Николас Спаркс - The Longest Ride

19

Luke

With the beginning of the season less than a month away – and Sophia up in New Jersey – Luke stepped up his training regimen. In the days leading up to Christmas, he not only increased the duration of his rides on the mechanical bull by five minutes a day, but added strength training to the program. He’d never been fond of weight lifting, but no matter what he was doing in the way of work – which lately was primarily selling the remaining trees – he would duck away at the top of every hour and do fifty push-ups, sometimes finishing four or five hundred in a day. Finally, he added pull-ups and core work to strengthen his stomach and lower back. By the time he collapsed in bed at the end of the day, he would fall asleep within seconds.

Despite his sore muscles and exhaustion, he could gradually feel his skills coming back. His balance was improving, which made it easier to keep f irmly seated. His instincts, too, were sharpening, allowing him to anticipate the reversals and pitches. In the four days following Christmas, he drove to Henderson County, where he rode live bulls. A guy he knew had a practice facility there, and though the bulls weren’t of the highest quality, practicing on the mechanical bull could do only so much. Live animals were never predictable, and though Luke wore both a helmet and a flak jacket, he found himself as nervous before these encounters as he’d been in McLeansville back in October.

He pushed himself hard, and then even harder. The season began in mid-January, and he needed a strong start. He needed to win or place as high as possible in order to garner enough points to move up to the major league tour by March. By June, it might be too late.

His mom saw what he was doing, and little by little she began to withdraw again. Her anger was evident, but her sadness was, too, and he found himself wishing that Sophia were with them, if only to ease the growing awkwardness. Then again, he wished Sophia were here, period. With Sophia back in New Jersey for the holidays, Christmas Eve had been a quiet affair. Christmas Day was also subdued. He hadn’t gone over to his mother’s house until the early afternoon, and her tension was palpable.

He was glad to have the Christmas tree sales behind him. Though they’d done well, the month in the grove meant everything else on the ranch had deteriorated further, and the weather wasn’t helping matters. Luke’s to-do list grew longer, and it worried him, particularly because he knew he’d be traveling a lot in the coming year. His absence would only make things harder for his mom.

Unless, of course, he started winning right away.

Always, it came back to that. Despite the tree sales, which his mom used to add seven pair to the herd, the farm’s income wasn’t going to be near enough to cover their payments.

And with that in mind, Luke would trudge to the barn to practice, counting the days until New Year’s Eve, when he’d finally see Sophia again.

He left early in the morning, arriving in Jersey City a few minutes before lunch. After spending the afternoon with Sophia’s parents and sisters, neither Luke nor Sophia had wanted to battle the crowds in Times Square for New Year’s Eve celebrations. Instead, they had a quiet dinner at an unpretentious Thai restaurant before returning to Luke’s hotel.

In the hours past midnight, Sophia lay on her stomach while Luke traced small circles on her lower back.

“Stop,” she said, wiggling. “It’s not going to work.”

“What’s not going to work?”

“I already told you that I can’t stay. I have a curfew.”

“You’re twenty-one years old,” he protested.

“But I’m at my parents’ house, and they have rules. And actually, they were being extra permissive by letting me stay out until two. Normally, I have to be in by one.”

“What would happen if you stayed?”

“They’d probably think we slept together.”

“We did sleep together.”

She turned her head to face him. “They don’t have to know that. And I have no intention of making it obvious.”

“But I’m only here for one night. I have to leave tomorrow afternoon.”

“I know, but rules are rules. And besides, you don’t want to get on my parents’ bad side. They liked you. Although my sisters told me they were disappointed you weren’t wearing your hat.”

“I wanted to fit in.”

“Oh, you did all right. Especially when you started talking about 4-H again. You noticed they had the same reaction I did when they found out you sell those poor little pigs for slaughter after raising them like pets.”

“I’ve been meaning to thank you for bringing that up.”

“You’re welcome,” Sophia said, her expression mischievous. “Did you see Dalena’s face when I explained it? I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head. How’s your mom doing, by the way?”

“She’s all right.”

“I take it she’s still mad at you?”

“You could say that.”

“She’ll come around.”

“I hope so.” He leaned down, kissing her. Although she returned his kiss, he felt her hands move toward his chest and gently push him away.

“You can kiss me all you want, but you still have to bring me back home.”

“Can you sneak me into your room?”

“Not with my sister there. That would be too weird.”

“If I’d known you wouldn’t stay over, I might not have driven all the way up here.”

“I don’t believe you.”

He laughed before becoming serious again. “I missed you.”

“No, you didn’t. You were too busy to miss me. Every time I called, you were always on the go. Between work and practice, you probably didn’t even think about me.”

“I missed you,” he said again.

“I know. And I missed you, too.” She reached up, touching his face. “But sadly, we’re going to have to get dressed anyway. You’re supposed to come over for brunch tomorrow, remember?”

Back in North Carolina, Luke made the decision to redouble his practice efforts. The first event of the season was less than two weeks away. The two days in New Jersey had given his body a chance to rest, and he felt good for the first time in weeks. The only problem was that it was as cold here as it had been in New Jersey, and he dreaded the chill of the barn even as he set out in its direction.

He had just turned on the barn lights and was stretching before his first ride of the night when he heard the door swing open. He turned around just as his mom emerged from the shadows.

“Hey, Mom,” he said, surprised.

“Hi,” she said. Like him, she wore a heavy jacket. “I went over to your house and when I realized you weren’t there, I figured this is where you might be.”

He said nothing. In the silence, his mom stepped into the foam-padded ring, sinking with every step until she stood on the opposite side of the bull from him. Unexpectedly, she reached out and ran her hand over it.

“I remember when your dad first brought this home,” she said. “It was all the rage for a while, you know. People wanted to ride these things because of that old movie with John Travolta, and practically every country bar put one in, only to watch the interest die out within a year or two. When one of those bars was being torn down, your dad asked if he could buy the bull. It didn’t cost much, but it was still more than we could afford at the time and I remember being furious with him. He’d been off in Iowa or Kansas or somewhere, and he drove all the way back here to drop it off before turning right around and heading to Texas for another set of rodeos. It wasn’t until he got back that he realized it didn’t work. He had to rebuild the thing pretty much from scratch, and it took him almost a year to get it working the way he wanted. But by then, you came along and he’d pretty much retired. It sat in the barn here collecting dust until he eventually put you on it… I think you were two years old at the time. I got pretty mad about that, too, even though it was barely moving. I somehow knew that you’d end up following in his footsteps. The thing is, I never wanted you to ride in the first place. I always thought it was a crazy way to try to make a living.” In her voice, he heard an uncharacteristic trace of bitterness.