Blackhill Ranch (17 page)

“It's okay, he gave up his
rights so Wyatt is all mine. I am working at a really nice salon
and day spa, and I'm saving up so maybe one day I can go back to
college and finish getting my degree.”

“That's great, Sarah.
Well, great about you getting your degree and having Wyatt. Not the
other part.”

She was quiet again and I
could here her breath pick up on the other line. “How is he?” she
finally asked in such a quiet voice I almost didn't hear
her.

I knew instantly she meant
Cole. I wasn't going to lie to her. “I wish I could say he was over
it all, but he isn't. I mean he tries. He seems happy most of the
time, but I don't know, Sarah. You really messed him up.” I think I
may have just been a little too hard on that last part.

She started sobbing now
and I couldn't understand much of what she was saying. “Sarah,
stop... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Please calm down, I
don't know what you're saying.”

Sarah coughed a few times
and I could hear her blow her nose, then she finally said, “I know,
I'm so sorry, Lexi, I really am. If I could take anything back it
would be that night. I don't know why, or what was going through my
head. I was just curious you now, I had only been with Cole and
Josh was such a cute guy and was always hitting on me. Cole and I
were so stressed about the wedding and I don't know... I messed up.
The only good thing that came out of that whole mess was
Wyatt.”

I was silent this time and
didn't know what else to say. “Sometimes we don't know why our
lives go in certain directions, but we have to trust that there is
a bigger plan for us.”

“Yeah. I keep telling
myself that. I just can't imagine dating anyone else. I don't want
Wyatt to have guys in and out of his life. I just kept hoping Cole
would call me and maybe one day he could forgive me, Lexi. I miss
him so much. I miss you so much”

“Come out here,” I said
quickly and covered my hand over my mouth.

“What?” she said
breathlessly.

I closed my eyes and just
went with it, “Yes, come out here. I'll pay for your ticket and you
can stay in the lodge. Come out there and bring Wyatt. I need to
see you and him.”

“I don't know Lex, I don't
think he'll like this.”

“I don't care and I'll
deal with Cole. Come out, I'll book you a ticket and you try get
sometime off work. Let's make this happen.”

“How about tomorrow?” She
whispered quickly and had a hint of hope in her voice.

I stopped and thought
about it, “Actually that may work, I am going to be in the city
with Chloe and we could pick you up. I'll call and get you a flight
right when we hang up. I'll text you all the details. Sarah, I
really am excited to see you.”

“Yeah, I guess. I mean I'm
nervous, but I have been waiting for this. I can't believe I will
see you guys tomorrow. I better be back by Wednesday afternoon. I
can reschedule my Tuesday and Wednesday clients, but I have some on
Thursday that will be impossible to move.”

“Sounds good, bye
Sarah.”

“Bye, Lexi. And, Lex?
Thank you.”

I didn't have a chance to
respond before hearing the click of our phone call. Crap, I don't
know why but sometimes I just can't help what comes out of my
mouth! Cole is going to kill me.

I walked over to my
computer and got the number to our local airport. I called right
away and they had a flight leaving Lincoln at 9:30 Sunday morning
which meant she would be flying in around 10:00 a.m. The time
difference always messed with me but I remembered she would be
gaining an hour. I thought that would work perfect so I grabbed my
card and booked her a flight.

“
Sarah – it's all booked. You fly out at 9:30 and arrive at
10:00. Send me your email and I'll send you a copy so you can have
your flight number.

“
Thank you, you have no idea.”

She sent me her email and
it seemed like everything was all ready to go. Now I just had to go
break the news to my family. I don't think anyone was going to be
happy with me. Well, maybe Chloe because she enjoys drama, but
other then that... Yeah nope. No one came to mind.

**

I walked through the
dining hall and saw the bachelors sitting together, laughing and it
looked like telling each other jokes. Chloe was sitting next to
Camden and they had that starry-eyed lover look all over their
faces.

I turned and saw Rhet and
Cole eating at their normal spot back by the kitchen door. I got
their attention and timidly waved over in their direction. Oh shit,
I was nervous.

I walked up and I guess I
had a weird look on my face because both Rhet and Cole spoke at the
same time, “What's up with you?”

I sat down across from
them, closed my eyes and took a deep breath, “I called Sarah,” I
said and peeked through my lashes to watch Cole's
reaction.

“Yeah, and...” he said
quietly and ran his hands through his hair.

“Don't kill me. Rhet, hold
him back if you need to.”

“What the hell did you do,
Lexi?” Cole said with a little anger in his voice.

Rhet looked over at him
and slapped his back. “Cool it man, just listen to her.”

“Lexi... Tell me now.”
Cole looked up and stared into my eyes.

“She's coming to the ranch
tomorrow.”

“What!” Cole screamed and
everyone in the room became quiet and turned their attention to
us.

My face turned crimson red
and I yelled a quick, “Sorry. I just told Cole the ending to a
movie he's been wanting to see. He's so dramatic about it.”
Everyone looked away and started back to their own conversations. I
turned back and faced Cole. “Listen, I talked to her and she is a
freaking mess. That asshole Josh left her and Wyatt for another
girl and all she has is her aunt, who's a little crazy, but I mean
she needs us.”

Cole bent his head down
and put his hands over his face, “I can't see them,” he mumbled and
got up from the table to leave. Rhet quickly grabbed his shirt and
pulled him back down to the table.

“Uh huh, man, you need to
deal with this shit. Come on, you have always been there for me and
I supported you with everything when Sarah left. This one time, I
think you need to see them and hear Lexi out.” Rhet said in a stern
voice and I beamed over at him which only made me fall just a
little further off that cliff.

“He's right, Cole. Let's
make sure she is okay, that they are okay,” I said
quietly.

Cole shook his head and
then finally gave in, “Fine, but I'm not promising much to you
guys. Love fucking sucks.”

Rhet laughed and looked
over at me, “Nah, sometimes it's damn amazing.”

“You can't talk, man. You
are in a damn love bubble, and that's not what you used to say,”
Cole said while starting to lighten up a little, he even let out a
little grunt.

“Love bubble huh?” I
looked at Rhet and raised my eyebrows, “It seems like there may be
a story to tell...”

“There's nothing to tell.
I just haven't dated anyone like you,” he interrupted me and smiled
showing his dimples, which made me swoon.

“Yeah? Remember Marissa?”
Cole let out a howl and started laughing uncontrollably.

Rhet sat up straight and
glared over at my brother, “You did not just say that
name.”

Now I was curious.
“Marissa, huh? Star crossed lover?” I smirked and Rhet shook his
head no.

Cole wiped his eyes and
looked over at me, “Oh, Lexi, this is a crazy story, so I would
love to be the one to tell it.” Rhet grumbled something and put his
head back shaking his head. “So one of our buddies from our roping
team decided he had a girl that was perfect for Rhet. Rhet is a
nice guy, he said he would like to go out on a date with her. Well,
they went...”

“She wanted to go see this
monument of President Lincoln's head, that was the first red flag,”
Rhet interrupted as Cole told him to be quiet.

“I'm telling the story.
So, they went on this date to see Lincoln's head, it's some
memorial outside of Laramie, and Marissa talked non-stop about
Lincoln and his assassination. She was apparently a history
buff..”

“No, she wasn't a buff.
She was a crazy obsessed Lincoln groupie, and she said she was at
the theatre when he was shot. She said she had been reincarnated
into her new body, but remembered everything about her previous
life. That's why she loved Lincoln so much.” Rhet interrupted
again.

“That's weird,” I said as
Rhet agreed.

“Yes, well after that date
Rhet was definitely not interested in dating her. He was up front
and told her it probably wasn't going to work out, and she went
crazy.”

“Uh oh, then what
happened?” I asked, loving Rhet's expressions.

“Well, let's just say Rhet
ended up getting a stage five clinger and she made his life a
living hell, she would leave biographies of Lincoln in his truck,
and would send letters about the night of the shooting at least
once a week for a month or so. I think she finally moved out of the
state, to where Lincoln was born or something and we haven't heard
from her since.”

“Wow, you had a stalker,
huh? I could see that.” I winked and he playfully reached over and
tickled me under my jaw.

“Please don't do that
around me.” Cole said and Rhet busted up laughing. “Like I was
saying, the real moral of this story is to never, ever, trust
anyone named Marissa,” Cole joked and Rhet let out a little
grunt.

“Actually, you’re right.
We had a crazy girl in my dorms named Marissa.”

“See,” they both said at
the same time and we all busted out laughing.

“What's so funny?” Chloe
asked as she sat down next to me.

“We were just talking
about how you can never trust anyone named Marissa.”

“True that, oh my gosh
remember that girl from our dorm? She was crazy!” Rhet, Cole, and I
busted up again and Chloe rolled her eyes. “Okay, apparently I
missed more of the joke. Hey, are you ready? I want to get going so
we can hit up a salon and get our nails done.” She smiled
brightly.

“It would be fun to get a
style too, so we are looking extra good for tonight.”

“Love it! Let's go.” She
grabbed my arm and we stood up. Rhet walked around and said he
would walk me to the cabin and say goodbye.

Cole went to find my dad
to tell him Sarah was coming for a few days, and then he needed to
go tend to the horses. Tina came out and gave us both a big hug and
told us to have fun and let loose.

Rhet grabbed my hand when
we got outside and Chloe smirked over at me, “Oh shit, I think I
left my phone on the table. You two go ahead and I'll just be a
minute or so.” She winked over at me. I loved her.

Rhet and I walked down to
my cabin and he held open the door for me. I grabbed a bag and
decided on a cute blouse and my really nice brown boots to wear
tonight, Chloe was bringing a skirt for me so I was all set. I
threw in a maxi dress and a cover for tomorrow with some cute
strappy sandals.

“I'm going to miss seeing
you for the rest of the weekend.” Rhet pouted and walked over to
me. He grabbed my face a gingerly placed his mouth on mine and our
bodies just melted together. I kind of lost it again and raised my
hands, roughly placed them in his hair, and started twisting his
dark locks through my fingers.

Rhet groaned and brought
his hand around my waist and started to gently bring them under my
shirt. I sighed and reached down to start undoing my buttons. He
pulled back and looked in my eyes, and then he suddenly grabbed me
and I jumped to put my legs around his waist. I loved that feeling.
He quickly moved us into my small bathroom and shut the door behind
us.

He placed me up against
the wall and we moaned, and kissed like we weren't going to see
each other for an eternity. He pulled my shirt off and unclasped my
bra. He reached down and gently sucked and teased my nipples,
making me burst into flames.

With his free hand he
reached down and started to unbutton my shorts, I hopped off
quickly to kicked them off. He looked down and admired my body,
“Perfect, you are perfect... Absolutely beautiful.” He grabbed me
around my waist again and we continued in our previous position,
and he started kissing and sucking on my neck while bringing his
fingers down in between my legs. It didn't take long until I was in
a different, blissful universe whispering his name into his
ear.

Rhet chuckled and
continued to kiss me sweetly while I finished riding my wave of
ecstasy. I reached down and unbuckled his pants but he grabbed my
hands. “Rhet, come on.”

“Lexi, I want you. I mean
I want to be in you more than anything, but not here, not in a
bathroom, and when I take you, you have to know you will be mine.
For always.”

I nodded my head and
placed a sweet kiss on the edge of his mouth.

“You really are something,
you know that?” he said sweetly and took me in a warm embrace and
gave me a tight squeeze.