Page 72 of The Hearts We've Broken
“Ready!” Hayden called from atop his horse. Ellison was in the box on the other side of him, and I was manning the chute. He nodded, and I released the steer, its feet pounding against the dirt as it sprinted toward the other end of the arena. Juniper stood next to me, watching in awe as Hayden and Ellison expertly roped the steer.
“That was about nine-point-six seconds.” Colter looked at his stopwatch. “Truly, that’s not bad, honey,” he reassured her as disappointment fell over her face.
“You have to remember, we do this for a living. You’re just doing it for fun and practice,” Reid reminded her.
Ellison was as competitive as they came. She hated being bad at things, and she hated losing even more. It made beating her in pool and darts even more fun.
“I know. I just want to be able to keep up with you guys.”
“No, you just want to be able to say you kicked our asses.” Colter chuckled, to which she pushed her lips outward and bobbed her head to the side in agreement.
“Mikey, your turn?” Ellison grinned as she rode her horse over to the fence line.
I shook my head. “When are you gonna learn, woman? The answer is and always will be no.”
“I’ve become accustomed to saying, ‘Never say never,’ Michael. I figure if I bother you enough about it, you’ll get sick of me asking and finally just do it.”
“I’ve been trying to get him to do it, too.” Juniper sighed. “What if you justtouchone?”
I made a dramatic show of shaking my head, yet again. “Nope. I’m good right here, at least ten feet away from that thing.”
Juniper looked to Colter, Ellison, and Reid. “Can I ride one?”
“Uh, yeah. Come here.” Reid gestured for her to follow him over to where one of Colter’s horses, Trigger, was.
She looked over her shoulder at me, a beaming smile plastered onto her features.
“I like her a lot.” Ellison had moved to stand by me. “I think she’s good for you.”
“I do, too.”
That was what I was most afraid of.
From afar, I watched as Reid taught Juniper all the basics. How to approach a horse, what not to do around them, and basic safety things. Juniper slowly reached out her hand to let Trigger sniff it, letting him become familiar with her.
Soon, she was hoisting herself up into the saddle. Reid walked a lap around the arena with her, just to make sure nothing happened, but she looked more and more confident with every turn.
“Come on, Mikey! This is fun!” She giggled.
I waved her off, still not convinced about the horse. I was just glad he was taking care of my girl and that she was happy.
After Juniper had her fill of horseback riding and I’d opened the chute a few more times for Colter, Reid, and Hayden, we set up some chairs on Reid’s back porch. The sun was just starting to set, casting hues of orange, pink, and yellow across the western sky.
I pulled Juniper up on my lap, and she leaned back against me, her long hair tickling my jaw.
“How’s working at Rudy’s been for you?” Hayden asked.
“I actually really enjoy it. It’s pretty laid back compared to some of the bars I’ve worked at in the past,” she stated. “I also love working with Liv and Nico. They’re fun. What do you think you guys would be doing if you weren’t competing in the rodeo?”
“Ranching,” Colter promptly declared. “My degree was in Farm and Ranch Management, so I was always going to end up back here.”
“I probably would have ended up doing something similar,” Reid replied. “But I don’t know, I can’t really see myself doing anything other than rodeo right now.”
I waited for the others to answer, because I wasn’t sure what I’d be doing.
Hayden mentioned that although he went to school to rodeo, he also got a degree in Business Management and Economics. Jake probably would have ended up in some blue collar field like construction or auto mechanics.
I didn’t go to college, a fact that not many people knew. I graduated high school, but quickly started riding bulls, and the thought to get a degree never occurred to me. I wasn’t sure where I’d be without bull riding. Maybe I’d still be roaming around, trying to find a purpose.
