Page 28 of The Chances We Take

We watched the rest of the rodeo, and Mikey rode to eight seconds, scoring an eighty-seven. His bull was mean, but he’d always told me that was what he wanted.“The meaner the bull, the higher the score.”

They’d be giving out championship buckles soon, but Ellison stood and took my hand. “Let’s go down to wait for the guys, yeah?”

I nodded as I stood and followed her down the stairs of the grandstands. The guys would probably stay another night here, but Ellison and I had to drive to Bozeman so I could fly back to Texas early in the morning.

Once the awards were handed out, the guys found us pretty quickly.

“Hey, Blaze.” Colter pulled Ellison in for a hug, kissing the top of her head.

“Gross, get a room.” Mikey pretended to gag as Jake shielded Hayden’s eyes.

“Quit that!” Hayden swatted Jake’s hand away from his face.

Reid and I just laughed, watching their antics.

“Congrats, Cowboy. That was a pretty good ride,” I said with a smile.

He smirked, taking off his hat and running a hand through his hair. “You think so, Short Stack?”

“I may not be a rodeo expert, but I know a good roper when I see one.” I winked. “You looked good out there.”

Ellison and Colter wrapped up their conversation, andthe other guys had already started walking out of the arena to go to the trailers.

“You ready?” Ellison asked me.

“Yeah, I’ll be right behind you.”

She nodded and took off with Colter, hand in hand.

I looked up at Reid through my eyelashes. “Wait, so, how tall are you exactly?”

“Six foot,” he replied. “How tall are you?”

“Ah, so you’re five-foot-eleven, then.” I ignored his question and instead took the opportunity to mess with him a little.

“No, I’m six foot.” He screwed up his face.

“It’s okay, you don’t need to lie to compensate. I get it.” I smiled and patted his shoulder as I walked past him, hearing him grumble, “I’mnotlying,” from behind me.

I believed him the first time, but I couldn’t resist poking fun at him.

“I’m five-foot-two by the way!” I called over my shoulder as I continued walking to Ellison’s pickup.

I could practically feel his eyes burning into my back. I needed to come back to Montana. Andsoon.

CHAPTER TWELVE

reid

PRESENT DAY

Five weeks out from the wedding, everyone was all together in Silver Creek. Ellison and her bridesmaids would be traveling for her bachelorette party in a few days, and Colter’s bachelor party was in a couple weeks.

Isa was staying with Colter and Ellison in their spare room for the time being. She’d been in Montana for the Fourth of July rodeo last year, but she was only in Red Lodge with us for the weekend before she had to leave. So what better way to welcome her for her first trip to Silver Creek than a Carson Ranch branding?

It was great timing, honestly, to have everyone in town. There were loose ends to tie with Colter’s ranch before the Montana circuit started and then the wedding would happen. My parents didn’t have cattle, since my father worked as a power lineman and my mother, well, my mother could hardly take care of herself. It was probably a blessing in disguise that I didn’t have to take care of my mother, siblings,andhowever many head of cattle.

Some people were functioning alcoholics, like Colter once was, but not Eileen Lawson. I remembered severaloccasions where we’d come home from school to find my mother passed out on the couch, bottles of liquor spilling on the carpet.

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