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In Danica Douglas’ opinion, there were a lot of great vacation spots in the world, but the state of Wyoming definitely wasn’t on that list. Unfortunately for Dani, she didn’t have much of a say in their destination, which is how she found herself standing in the middle of a rundown motel room in the Dusty Spur Inn in the small western town of Sagebrush, Wyoming.
“So, what should we do first?” her friend Alexis asked, pulling a sticky strand of sweaty black hair off her forehead. The room was stuffy and a low rent joint like the Dusty Spur didn’t have much in the way of air-conditioning. Alexis Appel, a lanky black girl with natural curls framing her pretty face, was sprawled out on Dani’s bed—her own bed covered in piles of luggage and stacks of shoes—leafing through a What To Do In Wyoming tourist magazine that had more dust on it that the titular spur in the motel’s name.
“Whatever you want, girl,” Dani replied, trying to sound sunny and failing miserably. This weekend’s destination had been Alexis’ idea and Dani wasn’t sure how long it would take her to forgive her friend for dragging her to the middle of cowboy country. To be fair, she should probably be mad at Kelsey and Tami, as well. Those two didn’t choose their vacation spot (if this middle of nowhere town could even be called that) but they hadn’t objected when Alexis had unveiled her pick.
The four girls—Dani, Alexis, Kelsey, and Tami, friends since college and sorority sisters for life—had taken an annual vacation weekend together, Sister’s Weekend, every year since they’d graduated college, with the girls each taking turns choosing their vacation spot. Dani had been pleased with her two location choices: Cancun, Mexico the second year they’d taken the trip and Napa Valley just last year.
Dani had had high hopes for Alexis’ choice. It was year number eight, after all, and Alexis was infamous for her party girl habits. Alexis had chosen Las Vegas the first time she was in charge of picking their destination and—from what Dani could remember—it had been a blast. Dani had hoped for something similar when Alexis’ turn had come again—she was really in the mood for a booze-fueled party weekend—but this time Alexis had picked a small, dusty cow town in the middle of a flyover state.
“What is there even to do in Wyoming, Alexis?” a voice whined from their doorway. Kelsey leaned against the chipped wooden door frame, enormous sunglasses half covering her pretty face. She was overdressed for the occasion, as usual, in a white lace sundress that showed off her smooth brown skin. Kelsey had always turned heads, even back in college, leaving her friends to fight over the leftover boys.
Except for Dani, of course. Dani had always been the responsible friend: the designated driver who didn’t need to flirt with boys because she always had a boyfriend back home waiting for her. It was up to Dani to take care of Tami, Alexis, and Kelsey. And she was getting a little sick of it.
Dani didn’t understand why Kelsey, of all people, didn’t argue about their vacation spot. If anyone liked the luxuries of modern living, it was Kelsey. Alexis couldn’t think of a time when Kelsey’s nails were anything less than perfect and her weave immaculate.
A small, curvy figure appeared in the doorway and shoved her way past Kelsey into the dimly lit motel room. “Let’s see, according to Yelp,” announced Tami, the last member of their foursome, reading from her phone. “They’ve got a pretty cool downtown, a couple of hikes out of town and something called ‘Cowboy Days.’”
Dani’s eyes widened in horror. “Oh no,” she said. “I’m not going to anything called Cowboy Days, girls.”
Dani expected Kelsey to take her side. Kelsey was the girliest girl that Dani had ever met, there is no way that she’d want to go watch cows run around an arena while white boys in funny hats chased after them. But, strangely enough, Kelsey had perked up at the mention of Cowboy Days.
As had Alexis. And Tami.
Apparently, Dani was the only person in their little friend group who had any issue attending the cowboy-themed festivities.
No more than an hour later, the girls were dressed to the nines and strutting down the main street of Sagebrush, aptly named “Main Street,” arm-in-arm and chattering excitedly about their Sister’s Weekend.
One of the major rules of Sister’s Weekend was that it was a “judgment free zone,” but Dani couldn’t help wishing that she and her friends had packed a little differently for the weekend. They were perfectly outfitted to fit in for a party weekend in a big city, but here in Sagebrush they definitely stuck out and were attracting looks from passersby. It would be bad enough if they were just getting attention from the denim and flannel clad locals for their short skirts and sparkly tops, but Dani was quite positive that they were drawing focus for another reason: the four friends were the only black folks she’d seen so far in Sagebrush.
Dani tried to keep a positive face and go along with her friends’ excitement, but Alexis caught her mid-eye roll.
“Why are you being such a Debbie Downer?” Alexis whispered, yanking Dani closer so that their conversation couldn’t be overheard by Kelsey and Tami, who were walking just a few paces ahead of them on the broad sidewalk of the small town street.
“I’m sorry,” Dani hissed back, keeping her own voice low. “It’s just...I’m having a rough time back home.”
That was the understatement of the year.
Dani had been looking forward to getting out of Chicago for Sister’s Weekend with her old college friends because her life in the city was going downhill, fast. She’d just been passed over for a promotion at her marketing firm, her cat had died, and her on-again/off-again boyfriend, Mikhal seemed to think they were off-again. Or at least that’s what he said when Dani had run into him at the club with another girl, a skinny little white girl with grown-out roots and a nasty case of Resting Bitch Face.
“Seriously, D, what’s wrong?” Alexis asked again, but Dani just shook her head and smiled her famous Danica Douglass grin, a flash of bright white teeth that insisted that everything was just fine. Dani had been relying on that smile for years and it had never failed her.
And it didn’t now. Alexis looked at her for a moment, frowning at her friend, then playfully smacked her on the butt. “Then snap out of it, girl,” Alexis said. “Because this town is too fine lookin’ for you to walk around with a face that stinky.”
“What?” Dani was confused. “How is this town ‘fine lookin’, Lex?”
“Look around you, Dani,” Alexis told her, gesturing broadly to the nearly empty street.
“Okay,” Dani agreed. She looked. There were dusty old storefronts, made to look like Wild West shops. There were some mountains in the distance, too far off to be proper scenery.
And then there were cowboys.
Suddenly, Dani understood why Alexis chose Sagebrush, Wyoming.
“Are you trying to sleep with a freakin’ cowboy, Lex?” Dani snapped.
Alexis just smirked, one corner of her wide mouth pulled up into a quixotic little comma.
Of course, that’s why Alexis wanted to come to the cow town.
“What?” Alexis argued when Dani accused her of this ulterior motive. “So what if I am? We go to Vegas to meet party boys, we go to Mexico and meet surfers, why can’t we come to Wyoming to meet cowboys?”
Dani didn’t have an answer to that and, by this time, both Tami and Kelsey had joined the conversation and were busy coming up with cowboy-hunting plans with Alexis.
“And Dani can come sleep in our room if you do bring any guys back,” Kelsey said, and suddenly Dani had enough.
“No,” she snapped. “No, I’m not getting kicked out of my own room just because Lex meets someone. If you want to get laid, Lex, good for you, but you’re gonna need to rent another room. Or how about this: what if I wanted to bring a guy home, huh? How would you feel about that?!”
Her three friends stared at Dani with matching expressions of shock on their pretty faces.
Finally, Tami spoke. “Um, Dani?” she said tentatively. “We actually wouldn’t feel good about it at all.”
“Why?” Dani snapped again, absolutely out of cares to give. “Because I’m supposed to be the boring one who never has any fun? ‘Oh, good old Dani! She’ll always do everything for us because she’s uptight and lame and—’”
“Bitch, please,” Kelsey interrupted. “The reason we wouldn’t feel good about it is because you have a damn boyfriend, Danica.”
Dani paused, completely forgetting that she hadn’t told her friends about her and Mikhal’s questionable relationship status. Her chin quivered for a moment, then the whole story—the missed promotion, the dead cat, the unfaithful boyfriend—came pouring out.
The crowd of pedestrians milled around them as the three friends gathered around Dani, hugged her, and let her spill her sorrows and tears on the sidewalk of a small Wyoming town.
Finally, Dani snuffled and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. “So, that’s it,” she said. “I’m sorry I’m being such a buzzkill. I should just get on a plane back to Chicago and—”
“Dani, no!” Tami exclaimed, bouncing with excitement. “You know what the best cure for a break up is, right?”
“Ice cream?” Dani asked. “A glass of wine?”
“A bottle of wine?” Kelsey chimed in, looking hopeful.
“Nope,” Tami replied, smirking deviously. “Everyone knows that the best cure for a break-up is to get back on that horse and ride, Dani.”
“What are you talking about?” Dani asked, baffled. “I’m not going horseback riding.”
“I don’t think she means that literally, babe,” Alexis said. “I think what Tami is saying is—”
“You need to sleep with a cowboy,” Kelsey finished. “And I pick that one for you.” She pointed one well-manicured, brown finger across the street and Dani followed her gaze.
There, leaning nonchalantly against a brick wall with a black felt cowboy hat pulled low over his face, was the most ruggedly handsome man Danica Douglas had ever seen.