“Looks like Riley got her way again.Go, girl,” Piper called.“She’s the only Telford daughter.”
“What was the argument Riley won?”
“She wanted to be the cowboy in the arena during this practice.They herd the bull or the bronc if it gets out of control and doesn’t return to the chute.They keep the animal away from the bull or bronc rider if they don’t stick or when they dismount or they get caught up in their rigging, which is, of course, dangerous.”
“That sounds terrifying.”
“The rider has to be top of their game.The horse too.Cutting horses.They’re trained to work with livestock, herd them, face them down.Riley’s been riding her whole life.She was a barrel racer and does trick riding, and she breeds and trains horses for cutting and this kind of work with her mom, so she’s got this.That’s one thing about the Telford men.Super protective.”She shot Ayana a look as if to figure out how much of a Telford this new Telford interloper was.
“This concept of family is new to Telford,” she said, and then not wanting to appear disloyal she added, “to me too.”
I’m only here for a few months, a year at best.
Why did she keep forgetting?None of this was real—for her.
“He’s a little off his stride.”
“He didn’t grow up ranch?”Piper’s light green eyes widened.“Did he ever meet his dad?”Piper asked, sympathetically.
Her hand rested on Ayana’s arm.
“Ahhhh.It’s his story to tell,” she said, struggling both with the desire to talk, and her innate loyalty and need to protect.
“Boone will get the scoop,” Piper said, settling back.“You think I’m nosy—he’s king of questions.His family tease him that he secretly wanted to be a spy, but he’s so transparent he’d give everything away with the firsthey, how ya doing?”She laughed.“Ah.Riley’s back.And Cole.Suited up on the horses, and those two ranch hands will be the rodeo clowns.Get ready for the show.Yippee-kai-yay,” Piper called out.
Ayana heard the bull more than saw it.The cowboys, including Boone and Telford, stepped back, parting and climbing up on the rails, and a few peeled off to sit at the opposite end of the metal bleachers.
There was action at the chute, which she didn’t understand.As a teen, she’d worked some traveling carnivals and fairs for local western rodeos before she’d managed to get the proper paperwork for jobs that paid more and would allow her to stay in one place long enough to share an apartment or room in a house.A man wearing chaps, what looked like a Kevlar vest, and a helmet balanced on top of the railing, looking down.Cash and an older man who looked a lot like him talked to the cowboy who nodded as he strapped on his helmet and shoved in a mouth guard.
She wasn’t sure what she expected, but the safety measures, while smart, burst the bubble of her image of a cowboy with spurs, tight jeans, and a hat in his hand high above his head rollicking around the arena.The cowboy nodded, dropped down on the bull and there was some banging of metal.
“This is Destiny’s first outing.He probably won’t go into the stock-contracting stable this season, except maybe for a few local rodeos, but Boone wanted to see how he’d do, and this is Parker’s first ride on a real bull.”
“Wait.I met a Parker at the library and Harry’s House this afternoon.He was a kid.This isn’t that Parker.”She felt alarmed.
“Yeah.Parker Wilder.His uncle Kane was a top bull rider in the world for years, and his other uncle Luke was a rodeo star.Now they breed and train bulls with the Telfords and have merged their business to defray the risks and costs.Boone started a rodeo school.Parker’s a student.It’s all in the family.His dad’s there.Colt.And his mom.She’s a large-animal vet.Parker’s in good hands.”
Ayana saw an expressionless mountain of a man standing off to the side, hat low on his forehead, and his arm around a tall, slim woman with a riot of blonde curls.She bounced on her toes and shouted out encouragement, but her hand was pressed against her heart.
The crocheting forgotten, Ayana leaned forward as she heard a few shouts.A blare of some rocking country song she didn’t recognize, and then there was a slide of metal, the chute door swung open, and a smallish, dark bull careened out of the gate.Ayana and Piper both rose to their feet as if choreographed.The brown, yellow, and pink triangle scarf fluttered to the dirt.
Chapter Fourteen
“Irecognize thatlook,” a tall, slim, dark-haired woman with a face he imagined would be on one of those famous Renaissance paintings in a museum said, sidling next to him.
He’d been introduced when they arrived.She was the bride.
“What look is that?”He’d been standing off to the side so he wouldn’t be in the way.
Earlier, she’d been standing up on the rails of the chute taking pictures.Everyone seemed to have a job but him, and he was surprised at the resentment humming through his blood.He’d been robbed of this life twice—once before he was born and then again when his mother was murdered.He’d been too young to handle the chute gate when his mother was training.
“The W-T-F look.”She smiled.Took a picture of him.
“Hey.”
“This is for family.I have standard release forms if I might use pictures, but that one and any others tonight are for Cash.”
“What for?”
