Happily Ever After

The doorbell woke her up with a loud, Bzzzzz. She groaned and rubbed her eyes, then got out of bed.

“Who the hell is at my door at this hour,” she mumbled to herself as she stumbled to the door in the dark. With a half-crazed expression, she threw the door open, prepared to curse someone out, but no one was to be found in the hallway outside of her apartment. Her eye started twitching, and she took a moment to slowly inhale and exhale. When she had calmed down, she sighed and opened her eyes to a box at her feet. It was a large package wrapped in brown paper with a twine string holding it all together. There were no markings on it; hence, she was immediately suspicious of it. Ever since she was a kid, she heard stories of instances like this, where a strange package appears out of the blue and it turned out to be a bomb. Well, if I am gonna die, I at least want to see the bomb, she thought. Slowly, she crouched down and gently lifted the box to her ear. She did not hear any ticking, and the box was considerably lighter than what she imagined a bomb to be. She then held it out a little and gave it a shake… Nothing.

Guess I’m going to work after all, she thought. She stood up and took the package inside her apartment, closing the door behind her with her foot. Entering her bedroom, she turned on the light, sat on her bed, and opened the box. Inside was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen, heels that matched, and a small envelope. The dress resembled a sundress with spaghetti straps and a tight upper half that showed just enough cleavage, and a flowy bottom half that would go down to her knees. It started as an ocean blue, then faded into teal and then green. She opened the envelope and read the note inside, “Please put on and take a taxi to 'The Que Ranch'." Deep down she knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and if she did not go, she would instantly regret it. She decided that she would rather go on an exciting adventure than go to her crappy job, so she called a cab and got ready as fast as she could.

The Que Ranch was several hours away, so she had lots of time to think. She did not have any friends in the city, and the few people she was acquainted with certainly did not know anything about her hometown. But then, it was not like anyone from her hometown was going to travel to the city and track her down. After a while, lack of sleep crept up on her and she passed out in the car.

“Hey! We’re here!” the cab driver yelled, startling her awake. She paid the driver and got out.

Rather than going to the main building, she decided to start in the stables. She did not see anyone, so she took the liberty to look at the horses and reminiscence. She used to spend a lot of time here. At first, she would just come here and look at the horses (and the cute stable boy), but then she saved up and started riding. She knew she was not particularly good at riding, but she enjoyed being one with her horse and pretending she was training for the rodeo or the Pony Express. When she got to the end of the stable, she saw her old horse, Cody, saddled up. She approached him and looked into his eyes; she could tell he remembered her, and maybe even missed her. She rested her forehead on his and said in a hushed voice that only he could hear, "It's been too long." Cody neighed in reply; as if agreeing with her. She lifted her head, wiping away a tear, and saw a note tied to the saddle horn that said, "No cowgirl is complete without a hat. Get a hat that was worn by a member of 'The 6 Piece Outlaws'." It took her a moment, but slowly the name came back to her. The 6 Piece Outlaws were a group of guys she went to school with who liked jamming together; eventually, they became the local band. Her friends used to tease her because she went to all their shows, and claimed she only went because she liked one of the band members, Jacob. She always denied it, claiming that their music was good and there was nothing else to do, but they were not wrong; she had a big-time crush on Jacob. Whenever he sang, she felt fuzzy and warm; like he was singing only to her. Another neigh from Cody snapped her out of the trance. She led him out of the stables, climbed on, and took off towards town with a trail of dust behind them.

She slowed down when she got to town and scanned the streets to find the old music store. She noticed that even though the town had grown a little bit, it still had its rustic charm; with its dirt roads, wooden sidewalks, and troughs and hitching posts for horses. She hitched Cody outside the shop and went in. A bell rang as she entered the store. There was a teenage boy dressed in blue jeans and a t-shirt sitting behind the counter, with his legs up reading an old sports magazine. Hearing the bell, he looked up, “Hey,” he said. She reciprocated the “hey,” and added an upwards nod. "Silly question, but do you have any hats from 'The 6 Piece Outlaws'?" she asked him. He paused for a moment and looked at her. "Yeah," he said, "hang on." He got up and went into another room for a few minutes, then came back with an old, dark brown cutter-style hat. "Here," he said as he handed it to her, "This hat was owned by Jacob; the lead singer, and guitarist." She started getting out her wallet when he said, "Keep your money. It's just collecting dust." "Oh," she replied sounding a bit surprised, "thank you." Expecting a clue to be on the hat, she inspected it and was surprised that for something "collecting dust” it looked like someone had been taking good care of it. She saw writing on the sales tag so she detached it and read, “Go to the ‘Lonesome Cowboy’.”

As she started for the door, the guy asked her, “Are you from here?” “I used to be,” she replied, “why?” “No one outside of this town has heard of ‘The 6 Piece Outlaws’. I never 1got to hear them, were they any good?” “They’re the best band I’ve ever heard,” she said, then returned to her horse.

Outside with Cody, she smelled the hat and had a fangirl moment. It smelled just like Jacob…. “Guess who’s hat I have, Cody,” she whispered in his ear, then held out Jacob’s hat for him to smell it. Cody neighed in recognition; he too recognized the smell. Jacob was the stable boy who used to take care of him. She put the hat on her head, not caring that it was too big for her and impaired her vision. Taking his reigns, she walked him over and hitched him in front of The Lonesome Cowboy.

The Lonesome Cowboy was your standard country bar with neon beer signs on the walls, dim lighting, hay bales and straw on the floor, and an electric bull in the center. Even though it was the middle of the day, the place was packed. Spotting an opening at the bar, she went and sat down. The bartender made his way over and asked her, “What’ll have?” “Surprise me,” she replied, not realizing until after she said it that there was a good chance that she would hate what was given to her. Sure enough, he came back and set down a shot of whiskey and a key. Attached to the key was a keychain with a picture of a house and "East" written on the back. Trying not to make a face, she slammed the drink, put some cash down on the bar, and left. She got back on Cody, and with one hand holding the hat to her head she took off down the road leading east out of town.

She was having too much fun and almost flew past the house on the left, so she had Cody do a sliding stop, and hitched him to a fence post surrounded by grass and a conveniently placed large bucket of water. Looking at the front of the house, she could tell it was the same one that was on the keychain. It was a large two-story farmhouse painted grayish blue with white trim, a large front porch, a large tree to the left, and fields surrounding it as far as the eye could see. She walked up the porch and used the key to unlock the front door. The inside needed work, the rooms were roomy but dusty and barren, and what little furniture there was looked like it would crumble when touched. Just then, there was a knock on the door. She made her way back to the front door and opened it. Just like in the morning, there was no one at the door and a package on the doorstep. Excitement bubbling out of her, she eagerly picked up the package. The box had the same brown paper and twine on it, but this time the box was tiny. With a surge of adrenaline, she broke off the twine, tore off the paper, and stopped breathing when she opened the box.

Inside the box was a diamond ring with a note that said, "In the tree." Without thinking, she took off her heels and booked it to the tree, put the box with the ring in her mouth, and started climbing the jerry-rigged ladder. Slowing down to try to regain some composure, she climbed onto a platform built around the tree's branches and took the box out of her mouth.

Stepping out from one of the branches, stepped a tall muscular man with dark brown hair and blue eyes. Once again, she stopped breathing. He slowly closed the gap, taking the box from her and putting the ring on her finger. Leaning down he whispered that sweet southern voice in her ear, “Thanks for my hat.” He moved the hat from her head to his and stood back up. “Jacob,” she softly said, looking into his eyes. He picked her up, pinning her between him and the tree, and kissed her like he had always wanted to. Stopping before he lost control, he set her down. They held hands and walked over to the edge of the platform, hanging their legs over the edge. From where they were sitting, she had a better view of the house, fields, and the surrounding areas. Feeling at peace, she rested her head on his shoulder.

“Welcome home,” he whispered.