Chapter Twenty-Four
They got SugarLips loaded and took off not long after. Ella had conflicting feelings, to say the least. She didn’t doubt that he was serious about retiring now. But his reasons for retiring were still unclear to her.
“So, I guess that was kind of a surprise,” he ventured.
“Just a little.”
“I knew you didn’t really believe I meant to retire. Showing you I was serious seemed like the only way to prove it to you.”
“So you and Damaris cooked up this scheme.”
“I asked her to help me. I knew you wouldn’t voluntarily go with me.” He paused and asked, “Are you pissed at me?”
“For lying to me, you mean?”
“Well, yeah.”
“No. You’re right. I wouldn’t have come if Damaris hadn’t forced it. And I’m glad I did.”
“Me too,” he said and reached over to take her hand.
“When are you retiring?”
“Already did. My last rodeo was last week.”
“Last week? You mean—”
“I’ve been to my last rodeo. As a saddle bronc rider, anyway. Of course, since I’m raising rodeo stock I’ll still be involved in the life. But one of the first people I need to hire once I get going will be someone to take the stock from rodeo to rodeo. I can pick and choose which ones I go to.” He shot her a glance. “Maybe you could go with me sometimes.”
“I’d like that. I can’t believe you already retired.”
“I’ve made a decent amount since coming back. And since there’s no way I can go to the finals, it didn’t really matter when I retired.”
“What about your endorsement deals?”
“I’ll work with Kelly Boots until and unless they find someone else but the fact that I’m known, and have won two world championships is still a good draw. I’ll be looking to pick up some other endorsements too.”
“All that talk about a barn? That was for real, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. We won’t need it right away but we will want to get started building it soon since I’m not sure how long it will take. I’ve got some more horses in mind but I wanted to secure Sugar Lips since she’ll be the first broodmare.”
“Do you have a stallion in mind yet?”
“Yes, but I’m not sure when I can get him, or even if. He’s the one I have in mind that I want to breed Sugar Lips to. I’ll have to negotiate the stud fee, but I think I can get him down to a reasonable one.”
They talked some more about Chase’s plans. He’d thought a lot about it. That was obvious. But when they stopped to unload Sugar Lips and give her a rest from the trailer, Ella asked him, “Chase, are you really sure this is what you want to do? It’s going to take years to build up your string of horses.”
“I know. It’s a challenge but I like a challenge.”
“Are Marshall and Damaris totally on board?”
“They are. We’ll all own a part of the bucking horses just like we do the paints. It’s going to be a family operation. They’ve thought about expanding anyway. Maybe not with bucking horses until I asked them about it. But we’ve all thought about what would happen when I retired.”
“Are you going to let her compete? Before she gets pregnant?”
“No. I don’t want to risk her getting hurt. She should come into heat soon, according to Buck.”
“Tell me about the horse you want to breed her to.”
