It was late at night when the airline had called, moments after she had just fallen asleep. She answered the phone with an irritated sigh, listening to the explanation. Airplane had to be grounded from bad weather, they needed her to put up in her cabins some of the passengers for a week or more. She agreed, after negotiating that the airline would pay for the inconvenience (especially after calling her at a ungodly hour) not the stranded passengers. She ran her fingers through her hair to make it presentable, threw on clean clothes before heading out to her truck.
Least she could do was drive into town, and pick them up. The rancher wouldn't necessarily disclose she was the owner, they were guests the airline paid for and wouldn't be likely to stay. Few did, the town was too remote, lack of cell service and modern creature comforts was enough to drive the rest away. It was quiet, but she liked it that way.
Sonja threw the truck into a parking spot, turned off the ignition, then too up vigil leaning against the front grill. She could see one of her neighbours was waiting as well. Half would go with Lucian, the others would get into her truck. She gave a nod in greeting then turned her eyes towards the small procession of passengers leave the plane and head towards them. Her gazed fixed on one of the men, he looked tired to her. Tired beyond just exhaustion, a weariness she knew well. She told herself to let it go, he wouldn't be staying long, no need to let her curiosity get the better of her.
"You can throw you bag in the back, drive out is just shy of twenty minutes. C'mon, I'm looking forward to crashing and going to sleep just as much as you are." Sonja greeted them, briefly looking each of them in the face before simply turning on her heel and getting back in the truck. She drummed her fingers against the steering wheel, wishing she'd gotten a black coffee from the diner when she could've. She flicked her eyes over, surprised to see the tired man climb into the passenger seat beside her. "Make sure you're buckled up, the road gets pretty bumpy not much further from here."
Sonja started the drive back, trying to decide how much sleep she'd try to get before she got back up to start the daily work. As much as she could, after making breakfast in the main house for everyone. It was a relief to roll up to the front gates, the sign silhouetted against the rising sun behind it it declared that they'd arrived at Raven's Roost. Home, for her. A temporary sanctuary for the rest.
"Cabins are over to your left, they have their own bathrooms. Kitchen's communal in the main house. Keys are under the doormat, pick whichever strikes your fancy. Airline's paying, don't worry. Breakfast will be in four hours." Or whenever she managed to haul herself out of bed and finish feeding her animals. She gave a tired wave to her new boarders, walking off to the mainhouse. There were ranch hands around to keep an eye on things for her, she wasn't too concerned about leaving them to their own devices, she just wanted some damn sleep then some coffee to get her going.