Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Mina found her shots, tank top, and sandals and scampered outside to find night had already fallen.
Sir Dogsworth was standing beside Jackson and Slater as the two men leaned against the corral railing looking out past it into the empty pastureland behind the barn.
The sound of cicadas filled the night and the air was still warm, smelling of summer.
It had been weeks since Mina had arrived in Big Cedar. She’d accomplished a lot in between traveling with her Daddies on the rodeo circuit. She’d put out three papers and they were all selling well. Still, something bothered her.
She just didn’t have a solid lead on Hugo Sparks.
She pushed that from her mind, though, as she approached her Daddies. She climbed up on the corral fence and straddled the top beam. “That was something.”
Both men laughed, obviously knowing good and well what she was referring to.
“Sure was,” Jackson agreed.
Silence settled over them. The men hadn’t been talking when she approached, but she knew what they were thinking about.
It was the same thing she was now pondering.
“The last one is coming up. The big one,” she said.
“Tulsa,” Slater said with a nod, still looking into the pasture.
“Day after tomorrow,” Jackson added.
Mina thought for a few more moments before reaching out and putting her hand on Slater’s shoulder. “Are you sure?”
“I am.”
“But your body was already hurting today. That’s why you were in that ice bath.”
“Oh that wasn’t anything. No way to get thrown off a bull and not be a little sore.”
“I don’t think you’re just a little sore,” Jackson stated. “And I think you’re irritating some old injuries.”
“I’m so close to winning that prize money,” Slater countered. “I can’t just back out now.”
“Yet we all feel you should,” Jackson said. “And I mean all of us. Even you. Else we wouldn’t be out here in the night staring at a field while our thoughts and concerns weigh on us.”
Mina knew her Daddy was right. She suspected Jackson had a lot of wisdom in that handsome head of his.
“I’ve got to do it,” Slater said. “For Big Cedar.”
He turned and walked back toward the house without another word.
Mina reached out and took Jackson’s hand and they stayed there with each other for a few more minutes.
It didn’t need to be said. Both knew what the other was thinking.
They were worried. And they sure didn’t like the thought of Slater getting on the back of another bull.
Not one damn bit.