Page 43 of Catch Me, Cowboy
Excellent. Shelby cautiously sipped and then sipped again. Perfect drinking temperature. Maybe that meant the rest of her day would go okay despite a sleepless night. Gramps pushed the cereal box her way, then got up to take his bowl to the sink. “I need to get going pretty soon. Have to meet with the accountant again and do all the errands I’ve put off. Do you have anything to add to the grocery list?”
“Nope.” Shelby set down the cup. “You won’t forget to see Lucy, right?” Shelby had made her grandfather an appointment with the local nurse practitioner for a quick checkup. She didn’t like this knee business and she wanted to know what the deal was.
“Right.”
Shelby stared at him as he walked away. There was something in his tone that she didn’t quite like—to the point that when he drove back into the ranch hours later than she expected, she put away the horse she was schooling and went to the house. She met Gramps coming back out the door.
“Ready to work the black gelding?” he asked as she turned to walk with him back to the corrals.
“Yes. What did Lucy say?”
Gramps didn’t even try to hedge. “I didn’t go.”
“What?” She stopped walking, but he didn’t and she had to jog a few steps to catch up.
“I’m fine,” he muttered. “My accountant appointment ran long, so I called the office and told her I couldn’t make it. She was backed up, anyway. Glad to have the time to catch up.”
Shelby didn’t for one minute believe that, but what could she do? Hog tie the man and drag him kicking and screaming into the clinic?
Tempting… but she’d need help for that. And her help would be gone soon.
“I’m rescheduling, you know.”
“I wonder how far Ty got on the fence, today?” Her grandfather mused aloud as if she hadn’t spoken. He leaned his forearms on the rails of the corral and stared out across the pasture to the break in the trees leading to the leased land.
“Nice avoidance tactic,” Shelby muttered as she let herself into the pen and caught the gelding.
“At the rate we’re going, he’ll be done a few days after the rodeo.”
And then Ty would be gone. Even if his ride at the Copper Mountain Rodeo was a total bust, Shelby knew he was leaving. Their last argument may well have been just that—their last. If it hadn’t been, then he wouldn’t be giving her such a wide berth.
It was what she wanted… right?
The session with Evarado went well, although it felt odd not having Ty there. It was the first time since she’d started with the gelding that he hadn’t been within shouting range, as Gramps called it, and she decided it was because the gelding was starting to act like a horse instead of a rogue.
“He might turn out okay,” Gramps said grudgingly after she’d finished her session.
Indeed, Evarado was showing signs of trust in the relatively safe environment of the round pen. She had no idea how the horse would react out in the big, scary world.
“I’ll tell you what, though,” Gramps continued. “He ain’t a horse for an uncertain rider.”
“No. He needs someone he can’t push around.” Shelby waited until they were on their way back up to the house before she once again tackled the issue of the cancelled appointment. “I want to make another appointment with Lucy.”
“There’s no need.”
“I know you have a thing about doctors, but Gramps, sometimes we have to face our fears because not facing them can have serious consequences.”
Not what her grandfather wanted to hear. His expression clouded. “I know about facing fears. I’ve faced a lot more in my life than you have.”
Probably true, because he had forty-some years on her.
There was also the small issue of her not acknowledging fears. Deep down she’d always felt skittish about Ty’s career, but never allowed herself to examine the fact. Maybe she’d been afraid of jinxing things—afraid if she faced her fear, discarded it, then he would be taken away from her. And the roping—she’d acknowledged that fear, but until Wyatt twisted her arm, she hadn’t faced it…
“I think maybe I have a fear of fears,” she murmured as they mounted the porch steps.
“How’s that?” Gramps opened the door for her.
She waved her hand dismissively. “Just thinking aloud.”
