Quinn gave me a single nod. “Sure do, he was just reminding me of the bet you made, and I was telling him how you’ve obviously failing at it.”
“I amwinningthat bet.” I gave her a wink.
“Yeah…” Sam chuckled. “Failing. Big time.” Sam’s attention went from me to Hook, reaching his hand out to let Hook study him. “And who’s this?”
“He’s mine, Hook. Just wait till you see him ride.” Quinn smiled, taking the reins from me. “Thanks for saddling him up, Wyatt.”
“Ready for your warmup?”
“Yep.” She gave me a slight smile. “See you after?”
I gave her a small nod, shoving my hands in my pants pockets.
“See you too, Sam. Oh, Wyatt.” She tapped the brim of my hat. “Nice hat.” Then she clicked her tongue, and she and Hook walked away towards the back field.
Once she was out of earshot, Sam’s arm flung around my shoulder. “I think it’s safe to say you won her over.”
I looked at him, raising a brow. “She still can’t stand me. She agreed to let me come along to help with her horses since she had a hard time the first weekend.”
“Uh-huh, yeah…” Sam reached up and tapped the brim of my hat, mimicking Quinn’s actions from seconds earlier. “Nice hat.” He let me go, taking a step back to the registration table. “You should come hang out with us tonight in the booth. It’s Jeff and me.”
Just the idea of being back in the booth sent a chill up my spine. It had been months since I last watched a rodeo from that perspective. Watching Quinn from the stands was one thing, but seeing her from the ground, seeing every single detail…
“I wouldn’t be in the way or anything?”
“Fuck, no. Jeff will be thrilled. You can help us throw the clown under the bus.”
“Who’s the clown tonight?”
“Hector Fields.”
“Damn, he’s good.”
One thing I loved about my job was keeping up with the clown and his antics. Clowns—being trained bull fighters—were more than jokes, but their job was to keep the crowd entertained between events and give the announcers shit. Hector was one of the best, and he and I had been known to put on a hell of a show. He would go into the crowd and pick fans to hype up, or he would hide and have me find him just from the shot on the big screen, and he would always be willing to go out for a beer after. We never talked about what he would do at the next show—I just had to learn how to keep up.
“He’ll be thrilled to see you, too. It’s been way too long, man.”
“Don’t get too used to it. I’m notbackback.” I admitted.
I wasn’t even getting used to it. I still hadn’t heard back from Hawkins about Reno, and as the month got closer to ending, the prospect of announcing there was getting smaller and smaller.
“You haven’t heard anything about Reno, have you? Has the committee chosen its broadcasters?” I asked out of pure curiosity.
Sam shook his head, “No, I’ll be in Alberta that weekend, so I’m out. I was contacted, though, and had to turn it down.”
“You’re choosing Alberta over Reno?” I raised a brow.
“Gotta represent my home rodeo, man—just like you’ll always choose Alpine Ridge on the Fourth, I’ll always choose Alberta.”
“Nothing compares to the Hartwell Rodeo.”
“I beg to differ.” He slapped my shoulder again. “Come on, let’s head to the box.”
A few hours later, I sat between Sam and Jeff as they replayed every ride, hyped the crowd up, and gave Hector a run for his money. And I just took it all in, loving every second of it. I missed this.
When I was six, I rode my first sheep across the dirt at the Hartwell Hills Fourth of July Rodeo. Dad had tried to convince me to go again at a few more local rodeos, even at home, but I politely declined. At least, I thought I politely declined. Ask my mom and she'll say it was more tantrums and screaming no at her. When I was seven, I gave in and did it again, and I cried after, demanding that I would nevereverget on a sheep again. When I was nine, I sat with my mom in the stands, watching Rhett at thirteen being the youngest tie down roper that year, Lachlan riding in bareback, and my Uncle Levi riding around on horse with a microphone. The next year, they built the announcer box, and I begged Uncle Levi to let me up there with him.
And then I was hooked.
