D. Graham - Rank

“I could be wrong. You should check with the vet,” I said to make her feel better.

“Even if it’s just a sprain, I can’t ride her this weekend. Damn it.” She dismounted. “I already paid for the hotel and I’m going to lose my entry fee too.”

“You could borrow a horse.”

The tears she’d been holding back made their way through her eyelashes. She wiped the back of her hand across her cheeks. “Do you know someone who has one?”

I stared down at the dirt to avoid making eye contact. Her sniffling was hard to ignore though. “I could talk to Ron Miller.”

“Would you?”

I nodded, although I wasn’t exactly sure why I had offered in the first place.

“Thanks, Billy. Let me know if he has anything.” She waved with a big smile on her face before she walked Willow back to the arena opening. Her hips swayed with purpose as if she knew I was watching.

Damn it. A pretty girl cries and next thing I know I’m checking on getting a horse for her. Idiot. I wandered outside and over to the back pens. Ron was talking to a couple of guys, but he excused himself when he saw me. He walked over to shake my hand. “The face is looking good, Billy. How are you feeling?” He bent over and adjusted a gate hinge.

“A bit of a vision problem in one eye, but can’t complain. Thanks.” I tipped my hat back and scanned the pens. “Do you have any quarter horses that can run the barrels?”

He stood upright and adjusted his hat, always interested in talking business. “I’ve got a couple back home and one mare here. My daughter trained her, but she’s never competed.”

“Tawnie Lang needs a horse for the weekend. Her horse came up lame.”

“Ten thousand dollars.”

I laughed. “I don’t want to buy her. I was hoping Tawnie could just borrow her, show her off for you.”

“Nope. I don’t want her getting injured.”

“I doubt Tawnie can afford to buy her. She was upset about losing her entry fee.”

“Then I guess I can’t help you.”

I shouldn’t have cared. All I had to do was go back and tell Tawnie he didn’t have anything for her to borrow. Losing her entry fee wasn’t that big of a deal. On the other hand, if Ron gave me a good deal, I could buy the horse, let Tawnie show her off, and sell her for a profit. “How old is she?”

Ron smiled and tilted his hat up, glad that I was interested enough to not let it go. “Four.”

If the horse was fast, I’d be able to flip her before the weekend was over. If she was slow, I’d be paying for board until I found a sucker to buy her. Tawnie wasn’t as good of a rider as Shae-Lynn and there was a possibility she wouldn’t show off the horse’s full potential. I decided to negotiate a backup plan, so I wouldn’t get stuck with a horse I couldn’t sell. “Seven thousand, but I want to see her run in competition first. If Tawnie wins on her, I’ll buy her.”

“If Tawnie doesn’t win?”

“Consider it a loaner.”

He took his hat off and scratched his head. He took his time thinking, which was obviously his negotiation style. “She must be some girl. You can have your trial run, but I want eight thousand if she wins.”

“Deal.” I shook his hand. “And it’s not about a girl. It’s business.”

“Sure. Sure.” He smiled knowingly. “You want to see the horse?”

Damn. Maybe it was about the girl. If it had really been about reselling the horse for a profit, I would have thought to check her out first. Shaking my head because I couldn’t believe I’d just done something so Cole-like, I said, “Yeah, that would probably be a good idea.”

We walked over to a paddock and he put a bay quarter horse on a lead. He walked her around so I could watch her gait and then he brought her close. I ran my hand over her spine and down her legs. She was a nice horse.

“What’s her name?”

“Stella.”

I checked her teeth and looked at her face. “Hey, Stella. Are you fast?”

She bobbed her head up and down as if she understood me. Ron laughed. “I taught her to do that.” He gave her a pat and handed me the lead. “You better hope your brother wins so you can pay for her.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” I said, although I was worried about it. I led Stella over to the parking lot and wandered around until I found Tawnie’s truck and trailer. She was bent over wrapping Willow’s leg. “Hey, I got you something.”

She spun around and her expression transitioned between shock and joy. “Oh, she’s gorgeous.”

“Her name’s Stella. Ron said you can use her for the weekend.”

Tawnie bounded over and launched herself at me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and knocked my hat off in the process. “Thanks, Billy.” Before I had a chance to register the fact that she was hugging me, she stopped, and lunged over to pick my hat up off the ground. “Sorry.” She brushed it lightly and handed it back to me.

I held it in my hands and watched as she inspected Stella. The smile on her face made her even more beautiful. Knowing that I put that smile on her face felt pretty good.

“I’m going to go see if the barrels are still set up,” she said excitedly. “If I can get some arena time, do you want to come over and watch?”

“Sure.”

“What’s your phone number? I’ll text you if I can get a run.”

I told her my number and watched her type it into her phone.

“Thank you so much.”

I put my hat back on and tipped the brim at her. “Don’t mention it.”

She led Stella across the field towards the arena. I watched her hair sway across her back for a while, then headed over to our trailer to wait for her text. Shae-Lynn’s family motorhome was parked next to us and she was standing near her horse trailer, brushing Harley.

“Hey,” I said.

She stood up, but kept brushing. “Hi. I thought you were quitting the rodeo in order to pursue non-redneck careers.”

“Retired, not quit. Cole convinced me to come along for this weekend only. It’s his first ride back since his shoulder injury.”

“I’m sure it didn’t take too much convincing to get you to tag along. You were literally born at a rodeo.”

“Only because my dad and all his buddies, including your dad, were too drunk to drive my mom to the hospital.”

She smiled at the memory of our dads retelling that story every chance they got, then her expression turned more serious. “It won’t be easy to get it out of your blood.”

“I don’t even miss it.” I leaned in and gently tugged her braid. “You changed your hair.”

“Yeah.” She seemed unsure whether I was teasing her.

“It looks good.”

Her cheeks blushed as she tucked a few flyaways behind her ear. “Thanks.”

I studied her face for a while. “Is something else different too?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “No. I’m the same as I’ve always been.” Her big green eyes shifted to meet my stare.

There was something different about her, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “Is your mom inside?”

“No. She’s touring with my dad. It’s just Lee-Anne and me.”

“Your dad agreed to let his daughters’ tour around on this circuit without chaperones?”

“He doesn’t know. He thinks we’re back in Calgary.”

I chuckled and shook my head, wondering how that was going to go when he found out and the shit hit the fan. “That’s probably not a good idea with all these cowboys around.”

“What difference does it make if we’re home by ourselves with a bunch of ranch hands, or on the circuit by ourselves with a bunch of rodeo cowboys?”

“He can fire his ranch hands for messing with either of you.”

She seemed surprised that I even had an opinion on the subject. “We’re not kids anymore. We can take care of ourselves.”