I tell you what, I’ll save some trees and go paperless with my paycheck when you and your silly cat stop abusing them. He sat back in his chair with a wide grin. Anything for me?Ĭlay pushed the stack to Elliott. He nodded to the pile of mail in front of Clay. Little Man got stuck in the tree again, Elliott said with a shrug. At the moment, his hair was loose, falling well past his shoulders, tussled and with pieces of debris scattered throughout the long strands. What the hell happened to you?Ĭlay and Elliott Kildee had been together seven years, and when Elliott’s wheat-blond hair wasn’t hidden beneath his hard hat, it was pulled back into a tight and stylish bun. Clay raised a brow when he noticed Elliott’s disheveled appearance. No, but I’m sure you’re about to inform me. Do you know how many trees could be saved if you’d get an online statement? He plucked the paycheck stub out of Clay’s hand, flopped down in the chair across the table from him, then shook the paper at Clay. When the hell are you going to join this century and get these online? Elliott asked. When he got a day off, the only thing he wanted to do was sleep. His six-figure income had his savings account bulging, and considering he was working seventy plus hours a week, he had little time to enjoy any of the money he made. He’d been working for them the past six years, riding the boom wave big-time, and cashing in on some serious bank. Oil drilling was booming in his little town of Dickinson, North Dakota, and he’d been lucky enough to get a job with EOR-Environmental Oil Refinery. Just like it had been last week and the week before that. Chapter OneĪFTER FORTY hours of straight time, twenty-two hours of time and a half, and thirteen hours of double time, Clayton Phillips’s paycheck was sweet. Without them, this story may never have been told. States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.įor all those who have struggled and kept on dreaming. But when they go from all the conveniences of the modern world to outhouses, solar power, a shoestring budget, and more mosquitos than they ever thought possible, will they find there’s such a thing as too much time together? They’re going off the grid and fixing up an old cabin so they can be self-sufficient. What they’ve always wanted is to be together and have time to enjoy it, so they follow their hearts.

Should they find comparable work somewhere else, or is it time to throw caution to the wind and go after their goal-years earlier than they intended? The pay is good, but is it a fair trade for never seeing each other? The point becomes moot when the company folds, like so many others, and the couple is left with a difficult choice.

Clay and Elliott are working toward a dream-working sixty-hour weeks for one of the oil companies that recently sprung up in North Dakota.

Going Off Grid by S.J.D. Peterson