I run my fingers along the edge of the treatment table. “I can do a lot with this. Although I’m not sure how much with the limited time students are here.”
Seth smirks. “It’s my experience that we’ll be working on the staff as much as we do students. Probably more.”
“Really?”
He shrugs. “Bryce hired some rodeo hotshots to work this summer. So, chances are high.”
I laugh. “That’s great. I’ll get my feet wet with the stubborn cowboys. It’ll be good practice.”
Seth quirks a brow. “That’s right. Bryce told me you are looking to join the rodeo circuit after graduation.”
“He did?”
“Yeah. He said Cabe sold the hell outta you for this internship. He knew you could use the practice and it would be a good fit.”
Heat creeps into my cheeks.
Of course Cabe advocated for me. I knew he talked to Bryce after I mentioned applying, but hearing it confirmed warms my heart.
“He might have exaggerated my abilities slightly.”
“Nah. Bryce called Bradley before we finalized things. And I sang your praises myself.”
I laugh, embarrassed. “Well, now I feel pressure.”
“Good. Pressure builds character.”
I snort.
Seth continues the tour, showing me the break room, tucked across the hall from the bathrooms. It’s small but comfortable with a coffee maker, microwave, dorm-sized refrigerator, and a scarred wooden table.
We loop back toward the front entrance before heading outside again.
The Wyoming sun is bright overhead now, warming my shoulders as we walk along a stone path behind the clinic.
“That building there’s the dining hall,” Seth explains, pointing toward a large lodge-style structure bustling with workers preparing for opening week. “Students and staff eat there three times a day.”
Past it sit several long bunkhouses.
“That’s where the kids stay. We’ve got our first group arriving Sunday afternoon. Program officially starts Monday morning.”
“How many students?”
“Twenty-four this session.”
I whistle softly. “That many?”
He nods. “And the next group comes two weeks later. Then another. And another.” He grins sideways at me. “Hope you like chaos.”
“I grew up around rodeo families. Chaos is comforting.”
“That’s the spirit.”
We continue farther down the path until he stops beside a row of tiny cabins nestled beneath a cluster of pine trees.
“And this is you,” he says, nodding to the second from the left.
I stare at it. “Oh my God.”
