23. Jake
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
jake
Icouldn’t decide if I was at a rodeo or a lovefest. Colter and Ellison were inside their trailer with Levi, Isa had flown in to support Reid and the two of them were sharing a chair, Juniper and Mikey were sucking each other’s faces off by his pickup, and Sierra and Hayden were playing fetch with Pancho.
That left me—the lone ranger—all by myself. I swore I could hear someone playing a tiny violin in the distance. The only thing I would be kissing tonight was a bottle.
I stood, needing to put some space between myself and the group. Deciding to take a lap, I started walking around the campground, passing by horse trailers and holding corrals.
I wondered if Caitlin actually took her solo trip.
After our conversation the other night around the fire pit, I’d gone ahead and booked her one night at a cabin outside of Bozeman.
I figured this would be the perfect weekend for her to go since we were all out of town, and her mom was more than willing to take Whitley for a couple days, so I really hoped she went.
On my second lap around, I was so deep in thought, so in my head about Caitlin and the bucket list and what she was doing, that I was completely unaware of what was in front of me.
“Oof,” I grunted as I collided with the person who was also not paying attention.
Unfortunately, they were carrying a tray of nachos. Emphasis on were. Because I was now carrying the nachos all over my shirt and jeans.
“I’m so sorry!” the girl apologized, panic written all over her face. But it was her voice that had my stomach in knots.
My mouth gaped. “Dania?”
“Jake?” Her expression morphed from alarm to something brighter as she pulled me in for a hug.
“Dania, you’re going to get nacho cheese all over yourself!” I laughed, trying to push her away.
“I don’t care,” she replied. “It’s been so long! What have you been up to?”
“I could ask the same about you. What are you doing here?”
Dania and I grew up together. When my parents were off participating in illegal activities, her parents took me in, so she was like a sister to me for many years. However, when we went our separate ways to college, we fell out of touch.
Guilt tore at me a little for not staying in contact, but my hometown—and, unfortunately, the people in it—were something I wanted to leave behind when I left. I didn’t really think about how it might affect the people who cared about me, but I also believed the phone worked both ways.
“My husband is competing.” She grinned. “You remember Trent, right?”
“Of course. How could I forget?”
Trent was Dania’s high school sweetheart, so it brought a smile to my face to hear that they’d stayed together and gotten married.
“All right, now answer my question. I haven’t heard from you in so long, what’s been going on in your life?” she asked again.
“Oh, you know. Just living the dream. Roping calves, traveling around for rodeos. I own some land and a house in Silver Creek and recently built a guest house for the property, too.” I rubbed the back of my neck.
“That’s wonderful. I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. I, uh, saw your parents the other week. They seem like they’re doing okay. They look…healthy.”
I turned around the corner into the living room but stopped in the hallway.
My dad stood by the counter, taking a long drag of a cigarette. His cheeks looked hollow, sunken in, and his eyes were bloodshot. He appeared as though he hadn’t slept in days. “Jacob?” he rasped. “That you?”
I didn’t answer, choosing to back down the hallway as quietly and quickly as I could to my bedroom, shutting the door and turning the lock. Interacting with my dad when he was using was a bit like playing Russian Roulette, and I didn’t like my odds.
I knew about his addiction—everyone in town did—but I didn’t think he was aware I knew about his dealings and the way he roped my mom into it, too. I wasn’t sure what he’d do if he found out about my knowledge.
My shoulders tensed at the mention of my estranged parents, and I was sure Dania could sense my hesitation because she changed the subject quickly.
“Are you with anyone? Have a family?”
I ran my tongue along my teeth, stifling an awkward laugh. “No, not yet.” I looked away, my cheeks heating.
“But there’s someone special to you, yeah?”
I nodded. “Yeah. You could say that.”
“Well, I’ll let you go. It was really good to catch up with you. I’m sorry about…” She gestured to my cheese-covered shirt.
“Thanks, it was good to see you. I hope everything is well back home.”
“It is, thanks. Good luck out there today.” She gave me a small wave before spinning on her heel and heading in the direction she came from.
“Make some noise for this next cowboy!” the rodeo announcer called out over the thrum of music and cheers of the crowd. “Coming all the way from Silver Creek, Montana…Jake Flynn!”
I looked up at the sky, a slight drizzle of rain pattering on my skin. There weren’t many clouds overhead, so I hoped the rain would ease up. Not that I minded wrestling calves in the mud. I just preferred it when the arena was dry.
I was borrowing one of Colter’s horses for this rodeo. We’d competed together several times, so we were pretty well in tune with one another. I patted his neck as we backed into the roping box, the calf I’d rope already loaded into the chute.
Today was day three of the Pendleton Round Up, and we’d done fairly well. Hopefully today would get us to the short-go tomorrow, but anything could happen in these competitions.
Resting my string between my teeth, I readied my rope, taking some steadying breaths before I nodded to signal for the calf to be released from the chute.
With one last deep breath, the chute was opened and the calf sprinted toward the other end of the arena.
Trigger followed quickly behind, and I swung my rope over my head.
In just a few strides, I took my shot, the rope flying through the air until the loop settled over the calf’s neck then tightened.
I dallied my rope and hopped off the horse, sprinting over to the calf.
I picked it up, muscles screaming with exertion, before laying it down on its side to give myself access to the legs.
Once I’d tied three of them together, I threw my arms in the air so the clock would stop.
All I had to do now was wait the six grueling seconds to see if the calf would break free or if my knot would hold steady.
I mounted, walking Trigger a few steps forward to loosen the slack on my rope.
He was a good horse in that he didn’t get restless and start to walk backward or forward until I wanted him to.
Sometimes you’d see horses get antsy and take steps backward, dragging the calf along the dirt and letting them break free.
It never hurt the animal, but if the calf broke free, it was definitely enough to break an old cowboy’s heart.
The rodeo announcer called out my time of eight-point-five seconds, and the field judges started untying the calf.
Cheers from the crowd drowned out everything around me, and I basked in the excitement of a clean, money-winning time.
The only thing that would have made this day better was if Caitlin was here to see it, too.