Less than a week later, Ellie found herself on a plane headed for Anchorage. And it wasn’t a moment too soon as her mother had driven her properly crazy during her few days at “home.”
Will any place ever feel like home again?
As if reading her thoughts, the woman in the aisle seat next to her leaned forward, giving Ellie a conspiratorial smile. “You’ll love it in Alaska,” she promised. “The winters can be a bit harsh if you aren’t prepared, but the summertime is truly breathtaking.”
Ellie shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Was it really so obvious she didn’t belong? “I don’t plan on being here long,” she answered flippantly. “Just until I’ve had a chance to rest a bit, so hopefully I’ll be gone long before the harsh winter gets here.”
Suddenly remembering, she stared down at the worn brochure in her hands. It was the same one her father had given her when he first offered up the idea of a reprieve at Memory Ranch. The large golden logo with the horse in the top corner drew her eyes. It was still hard for her to think of Alaska as a place for a horse ranch, but what did she know?
The fasten seatbelts light popped on with a high-pitched ding and the pilot announced they’d be starting their descent into Anchorage shortly. Ellie rolled up the shade on her little port-hole window and watched as the clouds gave way to the stunning scenery below.
Mountains stretched as far as she could see and the land under them lay green and lush. Ocean water sparkled with the promise of new adventures, finally helping Ellie to see why this was the absolutely perfect place for a ranch… or even a whole life.
She pulled out her new phone and glanced down at the time, finding it much later than she’d expected. They’d been delayed a bit before taking off from the airport in Los Angeles, which made her worry the woman who was so supposed to meet her might have given up waiting and headed home without her.
Maybe her parents had been right about her traveling alone. They’d shockingly agreed with each other that Ellie shouldn’t take the journey by herself. If her parents were formidable when arguing against each other, then they were truly stubborn when they found themselves on the same side of an issue. By some miracle, she’d finally managed to convince them she needed to do this on her own. She needed to feel like she had some kind of control back in her life. Taking this trip by herself was what she had to do, whether they liked it or not, even if she did find herself stranded in the airport with no idea where to go next.
Her father had flown in to Anchorage a few days back saying he’d come to the ranch by the end of the week to make sure she was all right. If worse came to worse, she could give him a call. But setting up camp in the airport seemed more appealing than admitting she was wrong about her ability to travel on her own.
Her mother was already so angry about it all that she wasn’t even speaking to Ellie when she left. Ellie suspected she’d eventually come around, and that her mother making a fuss was just par for the course. Right now, trying to deal with her mother’s feelings wasn’t a priority when there was so much else that needed to be taken care of.
Ellie once more opened the contacts on her phone, swallowing the lump that started to choke her. She only had her mom, her dad, Dr. Crosse’s office, her physiotherapist, and the number for Elizabeth Jane Whitley, the woman who ran Memory Ranch.
Since her old phone had been destroyed in the crash, there was no way for her to know who had been in her contact list before. She knew she must have had some friends, even if no one had ever managed a visit while she was in the hospital. Coincidence, right? Surely she had people who cared about her somewhere in the world.
When Ellie had asked her momager about it, she touted all the “connections” they apparently both believed to be important in the industry, then suggested that Ellie give their favorite fashion photographer a call to stage a recovery shoot and began talking about that at the pace of roughly a million words per minute. Unfortunately, her mother had no helpful information when it came to anything outside of Ellie’s work life.
When Ellie had asked her about the man she kept seeing in her dreams, dearest mom had been adamant that she didn’t know about any man Ellie had been involved with. And she’d been sure to let her know that if anyone would know, it would be her.
There were no pictures in Ellie’s apartment—nothing that gave her any kind of glimpse into her personal life. The only pictures she’d been able to find were the ones from her photo shoots and those taken at gala events her mother had saved.
Nothing to show the person behind the camera or the life she’d lived when she wasn’t working.
Her mom had insisted Ellie hadn’t had the time or inclination to pursue anything outside of her work. “And why would you want to?” she’d asked, her eyebrows pushing up against her smooth forehead. “You already have it all!”
Ellie simply nodded and changed the subject, but inside she wondered, If I already have it all, then why do we have to work so hard to try and get even more? And why does it seem so easy to walk away and never look back?
The plane touched down with an unnerving bump as Ellie held her head back against the seat. Suddenly the worries of the past faded away, only to be replaced by the fear of what lay ahead. What if being on this ranch doesn’t help at all? What if I came all this way for nothing?
“I’ll be saying a prayer for you. I’m sure everything will work out for you, dear.” The older woman she’d sat next to smiled at her reassuringly as they waited for their bags at the luggage carousel. Ellie hadn’t told her everything, just that she had been in an accident and was going to a ranch to spend some time recuperating. Even if she had shared her memory loss, she doubted anyone would believe her. It felt way too much like a plotline from a soap opera to actually be real.
Yet here she was, living proof that the worst really could happen.
Ellie turned carefully with her carry-on over her shoulder and her large suitcase gripped tightly behind her. She let herself look past the baggage area to where people were milling around waiting for friends and family to exit the terminal. Her eyes scanned the crowd for a tall woman with red hair, hopefully holding some kind of sign or something to identify her as the Liz who was supposed to be picking her up.
Finally spotting her, she smiled as the other woman must have realized she was the one she was waiting for. The red-haired woman threw both hands in the air and waved animatedly. “I bet you’re Ellie Hawkins. Am I right?”
“That’s me,” Ellie said brightly as she pulled her suitcase to a stop behind her and stretched her free hand forward in greeting.
“I’m so glad to meet you. I hope your flight was okay. Let’s get your bags into my truck and head out to the ranch so you have time to freshen up before supper.” Liz deftly grabbed both of Ellie’s bags and headed toward the exit at a brisk clip as she continued to chatter away about Alaska, the ranch, memory recovery—basically every topic under the sun.
Ellie trembled with fear, anticipation, the sense that something momentous had just happened. She’d read in the brochure that Elizabeth Jane had also suffered some kind of memory trauma which led her to start the ranch with her husband, Dorian. But the woman before Ellie now seemed so normal, so confident, so sure of her place in the world.
Maybe this will work, after all, Ellie realized, unable to hide the smile that had begun to play at her lips. Maybe this is exactly where I need to be.
She let the newfound optimism overtake her as she followed her guide out of the airport and toward whatever came next.