Chapter 30
CHAPTER
THIRTY
Cash pounded River Johnson on the back as he came out of the arena. “You killed it!” he yelled to the man he’d been doing a bit of consulting with in the past several months. “You can’t ride better than that, River!”
River nodded as he peeled his gloves from his hands. Cash looked up to the scoreboard, as he’d done so many times in the past. Every cowboy’s dreams pivoted around the scoreboard, and tonight, Cash waited for River’s name instead of his own to flash with the judges’ scores.
One thing about the rodeo was they worked fast, and Cash only had to chew on his anxiety for a couple of seconds before River’s name came up.
The applause rose through the arena, and the announcers started to blather through their loudspeakers.
But Cash had eyes, and he could see River’s score.
He’d ridden the full eight seconds, and the judges had given him a ninety-four.
“All right!” Cash clapped his big hands together and turned toward his friend.
When he’d lived and breathed rodeo dust and leather chaps and spurs, Cash had loved it.
But now that he’d had a taste of small town life and fresh snow, the scent of hot tub chemicals and Lark’s shampoo, he didn’t want this life.
He’d thought for his first couple of days in Las Vegas that he would, and that he’d return to Coral Canyon dissatisfied, and everything he’d been building there would be blown up. But it had only solidified his choices were the right ones for him.
He grabbed onto River’s shoulder and pounded him on the back. “Dude, you’re in first, and no one is beating that ride.”
River finally put a smile on his face, and Cash nodded. “There it is. There’s your PR smile. You do that. You’re on the Jumbotron right now. Just keep it going.”
Cash knew, because he’d played this role many times, and he wanted River to be the golden boy turning pro this year. In fact, if the man was smart, after he won tonight, he’d announce his intentions to turn pro before Sunday evening.
That was when all the coaches and managers had openings, and they’d all be clamoring for River: the national champion in bull riding and roping in the amateur division.
The tension went down as the next rider entered the arena. That meant River wouldn’t be on camera anymore, and neither would Cash.
“Let’s go get something to eat,” he said.
They couldn’t really leave the arena, as they’d need to be here for awards, and those would only be another thirty minutes.
But the National Rodeo Association set up a green room of sorts for riders, and Cash had already scoped it out and knew they had tri-tip steak sandwiches and plenty of potato salad.
The pros would ride the weekend, Thursday through Sunday, but Cash was flying out tomorrow.
He had an appointment with his general contractor and a cabinet maker on Saturday at the ranch, and he expected Lark at the house by mid-afternoon.
All of Cash’s thoughts flowed back to Lark, and he expected to see her texts when he finally sat down with a paper plate full of food.
He slapped high fives and shook hands as he went with River into the rider’s room, and thankfully, he’d been in town long enough and spoken to the right people, so they all knew he wasn’t coming back.
Cash had had a hard time accepting it himself, but being here and contrasting it with the life he’d started to imagine in Wyoming, he knew he’d made the right choice. He just had to make it through the next twelve hours, and he’d be on his way back to that reality.
The following day, Cash touched down at the Jackson Hole airport just after noon, local time. He felt better just being on the same time zone as Lark, though she hadn’t returned his text from that morning.
He’d prayed for an easy last day of work this year for her, and she usually reported to him what she’d prayed about for him. But today, she hadn’t texted at all. A whisper of disquiet ran through his soul as he switched from airplane mode and still didn’t have a message from her.
Bryce had confirmed that he would have Cash’s horse, Magistrate, out and ready for him to ride when he got there that afternoon, and his father had texted to have a good flight, and both Wade and Jet had messaged to congratulate him on River’s win.
An abundance of love from those around him filled Cash, and yet he felt empty without Lark’s name on his screen.
“What does that mean?” he wondered to himself, as he stepped out of the airport. The mid-December weather wasn’t kidding around, and Cash’s thoughts froze on his way to his truck. He tossed his duffel bag in the back unceremoniously and hurried to get the heater blowing.
He checked his phone again, still didn’t have anything from Lark, and warred with himself over sending another message. She’d told him that he did not irritate her, and they’d agreed that they would answer when they could.
Still, she’d always messaged by now, and Cash knew she was only working today. She’d reported to him last night that she’d finished her laundry, and that she would be working almost all day today, and then she’d be packing tonight, finishing up in the morning.
He looked up in his rearview mirror, telling himself that he did not need to make the two-hour drive from Jackson Hole to Pocatello.
She would be in Coral Canyon tomorrow, and he needed to get back to the house, stock it with groceries, and give it a lived-in feel for when she returned.
He’d been gone for just over a week, but houses felt different without people living in them.
He looked back down at his phone, deciding that one little text wouldn’t hurt. I landed in Jackson. I’m on my way home, and I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.
Everyone wanted to be told that they were welcome and wanted, right?
He knew he did, and while Lark did that on some level, he could admit in quiet moments like this, where he sat in the cab of his truck with only the sound of the heater blowing air, that he wished she would tell him more explicitly what he meant to her.
She never had, but when they were together for that week over Thanksgiving, she’d shown him. Cash had been able to feel it in the way she curled her fingers through his, and the way she kissed him, and in the gentle touch of her fingernails sliding through his hair.
Cash craved being put first, and yes, a tickle of disappointment moved through him that Lark hadn’t done that today.
She’s coming home for a whole month, he told himself. She’s busy. Give her some grace.
Though his feelings got hurt sometimes, Cash truly believed that most people were doing the best they could, Lark included. His daddy included, though Cash still felt somewhat forgotten by both of his parents.
He sent the text to Lark and backed out of his parking space at the airport. “Call Daddy,” he told his truck once he got on the road leading east to Coral Canyon.
The phone rang, and his daddy picked up with a, “Howdy, son. You back in the state?”
“Yeah,” Cash said. “I’m just leaving the airport now.”
“That’s awesome,” Daddy said. “River did really amazing.”
“Yeah, he did, didn’t he?” Cash said.
“He was up against a bunch of incredible riders,” Daddy said. “I still can’t believe Samson Paul hasn’t gone pro yet.”
“Oh, he’s gonna go pro this year,” Cash said. “He has to.”
“That’s what we were all saying last night,” Daddy said. “We had a big party to watch your boy.”
“He’s not my boy, Daddy.”
“You know what I mean,” Daddy said. “Cole and Rachel were here, and it was fun to get to see them together a little bit.”
“Yeah, they’re real cute,” Cash said. “Did they set a date for their wedding?”
“Yeah,” Daddy said under his breath. “It’s going to be down in Texas, because that’s where her family’s from, and in the rodeo off-season, so they’re looking at the end of March.”
Cash immediately thought of Boston. “Wow,” he said, making a mental note to call his cousin after this. He and Cora weren’t set to be married until April.
But everything about Cole and Rachel’s relationship had been faster than Cora and Boston. Cash would just need to remind Boston that faster didn’t mean better, though it could feel like it sometimes.
He shifted in his seat. “Hey, can I ask you something?” he asked.
“You can ask me anything you want,” Daddy said. “What’s on your mind?”
Cash didn’t know how to put it delicately, so he blurted out, “Lark.”
“Mm-hm,” Daddy said, humming.
Cash didn’t quite know why he’d brought her up, but he wanted to be honest with his father in all things. He’d like to get his thoughts out and have someone he trusted tell him the truth. Though they have their differences, Cash trusted his father explicitly.
“I have really strong feelings for her,” Cash said. “And I don’t want to be a fool, but they feel a lot like love. And I know that sounds ridiculous. It sounds ridiculous to my own ears when I say it out loud.”
He sighed. “But I guess…I’m just wondering how you know when you’ve found the right person, the one you want to spend your life with?”
“And follow up question,” Cash said, plowing on. His daddy said nothing, and Cash could just see him sitting there, silent and still, the way Daddy did when he didn’t like what he was hearing. “How will you know if you can put up with the things you don’t like about them long-term?”
“What don’t you like about her?” Daddy asked.
“Well, like, obviously, we’ve only been together for a short time,” he said. “In the past couple of weeks, we haven’t even been in the same place.”
“Yeah,” Daddy said.
“But I’m more touchy-feely than she is,” he said. “She does acts of service as her love language, and I want to hold her hand and kiss her and keep her right close to me. What if I smother her?”
“What else?” Daddy asked, still not offering any advice.