Molli 's Story: Chapter 1

“We are really doing this,” I thought as I climbed into the front seat of Lexi’s truck. She looked at me as she continued to talk to her mom on the phone.

“Yes, we have the GPS. Yes, I have both maps. Okay. We will. We love you too. Bye!” She turned to me and rolled her eyes. “How many times can she tell us to be careful,” she laughed as she put the truck in drive. She turned toward me with a wary grin. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m in shock I think. I can’t believe this is really happening,” I said. She laughed as we passed Brooke and Claire pulling out of my driveway. My old driveway, I corrected myself. The life I had built in this West Texas town wasn’t my life anymore, I realized. All of my things were packed into the horse trailer that was behind Claire’s pickup truck. All of my clothes were piled in with Lexi’s in the backseat. The rest of my things were in boxes stacked in my new bedroom or our new living room. We decided we would unpack and sort it all out when we got there.

I turned to make sure Claire was following us. There she was, and behind the horse trailer was Brooke in her green Mustang. Her backseat was packed full of everything that we couldn’t fit into Lexi’s truck or the horse trailer. Dart, her sweet yellow lab, was riding shotgun with his head hanging out of the window, ears flapping in the wind. Claire’s truck wasn’t packed with anything because she was in charge of the other members of our odd little family…the rest of our dogs. My welsh corgi Trigg and Lexi’s red border collie Brylee were in the front seat with Claire, and her two Leonbergers, Mira and Jenna, were sprawled in the backseat, only because they couldn’t fit anywhere else. Lexi and I had Claire’s terrier mix (appropriately named Lil’ Dude) in the backseat lying on a blanket on top of the pile of clothes. I reached back to give him a pat and Lexi interrupted my thoughts with a slap to my shoulder.

“Molli. Come on. Quit acting so sentimental and set the GPS! Let’s get the hell out of here!” I laughed and reached for the Garmin on her dash. I started to type in the city, but realized I would have to reset the state first. It felt weird knowing that very soon, we would be out of the state that I was born and raised in and starting a life in South Dakota, of all places.

Deadwood was a town that Lexi and I visited last summer when we took a road trip to Canada. Lexi and I have been friends since we were in the sixth grade, and we had enjoyed taking road trips since we were old enough to go out of town on our own. The small black hills town was just a stop for us along the way, but we fell in love the first night. The old west came alive in Deadwood, and the main street was a never ending row of casinos, hotels, and bars. Lexi and I spent most of our time in the Tombstone bar and made quite a few friends there. Lex vowed that one day, she would return and start a business. After last summer, I had never given it much more thought, until I met Claire.

It was fate that brought Claire and I together, in a town called Flatland of all places. I landed my first teaching and coaching job there, and she was starting her second year as a science teacher and basketball coach. We hit it off from the start and found that we both shared a love of horses and the western way of life. She was from Flatland and was practically born with a basketball in her hands. She enjoyed coaching but knew that was not what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. I liked teasing her about “getting out of this town,” and quickly found out that if she ever got the opportunity, she would! Shortly after basketball season ended, opportunity did come, in the form of my best friend Lexi. She came to visit one weekend and I introduced her to Claire and her best friend, Brooke. Little did I know that Lexi had more on her mind than a visit.

A building and quite a bit of land with it had come up for sale in Deadwood, and she wanted to buy it. With help from me, Lexi had a dream of opening a saloon style bar in the building. She assured me it would be perfect, and after we got the saloon up and running, we could even start a trail riding business with the land behind the building, as there were two hundred and seventy acres of black hills just waiting to be explored right out of the back door. The stables needed a little work, but nothing we couldn’t handle.

In my opinion, the best part about the whole idea was the living area on the second floor of the “saloon”. There were four huge bedrooms on each corner of the floor, with a massive open area in the middle that served as the living room and kitchen. Vaulted ceilings made the space seem even bigger. The two bedrooms on the east side of the building shared a bathroom between them, as did the bedrooms on the west. Floor to ceiling windows covered the back wall, and the back French doors opened up to a balcony overlooking the stables, with a magnificent view of the acreage behind the building. The front door out of the living area opened up to a smaller balcony above the first floor bar area, which was attached to the beautiful winding staircase that led down to the ground level. Lexi was right—the place was awesome. The only problem I had was that there were only two of us, and a large amount of building and land to take care of.

Hello fate.

Claire and Brooke happened to be eating supper with us when Lexi mentioned the “two hundred and seventy acres of black hills just waiting to be explored”. Claire was in before I could blink. Not only did she love horses and anything having to do with them, but she was also the hiking and exploring type. She would love nothing more than to see what the land had to offer, and share her love of riding and the outdoors with others. Brooke was very interested in this idea also. Brooke’s life had taken an unexpected turn of events, and the veterinary degree she had been pursuing for six years was no longer a reality for her. She was at a crossroads and this was just the opportunity she had been looking for. So before I knew it, our group of two entrepreneurs had grown to four over supper.

Everything seemed to happen quickly after that. We flew to Rapid City and rented a car to drive to Deadwood the first week of June, where we got approved for the loan and bought the saloon. We flew home and packed some of our things and drove my car up. It was now parked underneath the four-car carport behind the saloon. Then we flew home and have spent the last three weeks packing and saying goodbye to our family and friends in Texas.

“Molli, seriously. What are you thinking about?” Lexi asked, annoyed.

“I’m just thinking that this is a lot to leave behind. What if this doesn’t work out?”

She looked at me and rolled her eyes again, something she was very good at. “It’s going to work out. We have everything lined up. What else do we need?”

I laughed as I looked at her pointedly. “We still need a name…but I’ve been thinking about that. I have a good one in mind.” She looked at me expectantly. “Pistols and Pearls,” I said with a smile.

Her jaw dropped as she turned toward the passenger seat. “That’s perfect,” she said. “Perfect.”