Keenan and I had done pretty well, landing in the top five of the leaderboard. We weren’t quite at the top, but it wasn’t a bad spot to be in toward the end of the season.
“Our next young lady comes to us from Goldfinch, Montana. Sierra Bayley, let’s do it!” The announcer’s voice echoed, and my attention shot to the rodeo arena as Sierra and Buttercup exploded into a run. “I need you with me, folks! Let her hear you!”
The pair made it around the first barrel with ease, dust particles flying into the air as music played through the speakers and the crowd roared.
She looked like a natural out there. Her face was set in determination as they rounded the second barrel and charged toward the final one.
“Yup!” The announcer clucked his approval, but as she cut around the barrel, her saddle slipped, falling slightly to the side of Buttercup’s flank.
“Oh, shit!” Keenan yelled, pointing toward the pair.
I jumped up from where I was sitting, but it wasn’t like I could have done anything.
Sierra held her own, though, keeping her balance so she didn’t fall out of the saddle.
“Whoa there! Looks like this cowgirl almost took atumble, but she’s managed to hang on, folks. Help her home, everybody!”
Sierra managed to finish the run, albeit slower than normal.
“Eighteen-point-four-seven for Sierra Bayley. Next up is?—”
I blocked out the announcer’s voice as I ran over to the alleyway to check on Sierra, Keenan hot on my trail.
“What happened?” The thought slipped from my mouth as we reached her and Buttercup.
Keenan pointed to her cinch. “She didn’t tighten her cinch enough. Actually, it’s almost like you skipped over it entirely.” He chuckled. “Hey, that’s what we can call you. Skip.”
“Oh, shut up,” she snipped, her nostrils flaring. “It was an honest mistake. I got ahead of myself.”
Keenan continued. “You’re just lucky you didn’t fall out there, Skippy.”
“Hey! I still finished the run, didn’t I?” Sierra drew back her elbow to hit him, but I intervened, stopping her before she caused rib damage.
“Come on, Skip.” I winked, and even though she rolled her eyes at me, a soft smile pulled at her cheeks. “Let’s get out of here.”
“That nickname isn’t going to stick, you know,” she muttered as we walked toward the horse trailers.
I shrugged. “I kinda like it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
hayden
PRESENT DAY
The second day of competition went well. Keenan and I placed fourth in the lineup with a decent roping time. Sierra, once again, swept the competition. The last time I checked, she was sitting thirteenth in the world for barrel racing.
The NFR was never a guarantee, but I held out hope that this would be her year. After Pendleton, we’d have two more multi-day rodeo events to compete in. Then it was the waiting game. It was unlikely that I would make it as a header—unlikely for Keenan, too, as a heeler—but I was content with seeing Sierra live out her childhood dream. In the stands or in the arena, I’d be cheering her on regardless.
After the rodeo concluded, we took the horses back to their “horse hotel” and then decided to meet up with the rest of our friends for dinner, finding ourselves at a steakhouse.
“So, when are you going to convince your girlfriend to finally move up to Montana?” Colter teased Reid.
He shrugged. “I told her the house is hers whenevershe wants to move. Even offered to build her a library in one of the guest rooms so she didn’t have to get rid of her massive collection. Things are going really well with the bookstore, though, so it’ll probably be another year. Who am I to tell her to shift her career goals when we’re always on the road anyway?”
Mikey nodded in agreement. “June is the same way. Although, I’m sure if you asked Isa to move, she would in a heartbeat. Juniper would probably tell me to fuck off and then wait another six months after she’d already planned to move.” He let out a boisterous laugh.
“She also just moved, though,” Ellison pointed out.
