She hopped off the horse, laughing, her cheeks pink.
“Perfect,” she said.
“You were something else out there,” he said. “I thought you were going to kill yourself.”
“I did great.”
“Oh, itlooksgreat. But I’m just saying you were overextending.”
She frowned. “I was not overextending. I was getting full extension. I know what I can handle. I don’t need you in my face.”
“What are you going to do when I’m not helping you with these routines anymore?”
She stared at him, totally unable to figure out what he was saying. “You’re not leaving.”
“I am. This is Dad’s thing, not mine. And I’ve only stayed so long because of you. But now you’re doing the mayor thing and …”
“What happened to you being my backup?”
He sighed heavily. “You don’t need it.”
She did, though. What was she supposed to do without West? They were the only ones who understood this life,theirlife. He had always been there for her, and, no, they didn’t verbally share everything with each other the way Flynn and his brothers seemed to, but …
He was her brother.
She was used to living near him, working with him. What was she supposed to do when he was gone?
“I might not win,” she pointed out.
“You might not. But you’re not going to just stay here after this either. You’re with Flynn, and you’ve already figured out that you could do more. I’ve never wanted to leave you here.”
“West …”
How was this happening? How was he telling her this right now when he was going on again in just five minutes?
“But you love this,” she said. She knew he didn’t. She knew that he participated in the show because of their family, and for no other reason.
He wasn’t a showman. Not in his soul.
“But where you going to go?”
“I have to get ready. We’ll talk more about this later, okay? But you’re going to be just fine. I know you are. Because you’re amazing. And because you did it. You’re not stuck here anymore.”
“What do you mean ‘stuck here’?”
“You already know, Jessie. Even if you don’t want to say it.”
She wanted to smack her brother on the back of the head, because they had never talked about this before, and he was acting as if she already knew what he meant.
Or maybe, just maybe, West knew her better than she had ever given him credit for.
That thought sat uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach. But her brother had to get ready for the next event, and she peered through the slats and watched as he pretended to play poker and dodged an angry bull.
All right, it was easy to see why West didn’t necessarily want to stay here.
She didn’t want to leave. Not entirely. She always felt torn. That was the thing. Between her desire for a more normal existence and …
Being afraid that she couldn’t actually have it.
