Love or Leave (#1 of the Grey pack)

Rick's cabin

Jessica’s P.O.V.

“Thank you for sharing your stories with me,” I told Rick, as I got up from my chair, planning to say goodbye to him and move on with my day. But the man looked at me as if he was examining me for some strange reason.

“What will you do with this story?” He asked me, to which I shrugged.

“Well, right now, I like the love story you told me,” I told him honestly,

“Now, it is up to me to find something that tourists will attract to that same story, find something that they would want to travel for, come here for,” I added, waving around the air. Rick nodded, rubbing a hand over his face.

“The view of the mountains alone is quite the treat.” He answered me, to which I nodded. But views only, did not get plane tickets sold, nor would it profit the town’s economy. Because nature, after all, was still pretty much for free.

“I might go up there, and see if there is anything that we can add for tourists. A diner or something to do up in the mountains, something that people would come for, and pay for.” I thought out loud, and Rick seemed to be in deep thoughts with me before he cleared his throat.

“You know, I might be able to help you out with that one.” He told me, making me frown as I kept looking at him.

“Please, tell me more.” I smiled down at him, and there it was again, that playful grin on his part. The grin made him look ten years younger instantly.

“I have a cabin in the woods, where my late wife and I used to live. It’s empty now, since, well, I live here and all.” He stated, and my curiosity peaked.

“I can gladly rent it out to you, so you can be in the middle of nature, close up to the mountains.” He told me, which made me pick up my nose. I wasn’t normally interested in making deals with the local inhabitants and hotel rooms often offered some form of safety as well. But now, my mother had insisted on me staying at 'home' with her, a place that I hated with a passion. And somehow, a cabin in the middle of nowhere sounded mighty fine right about now. And Rick here, seemed anything but a crazy person.

“That is really sweet of you, Rick, but I’m afraid I can’t offer to pay more than the rate of a small motel,” I confessed. It had been a while since my last big story had come along, and money was running out on me pretty fast. I needed to be careful about how to spend my budget here. But the man just shook his head, as if, somehow, I had offended him by saying what I had just said.

“Nonsense, I don’t want your money, sugar. You know what, we have a deal as long as you keep the place clean and you pay the bills that come into the mailbox. Which should be the water and electricity that you use for yourself. How does that sound?” He asked me, taking me by surprise, yet again. His offer seemed almost too good to be true, and I wondered what his motives were behind his sudden hospitality.

“That is awfully kind of you, Rick. May I ask why you are so keen on helping me out here?” I asked him, seeing how his grin grew big, once again.

“You just caught me red-handed again, didn’t you?” He laughed, while all I could do was smile back at the old man, who now sighed deeply, his eyes never leaving me for a second.

“You remind me of her, you know?” He then told me, his eyes softening.

“My late wife. You have the same fire in your eyes as she had. The same spirit.” He added, and my insides clenched together while I heard the pain in his voice. This man had once loved his wife very dearly, and unfortunately, that love was cut short as she had passed away. And suddenly, I found it impossible to deny this sweet old man of anything.

“You know what, I would love to go and check out that cabin of yours,” I told him, seeing how he smiled and used all of his strength to push himself out of his chair, so I immediately stepped in, folding my arm through his, in order to make him lean on me if he needed the extra support.

“Thanks, sugar.” He nodded, pointing at a small cabinet, standing against the wall. His hand shaking from the effort.

“I have a spare key right in there. The other one has my grandson. He is keeping an eye on the place while I am living here, you know, making sure that no idiots or animals would barge in and call it their home because it was sitting empty.” He told me, making me laugh.

“Do I need to be worried about that? Animals and crazy people?” I asked him, to which the old man shook his head and started to laugh.

“No dear, of course not. You’ll be more than safe out there. The place is guarded well, being inside the Grey Ranch borders. Only if you are afraid of squirrels.” He stated, and somehow, by the sound of his voice, I truly believed him.

“Well, Rick. I believe you are my new guardian angel.” I smiled at him, as he opened up a drawer, fishing out a key that was hanging on a butterfly keychain before he handed it over to me.

“Anything for a good story, right?” He winked at me, as I took the keys from him.

“I will make sure to send my grandson over to the cabin, just to make sure that you are settled and good to go or if you have any questions by then. When he annoys you, just kick his ass out of the cabin, you have my blessing to do so.” Rick winked at me, and I nodded in response.

“I’ll make sure that I do.” I smiled at him.

“Oh sugar, somehow I believe that you will.” He laughed, as I helped him back into his chair in front of the TV.

And so, a couple of minutes later, I was sitting back in my rental car, staring out in front of me, as the last hour played on and on again in my mind. Not only did I meet a sweet little old man, but he had also offered me to go and stay in his cabin, almost for free, no questions asked. Just solely out of the kindness of his heart. Just because I reminded him of his late wife. And now, I actually felt awful for not staying a bit longer to chat with him. But my curiosity had the best of me, as I looked at the piece of paper in my hands, an address scribbled on it, the address where I would find the cabin that would be my getaway for the remainder of my time here. I could already see myself walking around in the woods, becoming one with nature, drinking a steaming cup of coffee as I would look out towards those mountains that seemed to touch the clouds. So, with a grin, I picked out my cell phone, dialing my mother’s phone number as I pressed the phone against my ear, waiting for her to answer it.

“Hello, Jessica? Is that you?” My mom called out, and I rolled my eyes, her voice sounded weird, as if her tongue was too heavy to speak, and I already figured out that she was drunk once again.

“Hiya Mom. It’s me. Listen, I have a lead on my new story. I am going to stay in one of the cabins close to the mountains, so you don’t need to wait up for me. I am going to go get some clothes and I will see you in a couple of days, OK?” I told her, already preparing myself for her answer.

“Oh, honey. I was so looking forward to our time together.” My mom stated, telling me this, just to make me feel guilty for leaving her all over again. While, in fact, she hadn’t taken five minutes out of her own time to talk to me either, ever since I had gotten off the plane more than 48 hours ago already. She had been ‘working’ when I arrived, so I drove home in a rental car. She told me she had to work late, which I already knew was code for getting drunk in a bar somewhere. When I had come home from Rachel’s bachelorette party, she was knocked out on the sofa, and this morning, she was still knocked out. She could have quit on the booze if she had really wanted to, at least to talk to me for a bit, but she wouldn’t. She was probably too afraid to feel anything, once she would sober up. Even if those feelings were towards her own daughter, her own flesh and blood. As for me, I had mentally checked out of the relationship as well. I had had enough by now. And now, I was at peace with it as well. I had been for quite a while now.

“OK. I guess I’ll see you when I see you.” She answered me, sounding bitter, which I shrugged off by telling her goodbye and simply ending the call without giving her any extra attention. The time when I had been sad over my mother’s constant mood shifts was long behind me. If I would let it control me, I would feel just as depressed as her. Did I hate how my mother was feeling? Of course, I did. And I had tried to help her out, time and time again, but at some point, you just had to give up, when the person did not want to receive any help on their part, or it would pull you down along with them. So, in my case, I had fled, from her, from my dad, from everyone. And up until this day, that had worked out pretty great for me.

I turned on the radio, humming along to ‘Ol Red’ by Blake Shelton, as I maneuvered my rental car towards the woods. And somehow, hearing Blake Shelton, whose voice reminded me of the dark and handsome cowboy that I had spent some funky times within his truck. And I envisioned him as the guy that Rick had used as the main character for his story. If I were the Moon Goddess, I would have easily fallen into the dark and handsome cowboy’s trap. He was the kind of guy that I could so easily fall in love with if I didn’t have my walls up all the time. And as Rick had told the story, my dark and handsome cowboy seemed to be just as handsome as the guy who had ended up being the first werewolf. And I snorted, maybe Rick’s story was actually true and my dark and handsome one-nightery was actually a descendant from the first werewolf?

Can you imagine that?

hah!

A load of crap!

The realist in me shook her head fast. It would make far more sense if there were a crazy professor somewhere hidden in town, contaminating the water with his secret projects, and everyone who drank the water would turn handsome as hell overnight.

Yup

That would make much more sense!

And attract tourists as well... hah!

But common sense did not make people come over here to see things. Romance did. Juliette's balcony in Italy made people come down from all over the world. The Eifel Tower in France was one of the number one spots in the world for people who were in love to go to, so the guy could go down on one knee. Romance sold big time, but logistics did not. So yes, the story Rick had told me could work out really well for me actually, if I played my cards right.

I was, however, surprised as hell, as out of nowhere, I drove up to a massive wooden gate, which seemed to be the entrance to The Grey Ranch since the letters were written on a big wooden sign. And I frowned but sighed, it had only made sense that Rick’s cabin would be somewhere on the Grey Ranch, he had grown up here after all. Two men were standing at the gate and eyed me with curiosity, as one of them stepped over towards my car, I quickly let my window down, in order to talk to him.

“Good day, ma’am. What can I help you with?” The young man asked me. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, so he had a couple of years on me, since well, I was rocking my final year in the twenties. And I honestly wanted to start laughing, seeing that, actually, the guy was in fact pretty handsome as well.

I guess someone drank the crazy professor’s water…

Or I am talking to my second werewolf descendant? hah!

“Hi!” I smiled, handing him over the piece of paper Rick had written for me.

“I am staying at Rick’s cabin for a couple of days,” I told the guy, who seemed surprised by my statement. He even looked up at the other guy, and for a second there, it looked as if the two were talking to each other without using any language.

“Does anyone of his family know about this?” The guy asked me, and I nodded. Surely to him, this story would sound weird. Hell, maybe Rick was becoming senile, and he would have just given me keys to his house, while five minutes later he wouldn’t remember doing any of it?

“Yes, in fact. He told me that his grandson would come and check up on me, to see if I’m all settled in.” I answered, nodding my head, and the guy looked up again at the second guy who was still standing at the gate.

“ OK, ma’am.” He nodded after a couple of seconds,

“Welcome to the Grey ranch.” He smiled down at me, as he tapped on the hood of my car and stepped back, giving me permission to drive through the gates.

“Rick’s cabin is on your left, just follow the dirt road, you cannot miss it.” The guy told me, and with a wave on my part, I started to slowly move the car forward again, as I passed through the massive wooden gates.

I was pleasantly surprised, seeing how much land was still just that, only land. I knew about the Grey Ranch and how many people lived here, but this part of the land seemed as if nobody was living back there at all, and I wondered just how massive the Grey Ranch would actually be. Maybe I could go and snoop around on another day? But I was pulled out of my daydream, as out of nowhere, a cute little cabin popped up out of nowhere. It was a one-story cabin, meaning that everything was at ground level. The cabin had a red metal roof, the walls all made out of dark wood, and a wooden porch wrapped around the front of the house with a rocking chair standing on the left side of the porch. Three windows to the left and right side of the house, with promptly in the middle a wooden door that was already inviting me inside, making me want to know what the inside of this place would look like. Sure, the place was old and it needed some remodeling, but on the other hand, that was what made it look so inviting to me, so homey. And as I spotted the chimney on the left side of the roof, I grinned widely.

A fireplace!

Hell yes!

I held the key against my chest as I got out of my rental car and picked up my backpack with clothes that I had scrambled together within five minutes at my mom’s house. And now, looking up at this cute cabin standing smack in front of me, I knew I had made the right choice by accepting Rick’s invitation to stay at his house for the remainder of my stay. So, I stepped straight towards the front door, opened it up, and walked inside.

The inside honestly took my breath away. It was an all-open floorplan but still fairly small. To my right was a small kitchen installed. A round table and four chairs stood slightly in front of it, forming some sort of barrier to the living room, where a brown leather sofa was placed in front of the fireplace that was standing against the right wall, as a small TV was standing in the corner. A giant rug was lying on the floor and, just like in the retirement home, family pictures were covering the walls. And I knew for a fact now, that this family was all about that… family. Something I had never had and secretly even felt jealous about. Maybe if I had been lucky enough to have been born into a nice family just like Rick's, my life would have looked totally different by now. I walked into the kitchen, looking into the cabinets as I picked up a coffee mug, with the letters 'greatest pawpaw' written on it. But I abruptly turned around and screamed bloody murder, while the mug fell out of my hands in fear, because I heard a door opening, and a man walked out of the room as he entered the living room, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. His very naked waist.

Not just any man...

my dark and handsome cowboy...

DEREK?