Chapter Five

Travis

A few days had passed since I’d first arrived at Mike’s house. He lived near to the ranch, and I was actually enjoying myself more than I thought I would. There was something about the wide-open space that was doing me more good than I realized. I did very well for myself in Washington, but our family home was huge in comparison. It was quite nice not to wake up to the sound of traffic, and the warm summer air made for a wonderful evening of sitting outside in their big outdoor area. Mike was busy, so we weren’t spending every waking minute together, and after the last fight, we’d actually been kind of nice to one another.

Today I woke up feeling a bit more trepidation as I realized it was the first day that I was due to help out at the ranch. Even though I’d promised to help out, I still hoped that I would get out of it. I expected them to find some more ranch hands after realizing that I wasn’t the right person for the job. But the night before, Allison had told me how grateful she was that I was going to be helping out and I knew there was no way of getting out of it anymore.

I headed downstairs early to enjoy some breakfast before starting my day. Allison told me that she’d have some food ready and waiting for me along with a decent amount of coffee to see me through the day. She made it sound like I was going to need my strength, which worried me a bit. How much work did they expect me to do that day? She wasn’t wrong about having the food ready. The moment I got to the kitchen, the smell of cooking bacon and coffee greeted me, and I immediately felt my stomach grumble.

“Smells so good,” I said.

She smiled. “Pull up a chair. Busy day ahead.”

I groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

“Travis, if you don’t want to do this, I understand. I’m sure we can ask around and see if anyone else would be willing to help out,” she said even though I knew they had nobody else to ask. I instantly felt bad that I had said something.

“I’m just kidding. I don’t mind helping out at all. So, what’s the plan anyway? What’s this group like?”

“I have no idea. There are six guests in total, which I think is a fairly nice amount. Any more and it gets a bit too much to handle. Today will really just be about you showing them around and helping them get settled. But it’s all pretty straightforward. We have the itinerary on our website, which details what they can expect. You know the drill though; it’s all about giving them an authentic experience before they rush back to their city lives and feel like they’ve really lived out in the wild,” she said mockingly and then looked shamefaced when she realized she had just described me. “Uh, I didn’t mean you.”

I laughed. “It’s okay. Well, I’ll do the best I can.”

“Thank you. Now, enjoy your food before heading out. I need to love and leave you. I have a million things to do today.”

I finished my delicious breakfast and then headed out to the ranch. I hoped Mike knew how lucky he was to have a woman like Allison in his life. She’d gotten up early just to make us breakfast and had gone all out. A simple toast would’ve been sufficient, but she was always going out of her way. And she was right: a good meal and set me straight for the day ahead.

A shuttle bus arrived with all the guests, and I watched as they all clambered out looking so completely out of place that it was hard to hold in my laughter. I hoped I didn’t look like some of them did. One of them, a middle-aged man with a big stomach, came bounding up to me with enthusiasm.

“Hi, I’m Jackson,” he said and held his hand out. His handshake was firm and perhaps a little too eager. He looked like a child in a candy store who was desperate to let loose.

I smiled. “Jackson, it’s good to meet you. I’m Travis. How was your trip?”

“Great.  We’re all so excited,” he said loudly, and I could swear I heard someone in the group groan in response. I didn’t blame them. I couldn’t imagine sitting in a room with this guy for too long. I’d also go a little stir crazy. “But I’m definitely the most excited of them all. I couldn’t believe it when I came across the website and I realized that I would get to be a real cowboy for the first time in my life. I mean, isn’t that every boy’s dream?” he said, and I noticed that his accent had changed slightly. He kept putting on one of those exaggerated western accents from cowboy movies, which nobody ever really had. Every now and again he’d slip back into his normal voice, so the whole thing sounded ridiculous.

“Absolutely,” I said with forced enthusiasm. “So what is it that you do?”

“Oh, I’m an accountant. Which is nothing like what I want to be doing. I want to be out here, on the open range, riding my horse off into the sunset.”

I wasn’t sure whether I could stifle a laugh. I was glad I chose not to when I realized that Jackson was being serious. This really was his dream, and he clearly believed that this is what really happened out here. I wondered how many cowboy movies he had watched before coming on this trip. I had a feeling it was one too many. He was wearing a ridiculously over-the-top bright white cowboy costume, complete with chaps and a huge hat. It was the sort of outfit that someone would wear to a dress up party.

But Jackson wasn’t the only one wearing the wrong thing. There were two women standing by the bus who looked to be friends. One clearly didn’t want to be there. The one was wearing good comfortable-looking clothing. They looked expensive, but they were at least suited to the environment. She was a pretty girl with big eyes that probably got her into a lot of trouble. Usually, she’d be the type of girl I would be interested in. But there was something about her friend that I could help but feel intrigued about, even though her outfit was perhaps even worse than Jackson’s. This woman was wearing tight designer jeans, a branded t-shirt, high heels, and oversized sunglasses. Anywhere else she would’ve looked incredible, but out here she just looked silly. And yet… she was gorgeous. I walked straight up to them and introduced myself. I wasn’t looking for a relationship, but it would be nice to have a bit of eye candy throughout my month at the ranch. These two were definitely a sight for sore eyes.

“Hi, I’m Travis. It’s a pleasure to meet you both. Welcome to our ranch.”

“Hi,” said the pretty one with the sensible clothing. “I’m Jillian. I’m so excited to be here. This is my friend Harper.”

Harper took off her glasses, and I was immediately taken aback by her eyes. They were so blue they practically shimmered in the sunlight. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Harper.” I noticed that she didn’t say that she was also excited to be there. In fact, she gave off the distinct impression that this was the last place in the world where she wanted to be. I couldn’t exactly blame her. I hadn’t wanted to be here either. But I came to see my brother. I wondered what her excuse was.

“Harper, I see you came prepared for the outdoors,” I said teasingly as I looked at her outfit. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to tease her, because I was sure it was precisely the wrong thing to do. I wasn’t far off as she gave me an icy look in return.

“Oh yeah?” she said. “That’s okay. I wouldn’t expect you to know anything about fashion. It’s a city thing,” she said and winked at me. “You wouldn’t understand.” She looked me up and down, and for the first time, I felt a little self-conscious in my clothes. I was actually wearing Mike’s clothes after he’d told me that all the clothes I bought were not suited for ranch work. It felt strange being in them—like I was another person.

I resisted the urge to tell her that I lived and worked in D.C., with plenty of fashion-obsessed women around me all day long. Even my students were more fashion conscious than they were about the environment. It drove me mad, but it was something I was very used to. I had already decided I wasn’t going to tell people where I lived. I wanted them to think that I lived at the ranch so that they all treated me with the same respect they would’ve treated any of the other workers. I didn’t respond to her comment, but I smiled sweetly back and her and chuckled. It was easy to play someone else while wearing these clothes. I felt like an actor, and not the same Travis Johns who worked as a college professor for a living.

I wasn’t surprised to see how much luggage the group had, especially Jillian and Harper, who seemed to have even more than everyone else. I imagined that the suitcases were filled to the brim with all the wrong clothes. Most of these were city people who honestly thought that dressing well every day was important. It probably was to them, I reminded myself. I had a bad feeling I’d be spending most of my time taking photos of them all so that they could share with their friends.

“Looks like we’re going to need to make a few trips to do the luggage,” I said as I eyed all the bags which were now out of the shuttle bus. I made a point to look specifically at the bags by Harper’s feet, but she simply looked away as if I hadn’t said anything. I had a feeling she was going to infuriate me. This pleased me. I wanted an interesting group of people to make my month on the ranch a bit more bearable, and Harper and Jillian were certainly interesting.

As we headed out to the main guest house, everyone started speaking all over each other. They were clearly all excited, including Jillian who kept talking about how excited she was to ride the horses. The only person who was quiet throughout the walk was Harper, who seemed mostly uncomfortable. I wondered why she had come. It was pretty clear that she didn’t want to be there.

“Come on, Harper,” Jillian said to her. “Just have an open mind.”

“Sorry, I will,” Harper said to her friend, and I wondered again what the situation was. “But you have to admit that it does smell a bit here.”

I burst out laughing despite myself. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to listen in. You’re right, it is a bit smelly, but you’ll get used to it. “

She laughed, and the sound suited her. “I’m not sure that anyone could get used to that, but I’m glad you didn’t tell me that it smells like roses or something.”

I chuckled. Harper was certainly very interesting. She was slightly annoying and very condescending, and yet there was something about her feistiness that I couldn’t help but feel attracted to. It didn’t harm that she looked like she’d just stepped out of some fashion magazine. I smiled to myself as I showed everyone to their rooms.  Maybe working on the ranch wasn’t going to be such a bad thing after all.