CHAPTER 10
The rodeo was everything I remembered from all that time ago.
Tendrils of gold and apricot slid across the snow-tipped mountain peaks beyond the banked seating, and as day bled into night, the atmosphere under the floodlights changed.
The whole town seemed to have arrived, locals and tourists blending into a noisy mass of conversation, music, and announcements over the tannoy.
‘First one of the season,’ Lil announced as we made our way in. ‘Let’s get some drinks before it gets going. Bailey’s up first, I think, so we need to get some good seats at the front.’
We cut through the growing crowd, Lil leading me through towards the covered stand and the less busy food stalls around the back.
I’d lost sight of Jesse after he’d dropped me at the front entrance, Bailey and Cole also swallowed up in the masses, prepping Dunkin somewhere.
I tried to convince myself that I wasn’t looking for Cole, watching out for his tall, broad shoulders amongst the crowd.
‘So I know it’s fun,’ I started, distracting myself from the memory of his fingers on my chest. ‘But is there any other reason that everyone competes? I know there’s prize money, but surely that’s not enough incentive to risk getting your head cracked open by a bull?’
Lil smiled as we reached the stall, ordering her drink and letting me do mine.
‘From a business point of view, it gets our name out there,’ she said, gesturing to the ranch name embroidered on the back of her jacket.
‘But it’s more than that. Bailey, Jesse – all cowboys work damn hard.
They can let off steam, get recognized for their skills and make some extra money.
Above all, though, it’s just tradition – it’s what we do here. ’
She tilted her drink towards the seats she was aiming for.
‘There are so many tourists,’ I said, seeing enthralled expressions, selfie after selfie being taken against the Jackson Hole Rodeo sign. ‘Is the ranch on social media?’
‘Come on now,’ Lil laughed, shaking her head as we slid between the seats and found two near the front. ‘You’ve seen a week at the ranch already – when do you reckon we would’ve had time for that?’
I shrugged. ‘It’s not that hard once you’ve got the basics set up. There’s almost too much to film and capture.’
My mind immediately led back to Cole, to think of the storm it would cause to film him in the hot springs pool and post it on socials. The way his eyes had held mine through the steam, the water sluicing from his bare torso, running down his abs towards his—
‘You okay? You seem a little distracted since the drive,’ Lil said, forcing me to take a breath, then a deep drink from my beer.
I shrugged, filling her in on the job interview requests and Kyle’s tirade of gaslighting.
‘That man sounds like a real snake,’ Lil said, shaking her head as the stands filled around us, the anticipation for the events now a physical thrumming energy.
‘Bailey told me to just get drunk and find myself a cowboy,’ I said, throwing her a speculative look.
Eyes narrowing for a moment, she cocked her head.
‘You asking for permission or something, honey?’
I swallowed. Less permission, more forgiveness.
The announcer cut in, saving me from answering.
The show started, a rider kicking off the evening by riding around the arena, a huge, rippling US flag catching the lights, obnoxiously loud music pounding through the stands.
The barrel racers were up first, Bailey third in the line-up of a dozen or so.
I watched, mouth half open as she belted across the dirt, Dunkin at full stretch, her golden coat shimmering in the lights, Bailey’s hair loose for once.
Like a streak of fire they shot towards the barrels, turning as tight as possible to make a turn, the laws of physics half denied by the angles they made.
‘Holy shit,’ I hissed. ‘How is she doing that?’
Lil laughed, knocking her beer back.
‘Those two are magic,’ she said. ‘Like you and Jasper. But ain’t no one getting those long legs round a bunch of barrels.’
I laughed, imagining Jasper trying it. He was too tall, his long, elegant stride a million miles from Dunkin’s greedy thrusts forward, her compact size and immaculate balance making something difficult look ridiculously easy.
‘You impressed Cole, you know,’ Lil said after a moment, almost making me choke on my beer. ‘On the drive. No complaining with the camping, you and Jasper making light work of the left side back down to the ranch. I barely did a thing, felt like a day off.’
‘I guess,’ I replied, barely daring to venture anything else.
‘He’s not a big fan of city girls, so you must’ve done something right.’
I nodded slowly. ‘Yeah, he seems . . . like a good guy,’ I finished, freezing as Lil turned to me with a raised eyebrow. ‘I mean, he’s . . . he probably said it because I’m your cousin.’
My words were lame and Lil knew it.
‘He’s the best,’ she said slowly, her gaze suddenly intent on my face.
I dipped my head, hiding under the brim of my hat.
Shit.
‘I like him but that’s it,’ I said, slowly looking back at her. ‘My life at home is too complicated for anything else. I don’t even know how I feel about Kyle . . . Everything turned upside down last week.’
Her searching look softened.
‘But you’re not going back to him, right?
Not after all that. And a new job . . . well, that’s still up in the air, right?
’ Unsure how to answer, I frowned as the last barrel riders shot across the ring.
‘I’m just saying, give yourself a break,’ Lil continued.
‘Maybe just see where things take you, rather than trying to force it.’
There was undeniable logic in her words, the sense ringing true as the tannoy announcement came that Bailey was in first place with one more rider to go.
Gripping each other’s hands, Lil and I craned to follow the last rider’s progress, her impressive turns kicking up dust and drawing shouts and whoops from the crowd before crossing the line.
Her time was just under a second slower than Bailey’s.
Lil and I shot up together, screaming like lunatics and hugging, beer spraying. People around us started calling up to Lil, a group of men and women to our left hugging her and whistling down to the arena where Bailey and Dunkin now circled, triumphant.
In between events we walked around to the roping chute, watching Jesse prepare. Cole stood nearby, talking to a bunch of other cowboys, foot resting on one of the bars and an easy smile on his face.
My insides turned liquid and I sipped my beer, not quite looking away quickly enough. His eyes caught mine, mid-conversation. Pausing, the cowboy he spoke to turned around, but this time I turned towards the arena.
‘Goddamn it,’ Lil murmured, watching a group of guys approach. Jesse straightened, his relaxed, golden smile straightening out. Somehow, he became imposing, walking ahead of us towards them.
‘What’s up?’ I asked, knowing it couldn’t be anything good if gentle, teasing Jesse bristled like that.
‘Elk Creek assholes,’ Lil replied. ‘C’mon, let’s go. Cole and Jesse will take care of it.’
As I looked behind, Cole was striding towards Jesse, two other cowboys at his back. Reaching the Elk Creek group, Cole towered over them all, stance spread wide.
‘Should we tell someone? Security or something?’ I said, a stab of fear for them making me hesitate.
‘Honey, they are the security.’ Lil laughed, but her eyes were hard. She knocked back the rest of her beer. ‘This is Wyoming, Lottie, remember? Law enforcement don’t feature real big around here. We deal with things ourselves.’
The rest of the rodeo passed quickly, with Jesse’s roping event towards the end. He was immaculate, flying out of the gate in pursuit of the cow, taking it down in what felt like the blink of an eye.
Lil’s jaw remained tight, her gaze focused on some of the Elk Creek cowboys below.
‘What’s the beef between you and them?’ I asked, keeping my voice low in case someone they knew sat nearby.
‘They’re the ones that tried to buy the ranch from Mom,’ she replied.
‘Pulled every trick in the book to make her do it. Their land joins ours, down near the highway. We’ve got the better pasture, more scenic routes, sunsets, thermal pools .
. . they want it all. Been dude ranching about five years now, starting to really draw ’em all in. ’
I bit my lip, hating the way this clearly affected her.
‘Are they still trying to buy it?’ I asked, my stomach dropping as she nodded.
We watched the rest of the competitors in silence, letting the crowd fill the space.
My thoughts were in overdrive, turning over everything Lil had said and everything she hadn’t.
It had to be tempting, to get rid of the worry and stress of running the ranch, and gain the freedom to live a more normal life.
Lil was only twenty-eight, forced to act like someone with at least another decade of responsibility on her shoulders.
I was suddenly horribly aware of how pathetic my problems were in comparison; how immature my behaviour had been. Running away at the first stumbling block.
‘Yes, Jesse!’ Lil yelled, jumping to her feet. ‘Holy cow, he did it, Lottie!’
We hugged again and I followed Lil as she bounded down through the stand to find him. I hung back a little, too caught up in my head to match her energy.
Just an hour later, I found myself back in town. Having dropped the horses back, Bailey staying on the ranch and settling Dunkin after their win, Lil all but dragged me with her, Jesse and Cole already there at a bar on the far west side of town.
‘First drink’s on me,’ she announced as we walked in.
It was full of rodeo-goers, the music and voices an assault on my ears after the sleepy calm of the street outside.
‘C’mon, quit brooding on whatever it is, it’s been a while since we had a reason to party.
’ She stared me down until I rolled my eyes, breaking into a grin.