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"Alright, you stay here. I will go get it."
"Keep an eye on her?" I turn to Ben.
"Of course," he says, and I go out to the food area and get in line for a bottle of water.
Behind me, I hear a throat clear, and turn to find Jenna's father there.
All we do is stand and stare at each other until it's my turn in line. I get the water for her and me. As I turn to leave, Evans speaks.
"Will you come by the ranch later this week?" is all he says.
"Yeah, I'll be there," I say, turning and going back to Jenna.
I send up a silent prayer that this is a good thing and not the final nail in the coffin of my relationship with him.
Getting to the bleachers, I sit, handing her the water just as the bull riding is getting ready to start.
"I ran into your dad in line," I tell her, and her head snaps up to look at me. "He asked me to come by the ranch later this week. That's all he said, nothing more. I agreed. Though I don't like walking in there blind," I tell her.
"Well, it's a good thing he wants to talk, right?" She says with hope in her voice.
"I think," I say, though my gut doesn't exactly agree.
"Well, when you come home, I will make sure a nice hot bath is waiting for you," she says with a mischievous glint in her eye.
"So long as you are in it," I say with a wink, loving the idea.
Once the bull riding starts, the energy of the whole crowd changes. The excitement is building. The crowd is louder, and more people are on their feet. The gate opens, and the first bull comes out, bucking and spinning. You can feel it when he slams back into the ground. The bleachers shake, and that seems to spur the crowd on even louder. This guy lasted the entire eight seconds, making the crowd go wild.
When it's Finn's turn, the energy around us shifts again. Jenna and I are on our feet, as are her parents and Asher and Zach. Jenna's eyes are on Finn in the gate, her hands covering her mouth. We watch until he gives the nod, and the gate opens, and the bull comes out of the gate spinning and bucking. Time seems to drag on, and those eight seconds feel more like eight minutes as he holds on, swaying back and forth.
The longer he is on the bull, the louder the crowd cheers. It isn't until the rescue crew comes and helps him safely off the back of the bull that Jenna starts yelling. When I take a quick glance at her brothers and her parents, that’s when they start cheering, too.
The rest of the riders are a blur, but Finn manages to take home third place and a $10,000 prize for the day.
We head back, where his truck is to meet up with him, and Jenna is there giving him the biggest hug before anyone else. I don't miss a few of the other riders who have their eyes on her the moment she steps away from Finn. Quickly, I pull her back to my side.
"You did great!" she gushes.
"Thanks, the energy out there was really good," Finn says, but his eyes are on the blond that just walked by and winked at him.
"Well, here come Mom and Dad. I'll let you have your time with them. See you at dinner next week." Then we leave him and go back to my truck.
The entire way home, she is enthusing about Finn and how well he did. But all I can think of are all the possible reasons her dad wants to meet with me this week, and not any of them are good.
Chapter 26
Jenna
SinceJoshletmesleep in and is already out with the cattle, I am sitting in the dining room having a lazy breakfast. I work later today, so I figured I'd relax and read the new book I got from the library last week. As I'm cleaning up my breakfast dishes, my phone rings. I freeze when I see it's my dad calling. After the last call, I'm not sure I want to pick up, and I almost jump out of my skin when Josh speaks from behind me. I didn't even hear him come in.
"Well, are you going to answer it?" he says.
"It's my dad," I say, staring at it like it’s a snake.
"Answer it. I'm right there," he says, removing one of his work gloves and taking my hand in his.
"Hello?" I ask hesitantly, answering the phone.
