Ventura's Highway

"I would, but what about Ventura and your job?" he asked genuinely concerned.

"I'm going with your option, Sawyer. I'm going to tell her the truth. If she fires me, so be it. Maybe that would help me get out off the treadmill a whole lot sooner than it might otherwise happen."

"I'll be there for you if that happens," he told her. "No, I'll be there for you no matter what happens."

"I got several hours of sleep today so I'm not tired at all," she told him with a smile.

"Good thing," he replied. "I was going to warn you that this type of therapy requires a lot of time. Most of it is in bed, but be forewarned—you're not allowed to sleep."

"Sounds serious," she said sweetly.

"It is serious, Jordyn. And so am I," he told her quietly.

"It also sounds rather arduous."

"Very," he replied as he signaled their server. "Arduous and amorous, I'm afraid."

"Uh-uh. This one's on Ventura, remember?" she said getting out her corporate card.

"God bless the Ice Princess!" Sawyer said as Jordyn paid for dinner as well as a very generous tip.

Jordyn woke up without the aid of her alarm at 4:15am and smiled when she felt a man's arm draped over her body. She winced from the very pleasant 'pain' coming from between her legs after that part of her anatomy got the workout of its life over a three-hour period.

She gently moved his arm to the side and rolled out of bed then tiptoed to the shower and let the water run as she peed.

Sawyer was as talented and patient a lover as he was handsome, and Jordyn was still reveling in the afterglow of his considerable skills as she stepped into the shower and let the warm water bring her back to life.

In between the three rounds of lovemaking, they talked. And the more they talked, the more Jordyn liked what she saw—and heard. Sawyer really was a fish out of water who honestly missed the quiet life. He'd just needed to find out for himself that life in the fast lane wasn't for him.

As he spoke from his heart about his childhood, his parents, and the values they'd instilled in him, Jordyn's heart ached from missing her parents. And from the time they'd sat down together at The Perch until she'd fallen asleep, she'd done something close to a 180 when it came to how she felt about traveling through life on Ventura's Highway.

It really was phony. All of it. The people, the facade of fame and power. The way wealth bought influence from something simple like getting reservations at a popular restaurant to influencing a politician to look away or get involved. What she thought she so dearly loved, she now found disgusting. What she'd craved she now rejected.

Sawyer was absolutely right. It was her drug of choice, and she was determined to go cold turkey or die trying.

She dried off, blow dried her hair, put on her makeup then quietly got dressed as Sawyer lay there sleeping.

Her handsome, young, Greek God was truly the all-American boy. She smiled when she thought about the possibility of this man being the father of her children in some small town in rural North Carolina; a thought that would have made her shudder just 24 hours ago. But the saying was so true: what a difference a day makes. Or in this case...a night. Either way, Jordyn was ready for some major changes and exiting Ventura's Highway once and for all was her first priority.

She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead and when she did, he opened an eye and smiled.

"So it wasn't a dream," he said with the best smile he could muster.

"Um...it kind of was, as I recall," she said as she sat next to him.

"Do you really have to go?" he said as he reached for her hand.

"I still work for Ventura so as you so aptly put it last night—duty calls," she said reminding him of something he mentioned during one of their conversations.

"You look amazing," he told her.

She thanked him then thought how amazing he looked laying there with his hair all unkempt and day's worth of stubble on his handsome face.

She leaned down to kiss him goodbye and Sawyer asked if she couldn't be just a little bit late this one time.

"You have no idea how badly I'd like that, but..."

"I know. Duty calls," he said as he touched her face. "You really are beautiful, Jordyn. Inside and out."

She thanked him yet again then said, "I have to confess I misjudged you very badly when we first met."

"How so?" he asked.

"I really try not to make 'ass'umptions, but I guess I really did think you were another shallow, self-centered...sorry, but...pretty boy."

"And now?" he asked as he ran his hand along her cheek.

"I am happy to admit I have never been more wrong in all my life," she said trying not to tear up. "I really do want to meet your parents and find out who these amazing people are who raised such a wonderful son."

"Fair warning. My dad is far-Right conservative Republican. Then again, maybe yours is, too."

"Not exactly," she said. "He loves John McCain like nobody else so I guess he's what you'd call an 'Establishment' type."

"How about you, Jordyn? Where do you stand politically?" he asked.

"You know it's 5:30 in the morning, right?" she said with a smile.

"Sorry. I just want to know everything about you. That's all."

"I'm fiscally pretty conservative and socially moderate. How's that?" she told him.

"That's...something else for me to love about you," he told her before pulling her close to kiss her again. "That describes me to a tee, as well."

When he let her go, he asked, "Hey, am I any closer yet?"

She gave him a puzzled look then asked, "Closer to what?"

"To making you fall in love with me," he said still smiling.

"If you have to ask you weren't paying attention last night. Or was that this morning?" she said smiling back at him.

"Will you call me when you have a minute?" he asked.

"I think I'll have more than a minute later today," she told him.

"Oh, right. Honesty. Yeah, something tells me Ventura isn't a big fan of that quality."

"I guess we'll find out soon enough," she said before kissing him one more time.

"Bye, Jordyn," he said as she stood up.

"Bye, Sawyer," she replied as her hand slipped out of his.

As she walked away he said, "Nice ass."

Jordyn laughed and tried to do some kind of 'twerking' thing that wasn't exactly flattering causing both of them to laugh before she walked out of the bedroom.

By 10:30 Jordyn was as caught up as she could possibly be and didn't want to do anything else until she'd talked with Ventura.

Five minutes later, she heard her come in and called down for fresh coffee and waited for her to call her name. But the call didn't come.

At 11 o'clock, Jordyn couldn't stand it anymore and knocked on her door.

"Excuse me, Ventura. I have the information you were looking for. You know. The name of the other woman."

"Oh, that's yesterday's news, dear!" she said with an unusual smile. "Come in and have a seat."

Jordyn sat down and waited for the other shoe to drop but it never did.

"I am so happy!" she began. "Last night, Courtney went to a resistance rally and you'll never guess who asked her out!"

Jordyn didn't get a chance to guess as Ventura told her about the handsome, well-known actor who was 'utterly charmed and taken' by her daughter.

"And unlike that...scarecrow...she nearly got entangled with, this young man actually has a social conscience! He's not only active in the resistance against that idiot in the White House, he also cares deeply about saving the planet. This one's a keeper, Jordyn!"

Ventura looked over at her and asked, "Oh, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

Jordyn thought about telling her what a hypocrite she was for spewing thousands of tons of carbon into the atmosphere as she buzzed around the world in her private jet but didn't. She wanted to tell her this new guy and her daughter deserved one another but bit her tongue. Most of all, she wanted to thank her for whatever she might have done to send Sawyer packing and...her way. Again, she chose not to share her feelings.

Before she could reply, Ventura told her, "There's a resistance rally planned for this weekend. You'll be there, of course, right, dear?"

Jordyn took a deep breath, exhaled slowly then said, "I don't think so, Ventura."

"Nonsense! You have to attend! Don't worry about work. You can afford to take a few hours off for something so important. It's Saturday at 2pm at the..."

"I'm not a big fan of the president's endless Tweeting, but I do mostly support his agenda," she said firmly but not in a mean way.

Ventura lowered her reading glasses, sat up straight, and said, "I beg your pardon?"

"I actually voted for him and although I'm a Libertarian, I mostly agree with what he stands for," she said actually enjoying saying what she felt for the first time since she moved to LA.

"Oh, that's rich!" Ventura said ready to explode. "So you like a man who just grabs women by the pussy? You like someone who colluded with the Russians to steal the election from the first woman president? You like someone who's a..."

"Who's my president," Jordyn said calmly. "I have all kinds of issues with him. I don't like his rough edges or the way he speaks before he thinks. But I'll take him over the pathological liar he ran against any day."

Ventura was shaking with rage and for a minute, Jordyn wondered if she might throw something at her.

"You'll never work in this town again," her boss told her, her voice trembling with anger. "You're done. You're not only fired, I'll see that you can't get a job washing dishes, you ungrateful, hate-filled bitch!"

Jordyn stood up, smiled, then said just as calmly, "Right. I'm the one who's filled with hate. No wonder my father often says that 'tolerant liberal' is the ultimate oxymoron in the English language."

Ventura stood up and was screaming at the top of her lungs as Jordyn quietly walked out and picked up her purse. She didn't even bother logging off. She just bent over and quickly deleted the files she'd created while Ventura was on the phone trying to get security upstairs to stop Jordyn from 'getting rid of evidence.'

"Just like your presidential candidate did," she said to herself with a smile as she hit the deleted key for the last time knowing they files weren't really deleted.

"I guess it's too late for me to use Bleach Bit," she said out loud before heading to the elevator.

She laughed as she heard Ventura holler, "You idiots!" to the two men who walked off as she stepped in. "Stop her!"

The door was almost closed before they could even turn around, and Jordyn couldn't resist waving goodbye as the two goons tried to stop the doors from shutting as she disappeared behind them.

Once she was downstairs, she made two phone calls. The first was to Sawyer.

"So you did it?" he said obviously grinning from ear to ear. "So...now what?"

"I need to make one more call then I'll let you know," she said feeling better than she had in years.

"I'm proud of you," she heard Sawyer say.

"And...I think I may be falling in love with you," she told him even though she wondered if she should wait to say something so important.

"Well, it's about damn time!" he told her as they both laughed loudly.

The second call went to her favorite partner at her old firm. He was delighted to hear from her and said, "I don't personally need anyone right now, but Thomas does. Hold on, okay?"

Seconds later, she was on the phone with another senior partner who couldn't wait to have her work for him.

"It's only temporary, Thomas," she told him.

"I don't care if it's six days or six months, Jordyn. I need someone ASAP. When can you start?"

"Is tomorrow soon enough?" she asked.

"See you then. Eight o'clock sharp!"

Jordyn laughed when she thought about being able to 'sleep in' again. She called Sawyer back and shared the good news with him.

"Then we need to celebrate!" he told her.

"I thought we did that last night?" she said sweetly.

"But that was before you told me you loved me," he reminded her.

"No, I didn't say 'I love you', Sawyer. I said I might be falling in love with you."

"Okay. Fine. Then we'll celebrate that tonight and when you finally do tell me, we'll go out and celebrate that, too," he said.

Jordyn loved how he sounded like an excited little boy and yet she knew he was very much a grown man—in every way. She also knew she was in love with him. She just wanted to make him wait a little while longer to hear her say it.

As it turned out, she told him that night as they found a Country Kitchen where Sawyer had his chicken fried steak smothered in gravy.

He said it first during dessert.

"I love you, Jordyn Stevens," he said after an hour of fun, lighthearted conversation. It came without warning and even though she knew he did, it still hit her very hard.

Her eyes teared up as she said, "I love you, too, Sawyer Godwin."

"Hot damn! I KNEW it!" he said loudly standing up and stretching out his arms. "She loves me, everybody!"

People turned and looked then smiled and some even clapped.

"Dinner's on me!" he said to everyone in the restaurant as he looked around.

He smiled then said loudly, "She LOVES me!! And I love her, too!"

A week later, Jordyn agreed to move in with him for the remainder of their time in Los Angeles. She still worked a lot of hours at the firm, but the regimen was nowhere near as brutal as working for Ventura Collins.

She had Sundays off and that was when she really fell in love with this handsome, younger man.

Sawyer was involved with a local Boy Scout Troop, a junior ROTC unit at a very poor school in downtown Los Angeles, and also regularly visited wounded warriors at the local VA hospital.

She attended a couple of his photos shoots at his request, too, but it was the things that really motivated him that Jordyn loved the most about him. They'd lived together for a little over two months and she already felt like she'd known him all her life, and she realized that nothing made her happier than spending time with him.

That Sunday afternoon, they went to the VA hospital for some kind of special event Sawyer wouldn't tell her much about. She only knew that it was very important to him.

When they arrived, he took her to the room of an Army soldier who'd lost a leg and whose face had been burned pretty badly. She could tell he'd been a very good-looking man from what the part that had been spared and she was beyond moved when she found out how upbeat and positive he was as they talked.

"So you ready, hoss?" Sawyer asked him.

"You better believe it," the young man replied. "Did you bring it?"

"Yeah, I brought it. What? Did you think I'd forget or something?" Sawyer said leaving Jordyn even more confused. "But how's this supposed to work? I don't see her anywhere. Maybe she wised up and dumped your sorry ass."

Just then, a beautiful young woman walked in and smiled brightly when she saw the man she loved.

"Hey, handsome!" she said as she nearly ran to his bedside to hug him. "How'd you sleep?"

"Not so good," he told her. "I was up most of the night."

"Do you need more pain medication?" she asked with genuine concern.

"Pain medication? Oh, no. I'm fine," he said even though he was always in pain. "No, I was just too nervous to sleep."

"Nervous? Why? Is something wrong?" the pretty girl asked still ignoring both Sawyer and Jordyn.

"No. Nothing's wrong, I just need a little help. That's all."

"What kind of help, sweetheart?" the girl asked. "What can I do?"

"You can just stand there while my surrogate here helps me out," he said looking at Sawyer.

"Ma'am," Sawyer said nodding and smiling.

"What's going on?" she asked looking around.

"He has something to ask you," Sawyer said.

"What? What does he want to ask me?" she said looking very confused.

He reached out for her hand and said, "I've loved you since the first time I saw you. You've stood by me through all of this and even though I can't imagine how or why, you have, and I love you with all my heart."

Sawyer got down on one knee and produced the tiny little box as the soldier said, "Sweetie? I can't kneel down yet, but I'm working on it. My main man here, Sawyer Godwin, agreed to help me out."

"Oh...my...God!" she young woman gasped as Sawyer opened the box showing off the diamond ring he'd helped the soldier buy for his girlfriend.

"Sweetheart? Will you marry me?" he asked.

"Yes! Yes, of course I will marry you!" the girl said immediately as she held out her hand.

Jordyn was crying so hard she could barely see as Sawyer slipped the ring on her finger then stood up and moved away.

The girl was crying, too, as she bent over and hugged her soldier then kissed the lips that were mostly no longer there.

"I love you so much!" she said as he held her.

When she finally stood up, everyone else hugged and introduced themselves as the girl, who's name was, ironically, Courtney, thanked them for making this possible.

"It was all Sawyer," Jordyn said her makeup a mess. "I had no idea this was happening."

She looked at her boyfriend then said, "But it doesn't surprise me one bit. This is the kind of man he is."

Sawyer looked at the soldier, who's name was Ethan, and said, "It takes a lot to surprise this one," nodding at Jordyn.

"I bet you could surprise her, though, Sawyer," Ethan said.

"You think so?" he asked making it sound like that might be impossible.

"If anyone can, I'm sure you could do it," the soldier told him.

"Well, let's see if I can," Sawyer said now smiling at Jordyn.

"Okay...what is going on?" Jordyn asked looking around.

Courtney shrugged her shoulders and Ethan was smiling the best he could as Sawyer reached in another pocket and produced a second box before getting down on one knee again. This time, he knelt in front of Jordyn who's knees went weak forcing her to sit back down.

"I've never met a woman like you, Jordyn, and I was beginning to think I never would. And then one day, the day I'll never forget, I saw you, and I thought, 'Who is that beautiful, gorgeous woman?' And then we talked and I fell in love with who you are. Since then, I've never looked back or doubted. Jordyn Stevens, I love you more than life itself. I don't know where I'll end up, but as long as it's with you, I won't care."

He smiled at her and saw that she was crying again as he said, "Will you make me the happiest man on earth and be my wife?"

Ethan called out, "Second happiest man on earth!"

Everyone laughed as Jordyn kept crying while she nodded like crazy and held out her hand as Sawyer slid an even bigger diamond on it.

"So much for the beautiful thing, huh?" Jordyn finally said knowing her face was a disaster.

"No way," Sawyer said as he took it in both hands. "I don't care what you look like, sweetheart. I will always love you. No matter what."

Now Courtney was balling, too, and Ethan was still smiling then started laughing.

They spent nearly an hour together sharing their stories of love and loss before Sawyer and Jordyn left and gave them some time alone.

"You never cease to amaze me," Jordyn said as she took his hand when the left the room.

"Hey! Don't be talkin' about our sex in life in public, honey," he quipped.

She gave him a playful shove then said, "Okay, that part is pretty amazing, but you are beyond amazing outside of the bedroom, too. I feel like my heart is going to burst from all the emotion."

That night they celebrated again by going to dinner someplace modest then in the bedroom. Twice.

As Sawyer's contract came to a close, he and his beautiful fiancee had spent a lot of time looking at houses and land in southeastern North Carolina and although they didn't know exactly where they'd live, they had decided on the city.

Sawyer's parents lived just outside of Charlotte, and both he and Jordyn loved the little town of Pinesville to the south and just over the border from South Carolina.