Right Here Waiting (2 page)

“If for any reason you can’t fulfill your end of the
deal, the ranch will automatically be turned over to me,” Blade explained.

That was it.  Her mind was made up. There was no way she
would allow this place to be turned over to this arrogant man. She would
fulfill her end of the will and tough it out on the ranch for a whole year,
even if it meant she lost her job.

After the year was up, she would sell this place and be
through with it. No more ranch. No more Blade Thorne.  And definitely no more
memories of his harsh words or the way they still affected her. She would be
through with this place, and she could always go back to New York and find
another job. She was a hardworking, intelligent, successful young woman, and
she would thrive. For her own sake, she needed to. This year would come and go
so quickly, it would be over before she knew it.

“Not on your life. I’m staying.”

“Will you be staying in your parents’ old bedroom or one
of the guest cabins?” Blade asked.

“Cabins?”  There were no cabins five years ago.

“Yes, cabins. We have about twenty five guests staying
with us currently. You will need to come up with a list of activities to keep them
entertained in the days to come.”

“Activities?” What did she get herself into? She didn’t
know the first thing about running a ranch. Let alone a guest ranch.

“Unless you don’t feel up to the task,” he taunted.

“Did I say that?”

“I just thought – “

“Well you thought wrong,” she snapped.

The screen door opened and then slammed shut as a man
entered the house. She nearly fell off her chair and quickly braced herself. The
man was the spitting image of Blade, minus the gray in his hair.

“Megan, I’d like you to meet my cousin, Rex Thorne. He
works here on the ranch. He can take over my duties this evening while I help
you get settled in and teach you some of the ropes of ranching.”

It’s going to be a long year after all, she thought as
his words sank in. How was she ever going to survive it? With a Blade
look-a-like running around on top of the original, she needed to put all her
personal feelings aside and focus on the ranch. She needed to survive this. That’s
all there was to it.

Rex eyed her with open interest. “I think I’d much rather
help Megan get settled in. I’d hate to take you away from your duties.”

“If anyone helps her get settled in, it will be me,”
Blade snapped at Rex, startling everyone in the room. “Do I make myself clear?”

She jumped in before Rex could reply. “If there’s a
problem, I can get myself situated.”

“It won’t be a problem,” Blade said, lowering his voice. There
was something new in his tone she couldn’t quite place. “In fact, it would be a
pleasure,” he added.

CHAPTER TWO

I
t was finally agreed. Blade would help
her get settled in after supper. Since Martha was living in one of the cabins
and no one slept in the ranch house anymore except Blade, she would be sleeping
in one of the empty guest cabins.

She was happy to learn the one she would be staying in
for the next year was not only equipped with a phone, but all the other modern
amenities such as a bathroom with working plumbing and access to the internet.

Blade put his cowboy hat back on his head. He followed
his cousin Rex out of the house, but not before both men grabbed a handful of
cookies from the tray Martha placed on the counter.

“I do believe it is impossible to keep those men well fed
and satisfied,” Martha declared as she pulled up a chair at the table across
from her and sat down. “At mealtimes I make enough to feed a small army and
they still come back demanding food between meals.”

“Why do you do it?” She was just now realizing once the
ranch was sold, Martha would have to leave. What would Martha do? Would she
ever see her again? “Was there ever anything else you wanted to do with your
life, besides work on this ranch?”

“I do it because I love it. Besides, who else would be
able to keep Blade and the rest of these men in line?”

Martha made a point she couldn’t argue with. She
witnessed on many occasions as a teen how Martha had Blade practically eating
out of her hand. She knew it wasn’t an easy feat. “So there’s really nothing
else you would rather be doing with your life?”

“Of course not. You, Blade and the rest of these men on
this ranch are the only family I’ve got. I’m happy right here. I don’t think
I’d be happy living anywhere else. I can’t even imagine doing anything else
with my life other than what I’m doing now.”

She
could relate. She thought of Martha as family. Heck, she even thought of Blade
as family to a certain extent, especially now since her parents died.

She couldn’t believe both her parents wanted to be
cremated. There would be no funeral. Only a small memorial service day after
tomorrow at the Good Shepard Baptist Church, a few miles away from the ranch
they called home since the day they’d gotten married over twenty years ago. “What’s
with the sad expression?” Martha asked. Her concerned voice brought back even
more memories from her youth.

“I was just thinking. It’s not important. Why don’t you
have a cookie or two with me? It’ll be like old times.”

“No thank you. I’m on a diet to rid myself of a few extra
pounds I have been packing around for the past couple of years or so.”

“I sure wish I had your willpower,” she said as she
pulled the plate of cookies back in front of her. “I’ve been trying to lose
fifteen pounds or so myself, but I just can’t stick to a diet long enough to
lose them.”

As if to prove her point, she picked up a peanut butter
cookie and took a bite out of it.

“Why on God’s green earth would you want to lose any
weight? You have a body most women would die for, including me.”

“I’m fat.”

“Says who? You saw how Blade and Rex were eying you. They
both liked what they saw.” Martha smiled.

She blushed. The truth was, her last lover, Anton
Charbonneau said she was fat. Every time they made love, he made it a point to
tell her exactly where she could lose a pound or two. She couldn’t tell Martha
about Anton’s comments.

She changed the subject. “So what other changes have been
made around here?”

“There’s more staff working here than the day you left.”

“Really? Rex isn’t the only person hired on?”

“When your parents decided to turn this ranch into a
guest ranch, they needed to hire on a few extra workers, including an assistant
cook to assist me, and even a whole office team.”

“An office team? You mean there are offices here on the
ranch now?”

“I’m sure you noticed the red brick building when you
first entered the gates and started up the drive.”

She noticed it. She also noticed the sign, which hung above
the gates when she entered. It read, ‘Happy Meadow Ranch’. “What possessed my
parents to turn this into a guest ranch?”

With the economic hardships this nation has faced, your
parents were forced to either close the ranch and sell it, or turn it into a
guest ranch. Lucky for all of us who work here they chose the latter.”

In the last few letters she received from home, not once
did her parents mention to her about converting the place into a guest ranch. She
could see why her parents made the choice they did though.

Her parents put their all into this ranch. They worked
hard to get it built up to what it was today. “They hired on all these extra
staff workers, but not an activities director?”

“Oh, they hired one.”

“Where is he or she right now?”

“She quit and walked off the job two days ago.”

“Why did she quit?”

“She claimed she couldn’t work with a man like Blade.”

Her heart went out to the girl. She didn’t know how she
was going to work with a man like Blade. She only knew she needed to. “Isn’t
anything being done to find a new one?”

“The office has an ad running in the Boise newspaper, but
so far nothing has come of it.”

So now she was stuck with the job. She could only hope
for a miracle. She might be able to pull together a couple of activities, but
no more. As much as she hated to admit it, she would probably have to have
Blade help her just to pull it off.

* * *

D
inner on the ranch was served at precisely
seven in the evening. Blade would be eating in the house with her and Martha. The
rest of the staff ate their dinner in the dining hall with the guests. She now
understood why Martha needed an assistant cook.

She saw Blade come in about forty minutes ago. He’d gone
upstairs to shower and change into some clean clothes which he kept in the
bedroom he slept in. He would always be like a member of the family. She
couldn’t explain why, but when she saw Blade her heart beat a little faster and
it was almost as if she were happy to see him.

Don’t be a fool,
she scolded herself. He already hurt
her once, but now she was older, she would not allow herself to be entertained
with childish fantasies. He wouldn’t be any more interested in her today than
he was back then. He probably still viewed her as just a child.

Supper consisted of roast beef, baby potatoes, green
beans, and a salad. Over all it was delicious. She couldn’t recall the last
time she had eaten a home cooked meal. 

It would have been before she left the ranch. Her life in
New York City was so rushed there was no time to cook. Her meals centered
around take out from the deli around the corner and food delivered in, rather
it be at her penthouse apartment or her spacious office at work.

“This is delicious, Martha,” she commented.

Blade only nodded his agreement. He hadn’t said one word
to her since he sat down at the supper table.  She wondered if he still planned
on helping her get settled into her cabin, which would be her home for the next
year of her life.

The thought made her shudder. As much as she loved being
here and seeing Martha again, she longed to be back in her apartment in the
city that never sleeps.

It took some time to adjust to city life, but before she
knew it, she was making friends and hanging out with the locals.

Of course she made a lot of mistakes in the beginning,
but she learned from them quickly. Being alone in New York City at such a young
age helped her grow and mature into the woman she was today. She was a successful,
career oriented woman.

“Thank you dear for your kind words,” Martha said, folding
her napkin in her lap. “But as you know, I can’t take all the credit. At least
half, if not more goes to Allison.”

Allison was Martha’s assistant cook. She met Allison when
the young girl came up to the main house to help Martha prepare supper. She
seemed like a very nice girl and appeared to be shy.

When Martha brought out the decadent chocolate cake for
dessert, she knew she needed to show some willpower, especially after eating
all those peanut butter cookies earlier. She declined dessert apologizing as
she patted her stomach, and asked to be excused from the table.

Blade looked up at her. The way he was looking at her, it
was as if he could see into her very soul. She froze, not knowing what to say. 
Was something wrong?

“Meet me in the living room in twenty minutes so we can
get started,” he said after a long, awkward moment of silence.

She breathed a sigh of relief. After assuring him she
would, she escaped to the comfort and safety of her childhood bedroom. It was
converted into her mother’s sewing room after she left home. How was she ever
going to be able to work comfortably alongside this man when she despised him
so much over the years?

She glanced in the mirror. Her hair was a mess, but it
would have to wait until she could find her hairbrush.
A shopping trip is in
order,
she thought as she dug through the only suitcase she brought with
her. It was filled with designer clothing, none of which was suitable for ranch
work. At last she found her hairbrush at the very bottom.

She pulled out the pins holding her hair up, which begun
to slip throughout the course of the day, leaving her hair in disarray. Her
long, brunet colored hair spilled down across her shoulders.

She began piling her hair up on top of her head in a
French twist same as she styled it that morning before leaving the hotel she
spent the night in, but she changed her mind and let it fall back down. She
fished out a hairband from her suitcase, and when she found it, she pulled her
hair back into a ponytail instead as she always did when she was a teenager.
Much
more suitable for ranch life
, she thought as she looked at her reflection
in the mirror. If only she could say the same for her clothes.

She wore a light gray designer business skirt, matching
jacket and a white silk button up blouse. What looked good on her back in New
York City, now looked out of place here in Idaho. But what could she do?  She
would have to wait until she could go shopping for more comfortable ranch
attire.