Weston Ranch, Fisher's Story

**********

This is a
piece
of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the
product
of the author’s imagi
nation or
used
fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. All rights
are reserved
.

Thanks to Marie, my Editor

Thanks to Ellen, my Cover Artist

* * * *

Novella one of a four novella series.
This is a stand-alone Novella

Approximate length: 21k words total/80 print pages

******************************************************************

Claire moved
back
home to start her business and
to
let go of the past.

Fisher isn't
keen
on Claire arriving home after six long years of absence.

She wants som
ething he isn't willing to give.

He wants something she isn’t ready to handle.

*
****C
ontain
s
Profanity, Ex
plicit Sexual content, 18+ only
******

Weston Ranch

Fisher’s Story

So
often times
it happens that we live
our
lives in chains

And
we never even know we have the
key
.

The Eagles:    

1974 On the Border album

Chapter One

Claire
Hicks
stepped off the elevator at the Dallas
International
Airport
and breathe
d a sigh of relief. It had be
en six years since she left
her home state of Texas.
Now
,
having graduated with honors
,
she was hom
e at last
. She worked her ass off for her
Master’s
degree
in Special Education
,
and
now she need
ed to
put
the second part of her
ambitious
plan into motion.

She
maneuvered
aro
und the bustling crowd. It was
extremel
y
busy at the airport
.
P
eople
were
impatiently trying to
make
their flights
as well as the
people impatiently trying to get home. Claire
walked out of the automatic doors
. Her
twin sisters
were
outside
already
pulled up
to the curb
,
waiting for her.

"
Ab
out time you
r
aero
-plane landed,
"
Lexie
said in her deeply distinguished Texas drawl. Claire smiled at her sisters.
Lexie
and
Maddie, short for Alexandra and Madelyn,
were identical in every way, except with
their
attitude.
With her
sisters’
help
,
they loaded her
small amount of
luggage
into a new
gleaming black Land R
over
. All her
other things, including her
truck
were being delivered
,
via a moving company,
by the end of the week.

"You glad to be home?"
Maddie
asked as she
s
wung
around the passenger seat to face her.

"
Yes.
I’m
tired
of the cold,
" Claire
said as she
leaned into the
cold
leather
seat, exhausted with jet lag.
Thankful that her sis
ters had the
air
on full blast
, it was hot as hell outside
.
I
t would take a few days to adjust to the simmering heat.

"So
,
what hap
pens now that you are
back?" Lexie
asked
,
lo
oking into the rear view mirror,
and then
pulled
away from the curb
.

"I am going to
buy some land and open my camp,
"
she
answered
.

"You still want to do that after all these years?"
Maddie
asked.

"
Yep.
Bailey, Texas is a
lovely
place
as any
.
It
i
s away from the city
,
but close enough for families to
drive
their children t
o
.
It’s not
actu
ally a
camp
, more of a
special
needs
facility
that will
host
camps through the summer
and fall
.
”

"
Well, we will just call it the
camp
for now, until
you
figure
everything out.
The Weston's are selling some of their
land
if
you
are interested
. Apparently
,
they are facing some
tough
times.
Although, Fisher stepped in
to
help
earlier this year
,
"
Lexie
piped up, gaining a glare from her sister.

"
I suppose I can look into their land if I have too
,
"
Claire sighed
.

"You
would have to deal with Asher,
" Lexie
reminded her.

Asher
Weston
was
an
ex
-boyfriend
, her high school sweetheart
.
However, it wasn't Asher she was worried a
bout.
It was his older brother
Fisher
that made her heart race
.
She had thought he would be in New York
still
, where he went to make his fortune after college. 

They
had an hour ride home from the a
irport. Lexie and Maddie
told her about the current news, gossips, and new businesses that have cropped up over the years. As she listened to them
ramble
, her minded wondered back to her high school years.

Asher and she
dated for two years b
efore she left for college.
Claire
could
have easily
went
to Texas A & M
like Asher did, but she needed to
get
as far away from Fisher as
soon as
she
could
.
Ohio State seemed l
ike a good place to go.
She
kept in touch with Asher
through the years
with
regular
emails,
endless
phone calls and
daily
text
messages.
She would have loved for him to pick her up from the Airport, but he had
work
to do on the family ranch.

Besides,
it’s
been about two years since
she’d
seen her sisters, having them
visit
Ohio a few times since she left
had
worked out great.
She’d
been home only once in the six years
,
and
it was for her
parent
’s
funeral
. They were on vacation in Maui
three years ago,
when they
were involved
in a bus accident.

Her
thoughts switched over
to his older brother Fisher.
Fisher
Weston had
always made her uncomfortable whenev
er she was in the same room as him
. He watched her like a hawk, never trusted her and disliked that she dated
his
precious
younger brother. Never allowing Asher and her any alo
ne time if he could
prevent
it, always making his
displeasure
well known.
It
didn’t
help that she
was attracted
to him. She even imagined herself in love with him and getting married
, having some kids. She shook her head in disgust at her
silly
teenage dreams.

"Hey, earth to Claire
,
"
Maddie
said
,
snapping her out of her thoughts
.

"We are
home
,
sunshine
,
‘
bout
time
too.
Y
ou
are in desperate need of a tan,
"
Lexie
chuckled, throwing the Land Rover in
to
park.

Claire
took in
the
sight of the
home
their p
arents left to the
ir
three daughters
.
A t
wo story
spacious
house
,
it was white
and
had
dark blue shutters
with
a warm
red
door for welcoming guests.
It was a lot different from the
tiny
one bedroom
apartment
she had
in Ohio.
It was situated on a fifty acre ranch.
The ranch
was split
up between the three of them.
They decided a long time ago
to never sell
. Since the
ranch
was
across
the street
from the Weston's, the
daughters let the Weston's take a lease out to
cultivate
their lands.
It was one less thing to worry about.
They did a
superb
job keeping the barns and fences in
decent
shape.