She took a sip from her bottle of water and turned the pages of the file she was reading when her cellphone rang.

She looked at the screen, then at her watch, and sighed.

She picked the phone from off the desk and took the call.

"Hey, I'll need to call you back," she said as she removed it from her ear, ready to hang up.

"Don't hang up, it's important!"

She placed the phone back against her ear. It wasn't like him to insist.

"What is it?"

"I can't tell you over the phone."

She rolled her eyes. Then what was the point of calling?

"Oh, for heaven's sake," she started to say before he cut her off.

"Roxy, we need you now!"

She narrowed her eyes. It wasn't just his tone of voice that caught her off guard, it was also what he was asking her to do. It must have been extremely important.

She grabbed the mouse of her computer and clicked a few times on her screen.

"Roxy?"

"Just give me a second. I can't just leave at the drop of a hat, and you know it."

She looked at her schedule then stood and headed for the door. She opened it and walked over to her assistant's desk, who looked up from her computer screen as she noticed her presence.

"I'll be there tomorrow. It's the earliest I can do."

She heard a sigh of relief on his end.

"OK. Call me when you get to Bozeman."

With that he hung up and she put her phone down.

"Suzanne, I need you to reschedule my appointments for the rest of the week. Try and see if you can place some of them, if not all, with Terry or Miles. Those you can't, tell them I'm sorry but an unforeseen problem has come up and I need to handle it."

Suzanne nodded as she took notes quickly then smiled.

"Don't worry about a thing. You go and do what you need to do, and we'll manage just fine."

If there was one thing, she loved about Suzanne, it was her optimism and management skills. She knew that with her around, she didn't need to worry about anything aside from what was important.

"I'll be available on my cell, and I'll have access to my mails if necessary."

"I promise to only reach out as a last resort."

"I know, but you know me."

Suzanne laughed. "Yes, I do. Which is why I'd tell you to leave your laptop here, but I know you won't happen."

"That'll be the day pigs fly," she replied as she turned around to head back to her office. As she reached the door she pivoted and looked again at Suzanne. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

At the end of the day, she headed home and packed her bags. She tidied up the place, put out her garbage, watered the plants and paid any bills that needed to, just in case. She took a two-hour long nap then woke up and set out on the road around midnight. If the traffic wasn't too heavy, which it shouldn't during the night, she could be in Bozeman by 9am at the latest, taking into account, any pitstops for gas, bathroom breaks, or food.

Once the engine was on, she pushed play on her favorite playlist and set out on the I-25 North.

As she reached Bozeman, she inhaled deeply and looked at the time on her radio… 8:50am. Now if that wasn't perfect forecasting on her behalf, she didn't know what it was. But then again, she liked being on time if not entirely early.

She took her phone and called him as planned. He picked up on the first ring, almost as if he had been waiting.

She listened attentively as he muttered a few words and followed his instructions.

She pulled up the car in a spot of the parking lot and walked over to the main building. At a distance, near the main entrance, she could see a few news reporters. The need for discretion suddenly became understood. She grabbed her turtle shell Ray Ban sunglasses, put them on and continued to walk as if she was just any other stranger. Luckily, with being away all these years, she wasn't the most recognizable face and it suited her just fine. As expected, the reporters paid no attention to her, and she removed her sunglasses the minute she entered the lobby and headed for the elevators.

When the doors of the elevator opened on the third floor, he was waiting for her.

He hugged her as the elevator doors closed. "I'm glad you're here."

He pulled back and she looked at him. "How bad is it, Kayce?"

"Pretty bad, but I think it's best if you spoke to the doctor. We're cowboys, we're not used to all this medical jargon."

Roxy nodded. "OK."

"Come on," said Kayce as he led her down the corridor toward the nurse's station. As they got closer, he turned around and they made eye contact. He nodded acknowledging her presence and when they reached him, he pointed to one of the consult rooms on the left.

She and Kayce went inside and waited.

After a few minutes, he walked in, file and tablet in hand, and closed the door behind him for privacy.

"Good to see you Roxy," he said as he shook her hand.

"I'm not sure I can say the same Jack," she answered back as she lowered her hand and arm along her side.

He sighed. "Maybe not."

He clicked a couple of times on his tablet and the screen on the wall came to life. He watched quietly as she walked over to it and took in the information it presented.

"Do you have the CT colonography images?" she asked not turning to face him, her eyes still on the screen.

His response was to project them on the screen.

"Stage three," she said, "has it metastasized?"

"As far as the results of the different imaging and biopsies show, no."

She turned and looked at Kayce then at Jack.

"What is your plan of action?"

"What would you do?" he asked her.

"I'd surgically remove the tumor and try to salvage as much of the colon as possible to prevent an ostomy. Then chemo and radiation therapy."

Jack nodded and sat on the edge of the table. "Then we're on the same page and so is the oncologist."

"Great, then where is the problem? Because I have the impression that I'm here to solve one."

"Roxy…" said Kayce wanting to make the obvious comment as to the reason she was here.

She eyed Jack insistently. "What? Is he refusing the surgery?"

"No," replied Jack. "He's refusing to do the chemo at the hospital."

Roxy closed her eyes and exhaled. "Of course, he is." It should have come as no surprise. It was already a miracle that he was still in the hospital.

"And you need someone to supervise," she said reopening her eyes

"Yes," answered Jack even though it wasn't really a question. "You know him, he's going to give hell to anyone I send over."

She knew he was stubborn and on top of that he didn't trust people he didn't know. Letting a stranger into his home, on his property, to do something as important as chemo… well, whoever it would be, needed balls of steel.

"Jack, can you give us a minute?"

"Sure, take all the time you need. Discuss it with him and let me know."

With that Jack exited the room and Roxy took his place as she sat on the edge of the table facing Kayce.

He knew that look on her face and was prepared with answers.

"How long?"

"He had a part of his colon removed a couple of years ago."

She pressed her lips together. "Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't any of you tell me?"

"He was fine, and he didn't see the point and asked that we not tell you."

"Well, you should have. Do you know that there is a 75% chance of recurrence in the two years that follow a colon tumor resection?"

"No."

"Of course not. That's why you should have called me. We could have done regular screening and caught it way earlier."

"I'm sorry," he said in a boyish tone of voice. "You know how he can be."

She stood and sighed as she walked over to him. She hugged him. "It's not your fault. I'm sorry. I'm taking out my anger on you when you're not even remotely responsible for any of this."

She pulled back. "Where is everybody else?"

"Trying to keep things under wraps and the ranch running."

She nodded. "Ok. I'll go see him, then I'll let Jack know."

"What if he refuses?"

"Well right about now, I'm the best option he has, so unless he has a death wish, which I doubt highly, he won't have a choice."