Page 67 of Head Over Spurs

His friend glared back at him, unamused. He clearly wasn’t budging from that seat.

“Alright. But if you roll us off a ridge, just remember you’ll have to answer to Hayes,” Riley pointed out as he climbed up onto the trailer. A sweet, pleasant aroma wafted off the hay loaded around him. It was fresh, good quality hay, which made sense seeing as they grew and harvested it themselves. Everything at Hayes Ranch operated in house—why not have a way to care for their own wild horses that ended up on the land too?

He leaned against the bales as they started to the upper place where the ladies were grazing. Even on a gloomy day like today, there was nothing quite like being out here. The pastures up this way were still decently green, there was still plenty of summer remaining. But this year, it felt like the sight of nature giving way to fall would bring a whole new host of disappointment for him.

There was nothing like the summer season at the ranch. But now he’d gotten the pleasure of having Jules present for it. Working side by side. The question of who would take the permanent position gnawed at him. Laurel wouldn’t step back in as his second. And that was understandable—fine even. Because he could only imagine having one person around every day now.

Riley had never considered himself to be particular. He got along with just about everyone he met. Comradery came easy. Problem was, now he had a taste of more than comradery. He was in love. It wouldn’t ever be the same, working alongsideanyone else but that punchy woman that had worked her way thoroughly under his skin.

It was still twisting him up that he couldn’t tell what her blowing him a kiss goodbye meant. After all, it was right in front of Maddie. Was that her way of agreeing to drop the secrecy?

They slowed their climb in elevation. The leveling out of the rolling pastures was the sign that they were nearing the upper place. He pushed himself off the hay and began preparing for the trail of cows that would soon be following them.

And it didn’t take long before they had a whole herd of heifers nipping at their heels. Cooper continued to move at a steady place as he fed them, and the pain creeped up his spine at a steady pace as well. He wrote it off as a consequence from the force to parse off sections paired with the twisting motion required. But as they moved along, the pain only increased. It was as if an electric shockwave was pulsing through one side of his body.

It soon became paralyzing. Blinding.

Riley let out a howling string of profanities as he dropped to his knee. This time however, the pain didn’t improve from this position. Instead, he noticed that he no longer had any sensation in his leg.

This was bad. He knew it was bad. He had ignored doctor’s orders, lied about his worsening symptoms, and now here he was… unable to move or feel his legs, with pain still radiating up his back.

He dropped, his chest hitting the deck as Cooper brought the tractor to a halt, either noticing he was no longer visible, or hearing his hollering. Whichever the reason, Riley appreciated the fact that he was jumping down and coming around the side. He watched his friend moving quickly as he weaved through cows nearly as noisy as Riley had just been.

“Are you good? What’s going on?” Cooper called as he approached.

“My back,” he managed to grit out through tightly clenched teeth. He dropped his forehead against the wood slats beneath him. His eyes squeezed tightly shut in agony.

“Shit. Shit. Shit. What do we do?” The younger cowboy lunged up onto the trailer and crouched at his side.

This pain was persistent and strong. The event all his ignored symptoms had been pointing to, he assumed. The event his doctor had tried to prevent. If only Riley had allowed him.

Defeated, he admitted, “Take me to the hospital.”

30

JULES

Normally, she wasn’t bothered by smells. But as Jules paced under the harsh fluorescent lights, her nostrils burned from sterile antiseptic. Hospitals had a way of smelling both absurdly clean and wholly besmirched at the same time. The chemically clean air just reminded her that people were experiencing the worst ailments of their lives amongst these halls. High grade cleaner for high grade conditions.

Her steps echoed on the faded, multi-colored tile floors. Green, blue, yellow. She spun on her heels to go back the other way. Yellow, blue, green.

Green, blue, yellow.

“Jules.” Maddie’s voice interrupted her tracking of the flooring. “Want to go to the cafeteria and get a coffee or something? Maybe decaf.”

“No thanks, I’d rather be here when the doctor comes out,” she replied determinedly. She squared her shoulders and tilted her chin up, hoping that appearing with confidence would give her a small slice of it.

On the inside, it felt as if she was crumbling. Her stomach churned with worry. Her heart ached with memories of the lasttime she had stepped foot in a hospital. A few years prior, she’d been in a terrifyingly similar situation. Pacing in a waiting room to find out if her grandfather had survived his heart attack.

It was the worst day of her life. She still remembered the way the doctor came out to talk to her dad privately while her mom held her tight. She knew in an instant that he hadn’t survived. It was written all over the doctor’s face. Professionally aloof yet compassionate. He wasn’t a man with good news.

She had felt so helpless. And she had run outside for air before her dad made his way back over to confirm what she already knew.

Jules hadn’t stopped running since that day, not really. And even despite her best efforts, she was back in these feelings of helplessness and fear. The waiting room was getting smaller around her as she lost track of counting her steps. Each one had been something tangible to focus on.

And she needed something to focus on. Because she was no expert, but a spinal fracture sounded like something one did not simply bounce back from. By trying to act perfectly fine, she was convinced Riley had done something to make the injury worse. Maybe even permanent.

Worst case scenarios flooded her thoughts at a dizzying pace. She needed to get back to counting tiles.

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