Chapter 10
Dustin
Dustin lay in bed staring at the ceiling, listening to Vanessa move around in her room getting ready for another day of interviews. She'd barely slept. Neither had he. They'd spent most of the night on opposite sides of the wall, both pretending they weren't thinking about what morning would bring.
His phone buzzed. Jake: Entries close at midnight. You in or out?
He should have answered days ago. Should have made this decision before he'd fallen in love with her, before he'd started imagining futures that included waking up next to her for the rest of his life.
But he hadn't. And now the choice felt impossible.
He heard the coffee maker start in the kitchen. She was going through the motions of her morning routine, but he could hear the difference in her movements. Slower. Heavier. Like someone bracing for impact.
His phone rang. Bill Tracy. He almost didn't answer, but Bill had been his sponsor for five years. The man deserved more than radio silence.
"Morning, Bill."
"You dodging my calls for a reason?" Bill's voice was gravelly with early morning cigarettes. "Because Jake's been on my ass wanting to know if you're coming to Oklahoma, and I'm running out of excuses."
"I know. I'm just..." He sat up, running a hand through his hair. "I'm trying to figure some things out."
"About the rodeo or about that woman you're renting from?"
The directness shouldn't have surprised him. Bill had always been good at reading between the lines.
"Both."
"Figured." Bill was quiet for a moment, and Dustin heard the flick of a lighter. "Look, I've been doing this for a long time. Seen a lot of good riders burn out, get injured, lose their nerve. You know what the successful ones have in common?"
"What?"
"They know when to get out. When to transition before the sport chews them up and spits them out broken." Another pause. "You're one of the best natural riders I've seen in twenty years, Dustin. But you're also smart enough to know you can't do this forever."
"I know."
"If you could stay in the horse business without getting your skull cracked open every weekend, would you?"
The question landed differently than Dustin expected. "Yeah. I would."
"Then I've got something you need to hear. Remember that training facility idea we talked about? The one where you'd work with young horses and riders?"
"Yeah."
"There's a property for sale. About an hour north of where you are now.
Forty acres, existing barn and arena, owner's motivated.
" Bill's voice changed, became more focused.
"It's the kind of setup where you could build a real business.
Train horses, maybe breed a few, work with young riders trying to break into the circuit.
Use everything you know without risking your neck every weekend. "
Dustin's pulse kicked up. "What's the catch?"
"No catch. But you'd need to move on it soon. Owner's got another interested party, and I've only been able to stall them because I told them I had a buyer lined up."
"Bill, I don't have that kind of money saved up."
"I know. But I do, and I'm looking to invest in the right person.
Someone who knows the business, has the skills, and won't piss away my money on stupid decisions.
" Bill exhaled, and Dustin could picture him leaning back in his office chair, cigarette dangling.
"That's you, if you want it. Sixty-forty partnership.
I front the money, you run the operation. "
The offer hung in the air, too good to be real. Too perfect. "Why?"
"Because I'm getting old, and I'm tired of watching talented riders get crippled chasing prize money. Because you're one of the few in this business I actually trust. And because I've made enough money off you over the years that I owe you a shot at something better."
Dustin's throat tightened. "I don't know what to say."
"Say you'll think about it. I need an answer by end of week, but that gives you some time to figure out what you want."
After Bill hung up, Dustin sat on the edge of his bed holding his phone, trying to process what had just happened. A way to stay in the horse business. A partnership with someone he trusted. A future that didn't involve broken bones and motel rooms.
A future close enough to build with Vanessa.
His door was still closed, but he could hear her in the hallway. Could picture her standing there, probably debating whether to knock or just leave for her interviews without saying goodbye.
He couldn't let her leave like this. Not without telling her everything.
He opened the door. She was indeed standing in the hallway, dressed in another business suit, car keys in hand. But she wasn't moving toward the front door. She was just standing there, staring at his door like she'd been trying to work up the courage to knock.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey." She looked exhausted. Beautiful, but exhausted. "I was just..."
"I know." He stepped into the hallway. "Don't go yet. We need to talk."
"Dustin, I can't do this right now. I can't have the goodbye conversation before my interviews. I'll fall apart."
"It's not a goodbye conversation."
Hope flared in her eyes before she crushed it down. "Don't. Please don't give me hope if you're leaving anyway."
"What if I told you I'm not going to Oklahoma?"
She stared at him. "What?"
"Bill called. He's offering me a partnership on a training facility. Forty acres about an hour from here. Barn, arena, everything I'd need to work with horses without getting my spine crushed every weekend."
"Dustin." Her voice was barely audible. "That's... that's incredible."
"It would mean staying here and being the kind of man who can actually promise you a future." He moved closer, drawn by the way she looked at him. "If you'd want that."
"Of course I'd want that. But..." She hesitated. "Are you sure? Because if you're only staying because you think it's what I need, that's not going to work. You'll resent me eventually."
"I'm not staying because I think it's what you need. I'm staying because it's what I want." He took her face in his hands. "I want to wake up next to you every morning. I want to build something with you. I want a life that doesn't fit in a duffel bag."
"You love rodeo."
"I did. But I love you more." The words came out easier than he'd expected. Natural. True. "And I'm tired of running. I’m tired of convincing myself that moving every few months is freedom when really it's just fear."
Her eyes were shining with unshed tears. "You're really staying?"
"I'm really staying. If you'll have me."
"If I'll have you?" She laughed, and it came out half sob. "Dustin, I'm in love with you. I've been trying not to be, but I am, and I don't know how to stop."
"Don't stop." He kissed her then, deep and thorough and full of everything he'd been too scared to say. "Never stop."
When they broke apart, she was crying for real now but smiling through it. "What about Jake? Oklahoma?"
"I'll call Jake and tell him I'm out. He'll be pissed, but he'll get over it." He wiped her tears with his thumbs. "And Bill needs an answer by end of week about the partnership, but I already know what I'm going to say."
"The logistics though. How does this actually work? Where do you get the money for a partnership? What about Thunder? What about—"
He stopped her with another kiss. "We'll figure it out. Bill's fronting the investment. Thunder can come to the new facility once it's mine. And we'll take it one day at a time, like normal people building a life together."
"Normal people." She shook her head, laughing. "We're not normal people."
"No. We're better." He pulled her closer. "We're brave enough to take a chance on each other."
She looked up at him, and he saw everything he needed to see in her eyes. Love. Fear. Hope. Trust.
"Okay," she said. "Okay, let's do this."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." She kissed him again, softer this time. "But I still have to go to this interview. The consulting firm is supposed to call this morning with a decision, and I need to see what the other firm says before I make any choices."
"Fair enough. Want me to drive you?"
"I think I need to do this one myself. Clear my head, figure out what I actually want career-wise now that..." She gestured between them. "Now that everything's different."
He understood that. Sometimes you needed space to think, to process, to figure out your own path forward.
"Call me after?"
"Promise." She stood on her toes to kiss him once more. "And Dustin? Thank you. For choosing us."
"Always," he said. "From now on, it's always going to be us."
After she left, he picked up his phone and called Jake.
"Finally," Jake answered. "Please tell me you're on your way."
"I'm not. I'm out, Jake. I'm not going to Oklahoma."
Silence. Then: "What the hell, man? You've been cleared by your doc for weeks. Your ankle's fine. What's going on?"
"I'm staying here. Bill's offered me a partnership on a training facility, and I'm taking it."
"A training facility. You're giving up competing for a training facility?"
"I'm not giving up anything. I'm choosing something different." Dustin moved to the window, looking out at the house where Vanessa had been living for two years, building a life. Where he'd been living for three weeks, falling in love.
Jake was quiet for a long moment. "This is about that woman, isn't it?"
"Her name's Vanessa. And yeah, it's about her. But it's also about me finally admitting I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to live out of motel rooms and chase prize money until my body gives out."
"So that's it. Ten years, and you're just done."
"Yeah. I'm done." It felt good to say it out loud. Final. Right. "But Jake? Thank you. For everything. For being a good partner, a good friend. I hope you find someone else to travel with who's actually excited about being out there."
"Yeah. Me too." Jake sighed. "Take care of yourself, man. And Dustin? I hope she's worth it."
"She is. She really is."
After he hung up, Dustin called Bill back.
"That was fast," Bill said.
"I'm in. On the partnership, on the facility, on all of it. When can we look at the property?"
"I'll set something up for this weekend. And Dustin? I think you made the right choice."
"Yeah. Me too."
He spent the rest of the morning researching training programs, making lists of equipment he'd need, planning for a future that actually felt possible. When Vanessa's name flashed on his phone mid-morning, he answered on the first ring.
"How'd it go?"
"The consulting firm offered me the job." She sounded breathless, excited. "Good salary, flexible schedule, chance to grow with the company. It's perfect."
"That's incredible. Congratulations."
"There's one catch."
His stomach dropped. "What?"
"They want me to start Monday. Which means I need to give them an answer by tomorrow." She paused. "And Dustin? I want to say yes. This is exactly the kind of opportunity I've been looking for."
"Then say yes. Take the job. Build your career."
"Even if it means things get complicated with figuring out our living situation? With your new business being an hour away?"
"Especially then. We'll figure it out. That's what we do." He smiled. "Besides, an hour's not that far. And once the facility's up and running, I can probably work from anywhere some days."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure. Take the job, Vanessa. You deserve it."
"Okay. Okay, I'm going to do it." She laughed, and it sounded like relief and joy mixed together. "I'm going to call them right now and accept."
"Good. And Vanessa?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
"I love you too. See you tonight?"
"See you tonight."
When she got home that evening, he had dinner waiting and champagne chilling. They celebrated her new job, celebrated his new partnership, celebrated the fact that they'd both been brave enough to choose each other.
And later, when they were tangled together in her bed, she looked at him with eyes full of love and wonder.
"We're really doing this," she said. "Building a life together."
"We really are."
"I'm still scared."
"Me too. But I think scared is okay, as long as we're together."
She kissed him then, and he tasted possibility and promise and everything he'd ever wanted without knowing he was looking for it.
They still had details to figure out. Still had challenges ahead. But they had each other, and right now, that felt like enough.
That felt like everything.