Five years later...
"Ten things women are thinking," Bo read out loud, glancing up at his friend in amusement. He held up the story in his hand. "You know we specialize in getting the truth out there, right?"
His friend Cooper grinned at him, brushing his blond hair out of his bright green eyes. "And this startling truth will be for the benefit of men everywhere." He straightened to his full height, six-five, and stretched his muscled arms above his head. The guy enjoyed dabbling in a bit of everything. He exercised regularly, could set up the best alarm systems, and he wrote articles and took pictures. "Don't question my abilities, Ivanov."
"Normally, I wouldn't question your abilities, but I doubt women are thinking," he scanned the list, looking for one that would prove his point, "about how many gummi bears they can shove up their nose. This assignment should've literally been given to anyone else."
"Oh, it wasn't given to me. I asked for it," Cooper informed, lying back in a chair.
"I think you should just stick to taking pictures for my articles," Bo laughed, handing the assignment back to him. Merrily, Cooper snatched the paper from him and ripped it multiple times, throwing it into the air as though it were confetti.
"I hate writing. I don't know how you stand to do it," Cooper sighed happily, closing his eyes and placing his arms behind his head. A few of their female co-workers paused momentarily to admire the two muscled men as they relaxed. "We should go to a bar tonight. Pick up some women. Want to be my wing-man?"
"Coop, I can't wing-man anybody until I figure out what I'm going to write about next," Bo groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. He could feel knots forming there. "Bryant is on my case about this next one. And I'm completely brain-dead. I don't know what to write about."
"You should do an inspirational piece," Cooper said, propping his feet on the table and waving at the women peeking in at them. "Everybody loves those. And you could totally butcher it, and not spell anything right, and be terrible with syntax devices and whatnot, and you would still get rated top notch."
"I don't want to write another piece about some movie-star fulfilling her dreams. I'd rather go back out to Africa, and write about the poor and starving again," Bo admitted, blowing out a breath. "Even though seeing those things gave me nightmares for months."
"Write about an animal!" Cooper offered, pleased with this idea. "Like what they make Disney movies out of! I could take pictures of it! Everybody melts around animals!"
"I am not swinging on vines through rain forests again," Bo snapped, but writing down the idea on a piece of paper. "You only live to do that once."
"So just go to an animal shelter. Or one of them sanctuary things," Cooper answered, in the middle of making a paper airplane. "You know, those things where they keep big animals that are sick, nurse them back to health and release them into the wild. That could be interesting."
Bo considered it, biting on his pen, a habit he'd picked up from Cooper himself. "Do you happen to know where one is? Bryant might just go with that, and actually give me another eight months to work on it."
"Google it," Cooper stated, making airplane noises as he tossed it paper plane. After it landed in someone else's cubicle, he decided to write a note on a piece of paper and use it to make another plane.
Bo turned to his computer, opening up the internet, and searching for a sanctuary he could research. One in particular caught his eye. "I didn't know they had a sanctuary out there."
"Out where?" Cooper questioned, peeking over Bo's shoulder. "Montana? What's so important about Montana? Nothing happens in Montana!"
"My grandparents live out there," Bo answered, clicking on the link to the website. "I go out there every summer, and I've never seen this place. Nobody has even mentioned it."
"Must be new,"Cooper guessed, sending off his paper airplane. He glanced back at the screen and let out a whistle. "And doing pretty well for someplace new. Whoever that Sage person is, he's working miracles. Look at that cat!" He pointed to a picture of a lion chewing on a tree branch.
"I'm going to have to ask Bryant if I can take this story. He might even let me work the full eight months there. If you come with me, we can just crash in my grandparents' living room and live there instead of wasting money on a hotel that we'd never use anyway."
They heard a muffled scream as well as something crash and clang as it hit the floor. The two men glanced up over their cubicle to see a male co-worker furiously working to wipe at the hot coffee he'd spilt on the front of his pants.
"Coop, what exactly did that plane say?"
"It read along the lines of 'must touch boobs'. I'm cleaning up the language a bit, of course," he responded, smothering laughter. That was part of the reason people couldn't decide whether they liked or hated Cooper. The guy was nice, but he was always pulling some joke. To Bo, he made a good friend, and great entertainment.
Bo bent back to his computer, asking the owner about whether or not it would be okay for him to come out to the place and do research on the animals. After the message was sent, he and Coop entertained themselves with looking at pictures and videos of the animals. Cooper was more interested in anybody female that worked there. Bo tried finding a picture of the owner, but to no avail. He was probably the one taking all the pictures.
"What are you two doing?" their boss, Bryant, demanded. Bryant obviously didn't exercise like Cooper. The guy had a receeding hairline, gray hairs covering his head, a big gut, and stubby legs. But he knew how to run the place, so Bo couldn't complain.
"Bo wants to write an article on this sanctuary out in Montana and crash in his grandparents' living room," Cooper yelled, causing everyone to look in their direction. Excitedly, as though he were a five-year-old looking at a commercial for Disney World, he pointed at the screen and continued, "We want to go there!"
Bryant stepped around the desk to look at what had gotten Cooper acting like he was on a sugar high. He had to admit, the website made the place seem pretty impressive. "And just why do you want to visit a new sanctuary in Montana?"
"Well, one, because it's new," Bo muttered as Bryant took over the computer. "And as Cooper so loudly pointed out, my grandparents live out there. Cooper and I could stay with them while researching the place. That way, we cut back costs on food and a place to stay."
"You sure your grandparents would let you stay out there with them for such an extended period of time?" Bryant questioned, the idea of this story piquing his interest. He new already that people from all around would trip over themselves at the sight of sick animals being nursed back to health. "If I let you do this, you will be out there until I say you can leave."
"Would you like it better if I just called them?" Bo asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He held the second button until it dialed Shawna's number. On the third ring, she picked up.
"Bo, you couldn't have picked a better time to call," she began, sarcasm dripping off her words. "One of our horses just went into labor. And unless you called to tell me you're two feet away and about to shove your own arm up this horse to pull the foal out, I don't think I want to hear it."
"It's just a quick question, and then I'll be out of your hair," Bo promised, scratching his throat. "My boss is considering letting me research that new sanctuary for animals out close to where you live. Do you know of it?"
There was a pause following by some muttering and a breath of air. "Aye, I know of it. Been around there quite a few times myself. It's quite a magnificent thing."
"Exactly, well, I want to write a story on it, and I need to know if it'd be fine for me and my photographer to crash out their with you and Will." Bo glanced up to see Cooper baring his teeth at a picture of a tiger.
"Of course it's fine, sweetie. You know you're always welcome here," Shawna grunted. Bo recognized the soundas her stressed and working grunt. "Where is Will? I love this horse to bits but my arm is too short to be shoving it up into places like that."
At Cooper's shocked face, Bo burst into laughter. "I don't know where Will is, but I'm going to let you go now so you can shove your arm up there if need be. I love you."
"Love you, too, Bo. I'll call you later to work out all those icky details." They said their goodbyes and Bo hung up, meeting the still utterly surprised stares of Cooper and Bryant.
"Just where exactly was she planning to shove her arm?" Cooper questioned, uncharacteristically quiet.
"A horse went into labor. Most horses try to come out hooves first, so someone usually has to shove their arm up the mommy horse and turn the baby horse to make it easier on both mommy and baby," Bo explained, a weird feeling twisting in his gut. Rosabelle Sage had taught him that when he was eleven. He hadn't heard from her since the summer they broke up. Sure, he kept in touch with Nick and Kate, and visited them as well, but every time he made it out there, Rosabelle Sage was never around.
"I'm not going to have to help with birthing foals while we're living with them, am I?" Cooper appeared horrified by the though.
"No, Coop." Bo found the idea leaving a hilarious and frightening picture in his head. "You've never ridden a horse. What makes you think I'd let you help with the birthing of one?"
Bryant interrupted before Cooper could spit out a comeback."What's this place called anyway?"
"Safe Haven," Cooper read off the screen.
"I suppose the two of you can go out to Montana until further notice. I have a feeling that if you write the story well enough, and get some good shots, this might even boost us in the ratings."
"We're top notch, Bryant. We don't need a boost," Cooper pointed out, turning back to the computer screen. He made a couple of baby noises at a picture of a couple of lion cubs playing. "But hey! Road trip! Can't complain too much! Yay for no need to travel light!"
Bryant shook his head as we walked off, muttering, "Cooper, you're worse than a woman needing her entire closet when it comes to travel."
"So, when do you want to leave for this blessed shindig?" Cooper started as the two went to go grab lunch. Bo quit listening as Cooper continued talking about his lastest conquest of women. Bo vaguely heard him say something about one of his conquests stalking him and needing to get out of town as soon as possible.
Instead, he found his thoughts drifting towards what could've been. He found himself doing that a lot lately. What if his parents hadn't gotten involved? He and Rosabelle Sage might've been married with a child on the way by now. He might've been able to convince her to take school more seriously and go to college instead of sitting in Spanish, too busy painting her toenails to pay attention in class. Or they might've had a messy, and very expensive, divorce. He might never have gone to college. He might've made a job out of working with horses.
He hoped she was doing as well as he was. As long as she wasn't taken. Bo was still waiting on the universe giving them a sign that they were supposed to be together.
"Are you listening to me?" Cooper demanded, snapping his fingers in front of Bo's face. He blinked a couple of times and focused on Cooper, who had stuffed his mouth with berries.
"Try swallowing your food between sentences," Bo grumbled, rubbing away the food on his face. "If you pack after work, we can leave by tonight." He scooped a couple noodles out of his container, leftovers from the night before. Food like this made him miss Montana and the feasts that came with it.
"So, was that your grandmother that you called earlier?" Cooper asked. At Bo's nod, he continued, "Is she hot?"
"Cooper," Bo sighed, placing the plastic fork down calmly. He swallowed his food, miraculously not choking on it. "Shawna is in her fifties, she's married, and if her husband, my grandfather, Will, ever heard you say something like that, he'd kill you. The man may be getting old, but if I had to pick between him and a high school football team to protect me, I'd pick him."
After lunch, Bo stepped back into his cubicle and checked his email, hoping the owner had answered him. He had.
Cooper stepped into the cubicle. "So, did the owner of Safe Haven answer us?"
"Yeah. He said, 'I along with the staff of Safe Haven appreciate the interest in our work. I would love to meet and discuss the project with you further. Let me know of a time that works for you'," Bo quoted, turning around and grinning at Cooper. "So, I told him we would come out there in a couple of days around noon. Cooper, we're going to Montana!"
* * *
"Sage!" someone called out behind her. Sighing, she closed off her computer and stood to feet, stretching her sore muscles. Stepping out of her office, she ran into Max, one of her workers. "What? What's wrong now?"
"It's Sheldon," Max panted. "He's being picky and we can't get into his area long enough to feed him without him trying to snap off one of our ankles. We've tried screaming with him, distracting him, bribing him, and nothing is working!"
"There's a reason why I named him Sheldon, Max," Sage answered, tugging her shoes onto her feet. She still couldn't stand wearing them, but if she was about to have a race with a cougar, she wasn't taking any chances. She stood to her feet, following Max out of the building and outside. Sage hissed out that she was an idiot as she tugged her sleeves down over her arms as the cold air bit at her arms.
"Oh, here, take my jacket," Max offered, already tugging it off his arms. Sage waved that away, desperate not to encourage any feelings for her. She did consider him cute, but not enough to actually date him. His messy black hair, and bright green eyes, with a little wider head made him seem more like a little boy. Sage saw him as more of a big brother.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here," her co-worker, and best friend, Liz squealed as Sage approached the gate. Liz gestured widely to where Sheldon sat by the fence, his tail twitching in expectation. "That stupid cat won't let us get in there to feed him! And where have you been?"
"Answering emails," Sage responded, taking a bucket of meat from Max. "Liz, open the gate, and distract Sheldon. I'll round the other way and jump the fence. Then, we run for our lives."
"Aye, aye," Liz cheered, saluting as she sauntered through the gate. Immediately, Sheldon stood to his feet, screaming at her, his warning cry. That's why Sage adored Liz. The woman was fearless and completely trusted Sage's judgement, even if Sage was in the mood to kill somebody. She had to fight to kill her laughter as Liz yelled, "Here kitty! Come to mama!"
Sheldon took two cautious steps toward Liz before she picked up a stick and started swinging it around as she spun in circles. Sage straddled the fence with the bucket, waiting for Sheldon to move a little farther. "Come on, sweetie. A little more."
"I throw my hands up in the air sometimes," Liz sang, doing a dance that involved swaying her hips widely and obnoxiously. Max was literally on the ground laughing at this point, holding his sides, and rolling in the dirt. Sage gripped the fence even harder, almost slipping off as her laughs racked her body and loosened her grip.
Sheldon yelled again before taking off running in Liz's direction. Sage took the opportunity to leap off the fence, dump the food where it needed to go, and chunk the bucket over the fence before Sheldon noticed her. He had almost tackled Liz when Sage decided to shriek at the top of her lungs, irritating the cougar. He whirled on her and made his way to tackle her. Liz and Sage shrieked together, and took off running in the same direction, toward the gate that Max held open.
"Close the gate! Close the gate!" Sage and Liz squealed together, running full speed. The two girls barely made it through the gate before Sheldon crashed into it as Max slammed it closed. Laughing, they wrapped each other in a hug.
"We are so stupid!" Liz said between laughs. "That cat could've eaten your brains out if you had moved any slower!"
"I didn't need to outrun the cat," Sage snickered, helping Liz to her feet. "I just needed to outrun you!" Together, they walked back inside, out of the cold, and into Sage's office.
"So, what email were you answering before you were so rudely interrupted?" Liz asked, wiping the happy tears away from her stormy blue eyes. She ran a hand through her long fiery, red hair, hair she had never cut or dyed. Liz was super-model pretty, never wore makeup, and never wore pants unless they were pajama pants and she was going to bed. Liz was a fifth-generation Pentecostal, a title she claimed proudly. All of the not wearing makeup or pants, not cutting her hair, and not wearing jewlry was part of her religion, a religion that hooked Sage the first time she went with Liz to church. Even Sage followed the rules now. And she loved it.
"There's a guy that wants to write a story on Safe Haven," Sage answered, yanking her shoes back off her feet. She smoothed her jean skirt out before propping her feet onto her desk. "I'm thinking the publicity of the story will get us some donations, sponsers, more visiters. Anything can happen with this, so I'm keeping an open mind. I meet with him and his photographer tomorrow afternoon."
"Mmm," she commented. "Who is he?"
"I don't know," Sage admitted, shrugging. "His username at his workplace is apparently BAl-Ivanov. That tells me nothing. I just know it's not Brian Ivanov because his username is just BIvanov. Same place, but different usernames."
"Did his boss at least have the curtesy to send you a message as well, so we know it's not fake?" Liz questioned, taking a drink of water. "I don't want some creepy rapist lurking around here. The cats may protect us, but then there'd be a bunch of file work involved when I 'accidentally' let them kill him for trying to feel me up."
"Yes, Bryant, as always, sent a message on behalf of his workers," Sage laughed, hearing familiar voices approaching her office. A moment later, she heard her mother call out, "Rosabelle Sage, where are you?"
"In my office," she sang out sweetly, spotting Nick and Kate step in the doorway. "And I thought I told you two that I just go by Sage now."
"If we wanted to call you simply Sage," Nick began, walking around the desk and planting a kiss on her forehead, "we wouldn't have taken the time to name you Rosabelle Sage. And how was Europe?"
"Fine," Sage lied, turning back to her computer screen.
"Do you want to elaborate on that?" Kate asked, grinning with the idea that her daughter was back in town permanently.
"I struck a deal with another company," Sage began, neatly dodging around what had been eating at her for a few weeks. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but she knew something was definitely wrong. "We get a six-week old cougar next week. Of course, by then, he'll be seven weeks."
"It seems like you have more cougars out here than anything," Kate commented, eyeing the photos Sage had carelessly taped on the wall. Her daughter, she thought with a shake of her head, didn't know how to decorate a room. She also didn't have the patience for it. "You should really think about doing something with this office."
"Cougars are my favorite, but we actually have more bobcats here than anything," Sage corrected, glancing around her office. "And what's wrong with my office? I think it looks fine."
If by fine she meant messy, then yes it was fine. The walls were painted black with random splotches of bright colors slapped on the wall. Nick had helped Sage paint the walls black, and Liz had taken random buckets of paint and dumped them on the wall. Sage had taken the pictures on the wall, and randomly taped them there, wanting to make a collage of her efforts. Files of paperwork were scattered on her desk and around her computer. A bookshelf stood ignored in the corner. Two chairs sat on the other side of her desk. One of which was occupied by Liz.
"Do you not know how to clean?" Kate muttered, picking at the files on Sage's desk. "You could at the very least organize these."
"I think best when I'm not organized," Sage sighed, standing up from her seat. She grabbed her shoes and shoved them on her feet. Tossing her coat over her shoulders, she led the small group out of the room as they locked up for the day.
"Rosabelle Sage, do you want to go out to eat with us?" Nick asked, his arm wrapped around her shoulders as they waved Liz off. With the disappearing sun, the air grew chillier, nipping at ears and noses.
"No, thanks," she answered, hugging her father goodbye. "You and Mom need to go out and have a romantic evening together while I soak my aching feet." She hugged her mother as well and ushered them into their vehicle, desperate to be by herself.
"Are you sure, honey?" Kate pressed, speaking through the open window of her red truck. Nick turned the key in the ignition, praying the heater wouldn't be picky and would just work. "You're our daughter. We love having you. And now that you're out of the house, every night seems to be a romantic one. We need a family night."
"Later," Sage promised, pecking a kiss on her mother's cheek. "And if every night is romantic, maybe you two just need to get another child. That'll keep you busy."
"Then, why don't you get to popping out some grandchildren for us?" Nick interjected.
"Dad," Sage warned, blowing hot air in her hands. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." She watched as the truck drove off, the headlights leading the way. She waited until the truck had disappeared from her sight and over the hill before turning around and heading back inside her office.
She made her last minute, just-for-good-measure rounds through the sanctuary. Every animal was settling down for the night. Mothers huddled and protected their cubs, mates cuddled closer together. One whimpering scream echoed through the night, bouncing off the trees.
"Hey, baby," Sage cooed, bending down at the fence where a cougar was rubbing against it. "Hey, Dusk." Sage pressed her hand against the fence, allowing the cougar to rub against her, vibrating the air with purrs. "How you feeling, girl?" Dusk was pregnant, malnourished, and probably dying. Most nights, Sage sat up with her, wondering what would happen and whether or not the cubs could survive. This could be one of those nights.
Dusk quit rubbing against her hand and lied down on the ground, her big, yellow, pleading eyes staring up at Sage. She understood completely. Dusk didn't want to be alone, and wanted Sage in there with her. Both females were scared to death.
Sage climbed over the fence, dropping almost silently on the other side. She edged toward Dusk, slowly sitting on the ground and allowing the cougar to lay her head on Sage's lap. Sage ran her hand through Dusk's fur, soothing the cougar.
"I know, girl. I'm scared too," Sage whispered, pressing her lips to the cougar's head. She tipped her head back, still stroking the cougar, and stared up at the night sky. Shakily, she counted out the constellations she could see from the one spot she was sitting. One. Two. Three. She started humming You've Got A Friend In Me as the night dragged on, fighting yawns and the drooping of her eyes.
Glancing back down at Dusk, she checked to make sure Dusk was asleep and not dead. When she caught the slow, steady beat of a heart and noted the rise and fall of Dusk's chest, she decided Dusk had a chance of surviving the night.
"Keep fighting, baby," Sage begged, snuggling closer to Dusk to keep warm. "I don't want to lose you. Keep fighting."