Jennifer's Journey Read online

  Jennifer’s Journey

  River’s End Ranch Book 59

  Kirsten Osbourne

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Also by Kirsten Osbourne

  1

  Looking up from her position behind the front desk of the main hotel on River’s End Ranch, Jennifer Olson spotted Dr. Lachele and hurried around the counter to hug her. “I wasn’t expecting you until Friday. What are you doing here?” It was only Wednesday. Had something gone wrong with her arranged marriage?

  “Well, I needed to come see Jaclyn, and I figured I’d come early so I could spend more time with you as well.” Dr. Lachele’s purple hair fell over her forehead. “Are you getting nervous?” Dr. Lachele owned a company called Matchrimony, and her specialty was introducing people at the altar. She had never once failed. All of her matches had remained married.

  “I’m a little nervous, but more than anything I’m excited to find a man who doesn’t know my history.” Jennifer knew Dr. Lachele would understand what she meant. She had been a particularly unpleasant individual before she came to the ranch, and her past still haunted her at times. She had not been kind to people who had done nothing to her. She was making a new life for herself, but she needed to feel better about who she was.

  “Well, I’m sure he doesn’t know your history, and he wants to marry now, rather than later. I can’t wait for you to see him! Your heart is going to flutter a million miles per minute.” Dr. Lachele threw her arms wide, emphasizing her words.

  “Wouldn’t that be racing and not fluttering? I don’t know how anyone could possibly flutter that fast.” Jennifer grinned at the matchmaker, letting her know she was joking. “Do you have reservations for tonight?”

  “Reservations are in my husband’s name. Sam Simpson. I think we have the Bearfoot Cabin.” Dr. Lachele lifted one foot. “Does it matter that I’m wearing shoes?” She cackled softly, while Jennifer hurried off to check for the reservations.

  “I have you for four nights. Are there any activities you’d like me to sign you up for before I show you the cabin?”

  “Are there any kissing contests? Sam and I can kiss longer and better than anyone else you’ve ever met.”

  Jennifer closed her eyes and shook her head. “Dr. Lachele, you are insane! No, there are no kissing contests."

  “I guess it would be too much to ask for there to be an ugly bug ball?”

  “Why don’t I show you to your cabin?”

  “Not even going to answer that, are you? Smart girl.” Dr. Lachele winked at her, and Jennifer shook her head. There was something wrong with the woman, but Jennifer loved her anyway.

  “Your cabin is right this way. Do you mind a short walk, or do you want me to get a golf cart?” Jennifer asked softly.

  “Oh, grab a golf cart. I’m feeling lazy after that long flight and all the airports. JFK has got to be the craziest airport in the entire world.” Dr. Lachele waited as Jennifer went to fetch the golf cart, looking around her at the ranch. It was her second visit, and she was obviously looking for something.

  “Are you looking for Jaclyn?” Jennifer asked as she came back into sight, driving the golf cart. “She hasn’t been around as much lately. To find her, you have to go to her house.”

  Dr. Lachele frowned. “I guess I can do that. I just thought that with the way we seem to be connected through out thoughts, she would be standing here waiting for me.”

  “Didn’t you send her a strong enough telepathic message?” Jennifer asked. She waited as Dr. Lachele got in and started driving toward the cabin. Jennifer was very glad she was the one driving and not Dr. Lachele. The tales she’d heard about Dr. Lachele’s driving abilities could make anyone sick to their stomach—even if they weren’t prone to motion sickness.

  “Is Jaclyn sick? Any idea why she hasn’t been out and about?” Dr. Lachele seemed truly worried.

  “I don’t think so. She’s just been…quiet lately. I think she must be having a fight with the fairies or plotting to take over the world, one garden gnome at a time.” Jennifer didn’t have to add that she thought Jaclyn was totally off her rocker, but she was sure it came out in her tone of voice.

  As Jennifer parked in front of the Bearfoot Cabin, Dr. Lachele glared at her. “Are you making fun of my friend?”

  “Not at all. She’s my favorite matchmaker who lives on this ranch!” Which was true as far as it went…Jennifer didn’t trust Jaclyn, but she would trust Dr. Lachele with her life—and she had. In just a few days, she would be walking toward an altar where a man she had never met would be standing.

  “I suppose I can take that as an answer, but I do understand your double-speak. Come and meet my Sam, the man who puts up with me when he shouldn’t.” Dr. Lachele climbed out of the golf-cart, her eyes sparkling.

  “I’m sure you deserve his love, Dr. Lachele. You must be the most giving woman alive.” Jennifer admired Dr. Lachele in a way she had never admired anyone. She wished she was good at complimenting other women, but she’d spent most of her life tearing them down.

  “Thank you. That’s very sweet of you to say.” Dr. Lachele was one of the few people in Jennifer’s new world who understood exactly how she’d been before, so she knew the effort that came from complimenting other women.

  “I’m trying.” Jennifer walked up to the door with Lachele, unlocking the door. “How long before your Sam gets here? I have to get back to the desk. I have someone working there, but she doesn’t have the experience I have, and I’m not supposed to leave her alone for long.”

  “I’d think any minute. Let me call him.” Dr. Lachele pulled out her phone with the purple case on it, quickly punching a couple of buttons. “Sammy! When are you getting to our cabin?” She laughed shortly. “Just follow the road to the right. There’s a golf cart parked out front.” She stuffed her phone back into her pocket. “He’ll be here in a minute. He got lost and like most men, he wouldn’t stop and ask for directions.”

  Jennifer smiled at that. “Can I help you get anything ready for your stay?”

  “Nope. I’ll be good as soon as Sam gets here with our stuff.” Dr. Lachele walked to the window and looked out. “There he is!” She threw the door open and waved. “Sam, this is Jennifer Olson. She’s our bride this weekend.”

  Jennifer smiled slightly. She didn’t want to be known as the bride. She was afraid whoever her groom was would figure out she was the bride and run away. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Simpson.”

  Sam shook his head, holding his hand out for her to shake. “That’s way too formal for a man like me. I’m just Sam.” He nodded at Lachele. “She’s the one who has the string of letters behind her name.”

  “Then it’s nice to meet you, Sam.” Jennifer walked toward the golf-cart. “I have to get back to the front desk. I’m sure I’ll see you both this weekend.” With those words, she backed out of their driveway and made her way back to the hotel. She wished she knew who she was marrying, but even she knew it was better this way. If she saw any woman talking to her future husband, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to bite her tongue.

  When she got back to the hotel, she went to the front desk, smiling at the young girl she was training to take her place after she left her job. “You’re doing great, Lacy. Were there any issues while I was gone?”

  Lacy shook her head. “None at all. The actor, Maynard Butts, checked in, but he’s been on and off the ranch since
he signed on for the television series.”

  “Isn’t his name awful? Can you imagine having a name as bad as Maynard Butts? You’d think he’d use a stage name or something.” Jennifer shook her head, not noticing the look on Lacy’s face as she continued. “If your last name was as bad as Butts, wouldn’t you name your son Harry? Can you imagine? Harry Butts!”

  “My parents weren’t quite that cruel,” said a voice from behind her.

  Jennifer closed her eyes for a moment before turning around. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Butts. I didn’t mean to offend.”

  “I’m sure you didn’t. Don’t worry. I’m used to people making fun of my name. People have always done it.”

  “I know better. Please forgive me.”

  Maynard nodded. “I’ll forgive you. I’m not exactly happy with you, but holding a grudge over something every juvenile delinquent has said to me would be stupid, wouldn’t it?”

  Jennifer wanted to cry. In her old life, she would have told him that he deserved to be made fun of for having such a ridiculous name. Now…well, now it made her sad, and she wanted to cry. A lot. “I truly am sorry.”

  “I can see on your face that you are. Just—well, try to be kinder. We can’t help the names we were born with.” At that Maynard turned and left the lobby, heading for the stairs.

  “You can take the elevator, Mr. Butts.”

  “No, thank you!” he called back. “I have some aggression to run off!”

  Jennifer looked at Lacy with wide eyes. “What did I just do?”

  “You offended one of the most important men on the ranch.” Lacy shook her head. “I feel terrible for my part in it.”

  “You didn’t have a part in it, Lacy. I’d love to be able to blame you, but it was my fault. I shouldn’t have said that.” Jennifer wanted to kick herself for being so cruel.

  “What are you going to do if whoever you marry on Saturday has an awful name?” Lacy asked, her head tilted to one side.

  “I have no idea. I’ll live with it, I guess. I deserve it after what I just said to the very kind Maynard Butts.” Jennifer still wanted to snicker when she said his name, but she’d glance over her shoulder first.

  As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she wanted to pull her hair out. She’d worked so hard to be a kinder person, and here she was, not being kind at all. What was wrong with her? Was she just someone biologically programmed to be a “mean girl?” She certainly hoped not!

  She wanted to be a good person, and not always the woman others avoided. She thought she’d gotten good at this after her move to River’s End Ranch, but now she wasn’t so certain. “What’s wrong with me that I said that?” she asked softly, feeling terrible.

  Lacy shook her head. “You didn’t say anything the rest of us weren’t thinking. Truly. That doesn’t make you a bad person.”

  Jennifer sighed. “I know…but I always do things like that without meaning to.”

  “Always?” Lacy asked. “I’ve worked with you for six weeks. I’ve never seen you do that even once. Where do you get always from?”

  Jennifer bit her lip, wondering how much to tell Lacy, who she thought of as a friend. “Growing up, I was the mean girl. Always. If two girls were best friends, I did everything I could to come between them, not because I wanted either of them to be my friends, but because I wanted everyone to be as miserable as I was. I tried to break up every relationship around me. There were these two cousins, whom I particularly hated. I’d say bad things about them every time I was around either of them. It was awful. I finally got my act together, but no one could forget that ‘Jennifer is the mean girl.’ So I moved here, doing the same type of work I’d done back home. My parents owned a hotel, and they’d finally made me work in it when I got so ridiculous even they couldn’t look at me.” There was more, but Jennifer was sure Lacy wouldn’t believe more. She really had changed—mostly.

  “That can’t be true!” Lacy shook her head. “We’ve gone out together, and you’ve encouraged me to walk up to men it was obvious you were attracted to.”

  “Yeah, I have. I think maybe I’m doing things like that now so I can prove to myself that I’m not just this horrible person.”

  Lacy smiled. “You’re not. You’ve been a really good friend to me.”

  “I know. I’ve had to work at it though. Do you realize you are my closest friend? You’re the first person I’ve actually worked hard at developing a relationship with. I would go out with men that I took from one of the cousins…and it would take me at least a date before I realized they bored me to tears.”

  Lacy giggled. “That really is awful. I’m glad you changed, because we’re going to be friends whether you like it or not.”

  “Of course I like it!” Jennifer smiled. “I have someone to be in my wedding with me, which is good for me. Do you know I haven’t invited anyone from my home town—not even my own parents—to my wedding because I didn’t want anyone or anything from that life here.” She shook her head. “I should at least invite Gabby.” Gabby had been her first true female friend. Sure, she’d had cohorts over the years, but it was more of an alliance to pick on others than a true friendship.

  “Your parents aren’t coming to your wedding on Saturday? How’s that going to work?”

  Jennifer shrugged. “I’ll tell them after I marry. I think they’re ready to wash their hands of me as well.”

  “Are you sure? I think you should at least give them the chance to come if they want to. Your mother has probably been dreaming about planning your wedding with you, and you’re not even going to invite her.”

  “I’ll send them the video.” Jennifer shook her head. “They’d drop everything to come, and I know they would, but isn’t that just me being selfish again? I don’t want to have to beg them for their affection.”

  “Well, it’s not exactly selfish, but I think you should tell them. Call them and give them the chance to come. Make sure they know it’s a small wedding here on the ranch, but that they are welcome to be here for you.”

  Jennifer thought about it for a moment. “Maybe. I don’t know. I might call them. But what will they think when I say, ‘Hey, I’m marrying a man I’ve never met this weekend. Do you want to come?’ I’m not sure that’s every mother’s dream for her daughter.”

  Lacy grinned. “Let your mom make that choice.”

  “Okay.” Jennifer wasn’t convinced, but she’d do anything to avoid hurting another person—especially her mother.

  When she got off work an hour later, Jennifer went to the staff cabin, where she was living for another ten days. She couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d said to Maynard Butts, so she’d written his room number on a piece of paper and stuck it in her wallet. She went straight to her kitchen and started pulling out all the ingredients to make orange cranberry muffins. Her former enemy Bri had taught her all about cooking and baking, which sounded like she’d liked Jennifer, until she pointed out that her parents had paid her. And she’d been forced to work under the two cousins she had made miserable since kindergarten.

  She ignored all of the emotions that rose up making the muffins, and there were plenty of them. After she preheated the oven, Jennifer quickly mixed all the ingredients together to make the muffins. While they baked, she showered and changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, knowing she’d be making the walk back to the main house, so she could deliver the muffins to the man she’d been rude to.

  Jennifer pulled the hot muffins out of the oven, and she carefully put them all in a little basket…the kind Bri had shown her to use…with a cloth napkin over the top. They looked and smelled delicious, and she wished she could have just one, but then she wouldn’t deliver an even dozen. His needs outweighed hers. That’s how it worked when you were a good person.

  As she walked toward the main house with the muffins over her arm, she thought about what she would say by way of an apology. “I’m sorry I made fun of your last name, but Butts is truly horrible.” No, that wouldn’t work. “I
wish I had looked behind me before I made fun of your name so you wouldn’t hear me.” More honest, but still not what she was looking for. “I’m so sorry I made fun of your name. I’m sure it’s happened to you a lot over the years, but I didn’t have to add to it. I brought you these muffins as an apology.” There. That was it.

  She walked past the front desk without even a hello, which was unusual for her, and went straight to the elevator. When she got to the top floor, she walked to his room and knocked. When Maynard Butts opened the door, he was wearing a towel around his waist, and he was rubbing his hair dry. For a moment, she was unable to speak, and then she gave him the apology she’d rehearsed. “I’m so sorry I made fun of your name. I’m sure it’s happened to you a lot over the years, but I didn’t have to add to it. I brought you these muffins as an apology.”

  Maynard grinned at her. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was avoiding looking at his chest—which was really hard with it being bare and all—or because she was tripping over her words. He said nothing, so she added. “The muffins are orange cranberry, and I made them myself. I know you’ll enjoy them.”

  He watched her for another moment before finally responding. “Wait there while I get dressed, and we’ll share the muffins.”

  “I can’t eat muffins I made as an apology!”

  “Give me a minute.” The door shut in her face, and she was left waiting in the hallway with the basket of muffins in her hand. She felt silly, but now that she’d seen his chest…or tried not to see his chest as the case may be…she wanted to spend more time with him. Of course, that just made her feel guilty because she was about to marry another man. She sighed and waited. Her life was always a mess.

  2

  Maynard quickly dried off and pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. The lovely Jennifer shouldn’t wait in the hallway too long. He felt a bit guilty that he was about to entertain a woman in his hotel room when he was marrying in just a couple of days, but he wasn’t going to let it bug him too much. He wasn’t planning to sleep with her. Just spend some time with her.