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“Cheater,” she said, but stepped up her game.
*
Since LeAnn won by the skin of her teeth, she decided not to brag about it. But she did make him take her out for ribs and a baked potato the size of a small boulder.
“Tomorrow, we’re on the bulls, right?” she asked Dylan after they’d placed their order.
“Yup.”
“I’m excited to see the other women compete. There’s eight of us.” LeAnn wanted to see if she was better than Muriel. Fort Worth would be the first time all of them were in the arena at the same time. She hoped she did well.
“When should we start heading over to Fort Worth?” LeAnn asked. She was hoping to travel at the same time as he did so they could be on the road together and it wouldn’t seem so isolated.
“I’ve got a few things to take care of here tomorrow. But you need to be there by Thursday.”
“I can stay and wait for you. What do you have to do? I can help,” she said.
“I’m working with Hickory Livestock to see which bulls are going to San Antonio the week after next.”
“What about the ones for Fort Worth?”
“They’re already en route.”
“Do you mind if I tag along tomorrow?” she asked.
“I don’t mind, but wouldn’t you rather get to Fort Worth a day early and relax—after doing your gym routine, of course?”
“Honestly,” LeAnn said, “I’m going stir-crazy all by myself. Dolly and Reba haven’t been around much lately. Dolly’s hitting up the corporate offices in each town, talking with both the WPRC’s and the MPRC’s marketing departments. It looks like they might hire her on full-time, if things with the bull riding go well.”
“I’ve seen Reba hanging around the bulls.”
LeAnn nodded. “She’s made herself available as an on-call veterinarian at all of the rodeos, freelancing and filling in when needed. Both the WPRC and the MPRC have already made her an offer for full-time work, but for the moment, she’s not sure that’s what she wants to do. But all of that means that Reba and Dolly are pretty much out of the Winnebago except to sleep, so I’ve got it to myself more often than not. They’re going to take the truck to Fort Worth. I’m trailering Garth to the RV and taking him.”
“I’m going to have to spend the day at Hickory Livestock tomorrow. You’d probably be bored.”
In other words, he didn’t want her there. “Yeah, okay.” LeAnn didn’t want to feel rejected, but she did. She’d just have to coordinate her driving with her sisters or get an audio book to keep her occupied for the drive.
And Dylan was right—it would be good to relax a bit before Dolly got her marketing plans underway. Still, she would have liked to have him with her. Maybe she’d hit the bars with the other women bull riders and hope that she didn’t run into Mick.
“How’s Lola doing?” she asked.
Dylan blew out a sigh. “I’m worried about her. I had Reba take a look at her and she says she’s doing fine. But I know my horse. She’s slowing down. I’m thinking of skipping out on the roping events, just to give her a break.”
“That’s too bad,” she said. “I know how much Garth likes to compete and I think Lola feels the same way.”
“She does. And Lord knows I could use the money from the prizes if we won. But I don’t have the means to take care of her if she pushes it. Not to mention I don’t know how I’d get another horse.”
“You’ve been with her a long time?” Garth had been with her since the beginning, so she could understand where Dylan was coming from.
He nodded. “I bought her when I won my first all-around about seven years ago. Up until that, I had a few older horses, but we never bonded the way I’ve bonded with Lola.”
“How did you get started with bull riding?”
“I couldn’t afford a good horse,” he said with a half-laugh. “The rodeo provided the bulls so all I had to do was hitch a ride to the next rodeo. But I rode some on my uncle’s ranch, growing up.”
“Did you ride in high school?”
“Yeah, when I could. My parents weren’t supportive of the sport.”
