Clarke knew she had a lot to learn when she agreed to work on Woods Ranch. What she didn't know was that, in addition to horseback riding and cattle corralling, she'd be learning about love.
Lexa had zero tolerance for her new, inexperienced ranch h...
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It was greener than she had expected. Even though patches of dirty snow held on in hollows and depressions, sagebrush and tufts of bright green grass were beginning to emerge. Roiling gray clouds swept overhead, carried by westerly winds that had Clarke clutching at the steering wheel as her car bounced along the dirt road. She had left behind the gridlock of the city, passed through snowy mountain passes and endless forests, and now found herself in this land of rolling hills and open skies.
It felt like another world. And there she was, on her own, going to a place she had never been, to work for a woman she had never met, to do a job that she had never done.
Not for the first time that day, Clarke asked herself what the fuck she was doing.
Polis, the small town half an hour back on the dirt road, had been enough of a culture shock: there had been a horse tied up on Main Street in one of the parking spaces; literally everyone drove an enormous truck; and cowboy hats seemed to be the hottest fashion trend. She couldn't believe that towns like this still existed.
So what was a college grad city girl doing there?
(Leaving her friends behind. Abandoning her family. Running away from her problems.)
That all too familiar worry stirred again in Clarke's stomach, but she had thought this true. She knew this was the right choice. She tried to fight down her anxiety by turning up the radio. The country station crackled a bit, and country was far from her favorite genre, but it was the only station she could pick up out there.
I wanna sweep you off your feet tonight
I wanna love you and hold you tight
Spin you around on some old dance floor
Act like we never met before, for fun
It was a campy song, but kind of catchy too. But Clarke's attention was back on the road, when her car hit yet another pothole in the road. She tried to avoid another, even deeper hole in the road, but she somehow managed to hit it straight on. Her car shuddered in protest. If her tires and suspension survived this trip, she would be surprised.
(Would she survive this trip?) She just turned the radio higher.
'Cause you're the one I want, you're the one I need
Baby, if I was a king, you would be my queen
You're the rock in my roll, you're good for my soul, it's true
I'm head over boots for you.
Despite everything, Clarke laughed to herself. She had never heard such a ridiculous song. The lyrics and the country twang contrasted starkly with Clarke's mood, but somehow, they made her feel a little better.
She had been driving for two days, trying to let the big skies and open roads let her mind drift to nothing. Of course, that hadn't worked. If didn't matter that she knew Finn was an asshole and her mom was a control freak, or that she had confirmed her decision to leave town over and over again. Clarke still pored over what had happened, her shock, her grudges, and she felt them more strongly than ever. She would never forgive Finn for what he had done. He didn't deserve it, and frankly, Clarke wasn't above hating someone for the rest of her life. Why should she waste her time forgiving someone if he don't even think what he did was wrong?
