your boots beneath my bed | JENLISA

Chapter 1

According to her research, Hale, Wyoming had four hundred and seven people living in it. Also according to her research, the freezing cold days started in late October and lasted into April. And then her research showed no Starbucks, no juice bar, and no Planet Fitness.

In spite of all of that, Jennie was sandwiched between two men in the middle row of a prop plane, on her way to Hale, Wyoming. That was how much she loved her sister, how little she had been tied to her life in Palo Alto, and how desperate she was to find her purpose.

"We are beginning our descent into Central Wyoming Regional Airport. Please make sure all large electronics are stowed and all tray tables are up at this time."

Jennie closed her laptop and stuffed it into her shoulder bag, leaning back into her seat with a small, 'maybe this will be fun!' sigh.

"Heading home?" one of the men in her row asked.

"Not exactly," Jennie replied with a smile. "You?"

"Yeah, I'm from Casper," he nodded, readjusting his stetson.

"Is that anywhere near Hale?" Jennie wondered.

"Excuse me," he laughed. "You must be going somewhere small. Buddy, you know where Hale, Wyoming is?" he asked their other neighbor in their row.

Jennie looked to her right at the man sitting next to the window.

"No clue, sorry," he shrugged.

"Maybe my sister's been pulling my leg this whole time and Hale doesn't actually exist," Jennie joked, suddenly feeling like the extremely small town picture she'd gotten of Hale was grossly incorrect. If two locals didn't even know Hale existed, she must be going to the middle of nowhere.

—

"Mo Mo!!!" Channing yelled, holding up a sign that said 'Jennie Ruby' on it with a bunch of hearts.

Jennie just laughed and readjusted her bag on her shoulder, walking down the stairs to the baggage claim.

"My row mates convinced me Hale doesn't exist," Jennie said, throwing her arms around Channing and pulling her in for a hug.

"Your row mates must be from out of town," Channing mumbled, burying her face in her sister's shoulder. "God, I missed you."

"I missed you too. How about we don't go six months without seeing each other again? Wanna share a house or something?" Jennie teased.

"I've got your room all set up," Channing said with a huge smile. "I even got those fancy bed sheets you like priority shipped to the house."

"For me? You shouldn't have!" Jennie replied, pulling Channing over to the baggage claim carousel.

"I got some for me too," Channing said with a smile. "Are you hungry? Was the flight okay?"

"It was and I'd really just love to see the place. Your pictures have made it look incredible. Rustic but refined," Jennie grinned, craning her neck to look for her bags.

"Well, the sun's gonna set by the time we get home, but you'll love the renovations I did on the house. I can show you the whole property tomorrow morning. Heck, maybe I could convince Lisa to take you on a trail ride or something," Channing shrugged, reaching down and grabbing Jennie's bag as soon as she saw it.

"I think your stable boy has plenty to keep themselves busy with," Jennie replied, having heard all about the ranch hand the property had come with these last six weeks that Channing had been out at the place. Channing was all, "Lisa fixed this," and "Wow, Jennie, you should see Lisa throw a bale of hay." If she didn't know any better, she'd think Mikel had some competition.