When I finally got my shit together and went back on the road, I swore I was done dating. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no monk, but I’d rather focus on my career; winning a world title is the goal. I can worry about relationships when I retire.
It’s every cowboy's dream to be a world champion, and I’ve come so close so many times. This is my year, I can feel it. I don’t need a girlfriend messing with my mental game . . . but that nagging voice in the back of my head keeps saying,what’s theharm in a little flirting?Kacey seems cool and it could be fun to have someone to hang out with while I’m in Colorado.
Jack sits at the table. “Who the fuck is Bella Hadid?” When I glare at him, not giving him a response, he continues, “Nothing I said was a lie. She is tough and when Cody slows down someday, she will run that ranch. As for anything else about her you might have found . . .” He pauses, considering his words. “Pleasing. . . that’s on you.” He accents his speech with a smirk.
I give Jack the fakest smile I have. “Even if that’s true, I didn’t charge her, I told her it was on you. So you owe me $50.” I’m fully aware I’ll never see the money and to be honest, I don’t really care. I just like to give the old man a hard time. It keeps him young.
Jack gives me a look, letting me know I’m 100% right about never seeing that money. “How were your other stops? Did any of the horses give you trouble?”
I pull out a chair and sit across from him at the table. “Nope, everything went well. That filly over at the Johnson’s had a touch of thrush, a bacterial infection in the hoof, but I got the frog trimmed up and bars cut out. That should open the foot up to keep the thrush from forming.”
“Good. The Johnsons are nice people.”
“Yeah, they seemed like they were on top of it. I did, however, sign up to trim eleven broodmares next week . . .” I say slowly, waiting for his response.
He chuckles. “Eleven broodmares you say? That’s interesting. I can’t imagine anyone who could talk you into doing that many fire breathing drag— Oh, wait a minute . . . TheDiamond Hart Ranchhas broodmares. Huh. Wonder who asked you to trim those. I guess you’ll see Kacey again next week.”
I get up, heading to the fridge to grab a drink and hide my smile. “Yep, I guess so.”
Chapter 5
Knox
Iget my third horse shod for the morning and start packing up to head to the next stop when Jack calls.
“Hey, buddy, we got a change of plans. There are two horses at a jackpot that lost a shoe. I rescheduled your other appointments so you can go tack those back on. I told them $100 each since it’s last-minute.”
“Define jackpot . . . like barrel racing jackpot—”
“Oh no, not can chasers,” he cuts me off. “A team roping jackpot. I wouldn’t subject you to the barrel racers. Being you’re a famous heartthrob bull rider, they might eat you alive.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that last bit with sarcasm and just thank you for acknowledging my success and not subjecting me to barrel racers. This works though, this way I can hit the gym later this afternoon.” I put my tools in the truck and shut the tailgate.
“Boy, you don’t work hard enough, or you’d be too tired to go to the gym.” He chuckles over the phone. “On second thought, come pick me up. I’m sick of watching TV.”
I’m pretty sure he’s at home watching team roping or some other rodeo event on TV, so why not crutch around watching it in person? Makes sense. “Yes sir, a little daylight wouldn’t hurt ya. See you in a few.”
I picked up Jack, and we rolled into the fairgrounds an hour before the event is supposed to start.
It’s your typical small town rodeo arena. Rusted old bucking chutes, two small sets of bleachers and some pens for cattle. We pull into the back gate where the contestants enter and drive across a grass field toward the stock pens. There are trailers parked everywhere—no rhyme or reason to how any of them parked. It’s like no one can stand the thought of having someone park next to them. Once we’re close to the pens, I find a spot nearby with a tree that will supply some shade, and it’s out of the way from the contestants warming their horses up.
“I’ll let them know where we’re parked.” Jack pulls his phone out of his pocket as he cracks a beer he’d placed in the cup holder.
“Easy there, old timer.” I open the door of the pickup. “Start too early and you’ll forget how to operate those crutches.”
“Don’t tell me ho—”
I close the door, cutting him off just to rile him up.
The horses are brought over to shoe and I get started. Before I finished with the second, two other people showed up wanting full resets, which Jack, of course, hiked the price up on. That old geezer cracks me up—he’s always trying to up the price when he gets an excuse.
I get halfway through the first horse when Jack decides to crutch up to the arena to watch the start of the jackpot. “I’m going to watch for a bit. Come find me when you’re finished.”
“Alright, find somewhere to sit. You need to keep that leg elevated,” I tell him.
“Yes, mother,” he grumbles as he crutches away.
These team ropings can run on for hours, so he better enjoy it while he can, because once I’m done, we’re out of here. I need a good workout. It’s been a few days since I’ve been able to hit the gym and with the summer run coming up, I need to be as fit as I can be.
