Page 6 of Wrangling Nash

I chuckled. My memories of ranch life were of the tough ranch hands that my grandfather hired working long, hard hours under the Texan sun. There wasn’t a lot of time for niceties, though I did appreciate Rig offering to show me the ropes.

“I think you know in your heart what you need to do, Jovie,” Sienna said, standing up. “It’d suck to lose you but think about what you can do with that amount of money all at once. You could finally finance the dream you've always had,” she said, smiling with a wink and then closed my office door behind her.

I swiveled in my chair, looking at the city below as Houston traffic began to pick up for the evening commute. Sienna's words echoed in my mind as I thought about the dream that'd been in my heart since I was a little girl. Pulling out my phone, I did a simple Google search for the number of acres that Ashwood Ranch had.

“Ashwood Ranch boasts 3000 acres,” Google chirped back at me.

Shit.

Next, I typed in ‘what’s the average cost per acre of rural land in Lonestar Junction, Texas?’

“The average cost per acre of rural land in Lonestar Junction Texas is three thousand dollars,” Google chirped back at me again.

Double shit.

I sucked in my breath. I could walk away with close to nine million dollars if I stuck it out on my grandfather’s ranch for the next 12 months. That would be more than enough to fund my business idea and set my mom and sister up for life.

I knew in my heart what I needed to do though my mind was screaming to stay in Houston.

This time, my heart won.

Guess it's time to go put in my notice with Daniel.

Chapter 5: Jovie

Three days later…

“So, this is really happening?” Stevie asked.

“Yes,” I sighed as I threw another pair of jean shorts into my suitcase.

“And you’re leaving tomorrow?”

“I am.”

“Well shit, what am I going to do about your room? Should I put an ad out for a new roommate?”

Of course she’s only thinking about how this impacts her life.

“I’m still going to have most of my belongings here. I’ll keep sending you checks for rent. It’s only a year, Stevie.”

“Ok, good. Because I really didn’t want a stranger living with me. I like walking around the apartment in just my underwear and the way our furniture is set up."

I laughed, "I know."

"How’d Patrick take things?” she asked.

“I haven’t told him yet. We’re going to dinner tonight.”

“Damn.”

I shrugged. “We’ve only been dating for six months. I figured he won't be that heartbroken.”

“Yeah, but you’re 30 now, and he’s, what, 35? Once guys hit 35 it’s like a switch that flips inside them to start finding ‘the one’. They start thinking about babies, marriage, all that shit."

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not a thing, Stevie.”

She nodded and reached for a magazine by my bedside, flipping through it listlessly. “What are you going to do there for entertainment? Grandpa’s ranch is in the middle of nowhere and it’s not like you’re going to be able to go out and make new friends.”

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