"It's so good to see you, Brielle. I'm glad you made your way to Seattle," Richard said, his smile not deflating in the least despite the cool look she was sending his way.
"You really left me with no choice, Father," she replied, trying to tone down the bitterness in her voice but not quite managing to pull it off. She'd had to take a bus to Seattle. A bus! The trip had taken three days. Three days of pure hell.
"Again, I will say that I'm very sorry I had to do things the way I did, but I need for you all to understand that anything in this life worth having is worth working for."
"This whole rescuing-a-failing-business thing is stupid, Father. I don't know anything about business. Do you remember my college major? You're setting me up for failure, and you know it."
"I would never do that. I love you, Brielle. I know how strong and capable you are. Heck, from the moment you were born, you had your brothers and me wrapped around your tiny little fingers," he said with a chuckle.
"The only business that's left is a stupid ranch in Montana."
"I know. Your brothers have already taken possession of the other businesses. I'm very pleased to be seeing results already."
"I can't go to Montana!"
"I hope that's not true, Peaches, because I think it's just the place you need to be."
"I'm not Peaches anymore!" She obviously couldn't pull this off. She was too dang upset.
"You will always be my baby girl. I love your brothers dearly, but you will always hold more of my heart than anyone else. And I know you can do this. I wouldn't have asked you to do a task I thought you'd fail at."
They gazed at each other for several moments. Two personalities so much alike in some ways, but so different in others. But the bottom line was that Brielle knew he had the upper hand, knew he didn't need to back down. He knew that, too.
"And if I do fail, I lose everything?"
"Failure isn't an option. You're a Storm."
"You don't know me anymore, Father!"
"I know you better than you think, Brielle. You're a fighter. I got lazy as a parent and forgot how to raise you, but it's never too late. Don't give up before you've had even a chance to see yourself shine."
"Crew gets to be in sunny California and I have to go to Montana. How is that fair?"
"You shouldn't have taken so long to choose."
"So I'm being punished because I didn't want to play your game?"
"You're not being punished at all, Brielle. I know you'll figure that out once you've decided to put your heart and soul into this."
"Well, it sure as hell feels like a punishment."
"I understand that, darling, but go to Montana and I promise that you'll find yourself."
He had to be crazy. How could she find herself amongst a bunch of cows?
"I need money. I have nothing," she told him. If she could just get enough to get by for a little while, she'd manage to find another job, and she'd show him that she didn't need him to prove herself a success.
"You have a budget to work with," he said, then paused before speaking again. "You'll get it once you reach Montana."
"And how am I supposed to get there? It took the last of my funds for the damn bus ticket here." She was still ticked he hadn't even paid for an economy-class flight.
"I will get you there."
Brielle greeted his words with silence, but she knew she'd been defeated.
She'd go, but only because she had no other options before her. She wouldn't succeed, and she knew it. Still, it would be a place to rest her head, a place where she could figure things out and begin mapping out her next steps.
Yes, she would go. But she certainly didn't have to be happy about it.
Chapter Two
It was a freaking nightmare. Sure, most ranches probably had dusty old trucks, and what else did she expect to be waiting for her at the ridiculously small airport in Sterling? But the rusty orange clunker didn't even have air conditioning!
And now that she'd managed to get this antique off and running - sort of - she was hit with another shock as she looked at the house standing before her. What could she say about it? Country bumpkin?
///
She stood aghast in her stiletto heels and stared at the giant monstrosity of an ugly house before her. It was large, that was for sure, with a huge wraparound covered porch that some people might have found appealing, but Brielle wasn't the type of girl to hang around on a front porch. Screw that quaint little rocking loveseat; she'd never use it in a zillion years.
The house was in desperate need of a paint job, and the windows looked as if they hadn't been updated - ever. Taking a cautious step forward in the dirt and gravel, she let out a very unladylike curse as she stubbed her toe and broke a manicured nail, her high-heeled sandals offering zero protection.