Kristin came down the front porch steps and across the yard to where Jack was standing like she had been wearing the outfit all of her life. No one would ever guess that three months ago she had been living in a penthouse apartment in the heart of downtown Seattle.

  Jack opened the gate to the corral and led the horses out into the front yard. He handed Sarah’s reins to Kristin and asked, “Where to partner?” He didn’t say it in the mocking tone that someone living in a big city would use. He said it in the truest sense of the word; they were well on their way to becoming true partners.

  They climbed up into the saddles and headed out the front gate with Sam in tow. Since they had been back at the ranch Kristin had made a valiant attempt to convince Sarah that it would be really fun to allow her four pawed best friend to ride on her back right behind Kristin, neither Sam nor Sarah wanted anything to do with her fun idea. Jack had just stood back and smiled during the whole comical episode, he knew the outcome before Kristin had even started. And being as wise as he was he failed to say a word when the project failed.

  They had packed enough supplies in the saddle bags for at least three or four days depending on when they wanted to come back to semi-civilization. Their destination was the old mining cabin about five miles up Elk creek. Kristin had purchased the gold mine operation form the two brothers’ that had owned it for years. The price she paid them was more than they had ever made the entire time that they had owned the modest little operation.

  There was just something about the little cabin nestled in the narrow canyon with the gurgling steam running right next to the cabin that had captured her heart from the first time they had rode up to it.

  Becca had tried to turn the modeling agency back over to Kristin after Clarence had been ceremoniously dragged off to jail. Since the agency and the people that worked there were no longer in danger there was no reason for Kristin to try and protect everyone from the wrath of Clarence. But Kristin had adamantly refused. When Becca realized that Kristin was not going to budge on this she offered to at least give her a percentage of the profit from the agency. Kristin held up her hand in protest, “Consider it an early wedding present.” She said, with a smirk.

  Becca burst out, “How did you know?” she didn’t think that anyone knew that Jake had asked her to marry him. Kristin said sheepishly,

  “Becca, you know Jake can’t keep a secret.” Almost as an afterthought she added,

  “I know a great place you guys can visit on your honeymoon.” It was an open invitation for the two of them to visit her and Jack at the Ranch.

  There would always be a special place in Kristin's heart for the city that she had grown up in, the people and the uniqueness that was Seattle. Despite all of the wonderful memories she had growing up in Seattle there were also some extremely painful ones that she needed to walk away from. Of course she would visit from time to time to visit old friends and drink in the sights, sounds, and smells that made her home town so special. But for now she needed some space between her and the pain, and she knew just the place.

  Kristin had sold her last concrete connection to Seattle, the high rise apartment building that her father had left her. When she decided to sell the building she made only one phone call. Kristin called, Carl Turner, the young man that her father had hired the day after the dinner party years ago. Dad had mentored Carl and most importantly he trusted Carl, and if her father had trusted him that was good enough for her. Carl was now the head of a company that purchased rundown buildings and turned them into upscale lease properties. Even though her father's building was not anywhere near a fixer upper Carl had always expressed an unashamed interest in owning the building that was named for the man that had taught him everything he knew about business.

  Kristin sold the building to Carl for just over forty seven million dollars which was three million under the market value of the property. When she sat across from Carl at the massive oak conference table and told Carl the asking price he studied her with a look of mild confusion. She saw the look and cleared up his confusion.

  “There is one condition.” she said.

  Knowing Kristin and her father Carl knew instantly what the condition was. A smile spread across his stoic face as he reached across the table and laid his hand on top of Kristin's. “The name stays,” He said, referring to her father's name on the building. Her father had trusted Carl and she trusted him enough to know that he would never change the name of the building.

  As they crested the hill and stopped for a minute to look back over the valley Kristin teased Jack that she was going to start buying up the valley one ranch at a time until they owned the entire valley. Jack leaned down on his saddle horn and asked, “Why do we need this entire valley to ourselves?”

  Kristin winked at him and said with a sly smile, “Horseback riding, naked.”

  Jack laughed out loud and as they turned the horses away from the vista and headed down the back side of the hill toward the cabin Jack started pulling off his shirt. Kristin watched his blue eyes sparkle as he uttered two words, “Why wait?”

  Kristin followed suit as they disappeared over the hill and into the pine trees.

  The End

 

 

  Unknown, Off the Beaten Path

 

 

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