Page 45 of Catch Me, Cowboy
Practice was starting later tonight, so Shelby took her time re-braiding her hair and finding something clean to wear.Uncomfortable conversation.
And maybe more truth there than she wanted to deal with. She hadn’t faced her fears. She’d tossed down an ultimatum in a passive aggressive attempt to make Ty choose a safer occupation. Would he have been happy if he hadn’t ridden broncs? Maybe. But he wouldn’t be the guy he was today.
Was that good? Bad?
All she knew was she’d handled things poorly. Out of fear. And now… maybe… she had a chance to make things right?
Or she could leave them as they were, let Ty ride off into the sunset. Pursue his new goal.
Enjoy the time you have with him.
There was a very real possibility that he wouldn’t let her do that. That she’d shot him down one too many times.
When she came back down the hall, wearing her good boots and clean jeans, she found her grandfather already nodding off in his chair in front of the television—like he never used to do before.
Maybe this was part of aging. Maybe her grandfather’s internal clock had changed from night owl setting to early bird. And maybe his knees really were giving out. Maybe she was so worried about losing someone else in her life she was creating concern where there was none. Gramps wasn’t yet seventy. Young, really, as far as old guys went. Milo Kenyon was approaching ninety and showed no signs of slowing down.
But then Hawksley Carrigan had passed when he was younger than Gramps.
And wasn’t she getting morbid?
Shelby put on her hat, grabbed her gloves and rope and headed for her truck, then changed course and went to the machine shed instead. There was only one four-wheeler parked inside—the one Gramps rode. Her stomach automatically tightened. It was getting late and where in the hell was Ty?
Chapter Ten
Walking toward thepasture, Shelby shielded her eyes from the setting sun, and squinted toward the gap in the trees. Nothing. No sound. No four-wheeler. No Ty.
He’s a big boy.
And it was going to be dark soon.
If he’d broken down, he could walk back no problem, even if it was dark.
But if he’d rolled that damned quad, as could happen if a person wasn’t paying attention… Shelby’s stomach tightened even more.
Less than a year ago a person in a nearby community had died rolling a four-wheeler.
Heart in her throat, Shelby zipped her coat and headed for the remaining quad, firing it up and hoping the noise wouldn’t rouse her grandfather. Odds were that Ty had broken down. In fact, the odds were so favorable for breaking down she wasn’t going to allow herself to consider any other alternative.
Damn it to hell… what was happening to her? Ty comes back and suddenly she’s a basket case? Her first thoughts were those of mayhem and death? That needed to stop.
The sun was well below the tree tops when she got off the machine at the wire gate leading to the leased acreage and undid the latch. She dragged the gate across the dry grass and, since there were no cows in the vicinity, she left it down before driving on.
She followed the four-wheeler trail that led past new braces, t-posts, and tautly struck wire. Gramps had said they’d finished the north side of the riparian and were working their way down the south, but she hadn’t realized just how much of a job they’d already finished. Another day or two and they’d be done with both sides and then she and Gramps would be ready for spring and Ty would move on.
She followed the track away from the area where the land got marshy around the creek, rode over a small hill and half way down the other side she caught sight of Ty in her headlight, standing near the creek, hands on his hips.
His head came up as he heard the sound of the four-wheeler she rode.
Shelby gunned the four-wheeler across the remaining distance. Ty’s quad was half sunk in a nasty bog hole. He’d been digging around the wheels, and his jeans and boots were muddy up to his knees.
Shelby shook her head. “I won’t ask how.”
His voice was deadly as he said, “Probably wise.”
She got off her machine and they stood side by side for a silent moment, then she glanced over at him. “I can’t help it,” she said in a low voice. “How?”
“It was getting late and I wasn’t paying attention. I was looking across the field and hit it hard.”
