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“I have the paperwork right here.” Maisie’s eyes widened as Helen pointed to a file. “It was submitted by a Cheryl—”
“Cheryl sent that in?” Maisie pressed a hand to her mouth. She should’ve known her friends were up to something with how insistent they’d been that she set up this meeting. She’d been so sure that door she couldn’t open was a metaphor, that she was going to be shut out of her dream. But apparently, she’d been most of the way through without knowing it. Did she dare hope this would work out? “You’re saying the only thing I have left to complete my degree is an internship?”
“It appears so.” Helen offered a relieved smile, but Maisie was trembling inside.
“I just… I’m not… I don’t know if I can do it.” If her inability to speak coherently wasn’t proof enough of how nervous the internship made her, Maisie blew out a frustrated raspberry.
“I don’t believe that for a second.” Helen set down her pen and leaned back in her chair. “You have a solid work history, a good academic record, and you’ve been possibly the most persistent returning student I’ve ever come across in all my years doing this job. In my mind, that makes you the perfect candidate for even the most challenging internship. Tell me what it is that scares you so much.”
All of Maisie’s worries flooded her mind at once. “The internships are so competitive. It’s possible no one will even want to choose me. Or if they do, I won’t live up to expectations, or—”
“I think I get the idea,” Helen said kindly. “What if I told you I’ve had a new opportunity come across my desk, and I think you’d be perfect for it?”
“You have?” Maisie’s heart thudded so loudly she almost couldn’t hear herself.
“Yes. In fact, the person who’s looking for an intern was hoping to meet with you today and is waiting in a conference room down the hall in case you’d be willing to sit down for an interview.” Helen plucked a folder from her desk, opening it and scanning the contents before looking up at Maisie with a smile. “I just need to ask one question. How do you feel about ranches?”
* * *
The first thingMaisie saw when she opened the conference room door was the hat. Tattered and stained, it sat in the middle of the table, a tangible sign this wasn’t a hallucination. Maisie’s imagination could’ve conjured a lot of things, but not the intricate details of that worn and weathered hat.
This is actually happening.
“Hey.” Drew picked up the hat, placing it on her head. Maisie’s eyes followed, unable to look away.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Maisie’s gaze darted around the room, still having trouble believing that Drew was actually here in the flesh.
“For one thing, I’m finalizing the paperwork to get a new marketing intern at the Lazy C.” Drew motioned to an empty chair at the table. “What are you doing here?”
Maisie closed the conference room door and made her way to the table. “Applying for an internship, or so I was told.”
“That is an amazing coincidence.” Drew grinned, but the brightness of it faded as the seconds went by without a response from Maisie. “I’m sorry, Maisie. I didn’t mean to spring this on you, especially not after the other night when you told me to go. I just knew I couldn’t go home without doing this.”
“Doing what, exactly?” Too unsteady to remain standing, Maisie sank into the chair Drew pushed out for her. “Blackmailing me into coming back to Wyoming with you in order to earn my degree?”
“What?” Drew’s eyes widened, and there was genuine shock in her tone. “Hold on, now. You’ve got it all wrong. I don’t expect you to come back to the ranch.”
Maisie blinked. Absolutely nothing since Helen had said the wordranchmade the least bit of sense. “You told the school you want to hire me for an internship, but you don’t want me to come to the ranch. I don’t get it. What kind of game are you playing?”
“None at all. You’ve already done the work, Maisie.” The words flew out of Drew’s mouth like she was desperate to explain. “As I understand it, you’ll have to write a paper and do a presentation, which you’ve already prepped and had a trial run with me. Most of the hard work is over. I would hate writing a paper, but I imagine that’ll be a breeze for you. You deserve to get the credit for everything you’ve done for the ranch.”
For a moment, all Maisie could do was sit in stunned silence as the wheels in her head struggled to turn under the weight of this revelation. Could it actually be true? For some reason, Maisie feared this was Drew’s idea of a joke. Except, that wasn’t really Drew’s style. As far as Maisie could tell, she wasn’t dreaming. Which meant this might actually be happening.
“Is that it?” Maisie wasn’t sure what else she expected or what she’d hoped for. “Why are you here, helping me?”
Drew gazed at her with complete openness, all her toughness and bravado gone. “Because I love you.”
The words struck Maisie’s very core, making it clear that was what she’d been hoping for all along. But, there was a problem she was struggling to get past. “I said I never wanted to see you again.”
“I know.” Drew’s shoulders slumped, and her chin tilted downward, her face hidden by her hat. “I respect that. You don’t have to see me again after today. It’s just, when I learned I could play a small role in helping you keep your promise to your dad, nothing was going to stop me.”
Maisie’s heart beat faster. Did Drew still think Maisie had meant what she’d said about not seeing her again? Maisie wanted to shout that she hadn’t meant a single word, but a little part of her remained cautious, needing to be sure.
“No ulterior motive?”
“None.” As Drew’s eyes darted everywhere, never landing on Maisie, it was hard to be sure this was true. “I love you more than anything in the world, Maisie. I want you to succeed.”
“How can I know that for sure?”
