Chapter 1 : Hidden Valley Ranch

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Jess sighed as he sat down on the bale of hay. It had been a long day. He picked up a long piece of grass to chew on then lay back on his elbows to watch the sunset across the pasture.

"Rough day, huh?" A young man with dirty blond hair, blue eyes and about 6'2, approached Jess.

"I never knew wrangling horses would be so hard," Jess replied, his gaze still in front of him.

"You'll get used to it. It's only your 4th week. It took me a while too."

"Rick, you were born to do this, you've been living on ranches since you were 5. Me however, I'm a city kid, I never imagined myself out here."

"Maybe this just isn't your thing. What are you doing out here anyways? No offense, but you don't seem too happy working here."

Jess sighed. "I just needed to get away from the east coast. I have a bad past there and I just want to forget about it. California's not for me so I settled on the Midwest. It's not too bad, but the whole ranch-hand thing is out of my league."

"What would you want to do then if you weren't here?"

"Write, definitely write. I have some stuff back at the cabin, but nothing that will get me anywhere. Yet."

A bell rang off in the distance. "Well that's dinner, you wanna head in?" Rick asked.

Jess turned around to Rick. "You go ahead, I'll be in later."

Once Rick had left, Jess turned back around and pulled a book out of his pocket and began to read as the sun continued to set. He'd barely gotten into the book when he heard someone else approaching him.

"Hey Jess, I've been looking all over for you." The voice came from a perky blond girl around the age of 22 named Callie.

Jess rolled his eyes and turned around, "Well here I am," he said in an unenthusiastic tone of voice.

"You going in town tonight? Last time before the next group comes in."

"Nah, I'm gonna stay here."

"Aw, come on Jess, you're no fun. Rick, Dan and Kelly are coming to." She sat down next to Jess on the hay.

"Yeah, well I don't see you up at 5:30 in the morning to rally the horses. This is my one chance to go to sleep early and wake up late."

"I was just hoping we could spend sometime together." She sounded a little offended at Jess' remark. However, ignoring his response, she tried to kiss him but he turned his head. "What's your problem? I thought you liked me."

Jess stood up and took a deep breath. He was annoyed that his moment of peace had been ruined. "No 'intra-work' dating. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get dinner."

Jess turned and headed back to the dining hall. *Why did I ever get involved with this girl* he thought.

Callie quickly tried to come up with something. "Yeah, well I wouldn't consider what we are doing as 'dating' Jess." But it was useless; Jess just kept walking and left her to sit there by herself.

Trying to find a peaceful moment was not easy here. Jess had barely sat down to eat when Rick came rushing in to find him.

"Hey Jess, we need you in the barn. Mystic's having her baby."

Once again Jess rolled his eyes, leaving his meal; he got up and followed Rick to the barn. *Damn that horse* he thought.

Jess still wasn't experienced enough to help out with the whole process but he still had to come and watch so one day he could help. He hopped up onto one of the rails near the stall and watched the seemingly unpleasant activity. This was one of his least favorite things to do and just to think he'd be helping one day.

Jess' mind lingered while he was waiting but his attention suddenly snapped back when he heard a low neigh. He looked over to the pen and saw a completely black pony with a white diamond on his forehead. He was staring at Jess.

"Well we know who this one likes," said Harry, the barn-head, directed towards Jess.

Jess smirked. "Boy or girl?" He asked.

"Boy, any name suggestions?"

Jess looked straight into the pony's eyes. It was almost like they shared a 'moment.'

"Dodger," he finally said.

Everyone's head turned towards Harry for a nod of approval, which he quickly gave. "Dodger it is then. Hey Jess, why don't you stay with him tonight, just to keep an eye on him. I'm sure he'll be fine, but we can never be too sure."

"Yup, I can do that." Jess continued to sit on the rail and watch Dodger while the rest left. He finally looked at his watch. Only 8:30. He figured all the others had gone to town so he set up some hay and blankets next to the pen and settled down. He took his book out of his back pocket and began to read.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Chris, I have no idea what to pack," Rory said as she came out of her room.

"Jeans are good, tee-shirts, bathing suit, shorts and sneakers. That's all you need and you'll be fine," he responded to her.

"Are you sure I'll like this?"

"If I know you as well as I think I do, you'll love it."

"But horses?"

"What about them?" Chris seemed a little puzzled.

"They're big, fast and I don't think they like me."

Chris laughed. "Have you ever been near a horse?"

Rory shook her head in a negative manner.

"Come, here for a sec Rory," he continued.

Rory walked over to the couch were Chris was sitting. "Listen, if you really don't want to go, I'll cancel the reservations and we can find something else to do. You know I love you and I wouldn't want to make you do anything you wouldn't want to do."

Rory looked into his eyes. She could tell he really wanted to go. They were doing pretty well and she didn't want to do anything to ruin their relationship.

"Sorry," she started. "I've just never been to a ranch or rode horses before. I've never been much of a country girl, always a city girl so it'll be a little different. But don't worry, we'll go and have a great time."

"Are you sure?" Chris asked one more time.

"Absolutely."

"I love you," he said and gave her a kiss.

"I love you too," Rory said weakly. "Now I better go finish packing. I can't believe you're done already."

"I've done this before, now go finish; remember we have to wake up early so you'll probably want to get to sleep early."

Rory got back up and headed to her room. Instead of packing, she lay down on her bed and picked up her book to read. Too many thoughts were on her mind however. She was about to go spend a week and a half out on a ranch in Wyoming. Of course she loved her boyfriend, or she thought she did, but she really wasn't looking forward to the trip. She had to convince her boss to let her go, she was going to miss Lane's first show and she just loved city life. Being on a ranch was not Rory's style. Another thought that passed through her head was love. *Am I in love, or is it just love,* she thought. There's a pretty big difference. However, she quickly drifted off to sleep in the midst of reading her book and thinking, which ended up being a mistake on her part.

* * *

"Rory, Rory, it's time to get up." Chris was shaking Rory. He knew she was not much of a morning person.

Rory slowly opened her eyes and was greeted by nothing but darkness. She rolled over and looked at her clock. "Chris, it's only 4:30, I thought we weren't getting up until 5:30."

"That's what we were supposed to do, but you fell asleep last night and never finished packing."

"Stupid packing," she mumbled as she sat upright and rubbed her eyes. "When do we leave for the airport anyways?"

"The limo is coming around 6:15."

"Let me sleep 30 more minutes?" she begged.

"Rory, I've seen you pack, and you take forever, if you didn't fall asleep last night reading, you would already be done. Please just get up."

Rory stuck out her tongue. "Fine," she groaned as she swung her feet on the floor. "But you owe me one."

"Fine, I'll but you a book at the airport. How does that sound?"

"Better." Rory got up after Christ left the room and she slowly finished packing then took a shower to really wake her up.

* * *

Rory and Chris stepped out into the rain at 6:15 when their limo arrived.

"You think we've got everything?" Chris asked as he loaded the bags into the trunk.

"I think so," Rory told him.

Rory got into the limo and settled herself comfortably against the side and watched the rain drip down the windows. It made her want to cry, everything that was going on in her life seemed to make her upset. She was living in Boston when she had her heart set on New York City, her job was good but she wanted a challenge. She didn't get to see her mom as often as she hoped. Nothing was quite right. Rory was 26, and this was not where she wanted to be and she was having doubts about the man she was with.

"Logan Airport?" The driver doubled check.

"Logan Airport, sir." Chris said as he turned around to the person beside him. "Rory?" he said, but she was already asleep.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Jess opened his eyes at the sound of a bell. He looked at his watch, "7:00." Of course it was Sunday and they get to sleep in later, and luckily Jess didn't have to wrangle any horses today. Sunday was the day for new arrivals so he pretty much spent the day cleaning the barns and getting the equipment ready.

A second bell rang. "My life runs on these damn bells," he said to himself. Jess sat up and realized where he was: next to Dodger, who was contently staring at him. "Mornin' Dodger," he said as he patted him on the nose. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with you, but we'll make one hell of a horse out of you."

Jess quickly put on his chaps and boots, grabbed his hat, and headed for the dining hall. At breakfast they had a meeting to discuss the preparations for the week's guests. After everyone was addressed, the barn head came to talk to Jess.

"How's Dodger this morning?" he asked.

"Looking fine to me. He was pretty quiet during the night," Jess responded.

"Good, then today I want you to take him over to the corral and help him to learn to walk. It'll take a while but he seems like a smart horse."

Jess nodded in agreement.

"Alright, good. Try and get out there as soon as you can. Make sure to bring him some good and treats. Also, I'm going to send Callie out with you."

Jess turned his head and looked at Callie. "This is going to be a long day," he said under his breath.

* * *

Jess sat on the corral rail and took a drink of water. It was already 3 o'clock and the sun was beating down on them. He looked over to the dirt road that led into the ranch. The vans were already coming in with the week's visitors. Jess sighed, took one last sip of water then regrouped.

"Okay," he said to Callie. "Let's do this one more time."

He grabbed his cowboy hat and headed to the center of the ring. So far they had been successful; Dodger was a fun and eager horse. He and Jess got a long well. Jess squatted down in front of the horse and looked him straight in the eyes. "Come on boy, one more time then we'll call it quits." Jess stood up and started running around the ring, Dodger close behind. Callie stood in the middle and watched.

After 2 good laps, Jess led Dodger back to Callie where she gave him a treat.

"That's disgusting," Callie said suddenly.

"What?" Jess asked.

Callie pointed towards the road. "That. I mean really, who drives a limo to a ranch? I thought they offered a van from the airport."

Jess' eyes followed the car. "Probably some snobby couple. It'll be fun to watch them ride," he said sarcastically.

He watched the car stop and a man around his age stepped out. "Yup, their snobs," he added. He could just sense it for some reason.

The man walked around to the other door and opened it. Jess watched to see who the other person was, just to see if his assumption of them being snobs was right.

"JESS! CALLIE! Time to come in!" It was Rick.

Jess and Callie turned their heads over towards the barn when they were called. They gathered up their stuff and headed back to the barn with Dodger on a rope. Jess turned his head once more to see if they were still there, but it was too late. He figured they went into the office. *Oh well,* he thought. *I'll see them tomorrow. What fun.*

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