Page 68 of Head Over Spurs

“Then can I get you something?” Maddie offered as she crossed back in front of where her best friend sat between Grey and Cooper.

“Coffee doesn’t sound half bad,” she admitted.

“On it.” The brunette rose from her vinyl chair with the busy geometric pattern.

“I’ll go with you.” Grey stood as well, wrapping his arm around Maddie’s shoulders as they turned towards the sign pointing the way to the cafeteria. “Cooper, call us if the doc comes out.”

The younger cowboy nodded, his facial expression consisting of hard lines and a clenched jaw. She wasn’t used to seeing Cooper like this, and it only added to her concern for Riley. After all, he had been the one there when Riley collapsed. He knew the situation better than anyone, and he was clearly worried by it.

About to return to pacing, Jules caught Cooper’s expression as he looked up at her. He looked so young, his wide eyes mirroring the worry in her. And now he was sitting all alone. So, instead of counting her way across the room once again, she dropped down into Maddie’s abandoned seat at his side.

“I just keep thinking that I should have let him drive the tractor,” he mumbled.

“This wasn’t one event,” Jules assured him. “He’s been hiding his pain; it’s been flaring up.”

“He couldn’t move his legs,” Coop whispered. “He couldn’t evenfeelthem.”

The urge to retch crept its way up her throat. “He’ll be okay.” He had to be okay, there simply couldn’t be another option.

She leaned back in the chair with a dull thump. “He’ll be okay,” she repeated.

Had it really only been last night that they were tucked away in a dark corner of the bar together? Her fingers drifted up to the mark he’d left behind, just below her ear. Hidden by her hair.

Regret—for the way she’d pushed away from him—reared its determined head. And it brought a heaping load of what ifs with it. What if she had just given in to the constant pull that she felt towards Riley? What if she had just told him the truth about everything last night? This morning would certainly have gone differently, they’d be working together with the horses—because they would have arrived at the ranch together in this alternate universe.

“But Jules. He couldn’tfeel his legs. What if he’s like… paralyzed?” Cooper whispered the last word, as if afraid that he could speak it into existence.

Riley was not a still man. He was active, strong. The one who carried those in his life when they were in need. She half expected him to come walking through those double doors with that crooked grin of his plastered on his face. As if amused that anyone thought he could actually be struck down.

“We were supposed to see his doctor.” She turned towards Cooper, pulling her knees up to rest on the arm of the chair. “He said he’d make the appointment last weekend.”

Riley was always there to help everyone. And the one time he needed someone to step up for him—to put his well-being first—she had failed him. She hadn’t asked him if he scheduled the appointment, she hadn’t done anything other than allowing him to continue to focus on her and the ranch.

“We?” Cooper arched his eyebrows at her. She rolled her eyes right back.

Tucked into the front pocket of her bootcut jeans, her phone vibrated with an incoming call. She slid it out just far enough to read the name flashing across the screen. It was Michelle, from the magazine, calling once again.

Biting her bottom lip, she stared at the illuminated screen and debated if she truly needed to answer now. She didn’t want to focus on anything but Riley. Certainly not the plans that would take her away from him.

“Take it.” Coop’s voice cut through her whirlwind debate. “You could use a distraction.”

With a nod, she dropped her thumb to the green icon and answered the call. “Hello?” she asked, rising from her seat.

“Hi, Jules. I hadn’t heard back from you and we are a bit pressed for time. I needed to firm this all up, so I booked everything for you.”

“But it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours. What do youmean it’s all booked?” She had reached the far wall and turned, prepared to return to her pacing. But something in Michelle’s tone had her eyes scanning for some privacy in this waiting room.

In the back corner, a staircase with a faux ficus tucked under it created what she imagined would be the closest thing to concealment in this space.

“When you said you would call me back, I assumed you meant in an hour or so. Dear, this is the cover of one of the biggest agriculture and lifestyle magazines in the world. How could you say no? Your work will be front and center in every airport, newsstand, grocery store checkout?—”

She had just reached the ficus as she asked, “Why was it moved up? What changed?”

“The story was originally going to be in a late fall issue. But the man we planned to highlight for the September cover… let’s just say he made some poor choices, and we needed to pivot. Fast.”

Tucked behind the large plastic leaves, she leaned against the wall and sighed. “And if I said I couldn’t make next week. What then?” There was no way she could leave with Riley’s injury progressing like this.

Michelle’s voice was thick with confusion as she replied. “This is a big opportunity. Do you have a conflict? I guess we would have to use a backup photographer then. And if I’m being honest, pulling out of this job would be grounds to lose your whole contract with us.”

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