I ditched single city life to bag a stud in the Wild West
Carley Hicks, 38
Sitting on the crammed train, I swiped through a dating app. Nope. Nope. Nope. More and more bodies boarded the carriage, all avoiding eye contact.
It was January 2016, and I was on my morning commute from my home in Bexley, Kent, to my office in London, where I was a PA.
And despite the millions of people living there, the only prospect of finding Mr Right was through an app.
Then 31, I’d had a few relationships, but none that had lasted.
So, that June me and my friend Serena, 31, decided to go on an adventure.
We flew to San Antonio, Texas, to celebrate my birthday on a real ranch, where we’d eat, drink and ride horses.
‘Here’s to the cowboy lifestyle,’ I grinned, as we enjoyed a glass of wine in a bar in nearby Bandera.
I’d grown up in the countryside and had always wanted to experience proper ranch life in Texas.
Just then, the door swung open.
In walked a real-life cowboy, dressed in dusty jeans, a plaid shirt, cowboy boots and hat.
With a beer in his hand, he walked over and sat down.
‘I’m Ryan,’ he said, and my heart skipped a beat.
Turned out his family owned the 350-acre ranch we were staying at.
‘Wanna dance?’ Ryan, then 29, asked, as Dolly Parton came on the jukebox.
He then showed me how to ‘really’ dance to country music.
I giggled, stumbling over the steps.
We spent the night chatting about our shared passion for horses, music and family. I felt like I’d known him my whole life.
He showed me how to ‘really’ dance to Dolly Parton
The next morning, he was at the campfire breakfast. ‘He can’t stop smiling at you,’ Serena whispered.
We rode horses all day, Ryan constantly beside me.
That night, he leant out of his truck to wish me goodnight, and we kissed.
Yee-haw!
I ended up staying longer than expected.
When I boarded the plane home to Kent, my heart broke. ‘We can make it work,’ Ryan promised.
Friends warned me that it’d fizzle out.
And I was convinced it was just a holiday fling. But we video called every day and grew closer.
‘I love you,’ Ryan confessed one day.
‘I love you too,’ I said. It was a dream come true. That December, I flew back to Texas and into my cowboy’s arms.
But back home, after two blissful weeks, everything felt wrong.
Why was I in the cold, grey UK, spending hours crammed on a train, when I could be on a horse with my handsome cowboy?
In March 2017, Ryan flew over to meet my family.
They were charmed by his gentle nature, impeccable manners and good looks. He even booked a spa break. One evening, he got down on
