Page 61 of The Hearts We've Broken
mikey
Ican take that, thanks.” Juniper grabbed the handle of her suitcase as I pulled it out of the backseat of my pickup.
She walked up the steps, and I followed her to the base of them, despite the look she gave me over her shoulder. She turned the door handle and turned around to face me as I shifted on my feet.
“Thanks for driving me home,” she said at the same time I said, “Well, thanks for coming with me.”
We both let out awkward laughs.
“I’ll, uh, see you around?” I asked, a bit unsure. Now that we were back home out of the bubble we’d been in for the past month and a half on the road, we didn’t really have to see each other anymore. If we needed to—if anyone asked—we could pretend to hang out without ever being together. This town, although small, was still big enough for that.
She nodded slowly, as though she was still deciding. “Yeah, I’ll see you around.”
I watched as Juniper stepped through the front door,closing and locking it behind her. Then I trudged back to my truck, heading home to the small RV park I’d been living in. If I was being honest with myself, I was ready for that plot of land Colter had promised.
When I pulled into the horseshoe court, my closest neighbor was outside sitting in a lawn chair.
“Hi, Leroy.” I waved as I got out of the truck to unhook the trailer.
Leroy was an older, retired gentleman. Sometimes he could be a bit grouchy, but I didn’t mind. He didn’t bother me, and I didn’t bother him.
He grunted, his form of saying hello, and went back to reading his magazine. Upon closer inspection, I realized the front cover looked familiar.
Approaching him warily, kind of like he was a stray dog, I asked, “Hey, Leroy, can I borrow that magazine from you?”
“Whaddya need it for?” he grumbled.
“Just real quick, I’ll give it right back. I promise.”
After huffing out a breath, he thrusted the magazine in my direction. After mumbling a brief, “Thanks,” I took a good look at the front cover.
Just as I suspected, a photo of me and Juniper at the Houston Rodeo was plastered on the front page.
MIKEY TUCKER, BULL RIDING BAD BOY
HAS A BADDIE?
My face contorted at the headline.
God, was that the best they could come up with?
I flipped through the pages until I could find the brief article and skimmed what they wrote about me.
Has resident playboy bull rider, Mikey Tucker, finally met his match?
Tucker, one of the leading bull riders in the nation, was spotted several times with a new woman in Houston, Texas. During one instance, she made a point to say she was his girlfriend and the relationship was not a fling. After his championship win, a first for Tucker, fans crowded him as he locked lips with the lucky lady.
So, who is she?
An anonymous source told us that her name is Juniper Ray, age twenty-two, and she resides in Montana. Ray recently graduated from Sapphire Gulch University in the Molecular Biology program, which brings up questions of whether she’s telling the truth.
Is their relationship truly real? Is she being paid to be seen with him? Or is it just another one of Tucker’s flings that will fizzle out before it has the chance to burn? The coming weeks will be telling of whether this wild mustang has finally been tamed.
A representative of Mikey Tucker was contacted, but we have not received a response.
A resigned sigh escaped my lips as I handed the magazine back to Leroy.
“All this bull crap they’re sayin’ ’bout you true?”
