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-I really can’t say. Maybe a couple months. Maybe not till late summer.
Oh. That didn’t sound promising at all, and I couldn’t tell if he was sorry about not having an answer. Maybe he didn’t want to come back, anyway, from how he phrased it. He was too nice to come out and say it, but how many grown menwantedto spend two afternoons a week wrangling a bunch of kids? For free?
But when else would I have a chance to see him? If he was that slammed at the ranch, he wouldn’t get away very often, unless he needed his truck fixed or happened to be in the store when I was. It could be weeks. Or months.
I’d lived in a ranching town long enough to know about early spring calving season. Those guys would all but disappear for over a month, and when they showed their faces again, they’d be like walking phantoms—blood-shot eyes and ten pounds lighter. What could I say to let him know I’d be looking for him but not sound too clingy?
-I guess I’ll see you around town. Maybe I’ll bump into you in the horse shampoo aisle.
That sounded cute, I thought. Something to make him smile and remind him that I was here, whenever he wanted to find me.
But he never answered it.
Chapter 19
Dusty
Ithadbeenoverthree weeks since I’d seen Jess.
She texted me that first day I didn’t show up at White Pines. It was just a simple message, saying she was sorry I couldn’t make it, and the kids had missed me. She didn’t say anything about missing me herself, but still, at least she knew I was alive. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to respond with more than a short thanks. If I’d sent her something saying I’d be back soon or was crushed with disappointment that I couldn’t come, it would spiral into wishful thinking and things that couldn’t be.
I saw her dad a couple of times, though, just passing him on the highway. He waved and honked. He even called me once because he wanted to stock his freezer with some beef. I sold him a quarter, but I was out feeding calves when he came to pick it up. I would have liked to talk to him, but it was probably just as well that I didn’t. He couldn’t have anything to say that I’d want to hear.
Marshall was limping around a little better. Kelli had lost the battle of trying to keep him home to heal, so finally, she gave up and drove over with him every day. She’d ride her horse while Marshall just got in the way. He wanted to work but couldn’t do anything without someone else stopping whatever they were doing to help him. Finally, I’d had enough one day, and I dragged him upstairs to teach him how to do payroll for the ranch hands. Then I made him learn how to pay the bills. I’ve never heard him complain and moan so much, but at least he couldn’t hurt himself in the office, and it freed me up to do other stuff.
The last weekend of January, Luke and I decided we needed to get a lot more serious about shaving down our roping times if we hoped to be competitive this year. We talked Kelli into dragging the practice sled for us, with Marshall running the clock. Duchess was on fire, and she was starting to really eat up her job. If we weren’t up to our top speed yet, it wasn’t her fault—it was mine.
“Set… go!” Luke called to Kelli. The woman was a devil on that ATV. With a hoot of delight, she put the hammer down so hard that the thing popped a wheelie as it broke free. If I knew Marshall, he was probably cringing and praying she wouldn’t flip it, but she got the heavy utility quad lined out and was streaking for the far side of the arena as our horses jumped out of the chutes.
Luke was on the loop in just a couple of strides, then he dropped his dally and set me up for the heel catch. I wasn’t quite that fast, but it was me, not the horse. Duchess was like a freight train. She’d been flabby and soft when we got her, but with all the legging up I’d done on her this winter, she was coming on strong, and she was gettingfast.
With every practice run, she got sharper. I didn’t even have to correct her much anymore—she knew her job, and her great white haunches were like bellows pumping hot steamy snorts into the air with each stride. But she’d taken too many of those strides already, and I was hesitating. I gritted my teeth. A few quick twists of my wrist, and I had the heels.
“Great catch, little brother!” Luke crowed. “What’s the time, Marshall?”
“10.8 seconds.”
“That’s bull! Check your timing eye. You sure you got that thing set right?”
“It’s set right!” Marshall shot back. “You’re just slow, you old geezer!”
Luke poked a finger in the air. “Say that one more time to my face, you busted up cripple.”
“Okay,” Marshall said with a smug grin. “You’re slower than mooolllllaaaasssssesssss. You’re so slow, you couldn’t catch my mother-in-law’s fat old cat. You rope like a sloth groping around in the dark. Vultures will start circling your head before you find that cow.”
Luke growled and gestured wildly at Kelli. “You better get him outta here before I break somethin’ else on him!”
I’d hopped off Duchess to collect my rope and reset the chute barriers, laughing all the way. “Aw, come on, Luke. You made your catch in like four seconds. The rest was me. I’m still getting her timing down, but we’re getting better. Yesterday we were almost twelve seconds on some of our first runs.”
“Well, it ain’t good enough for the NFR,” Luke sniffed. “We’ll even get laughed out of the jackpots with those times.”
“One more go. I was overthinking it, but I’ve got her dialed now.”
“Fine. One more.” Luke coiled his rope and trotted toward the chutes. I don’t think he realized that I saw when he grabbed his right shoulder and rolled it with a wince of pain. He’d been doing that more often lately, but he hadn’t said anything about it. We couldn’t keep up these hours-long practices.
I got on and backed Duchess into the chute, and closed my eyes to take a few deep breaths. I had to make this one good. My mare was quivering beneath me, ready to plunge ahead the instant the barrier dropped. If I could just focus, keep my mind clear!
I let my imagination wander to the serene place I’d dreamed up—a high mountain lake with crisp cool waters, and a couple of horses grazing the edges. Snowy peaks in the distance with skies the color of Montana Sapphires, and… I sighed.
