She drinks her coffee.
"Laney?"
"The opening event starts in twenty minutes," she says pleasantly. "You should probably stretch."
The event is called Ranch Hand Relay.
Laney explains it to me with the calm, unhurried tone of someone who has had this explanation prepared for a while and is enjoying delivering it considerably more than is strictly necessary.
It works like this.
Four events.
Each one tests a basic ranch skill.
Competitors move through them in sequence against the clock. The events are fence post setting, feed bag stacking, horse grooming relay, cattle sorting. Individually I have done versions of all of these things at Silver Mesa over the past six weeks.
Never against a clock.
Never in front of the entire population of Silver Ridge.
"You signed me up for a timed ranch skills competition?" I ask.
"I did," Laney confirms.
"Without telling me?"
"Correct."
"Why?"
She considers this with the expression of someone choosing between several honest answers. "Because you would have said no."
"I would have absolutely said no."
"Which is exactly why I didn't ask." She finishes her coffee with the satisfaction of a woman whose plan is proceeding correctly. "You've done all four of these things at the ranch. You know how to do them."
"At my own pace. Without an audience."
"Think of it as a learning experience."
"I have a lot of learning experiences. I don't need them timed."
Remy leans across from the seat beside me.
"I put twenty dollars on you finishing," he says helpfully.
"Not winning. Just finishing. The bar is set at a reasonable height."
"That is not as comforting as you think it is."
"Maisie put five dollars on you placing top three."
I look at my daughter. She gives me a thumbs up with the serene confidence of someone who has not thought through the implications of her bet.
Pearl Bishop reaches across from two seats over and pats my knee with a small, firm hand. "I've seen you work that ranch, son," she says. "You'll do fine." She pauses. "Probably."
I look at the arena where three other competitors are warming up with the easy practiced movements of men who have been doing ranch work their entire lives. One of them is doing something with a fence post that looks genuinely effortless.
