I've been writing the plot for this story for about a month now. I felt like it was time that I write the first chapter and share it with you guys, and also get your feedback. The slideshow on the side has all the main characters in it. I hope you enjoy! Please vote & comment! Don't be afraid to tell me what you think of it!
Copyright © 2012 misscowgirlup22
Chapter 1
It had taken Anna almost four years to realize that she'd made the stupidest decision of her life. Yup, she'd moved to New York. A country girl in the city what a sight.
The first couple of years she thought that she could make it, but last year money had gotten extremely tight and Anna almost had to go crawling back home to her parents not like they would accept her anymore. She'd left for the city and now she was a disappointment.
Her plan was to move back to the country, just not the small town she had come from. The only problem was which one and where would it be?
Anna hadn't talked to her best friend Chrissie yet. She would be so devastated when she would find out that Anna was leaving. Chrissie was the first person she had met upon her arrival in the city, and they'd just hit it off. If her parents saw Chrissie they'd probably shake their heads and walk the other way.
Chrissie was your average punk rocker girl. She had her hair half normal color and then every couple weeks it would be a different color. Sometimes it was brown and blue, other times it was brown and orange. Honestly it just depended on her mood.
Living in the city was starting to get depressing. Anna needed out and fast. Maybe until she could figure something out, she could just go and get a pint of ice cream and some magazines. It had been her cure all in the past and it still worked now.
Anna walked down the busy New York street to her favorite book store. They had a full row of magazines and it was like heaven to Anna when she was in a mood. She entered the store and walked directly over to the magazine rack.
Times like this called for the current Vogue, Esquire, and maybe the new Vanity Fair. Oh God, was that a copy of Playboy, ewww. Anna never understood why males found those magazines so interesting. Well she did but males were such perverts that it really didn't matter. She'd had a brother so she knew what they contained, but really, it was still gross.
As she cowered the racks to look for other magazines she might indulge in she came across one with pictures of cowboys across the front and it said, "Western Love." It had ads in it for country boys and cowboys looking for love.
She was intrigued by the magazine. Maybe this was her way out of the city. Anna couldn't wait until she could get back to her apartment and read the whole thing. There had to be a man in it that she could find to help her out of this mess she called life.
Anna walked over to the cashier and handed him the magazines. "Ma'am that will be fifteen dollars and twelve cents, please." She handed the man a twenty and waited for her change. "Have a nice day," he said.
"Thanks." With that she was out the door and she decided she still wanted a pint of ice cream, so she quickly stopped at the corner store near her apartment. After she'd completed her purchase she walked around the corner to her apartment. Her apartment was only one bedroom she couldn't really afford anything bigger on her tiny editor salary, but her part was rather nice if she did say so herself.
Anna worked at a newspaper company as an editor, she'd gone to college for writing but that hadn't panned out so she'd fallen back on editing. It paid the bills, but it also bored her. All she did was check grammar and she loathed it. She wanted to be the one writing these articles not checking to see if there were any errors.
It took a couple minutes to get past the bell hop to the elevator. She would have been up to her apartment sooner, but there was a crowd of people and only one elevator, and Anna really didn't feel like walking up fifteen flights of stairs. So she'd waited and got stuck on an elevator with a man talking about his next big Wall Street deal. The man was annoying and Anna was tempted to tell him to shut up and shove it.
Anna just about ran out of the elevator when the doors opened and made her way to 15E. Home sweet home, she thought. She grabbed a spoon and then collapsed on her couch with her ice cream and magazines.
First she grabbed the copy of Western Love. She read through all the ads, but she kept finding herself going back to this one ad. The man was hot she could tell that under his chambray shirt he had some seriously defined pecks and broad, broad shoulders, that screamed of manual labor. The man was hot and his eyes intrigued her. They were a gorgeous smoky gray color. His skin was tanned to perfection for the long days he'd obviously spent out on the range.
She liked his ad even though it was so simple and straight forward. She liked how if she was to send him a letter she'd probably get a straight forward no bullshit answer.
Brent Donovan
Age: 29
Lives in Walker, Montana, he's ready to find to find that special girl that he can spend the rest of his days with. He grew up on his family's ranch. His spread is currently seven thousand acres and growing every day. Brent enjoys riding the range and herding cattle. He's your average good ol' cowboy. If you decide to send him a letter your life will never be boring. You don't want to miss out on this one girl's.
To send him a letter, or not to?
If Chrissie was with her right now she'd probably think her crazy for even considering sending this cowboy a letter. Oh how she wanted to, but it was a little out there even for her. She'd sleep on the idea and if she still wanted to send him a letter then she'd do it after she talked to Chrissie at work.
She went into her room and immediately went to sleep. Her dreams were filled with one hot and sexy cowboy that intrigued her.
*****
When she woke up the next morning she felt refreshed. Her first thoughts were about Brent. She wondered what his life was like and what he was doing right now. She had to push those thoughts from her brain and get ready for work. She had to be on the other side of town in a little over an hour and she was nowhere near ready.
She jumped in the shower for a quick shower and then put her hair up in a slightly messy bun. She put on a pair of jeans with her equestrian riding boots. For her shirt she decided to put on a plaid shirt and she grabbed her brown leather jacket. She looked good if she did say so herself.
Anna grabbed her bag and an apple and then she was out the door, getting ready to head towards the subway. She almost dreaded going into work today because she was going to have to tell Chrissie that she was going to be leaving soon. Well that was if everything worked out after she sent Brent a letter.
The subway was packed just like every other morning. She managed to find a seat next a rather friendly couple if you know what she meant, but it was a seat and she really didn't feel like standing the whole time.
They pulled into her stop, and she stood up quickly ready to get away from the couple.
She had fifteen minutes to make it to work, and if the streets were just as busy as they usually were then she would have no problem making it to work on time.
If there was one thing she hated about the city was how busy and congested the streets were. Did people not know what it was like to take their time, and not have to be in a rush? Obviously not. She couldn't wait to get out of here and live life at a slower pace.
When she got to the building she worked in se sighed, another day of boring work. She got on the elevator and pressed seven waiting for the elevator to come to a stop at her floor. She had to push her way past the rest of the people to get out of the elevator.
Her cubby was on the far side of the office so she quickly maneuvered her way around all the cubby's to make it to hers.
Chrissie was waiting for her. "Why didn't you call me last night like you said you would?" she asked expectantly.
She'd forgotten about that. "Oh, sorry I went and got a couple of magazines, and I fell asleep reading them."
Chrissie rolled her eyes. Whenever there was something wrong with her friend she would read magazines and eat ice cream. "Sure and let me guess there was some ice cream involved in this too? Of course there was." Chrissie sighed. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know I guess I'm just tired of living in the city. I thought I would love it when I got here, but it's been almost five years and I hate it."
Chrissie faked a pout. "You don't like your best friend." She gasped.
She swatted her hand at Chrissie. "Oh, Chrissie stop being so dramatic, you know I can't stand this place, not you. You're the best thing that has happened to me since I got here."
"Yeah, yeah."
"One of the magazines I got was filled with ads by guys that want to find a significant other-ˮ
Chrissie interrupted her. "You can't tell me your seriously considering this? What if these guys are psycho killers."
Anna sighed. "First off Chrissie they wouldn't let them have ads in these if they were, and there's this one that intrigues me. He name is Brent Donovan-ˮ
Once again Chrissie interrupted her. "Do you have it with you?" Anna nodded yes. "Can I see it?"
Anna grabbed it out of her bag and handed it to her. "It reminds me off mail order brides..." She paused. "What do you think of him?"
"He's hot."
"Yeah I know. Should I send him a letter?"
"Sure. He seems like he's nice and straight forward, just how you like them." She shrugged. "It's your life do whatever you want."
"I was going to send him a letter. I just wanted to get your opinion first." Anna looked to the left oh crap! The boss was approaching them. "You might want to go back to your cubby," she said pointing to the left. "I'll call you tonight."
"Okay." Chrissie crossed over to her cubby quickly.
Both of them began to work fast. Their boss Jenkins passed by them and said, "I don't pay you to gossip, or whatever ladies. I want to see you both working. You will both have to edit five more articles now." He really was an unpleasant person.
They both inwardly groaned and nodded. He seemed to be satisfied by their nods and so he walked away.
The rest of the day passed by rather uneventfully, Anna had lunch with Chrissie. Chrissie avoided the topic of Anna leaving as if it was the plague.
When Anna got home that night she ordered some pasta from an Italian bistro around the corner from her building. After she'd changed into some sweats she booted up her computer and began to compose the letter she was going to send Brent.
Dear Brent Donovan,
I saw your ad and I decided that I would send you a letter. My name is Anna Douglas I'm twenty-seven, and I currently live in New York City. Now don't let that fool you I was raised in a small town in Georgia. I am very much so a small town girl. My parents own a small farm and a store in town. After I finished college I decided to move to the city to pursue my career, I currently work at a newspaper as an editor.
Honestly I hate living in the city and I would like to move back to a small town, but I don't want to go back home. The other day I saw your ad in that magazine, and I thought to myself, he's perfect.
I would have no problem fitting in on your ranch or in your town. As I said I'm twenty-seven and I've decided that I'd like to move into the next stage of my life which means finding a significant other. I hope that's not too straight forward. One thing you'll find out about me is that I don't like to beat around the bush. If you do decide to send me a letter back I'd be overjoyed. Also I think you'd like me if you ever get the chance to get to know me. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read this.
P.S. There is a picture of myself enclosed as well
Sincerely Yours,
Anna Douglas
She enclosed the letter in an envelope, and set it aside. She's send it tomorrow before she went to work.
Her doorbell chimed alerting her that her food was here. She grabbed a twenty out of her wallet and walked to the door. The delivery man was waiting on the other side of her door as she'd expected. She paid him quickly and then closed the door.
Anna went into her kitchen to get a glass of wine and a fork. The heavenly aroma of pesto chicken pasta wafted past her nose and her mouth watered. This was the best pasta she had ever had in her life.
After dinner Anna decided she'd better call Chrissie. She dialed her number which she knew by heart. After two rings Chrissie answered. "Hey, did you write the letter?"
"Uh, yeah it's in an envelope sitting by my purse ready to be sent."
Chrissie sighed. "I don't want you to leave me. How will I survive, especially at work, you know how Jenkins is."
"You will be fine he's not that bad. Plus it will get better for you when you and I are not talking all the time while we're supposed to be working."
"I guess you're right, but promise me one thing?"
Anna couldn't help but wonder what she was going to ask her. "Yeah?"
"Promise me we'll visit each other rather often. I don't care if it's you coming to visit me or me visiting you."
"Of course you're my best friend; I'll always want to be near you."
The rest of the conversation flowed easily, there was no more strain from Anna's upcoming departure. She went to sleep that night feeling happy with the decision she'd made. In the morning she'd send Brent her letter and hope for the best.