Page 59 of Choosing the Montana Cowboy

“Tempting,” she said. “And for the record? I’d take riding Marshmallow over cleaning sewage water out of a basement any day.”

Sam whistled on the other end of the line. “Damn, itmusthave been bad over there.”

“It’s definitely been better.”Would be better even with the mess if you were here.She sighed. “But the insurance guy will be out in the morning, so hopefully he will get me all taken care of. And I found a flight from Indy to Bozeman on Tuesday, so I’ve just got to find a ride to the airport before I buy that ticket. Hopefully, Uncle Ralph or Cyndi can take me.”

“Tuesday? Man, you’re going to miss all the ferret fun,” Sam teased. He filled her in on night one of the stakeout, including how Sam and the girls had stayed with Neil until the wee hours of the morning. Unfortunately, no ferrets were seen at their location. Today, Neil would use his fancy motion-sensing software to review the video from the other three sites. “Tonight, he’s going to set up camp by the beaver dam and watch the sight, solo. He said it would help him focus, but I think he just doesn’t want to get into another drinking match with me.”

Natalie laughed, totally picturing those two trying to outdo each other again. “Well, keep me posted. I’ll just be here, cleaning and sorting.”

“Will do. Good luck,” he said. “And Natalie?”

“Yeah, Sam?”

“Hurry back, honey.”

She disconnected and held the phone to her chest. It’d barely been twenty-four hours since she’d arrived home, and already she was missing him terribly. Grinning, she rose to her feet.I’m as bad as a smitten schoolgirl.

Natalie spent the rest of the afternoon in her backyard, going through the boxes she’d brought up from the basement. Most had come into contact with the sewer water, but, thankfully, not all. The ones that had, though, required her to go through them, piece by piece, to see what, if anything, could be saved. Thankfully, several of the boxes had small, plastic containers within them that kept those contents clean and dry. But the sorting and checking was slow, tedious work. Twice, she went inside to escape the smell and the heat, only to doze off on the couch. By nightfall, she was spent.

Too tired to think straight, she got cleaned up and crawled into bed, intending to figure out her flight arrangements in the morning. After all, there couldn’t be that many people vying for a seat from Indy to Bozeman when it wasn’t skiing season.

She awoke Monday, well ahead of the insurance adjustor’s scheduled visit, and was surprised to find a video message from Sam. There was no sound, only the view of another gorgeous, Montana sunset. Natalie smiled at the sweet sentiment; she missed sunsets with him, too. She raised her finger to swipe past the video but stopped as the camera view slowly zoomed in. There, in the long, deep shadows of dusk, a mama ferret and her three kits played peek-a-boo in one of the abandoned prairie dog burrows Madison had pointed out, down by the river.

He’d done it—Neil had captured what they needed.

The ranch would be saved!

Natalie jumped out of bed and did a little dance, relieved not to have to pursue a resort that could have greatly impacted the Miles family. She texted him back, though he was likely still asleep at this hour, and said she’d call him later so he could tell her all about it. She did another little happy dance as she forwarded the video on to her boss in an email with a single line of text.

Endangered ferret presence confirmed.

Still smiling, she headed for the shower, feeling lighter than she’d felt in weeks. Two, to be exact.

No resort! Oh, Sam would be so happy. She could nearly picture his face already. And hadn’t he said something about celebrating when the ferrets had been found? If that celebration was anything like its precursor by the river, it was sure to be a mighty fine time. She could hardly wait to get back out west.

Cyndi called later that morning, and the women made plans to do brunch and catch up. Thankfully, her home had no basement and was spared from the mess that Natalie walked into. She’d offered to come and help the moment she heard Natalie was back in town, but Natalie didn’t want her around the mess or the smell. Lunch seemed a far more enjoyable way to reconnect.

Natalie had just finished with her hair and makeup when Steven’s response arrived in her inbox.

Natalie,

Thank you for sending me that video. While it’s certainly a disappointment that we’ll have to relocate the River Bend Resort project, the timing couldn’t be better. We need you in Greensboro to keep that project from tanking. I had Joyce go ahead and buy us plane tickets—you fly out of Fort Wayne Sunday at 4 p.m. Wanted to make sure you had a few extra days at home, since I know you have quite a mess on your hands.

See you soon,

Steven

“Noooo.” She ran a hand into her hair as she read it again. “No, no, no!”

Was it too late to change her flight? Joyce was a magician when it came to such things. Surely, she could find a way to push that flight back a few more days.

But I need to go back to Marietta. The mayor’s expecting me at tomorrow’s rescheduled hearing, Natalie emailed back, struggling not to end every sentence with a dozen exclamation marks.

Corporate thinks it best if we have our environmental team and legal contact the mayor, he responded, oblivious to her distress. “Where we really need you is Greensboro.”

“But I left things unsaid in Montana,” she whispered to her otherwise empty home.

She dropped onto her bed, feeling completely helpless. Because what could she possibly tell Steven that wouldn’t mean he eitherA… came up with workarounds to her scheduling excuses orB… learned that she’d fallen for the River Bend Resort project’s biggest opponent?

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