Rank

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I worked my ass off once we were back in Saskatoon — on the ranch six days a week and bartending most evenings. On the Tuesday before Cole was supposed to leave for the Luxton rodeo, he showed up at the ranch as I was coming off shift. The owner’s fifteen-year-old son wanted to get on the circuit, so Cole and a couple other local riders were allowed to ride the rough stock whenever they wanted in exchange for giving the kid a few pointers.

“You want me to go with you to that hospital meeting tomorrow?” I asked.

He reached over the side of the truck bed to grab his bull rope. “Nope. I’m not going.”

“Why not? Just tell them you’re doing fine and be done with it.”

“Mind your business, Billy.”

“Mind your business, asshole.” I turned to walk to my truck.

“We’re practicing on Wide Load today.” His tone changed the way it always did when he wanted something from me. “You want to stay and coach?”

“No.”

“Come on, you’re the only one who has ever ridden him.”

“I’m retired.”

“If you get on a bull I’ll go to the meeting tomorrow.”

I shook my head, not interested in his manipulation, and kept walking. “I have to get to the bar.”

The Palomino was already busy when I got to work. The owner was helping the servers, so I picked up the slack. At about ten o’clock, a girl leaned her elbows onto the bar and squeezed her arms to accentuate her cleavage. It caught my attention. When I looked up at her face, I realized I knew her. Although she and Lee-Anne were best friends because they spent so much time on the road with each other, I’d technically known Rochelle for longer. We’d been in the same class every year since kindergarten. She never liked me all that much. “Hey, Rochelle. That is a very nice top you’re wearing.”

“Shut up.”

I smiled and slid her a vodka cooler on the house. “You’re always so mean to me. Remind me why that is.”

“Grade nine. We had to do a presentation on our hobbies. You did yours on bull riding. Dean Kline asked if you were ever scared. You said no, because whenever you got nervous about falling off you would imagine landing on two giant soft pillows like Rochelle’s.”

I chuckled as I remembered. “That was funny. Get over it.”

“It wasn’t funny, you jackass. It was humiliating.”

“Why? It was a compliment.”

“I was fourteen. Having boys only pay attention to me because of the size of my chest was embarrassing. It made me self-conscious.”

“For your information, the teacher gave me a zero on that presentation and,” I pointed at her impressive cleavage overflowing her low cut top, “You’re obviously not self-conscious anymore.”

“Shut up. I’m not here to discuss my emotional scars. I’m here because someone wanted me to deliver a message to you.”

I poured a mixed drink for the guy who was standing beside her. I took his money then turned to look at her. “Who’s that someone?”

She slid an envelope across the bar. It had my name written across it in curly writing. I handed two beers to a guy and took his money, then flipped the envelope over and opened it. Rochelle scrutinized my face as I read the note.

Billy, Here is your cut from my first win on Stella. She’s doing great. Thanks again for letting me ride her. I guess you’ve been too busy to call, but I just wanted to let you know that I can’t stop thinking about you, or our night in Coleman. I’d really love to see you again, Tawnie.

Rochelle was still watching me to see how I was going to react, so I tried to not show any expression. I put the note in my back pocket and served a few more customers. Her second drink was done before I was able to get back to her.

“Do you have a message you’d like me to pass on to her?” she asked.

“No. Thanks.”

Her eyebrows angled. “Why haven’t you called her? Were you just using her?”

“No offence, Rochelle, but it’s not really any of your business.”

“Well, it kind of is when she calls me crying every night upset because you haven’t called her.”

A guy was shouting an order at me, but I ignored him. “What’s she crying about?”

“She likes you, obviously. Girls don’t do what she did with you in a truck unless they really like a guy. You know that, right?”

I rolled my eyes, not surprised that even the women weren’t clear with what meant what, and I shook my head because obviously there was no such thing as privacy on the circuit. “I can’t believe she told you that.”

Rochelle made her eyebrows dance up and down. “Apparently you’re quite something.”

“Shit.” I turned around and pulled two cases of beer from the cupboard to restock the bar. When I turned back around, an older guy who was already pretty gunned was leaning with his arm over Rochelle’s shoulder and talking too close to her face.

I couldn’t hear what he was mumbling, but she said, “No thanks,” and pushed his arm away.

He went in for another sloppy hug and was trying to cop a feel, so I reached over the bar and shoved him. “Why don’t you go sit down, buddy?”

He stumbled back a little and frowned at me. “What’s your problem?”

“She said no. You need to go sit down.”

He stared me down for a few seconds, but must have realized he couldn’t take me. He flipped me the bird and staggered away.

Rochelle took a sip of her vodka cooler. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

She checked the time on her phone. “I need to get going.” She closed her purse. “Just so you know, Tawnie is really sweet and she’s coming off a bad break-up. I realize you’re not really the boyfriend type, but it would be good if you could at least be nice to her. I don’t want her to end up feeling like a worthless piece of shit.”

“I’ll call her.”

“Good man. I’ll see you around.” She stood and started to walk away.

“Hey, Rochelle.”

She paused and looked over her shoulder.

“I’m trying to be a better person, so I would like to apologize for hurting your feelings when we were in junior high.”

She turned to face me, tilted her head to the side, and closed one eye as if she was contemplating something. After a while, she said, “All right. I forgive you.”

“Thank you.” I winked. “But you do have to admit you have the nicest rack in town.”

She shook her head in disappointment. “Geez Billy. Why did you have to go and ruin a perfectly good truce?”

I shrugged in mock innocence. “It would feel weird if you didn’t treat me like I was an asshole.”

“Yeah, that would feel weird.” She chuckled, then left.

The bar closed at two and I didn’t get out of there until closer to two-thirty. I drove back to my mom’s house and sat in my truck looking at my phone. I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Finally, I took a deep breath and scrolled through my contacts to find Tawnie’s number. Before I had a chance to call her, my phone rang. The call display showed, Shae-Lynn’s name, so I answered. She was crying.

“What’s wrong?”

She had to inhale a couple times before she was able to speak through her crying, “My mom and dad were in an accident.”

“Are they all right?”

“My mom’s in the hospital with a concussion and a broken arm. My dad just has cuts and bruises. They’re fine, but the trailer rolled and they had to put two of the horses down.” She started sobbing heavier.

I didn’t know what to say, so I just sat there listening to her cry.

Eventually, she calmed down a little and sniffled. “I’m sorry to call you so late, but I really needed someone to talk to. You’re the only person I thought might still be awake. I’m sorry if you were sleeping.”

“I was awake. Where’s Lee-Anne?”

“She got on a plane to meet them down in Texas. I had to stay here to take care of the animals. It’s really quiet in the house when nobody else is here.”

“You mean scary?” I chuckled. “Do you want me to come over to keep you company?”

“Yeah, would you?” She sounded as if a smile had crossed her lips. “It’s only a seven-and-a-half hour drive.”

“Okay.”

She paused as if she was worried I would really do it. “I was joking.”