Jordan Keane’s stomachchurned as she followed her father through the halls of Gallatin Regional Hospital.Daddy was there routinely, whether for his own care or for what they were doing now, but she’d never come with him.She stayed behind him and silent as Daddy stopped at the nurses’ station and spoke with someone before he started moving again.He made his way to where the door to room 2806 stood open, and knocked.
A voice called out from inside, beckoning them in.
She glanced around the hall then followed Daddy into the room.She stayed behind him and kept her mouth shut.She was just there because Daddy had asked her, not because she had anything to share with the man he was there to see.
“Hi, I’m Clint Keene,” Daddy said as he stepped close to the bed and shook the hand of the man lying there.“This is my daughter, Jordon.”
“I’m Spider, that’s Fletch.”The patient motioned to another man sitting in a chair not far from the bed.She watched as Spider’s gaze skimmed both of them, then came back to their faces.“Can I ask why you’re here?A doctor wouldn’t have his daughter with him, and not a single doctor or nurse I’ve seen in the last couple days wore jeans and boots.”
One corner of Daddy’s mouth quirked up.
“You’re fast—that’s good.It will either help or hinder you, but which one depends on you.To answer your question, I’m a volunteer.I come in and talk to people who have ...certain circumstances.”
Spider scowled.
“What are you talking about?”
“Let me tell you a story,” Dad shifted his stance slightly in a move she recognized as his getting ready to stand still for several minutes.She wanted to get him a chair and tell him to have a seat, but she knew better.He wouldn’t take it and she knew him well enough to realize he likely had a reason.
“When I was a young man, I chased the rodeo.I thought I was invincible.I rode anything that would stand still long enough for me to climb on its back.Bareback, saddle bronc, bulls, if it was dangerous, I was into it.”
Jordon knew the story.She hadn’t heard Daddy tell it quite like this, but she knew it.
“I was a decent rider, and I made a good amount of money.And the more I made, the more invincible I was convinced I was.”
The man introduced as Fletch frowned.
“What did you say your name is again?”Fletch spoke up.
Daddy repeated his name.
“I remember you.I was a huge fan.I was watching when you were hurt.”
“Half of Texas was watching when I got hurt,” Daddy said with a wry smile.“Anyway,” he turned back to Spider, “I was riding in Cheyenne one night.I drew a bull named Wild Demon.He’d made a habit out of hurtin’ men, but I thought I could be the one to master him.”Daddy shook his head.“Back then I had plenty of guts, but not enough judgement.I got on Wild Demon’s back and they popped the gate.Demon blew out of the gate like the devil himself was on his tail, then he doubled back on himself.Threw me off like a horse swattin’ at a fly, but that wasn’t the end of it.Demon was a mean one—he was determined to make me pay for thinking I could ride him.”
“Didn’t he step on you, then gore you?”Fletch asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees.
Daddy nodded.“He did.Snapped my femur in half when he stomped my ass, then as I was struggling to get up and catch an arm of the pickup man, he caught me in the same leg with a horn.”Daddy used one hand on his thigh to show where the bull’s horn had gone into the skin.No one could see it, but she knew he wasn’t actually touching his leg, but rather the socket on his prosthetic.
“That ride ended your rodeo career, didn’t it?”Fletch asked again.
Daddy nodded slowly.“It did, and for a while I thought my life was over.But Jordon is just the oldest of my kids.At the time I only had one more.She was five, but her brother Ty wasn’t quite a year old.I looked at the two of them and knew I had to do better.I had something to live for.People who were counting on me.”
“What does this have to do with me?”Spider asked, a crease forming between his brows.
Jordon turned her attention to him, taking in more than that he was just the one Daddy had come to see, for the first time.Spider was a good-looking man, despite the pale look of someone in the hospital with a serious injury.He had dark hair that looked like he’d shoved a hand through it more than a few times, and a shaggy overgrown scruff of a beard that left her wondering if he always kept a few days’ growth or if he hadn’t been able to shave since his injury.Not that she would ask, but she couldn’t help the direction her thoughts took.
Instead of answering Spider, Daddy turned to Fletch.
“Do you remember what happened after that ride?”
The man in the chair tilted his head to one side as his eyes lost focus for a moment.Jordon couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking.Before she could ask or even figure out how to word it, Fletch blinked and focused on Daddy again, understanding clear on his face.
“Seems like I remember hearing that you lost that leg.The one Wild Demon stomped on.”
Daddy nodded, a smile spreading slowly across his face.
“You remember right.”
