Page 62 of Catch Me, Cowboy
Shelby pressed her lips together and shot a look at Ty before saying, “You only call me that when you don’t want me to yell at you.”
“Gotta do what I can to protect myself.” His voice was low, his words dragged out.
The pain meds were winning. His eyes started to drift shut.
Shelby pulled in a breath and exhaled slowly as Les’s head tilted to the side. The door pushed open and they turned to see Dr. Murphy, whom Ty assumed was Les’s regular physician, come in.
“I see Les has been up to no good,” the doctor said as he approached the bed.
“He’s been having issues with his balance, but blamed it on bad knees.”
“Sounds like Les. There are a number of things we can check, but the first will be his blood pressure meds.” He settled a hand on Shelby’s shoulder. “Whatever it is, we’ll get it taken care of. Les is a tough old bird and now that I know he’s having a problem we can deal with it.” He looked up at Ty. “Nice to see you vertical.”
Ty couldn’t help but laugh. The last time he’d seen the good doctor had been after getting creamed at the 68thCopper Mountain Rodeo. “I’m doing better now.”
“I heard that you’re coming out of retirement.”
Ty felt Shelby stiffen beside him. “Playing it by ear,” he said.
Dr. Murphy shifted his attention to Shelby. “We’ll let Les rest, run some tests in the morning and if all’s well, we’ll release him.”
“But he’s going to be okay?”
“Shelby… I promise you. Your grandfather will be back on his feet being difficult to manage within a matter of days. The important thing is to get him out of this hospital.”
As they walked out of the room, Ty’s phone buzzed yet again in his pocket and this time he answered.
“Yeah. Les is all right.” He listened for a couple more seconds as they walked, then came to dead stop just outside the ER entrance. “Look, Dad, I don’t care what you and Buck arranged, I can’t—”
Shelby touched his arm and he shifted his frowning gaze to her. “Do it.”
Ty lowered the phone. “You don’t know what ‘it’ is.”
“Do it.”
She could see him fighting with himself, weighing pros and cons. He met her gaze then, his expression beyond serious. “Will you come with me?”
Her heart thumped. “F-for how long?”
“Just for today.”
“I… can do today.” Maybe she could do more than that.
Ty uncovered the phone. “I’ll be there… yes, I’ll damned well hurry, if you stop talking.” He dropped the phone back into his pocket, took Shelby’s hand and together they jogged for his truck.
*
The ride wouldn’tcount. He wouldn’t win the buckle or take home the check, but he was going to ride. An exhibition they called it, because of his record-breaking score the day before. He smiled grimly. After Buck and his father had interceded on his behalf, he’d probably humiliate himself and eat a dirt sandwich. He didn’t care. He had one more chance to do what he loved and the woman that he loved was there with him.
For today. She could do today.
The horse he’d drawn was rank—a notorious bucker, which was another reason Buck had wanted Ty to ride. They hadn’t had much time to talk before he was up, but Buck told him they could work an angle with Les’s accident and self-sacrifice that would add depth to the documentary. Whatever. Ty was going to ride.
Shelby had stayed behind the chutes with his father and Buck while he tended to his horse. Once saddled, Pippin—which was a stupid-ass name for a bronc notorious for stomping the shit out of cowboys—snorted, rolled his eyes back as if to take Ty’s measure, and then flattened his ears against his skull. The horse was a pro. So was Ty.
“Right back at you,” Ty muttered as he climbed on board.
He arranged his seat, adjusted his grip, his left hand on the top rail of the gate to steady himself. Then the nod and the gate swung open.
