Chapter 4
Nice Boots
The sun slinks over the horizon between two towering mountain peaks as I unlock my hotel room door for my last night staying in town.
After the roller coaster of emotions that was breakfast at Lone Pine Ranch, I spent the day working on my laptop from a cute western-themed coffee shop downtown called Altitude Coffee Co.
Now that I’m absolutely positive all of the other rentals I manage are taken care of, I can finally relax a little bit before the crew arrives for the start of the renovations on the ranch cabin.
I’m buzzing with anticipation. This is my favorite part of every project.
When there’s so much potential I can feel it starting to take shape.
My fingers run over the lasso imprinted on my to-go coffee cup for the hundredth time. I blink a few times, my eyes drying out from looking at the screen.
I haven’t managed to set down my leather work bag yet when my phone starts buzzing again. I pull it out of my pocket and breathe a sigh of relief when Hazel’s name flashes across the screen, instead of anyone from MacPherson.
“Hey, babe,” I answer, walking out to the balcony. Might as well spend as much time out here as I can.
“Hi!” Hazel answers way too loudly and out of breath. “I haven’t heard from you in days, just wanted to make sure you’re still alive.”
“Sorry, it’s been a little crazy since I got here. But yes, I made it okay, Mom,” I tease. I run a hand through my hair absentmindedly. “Did you just finish a ride or something? You sound like you just ran a mile.”
“Yes, very busy around here and all that. Start of the busy season. You know the drill,” she says.
“I sure do,” I laugh. “It’s a bit like that around here too. It actually reminds me a lot of Juniper Ridge. Very touristy, very beautiful. The mountains are unreal. You have to come up and visit while I’m here. Bring Wadey while you’re at it.”
“I’ll run it by him tonight, I’m sure he’ll want to,” she says.
Wade is our shared friend, although he’s much more Hazel’s than mine.
They’ve been best friends since before I moved to Juniper Ridge, although I’ve always thought there was something more between them they haven’t admitted to themselves yet.
They’re my favorite people in the world, next to my aunt.
“So, how is it? I need a recap of your arrival. Is the cabin amazing?”
“The cabin is gorgeous. The ranch surrounding it is a dream. The view is just unmatched, I don’t know who wouldn’t want to stay there. I can’t wait to jump into renovations,” I smile.
“I’m sure you’ll rock it, as usual,” she says. I hear a horse whiney in the background, letting me know she’s in the barn.
“If angry cowboy will let me, that is,” I say with a sigh, twirling my hair around my finger.
Hazel is quiet for a moment, and I can practically hear her confusion. “Yeah, you’re going to have to elaborate. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I let out a dry laugh. I didn’t think about it until now, but she has actually met Miles before, and will definitely have an opinion on this.
“Well, it turns out Walter has a son who isn’t super thrilled MacPherson Enterprises bought some of their land.
He let that be known to me very loudly the moment I arrived. ”
“You’re kidding,” she exclaims. “Nice old Walter has a son? Does he know the deal is already done? He doesn’t have much of a say now.”
I rub my face in my hands. “That’s the problem, I don’t think he knew about it at all.” Honestly, I get where Miles is coming from. I’d hate finding out about it the way he did. But he had a chance to redeem his bad behavior today, and he didn’t. He doubled down.
“Well, that’s kind of shitty. What did he say to you?”
“Just the usual, that I’m not supposed to be there, as if I was trespassing on his land vandalizing it. He was so mad I thought he was going to blow a fuse. But that’s not even the best part,” I say.
“What do you mean? Something else happened?” she asks. There’s a loud crash behind her and she mumbles a few swear words under her breath. I’m used to this kind of thing with Hazel, she cannot stop working for five minutes. Not even for a phone call.
“Well, as I was talking to him I was thinking, ‘Man, this guy looks so familiar. But there’s absolutely no way I’d know him,’ right?
Until he recognized me. He wasn’t super happy about seeing me again, by the way.
But it took me a minute to figure it out, until he introduced himself.
As Miles Autry,” I say, waiting for her to freak out like I did.
“Am I supposed to know that name? Help me out here,” she says, confused.
“Miles. Salt Lake City on my twenty-first birthday.” I wave my hands around listing descriptive details as if she can see me through the phone. With how close Hazel and I are, she probably can. “Dark haired cowboy, worked on a ranch in Wyoming–”
“Oh my god! No way! Sexy Cowboy!” she yells.
My mind flashes back to four years ago when she first whispered that nickname, pointing him out to me in the bar.
He looked so sad, sitting by himself lost in thought at the bar.
I wonder what he was thinking about then.
“Well, that’s a good thing, right? You two know each other, a little bit at least. And he was so sweet. You got along so well.”
“Yeah, not the case anymore,” I let out a dry laugh. “Sometime in the past four years he’s acquired a huge stick up his ass. He hates me, Hazel. For real. He was so angry, even after he recognized me. Honestly, it took me off guard.”
“What a jerk,” she says.
“If you can believe it, that’s not all. His parents invited me over to their house for breakfast this morning.
Beautiful ranch house by the way, it’s right out of a movie.
Anyway, while I was there I accidentally overheard him talking about me when I left the room and he literally said ‘I don’t like her.
’ Straight up. I don’t even have to assume.
He’s scared MacPherson is going to come in and take over their whole ranch,” I explain.
“Wow. He is an asshole. Has he not met you? You’re a delight. How can anyone dislike you?”
“I know, I’m a ray of sunshine every waking minute,” I joke with a smile. Hazel and I both know she is the ray of sunshine. I’m more of an extremely loud tornado.
“I’m so sorry, Kate. That’s crazy. What are you going to do?” she asks.
“Honestly, nothing. It’s not my problem. I bought the land, there’s nothing he can do about it. I’ll be cordial to him, and nothing more. Hopefully I won’t have to see him much anyway,” I say.
“Well, that sounds fine to me. His loss, you’re an awesome person to be around,” she says.
I laugh and take another sip of the coffee I brought home with me.
It’s starting to get cold, but I’m desperate for the caffeine.
“Thanks. The Autry’s invited me to stay at their small guest cabin on the ranch since it’s close to my cabin during renovations, so I have tonight in the hotel then I’m packing up and heading out there. It’ll be convenient to be so close.”
“Oh that’s nice of them,” she says, “You know, you should go out since it’s your last night in town. Take advantage of the bars in walking distance. It’d probably do wonders for your stress levels.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I say. I have no problem going out by myself, I do it all the time back home when Hazel and Wade are busy. “I’ll see where I get on the renovation prep.”
“Stop it,” she reprimands suddenly.
“Stop what?”
“Stop working. You’ve worked enough I’m sure. I don’t have to be there to know that. Get out of your hotel room and have some fun.”
I sigh and look out towards the street. It’s twilight now, the glow of lights illuminating the row of buildings.
I can hear voices and laughter below, visitors stepping out for the night.
Jackson Hole does have some famous western bars.
Hazel is right, if I’m going to check them out, tonight is the night.
“Okay fine, I’m going,” I say, standing from my chair.
“I’ll leave you with some advice you’ve always given me in situations like this: wear something slutty!” She yells.
“Yeah, yeah. Talk to you later,” I hang up the phone and head inside. Might as well have some fun here while I can.
I can’t help but smile as I step past the wooden saloon swinging doors and walk into Alpine Rose, the bar right across the street from my hotel.
The big neon rose glowing in the dark starry sky pulled me in, and now that I’m here, I never want to leave.
It’s a pretty big bar with rows of pool tables, bar stools made of real saddles, every type of alcohol known to man in elegant wooden shelving behind the bar, and it’s already hopping in here.
All kinds of people, at all levels of tipsy, and almost everyone is wearing cowboy boots and hats. This is my new favorite place.
My boots click against the hardwood floors as I walk over to the bar, find an open stool, and order a whiskey sour. They’ve been my favorite since I first had one with Miles all those years ago, and I’m not about to give them up now just because he’s a jerk. He can’t take whiskey from me.
“What can I get you?” A polite voice says from behind the bar. I glance over to a woman about my age shaking a cocktail. The name tag on her black shirt says “Codie” in big, swoopy letters. Raven hair falls out of her braid, framing her face.
I smile back, leaning in a bit so she can hear me over the loud music playing. “Whiskey sour, please.”
“A woman after my own heart,” she laughs. “Coming right up.”
She pours the drink from her mixer into a glass, sliding it over to a guy at the end of the bar. When she comes back over to where I’m sitting, she has a bottle of Jack Daniels in her hand.
“So, are you new here or just passing through?” She asks, measuring her whiskey pour.
“I’m here for the summer. For work. I live in Idaho.”
“Welcome to Jackson then,” she smiles. “I’m Codie.”