Page 9 of High Heels & Heifers
I stand, my laptop and papers tucked back in the crook of my arm, and offer her my hand for a shake. I don’t mind in the slightest that she took me for a guy. That’s why I chose the name Jack. “No worries,” I tell her. “Happens all the time.”
She shoves her hands in the front pockets of her jeans and tips her head down the hall. Her long French braid sways a little with the motion. “Why don’t I show you to our dining room?”
As we walk, I remember my presentation. “Do you have a projector? I have a deck I’d like to share with the team before we get into the orientation, assuming my computer works after I’ve dropped it twice today.”
Emma chuckles. “We don’t do much here in the way of computers or presentations.”
I purse my lips. “I suppose I could just do a quick virtual meeting and everyone could follow along on their own computers.”
“That requires a strong internet signal, right?”
“Any high speed should do.”
“Well, ours is sketchy at best, and it’s worse at night. Besides, I didn’t see any of your colleagues with computers when they were gathering in the dining room.” Emma turns the corner and starts descending the stairs.
I slow and my mouth gapes. Really? They don’t have a reliable internet connection? What exactly have I gotten myself into? Thinking I could fire up my hotspot, I check my phone’s signal. One bar. I sigh and follow Emma the rest of the way to the dining room.
When I walk in, I see how right she was. All eight of my male counterparts stand around with various flavors of soda, in hand. Most wear jeans, boots, and a T-shirt. Eddie’s already wearing his brand-spanking-new cowboy hat.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Don’t you think that could have waited for tomorrow?”
“Just thoughtI’d get all gussied up.” He winks and tips back his Coke.
I scowl, but looking around, no one seems to be in the mood for anything professional. It sucks to be the stickler in the group. However, HR impressed on me that I had to go through the waivers and make sure every last person signed before they threw one leg over a saddle. I drop my laptop and papers on the end of the table just as two cowboys come strutting in the room.
One is wearing a cowboy hat too but sheds it as he enters. I clear my throat and nudge Eddie, who gets the drift and removes his hat too. The cowboy’s face is round and dimpled, and I like him instantly. He must be Wyatt, the person on the emails. The taller one is Luca, and he’s carrying a stack of papers too. Probably the ones we all signed before.
“Before everyone gets a little tipsy, I need ya’ll to gather around for a briefing,” Luca says.
What’s he doing? My mouth hangs for a couple of breaths before I recover. He’s stealing my thunder. “Luca?”
His eyes lift to meet mine, one dark brow arched in question, and I forget what I was about to say.
Then, suddenly, I shake myself out of it. “I need to get some business out of the way before we dive into the ranch’s orientation.” Jutting a hip, I wait while he stands straighter, a little surprised, apparently. “If you don’t mind, that is.”
Luca
My eyes follow the brunette’ship as it juts out, paper in her hand, her index finger tapping against them.
“Sorry, ma’m. It looks like I’ll be co-presenting with you this fine evening.”
She wrinkles up her forehead, puckers her lips, and then concedes. I stand taller, fighting a smile, when she rolls her eyes. I can’t quite figure out why I find her better-than-everyone attitude a bit... cute. It should be the most annoying thing ever.
“Okay, LivFit. Eyes on me,” Jack says.
The conversations in the room come to a halt, and Jack has the attention of the entire room. I can’t tell by people’s looks if it’s respect or fear that I see. I’m positioned directly behind her and try to divert my eyes from her shape in those overly priced leggings.
“Thoroughgood Ranch should have your waivers for their legal needs. But you also need to sign these from LivFit. HR insisted.” She puts the stack on the table and continues talking. “Read it carefully, but it basically says you are taking this risk on your own accord, and if something goes wrong, you won’t sue the company, etcetera, etcetera.”
“And these,” I point to the waivers that Emma hands me, “are the waivers that say you also won’t sue Thoroughgood.”
Jack starts picking up the forms her team has signed and hands them to me.
“The entire purpose of a corporate retreat,” Jack starts to say as I take a few steps back to where Wyatt stands. If there is something I can’t hear one more time in this lifetime, it’s the purpose of forced corporate bonding. I’ve taken part and planned too many to realize they are a joke and nothing more than a boondoggle for bored employees to stick around for a little longer.
I look at the LivFit employees sitting around the table. In each group we have out here there are similarities. There is the take charge person. That’s obviously Jack, but I haven’t quite picked out the others on my list yet. There’s always someone who was forced to come and would like to be anywhere else. There is the boss, who probably shouldn’t be. There is the person up for anything—that seems to be the younger kid on the end. And there is always the person that thinks they know more about ranching than the actual ranchers do. I wonder which one that will be.
Wyatt leans in and whispers into my ear. “Jack being a woman was sure a surprise.”
