  Nate gave him a look bordering on disbelief. “Fake. What for? No, don’t answer that. Funny enough, I get it, but I don’t believe it. I’ve seen the way you look at her, Brother. You’re smitten. It’s all over your face, whether you admit it or not.”

  “Maybe, but to her, we’re just best friends. I messed up in the romance department with Alice but gained in the friends department. Guess I can’t have both.”

  “No. I don’t believe it. Even the girls told me how much she adores you. Pretty sure they know what they’re talking about. Everyone could see it.”

  “All put on for the business and the magazine article.”

  Nate shook his head. “Nah. You can’t fake those kinds of emotions. Even I could see them. I was almost jealous of the way she looked at you. Like you were some kind of hero or something.” He scratched his chin and then sighed. “Even Joy suggested I take some lessons from you to spice up our romance. Not that I think there’s anything wrong with the way things are or anything. Just a suggestion, she said.”

  Crease gave him a smile. His brother had never looked happier. He didn’t need Crease’s advice, especially when he couldn’t even sort out his own romance. Or lack of it.

  “It’s true. The deal between us was that Alice would help me set up the business and still keep a share when she left. Her dream was always to work at Zapper. This was a steppingstone to that job, more to help me than prove she could do it.”

  “No, I don’t believe it.”

  “I shit you not.” He took a few deep breaths. “We had an argument the other night. Stupid words over her leaving or not leaving. She’s worried that she’d be dumping me in a big mess if she went now.”

  “So why didn’t you stop her?”

  “I couldn’t. Because one day she’d wake up and see what I’d done. I got her to move to Marietta under false pretenses and I’m not proud of it. I’m not going to be the one who holds her back. You don’t understand, Nate. This is what she’s worked for ever since she was little. She read math books while I read romance novels. She blitzed the business course, top of our class. She’s made for this. I couldn’t let her stay and stagnate in Marietta, no matter how much I want her.”

  “You’re a fool then, Brother.” He looked around the room. “Why can’t you take this business to Seattle? Why do you have to have it here?”

  “It’s home.”

  “So what? Doesn’t mean you have to stay here.”

  “Yeah, it does. I tried for five years to find my feet at college. All I wanted was to come running home.”

  Nate cocked his head. “What the heck are you talking about?”

  “I’m a fake. I didn’t fit in so I become someone else.” He walked over to the window and picked up a small pink heart, one of the many Alice had strewn around the office. “I became what they wanted me to be. The popular guy, the one everyone came to for advice. The one who sorted out everyone else’s problems. And all the while I wanted to come crawling back to Marietta and be the simple cowboy I was when I left.” He turned, hating the uncertainty in his brother’s eyes. “I can’t let Alice see that part of me. She deserves better.”

  Nate slapped a hand on his thigh. “I thought you were clever, Crease. You’re supposed to be the love doctor, yet you can’t cure your own love life. How is that going to look to your public?” He jumped up and paced the office, throwing Crease looks of disbelief now and again.

  “You’re not listening to me. F-A-K-E.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “True. Just listen to what I’m telling you.” How annoying was it that his brother still didn’t listen to him? How the heck was he supposed to get through to him?

  “What have you done to try to make up for that argument?”

  “I brought her chocolate.”

  Nate
raised his eyebrow. “So?”

  “We argued the other night about her going or staying. Whichever. I brought her chocolates, her favorite. They’re sitting in the fridge unopened.”

  “And you’re going to let that stop you from telling her how much she means to you? I thought you were better than that, Crease.”

  “I did too. I can’t clip her wings.”

  “Did you stop to think that maybe you already have?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Welcome to Zapper, Ms. Winter.” The head of HR held out her hand. “I’m glad you could get here. It’s a bit of a flight for you. Montana, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, that’s right, but the flight is under two hours.”

  “Right. That’s okay then. Tell me why you want to work for us.” Janine Petrova sat back with a well-practiced smile.

  “Data fascinates me. It always has, and with Zapper being the leading data miners in the universe, it seemed like the obvious place for me to work.”

  The smile fractured a little. “We sell products, Alice.”

  Alice smiled. “Of course you do, but that isn’t the main business. You gather data and with that you sell products. I’ve followed your model since conception, Ms. Petrova. I know how it works and I also know how well it works.” She swallowed the lump in her throat and hoped she wasn’t coming across as a know-it-all, but Alice wanted this job and wasn’t about to mince her words. She wanted them to know she understood their business model and that she was happy to be in this environment. It was a cutthroat business that took its toll on employees. The staff turnover was constant, and Alice wasn’t going into this company expecting to take it easy.

  Janine smiled. “You’re correct. But that still doesn’t tell me why you want to be here.”

  “Opportunity. I know how to use data, how to analyze it, manipulate it to get the best possible outcome for any company. I’ve used it to set up a new business venture I share with a friend, and it’s going extremely well.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard of it. I checked it out when you queried us, and I must admit, I like what I see business-model wise. What I don’t understand is why you don’t stay with that business when it’s so successful.”

  “It wasn’t my long-term goal, although I will keep an interest in the company. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, that the model I helped create would work. Much like you’ve done here. I like a challenge, Ms. Petrova. And I think this is the only company that will give me that and get something worthwhile in return.”

  Janine gave what Alice decided was her first genuine smile. “I see. Tell me where you see yourself in five years, Alice.”

  “A corner office, an assistant or two. A massive pay raise because you’re going to want to keep me here when you see what I can do for the company. And four weeks annual leave per year because I’ll earn it twice over.”

  Janine’s lips twitched. “You’re confident, if nothing else.”

  “Of course I am. You said yourself you’ve seen what I can do with Strings Attached. I don’t shout out how good I am for the sake of hearing my own voice or because I’m arrogant. I do it because, quite simply, it’s true. I earned my degree with hard work and dedication, and we built that business from scratch. If your company doesn’t want that kind of skill, others will.” She astounded herself by saying so much. But if nothing else, everything that had happened in Marietta had given her the confidence to speak up.

  The introvert had grown wings.

  “This company thrives on hard workers like yourself, but we will work you hard. If we take you on, Alice, your life will be work, work, and more work. There won’t be time to relax once you get into the office.”

  “I can deal with it.” She’d need that kind of schedule to keep her from thinking about what she’d left behind.

  “Fine. Let me set you up with a couple of trial scenarios to analyze and then you can do the standard questionnaires. I know you’ll probably breeze through these, but they’re compulsory for everyone who is considered for employment, regardless of the position.” She stood and smoothed down her skirt. “As much as we’d like to hire by instinct, the boss has a rule that everyone does the groundwork first. I hope you understand.”

  “I’ve taken time off with the expectation I’ll be tested before being offered a position.”

  “Good. Follow me, Alice, and let’s get started.”

  Sitting in her hotel room after the first day’s testing, Alice found it hard to not pick up the phone and call Crease to tell him how well she’d done. But something made her hesitate. If she didn’t call, would he miss her as much as she missed him? Would he rethink her moving away if he was pining for her as much as she was pining for him? He’d hardly have a chance to notice her gone if she was on the phone to him every day. Or was it more a case of punishing herself because she couldn’t bring herself to tell him the truth?

  After the second day, she couldn’t resist any longer. Call her weak, but she couldn’t help it. Her plan to leave a hole in his life while she was away had failed already.

  “Hey, Alice. I was sitting here eating pizza and wondering how you were doing.”

  His voice brought tears to her eyes. “I’m going good. Two days down, one more to go.”

  “That’s great. I’m really pleased for you.” His joy sounded genuine, but that only added to her loneliness.

  “So, how’s Nancy doing? Is she managing okay?”

  Crease laughed. “Seems to be. She’s been organizing me like a crazy coordinated mother on steroids. I bet her kids don’t dare put a foot wrong. She’s like an army general once she gets going. Tell you the honest truth, Alice, she scares me, but I don’t dare argue with her.”

  That was funny, but Alice didn’t feel like laughing. “Great. I’m glad she’s working out.”

  “She is, and once she finds her feet, things can only get better. She streamlined my coaching classes so they don’t run over so much time wise. I was letting the guys drag them out longer than necessary and losing time for other parts of the business. I think that’s a good thing because it means we can get through the clients we have with room to breathe.”

  “That’s wonderful.”

  “Hey, did you see that Ryan has been getting dates? I saw him on television with a lovely looking lady on his arm at a movie premier. The reporter mentioned us again too.”

  “Really? What did he say? Something nice, I hope.” She grabbed the television remote and clicked it on, keeping the sound down with the hopes of seeing something about them come through on the entertainment channel.

  “He did. Said he was surprised how easy it was once he changed his mind-set on what kind of woman he wanted to date. Gave the love doctor the thumbs-up. The signups have kicked in again. Nancy’s dealing with them.”

  Disappointment flooded her heart. “But that’s my job, Crease.”

  “I know, but I told her to do the groundwork on it so you don’t get interrupted. All she’s doing is importing the raw data, not actually analyzing it. You can do that because it’s your thing and there’s nobody like you, but I want you to deal with this interview without having to schedule anything for the business. We can discuss it when you get back.”

  It sounded as though he was pushing her out. That wasn’t fair. Alice had worked too hard on this business to let it go now. But now wasn’t the time to argue with him.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I need to focus on why I’m here. I think they like me, Crease. So far, I’ve been invited to drinks with some of the executives, had lunch with department heads, and been shown the office that will be mine if they offer me the job. I’m guessing that’s a good sign, right?”

  “Heck yes! Go you, Alice. I knew you’d knock them out with your brains.” His enthusiasm bubbled over the line, but instead of boosting her, it made her heart ache.

  “You were right with your style of query letter. If it weren’t for that, I doubt I’d be here now.”

  “You would’ve gotte
n there eventually, sweetheart. You’re too good to turn down. You’ll see. They need you.”

  But what about you, Crease? You don’t need me as much as I need you. They spoke for another few minutes before she hung up and lay on the bed, sadder than ever that he was breaking away from her and there was nothing she could do about it.

  *

  Hearing her voice made his decision even harder. She was enjoying being challenged and wasn’t too broken up over the changes at the business. Nate had it wrong. She was where she wanted to be or she would’ve got up him for letting someone else get their hands on her precious data. Alice had never been good at sharing what she considered her jobs. Many a time they’d had cross words when Crease tried to take over some of her pet projects. It was a lesson he wasn’t keen to repeat, but Nancy had insisted she knew what she was doing.

  He had to face it, Alice wasn’t going to be here to do it anyway, and he could see that her doing remote work for the business eventually would peter out. Nancy might as well learn all she could while Alice was still in the mix.

  But things weren’t as good as he made out. His matchmaking skills without her around seemed to be lacking. The spark was gone. As if without Alice here, he couldn’t project what he wanted his clients to achieve. It felt a bit like Samson cutting his hair and losing his powers. Alice was what kept Crease going. His creative and confident soul mate.

  He wouldn’t bring her back to save himself though. He had to forge ahead and make his life without her. He had to up his game and stop relying on her, let her have her own life.

  Crease groaned when the doorbell rang. He stumbled over to the intercom and pushed the button.