Page 18 of Wannabe in Wyoming
Willow gritted her teeth, fury bubbling inside her.Keep your mouth shut. Putting this old biddy in her place isn’t worth it, even if it would be so satisfying. She cleared her throat and turned another page in her magazine. Her mother had taught her to respect her elders, even when they were being small-minded judgmental assholes.
“Just like divorce. Marriage is a sacrament not to be broken by anything less than death. That’s why the vows are ‘until death do us part.’ Not until we get sick of each other.”
That’s it!Willow’s mouth opened and words poured out before she even realized it. “Marriage is a sacrament, but when one party decides he’d rather stick his prick in another woman, the sacrament is broken. Maybe God should be a little more understanding in that regard.”
It was as if a silent bomb had gone off in the room. All eyes were back on her, this time in shock. Mouths gaped. Ginger’s and Martha’s hands were frozen in the air above their clients’ heads. It was surprising when Martha seemed to recover first and quickly did some damage control. “Now, ladies, you’re here to enjoy an afternoon getting pampered. No need for us to be sniping at each other. Ginger, I think Mrs. Jenkins’s hair looks lovely. Why don’t you get her checked out, so she can enjoy the rest of her day and show off that lovely hairdo?”
Willow remained quiet, actually astonished that Martha hadn’t kicked her out of her shop after she’d snubbed Willow the previous time they’d crossed paths. Dropping her gaze to the magazine in front of her with an air of nonchalance, Willow did her level best to calm down and ignore the nasty older woman. Her week was going to be wonderful—Nathan was coming to stay with her—and she refused to let the poison the woman spewed to ruin it for her.
“You know,” Willow looked up to see Mrs. Jenkins standing in front of her with a pious look on her face, “like father, like daughter. I’m sure that awful man that sired you is burning in Hell. No doubt you’ll be right beside him.”
Stunned, Willow’s mouth fell open, but her temper rose faster than her shock. Somehow, she managed to keep her tone as sweet as molasses. “Since we’re all born sinners, I’ll be seeing you in Hell too, no doubt. Have a good day, Mrs. Jenkins, I’ll be praying for you.” She smiled as broadly as she could force herself, thinking that two could play at this game. If the old bitch was so shocked by her tattoos and nose ring, wouldn’t it just chap her ass to find out Willow had her nipples pierced too? Willow was almost tempted to whip those puppies out, just to see the other woman faint.
Mrs. Jenkins huffed and stormed out of the salon in a cloud of perfume and indignation.
Ginger coughed and ducked her head to hide her grin. “Willow? Ready, sweetie?”
“Sure am.” Setting her magazine aside, she followed Ginger to the back of the salon where the sink stations were as the other three women stared at her in shock. “I need to look good for my trip to Hell, right?”
Chapter Fourteen
Nathan sat nervouslyat the small desk in his bedroom in the apartment he shared with Sergeant Zach Ramsey near the base, with his laptop open in front of him. Willow had agreed to Skype him at 7:00 p.m. that night, and he’d sat down with fifteen minutes to spare, just in case she called a little early. He hoped he didn’t babble like an idiot when he was finally face-to-face with her. It was bad enough he’d sounded like a teenage dork when she’d surprised him with the phone call yesterday.
Taking a quick glance behind him for the third or tenth time since he’d sat down, he made sure everything was uncluttered and there were no stray dirty clothes in view. Being in the military for so long had instilled the need to be clean, orderly, and prompt, three traits that would probably follow him until the day he died.
His knee jiggled under the desk, and he double-checked the Skype app on the computer, making sure it was open and working. Damn, he was going to go nuts if she didn’t call soon. The clock in the upper right corner of the screen read 6:55.
He was just about to get up and quickly run to the kitchen to grab a soda from the fridge when the quirky Skype music for an incoming call erupted from the computer’s speakers. His nerves ratcheted up several notches as he wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and then clicked his mouse to accept the call. Suddenly, there she was, looking more beautiful than she’d been in her pictures. Her hair was perfectly styled, but the pink tips were gone, and she was wearing subtle makeup which only enhanced her facial features. The emerald-colored t-shirt she had on made her hazel eyes appear more green than brown. Squinting closer, he noticed the script on her shirt read “Stop Chicken Me Out” with a white outline of a chicken wearing sunglasses below the words.
Staring at her, he almost swallowed his tongue. He’d tried searching for her on social media sites, to see if there were any other pictures of her on them but hadn’t been able to find her accounts. When they’d spoken on the phone last night, he’d learned she wasn’t on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or any other sites anymore. There wasn’t anyone from her past she really wanted to stay connected to, so there’d been no reason to keep the accounts she’d made years ago, since she never used them. Nathan didn’t blame her. He only had a Facebook account that had all the security measures in place so no one could track him down unless he wanted them to. He stayed in touch with a few high school classmates, two cousins from California, who he hadn’t seen in person since his family’s funeral, and a bunch of Army buddies who were scattered around the globe, but that was it.
“Oh my God, Nathan. Is that really you?” Willow asked in a husky, nearly breathless tone that sent a shiver down his spine. He hadn’t gotten around to sending her a photograph of himself without all his gear on, so this was the first time she was really seeing him. He’d been worried that she wouldn’t find him attractive, but her next words squashed that fear. “Holy crap, you’re hot!” Her eyes widened in shock as she slapped a hand over her mouth for a moment. “Oh, shit. I didn’t just say that out loud, did I? Please tell me I didn’t. God, I’m such a babbling idiot.” She groaned softly and sighed. “Shutting up now.”
He smiled and chuckled at her. Damn, she was so cute. “You did say it out loud, but I promise I won’t hold it against you. In fact, I’ll say it right back at you. Holy crap, you’re hot!” His grin grew as she giggled at him. “Actually, the words I really want to use are beautiful, stunning, captivating, beautiful . . .”
His voice trailed off as he watched a blush stain her cheeks. She was clearly flustered by his compliments.
“You—you said beautiful twice.”
“It was worth mentioning twice.” There was a long pause of silence between them as they studied each other, and then Nathan cleared his throat. He felt like he had the subtlety of a bull in a china shop, but this woman disarmed him completely. “Um, so I booked my flight for Saturday. I’ll email you the itinerary later.”
She smiled and sat up straighter. From the looks of it, she was on a couch, probably in her living room. He could see a painting of the ocean behind her on the wall, but the details were too hard to make out. “Great, I can’t wait to show you around the metropolis known as Antelope Rock! The tour should take a whopping twenty minutes or so, but it’s definitely worth it. And there’ll be a quiz afterward,” she added with a wink.
“I’ll try to pay attention, but I’m sure I’ll be distracted by the tour guide. What do I get if I pass the quiz?”
“Hmm. I’ll have to get back to you on that. How was work today?”
As they chatted, he felt the earlier apprehensive tension in his shoulders subside. She was so easy to talk to—there was no room for nerves. “A lot better than it’s been for the last eleven months. It feels amazing to be back on US soil doing mundane work and not have to worry about getting shot or blown up.” His stomach dropped when she gaped at him in horror. “Shit, I shouldn’t have said that. It—it wasn’t that bad, Willow. There were just days that were worse than others. But I’m home safe and sound now, so there’s nothing for you to worry about anymore.”
She swallowed hard, and he could swear he saw her eyes well up, but no tears fell. “I-I tried not to think about what you were doing over there . . . what you were facing. I kept telling myself, whatever your job was, it didn’t put you in any danger. It was scary to think otherwise and to know if something did happen to you, I’d probably never know other than your letters would have stopped coming.”
He didn’t tell her that he’d added a death letter to his footlocker over there after receiving her care package. It was the first letter he’d put in there since he’d ripped up the one for his parents and sister in his grief after they’d died. If he’d been killed or seriously injured in action, someone would’ve notified Willow for him and let her know how much he’d cherished her letters and friendship over the last several months. He hadn’t wanted what she’d been worried about to happen. If his letters had stopped coming, she wouldn’t have had to wonder if he’d been killed or so badly hurt that he couldn’t write, as opposed to if he hadn’t wanted to continue writing to her—which would have never happened. Those letters had been a lifeline for him, one he hadn’t known he’d needed.
“I would’ve made sure someone had told you. I never would’ve left you hanging like that. But that’s all the in past. Nothing to worry about anymore.” Before she could dwell on the subject, he changed it. “So, how wasyourday?”
He was grateful when a smile reappeared on her face. “It was fantastic! I had another horseback riding lesson this morning, and I’m getting pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. We’ll definitely have to go riding while you’re here. But the best thing that happened was the phone call I got this afternoon. Do you remember the Brodericks? I told you they’re the ones who own the alpaca farm I went to check out.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
