Page 46 of Flippin' Cowboy
“Seattle is beautiful, Our mission is to make it even better,” Winnie heard her old self say on the big TV. She was wearing her trademark pink tool belt and standing next to Geoff, who wore his usual button-down shirt and dress pants.
“Eww,” Winnie muttered under her breath as her on-screen self gave Geoff a sassy, flirtatious look.
She braced herself as the episode opened with footage from Geoff’s filmed proposal the previous season.
Under the table, she felt Nick’s warm, sinewy fingers close around her hand. He didn’t let go as the episode rolled towards its disastrous climax.
And then, there she was, looking worried and uncomfortable in her hideous wedding dress, as Karla rushed up on the dais to deliver the bad news.
Everyone in the diner hissed and booed Geoff’s dramatic announcement, completely drowning out Winnie’s voiceover, recorded last week. Knowing that everyone here was on her side helped dull the humiliation of reliving the event.
Then Brock’s gravelly voice shouted, “Asshole!” at the screen.
And Winnie did the last thing she thought she’d do tonight. She laughed out loud.
Then it was time for the post-wedding retrospective interviews.
Nick’s hard grip anchored her as Geoff’s segment aired.
To her delight, Geoff sounded like a complete jerk when he tried to explain why he hadn’t told Winnie sooner about falling in love with Melanie. Karla didn’t let him off easy about his two-timing and his lack of honesty. In the end, the best he could come up with as an explanation for his boorish behavior was that he had felt embarrassed about changing his mind after proposing on camera. Then, for some insane reason, he decided that waiting until the day of the wedding to break the news was the best course of action.
“Asshole! Asshole! Asshole!” Brock started the chant, and the rest of the attendees quickly took it up.
Winnie was relieved to discover she sounded dignified and well-adjusted during her own interview.
She admitted the experience had hurt and humiliated her, but reassured the viewers that she had moved on by returning to her hometown and starting an exciting restoration project with well-known preservationist Nick Evans.
The Yummy Cowboy exploded in another round of applause.
When it died away, she heard Nick’s voiceover, “And now, stay tuned for a special sneak peek at Winnie’s new show,Reviving Snowberry Springs!”
Karla and Nick both grinned at her.
“This teaser will run during prime time every day this week, right after The Renovation Channel’s most popular shows,” Karla informed her.
“Told you the surprise was a good one,” Nick added smugly.
The teaser began with Winnie’s voiceover of a quick montage of her failed wedding, and the ugly tabloid headlines that followed. “This was the hardest year of my life. But I survived, and you know what they say about ‘what doesn’t kill you.’”
A scattering of applause as the montage shifted to a drone’s flyover footage of Snowberry Springs’ town square.
“Now, I’m back in my hometown of Snowberry Springs, Montana,” Winnie continued as she appeared on-screen feeding and petting the ranch’s horses. More drone footage, an aerial view of Snowberry Springs Ranch this time, was followed by footage of Sunday family dinner, with everyone laughing and passing around dishes of Mom’s home-cooked food. “Because there’s a special project near and dear to my heart: working with noted historical preservationist Nick Evans to restore my great-great-grandmother’s legacy and give it new life as a place to welcome visitors.”
On-screen, the Snowberry Springs Inn’s deserted, derelict interior transitioned to a time-lapse sequence of construction activities, then slowed to the footage of Jason, Nick, and Winnie carefully lifting the newel post of the beautiful old staircase to reveal the roll of architectural drawings.
“Looking good, Jason!” Brock called, and everyone laughed.
“I’m doing my best to look forward, not back, and keep doing what I love.” On-screen, Winnie buckled on her trademark pink tool belt, put on her pink hard hat, and smiled straight at the camera. “Reviving Snowberry Springs,” she finished.
The teaser ended on a shot of her and Nick posing back-to-back on the inn’s porch while a banner on the screen read, “Winnie Snowberry’s next chapter! Coming soon to The Renovation Channel.”
“Did you like that?” Karla asked, her voice barely audible over the clamor of whoops and cheers.
“I loved it!” Winnie exclaimed. She added, “And thank you for making Geoff look completely unhinged during his interview. I owe you one.”
Karla chuckled and shook her head. “I didn’t do anything, Winnie. I just asked the questions and let him run his mouth.”
“You and Nick make a good team,” Grandma Abigail commented. “I had my doubts about you two in the beginning, but I think it’s all working out beautifully.”
