“Do you talk to them much?”
“Nah,” he mutters before downing a sip of his beer. “I think they both know my heart’s not in school, that I’m doing it to please my dad more than anything else. We’ve never had that smooth of a relationship, but it’s just gotten more and more estranged now that I’m out of the house.”
My heart twinges for Grady. It can’t feel good knowing you don’t have your parents’ support. “How do you feel about that?”
Turning his head and meeting my gaze head on, a smirk tilts his lips. “You my therapist now?” He laughs, the sound making my chest clench, and a chuckle of my own bubbles up. “Dr. Booney.”
“Fuck off,” I tease. “Just trying to have a conversation, dick. And Dr.Booney? What the hell? Why wouldthatbe my therapist name?”
That only seems to make him laugh harder. “You fuck off,” he chokes out. “Booney.”
I raise a brow at him, the smile on my face so wide my cheeks hurt. “Are you okay, G? You gonna make it?”
“Fuck,” he gasps, his cheeks streaked with fallen tears. “I don’t know why I’m laughing so hard.” He sucks in a gulp of air. “I didn’t get much sleep last night, and I think between that and the long day, it’s getting to me.” Grady drags in another breath, letting it blow out through his mouth as he wipes his wet cheeks. “Oh, hell, I needed that. Thanks, Dr. Booney.” He waggles his eyebrows, the teasing smirk on his face contagious as I find myself mirroring it.
Chugging the rest of his beer, he stands up and glances over at me, lifting the empty can as if to ask,“Want another?”
“Sure, thanks.” I finish off the rest of mine, handing him the empty can.
When he comes back, he hands me a fresh can before plopping down on the couch again, and we fall into a comfortable silence as we watch the ridiculous movie. It’s one of those movies that is so utterly stupid that it’s funny. We’re halfway through when I realize I’ve forgotten to grab the heating pad for my neck, but then I realize that the ache is gone.
Hmm, the ibuprofen and hot shower must’ve worked after all.
“How was tonight at the rodeo?” Grady asks, seemingly out of nowhere.
“It was good,” I tell him. “Could’ve done a little better, but I’m happy with my score.”
“Do you feel like homefield advantage is a thing in the rodeo?”
Bringing the beer up to my lips, I take a sip while I think over the question. “Depending on who you ask, you’ll probably get a different answer, but for me, I don’t think so. If anything, I feel like my nerves kick up more when I’m competing at home versus anywhere else.”
“Really?” His eyes widen as he shifts his body to face me more.
“Yeah, it’s all mental, I’m sure. It’s like I know that the eyes on me are people I know, so it makes it feelmore, I guess. That probably doesn’t make sense.”
He nods. “No, it makes total sense.”
By the time the credits roll on the movie, we’ve each had one more beer, and the exhaustion is now setting in. I feel like for the first time in a while, I could go lie in bed and actually fall asleep right away. Who knew a post-rodeo cool-down of beer, a dumb movie, and laughter was all I needed?
4
Grady Wilde
Tonight is night four of Stampede Days. It’s the first rodeo I’m working, and I’m surprisingly excited about that. The first three days of the event, I worked earlier in the day, snapping shots of all the booths and the crowd and the other events that weren’t rodeo related. When it comes to the actual rodeo, I won’t lie, the entire world is a little confusing and foreign to me. I’ve been to my fair share of rodeos at this point in my life—you don’t grow up in a place like Copper Lake andnotgo to them—so I understand the basic concept of how they run and what everyone does, but as a whole, I’m pretty much clueless.
Although, I don’t need to be a rodeo brainiac to take killer pictures of the event for the arena’s social media page, which is what I’m here to do.
“Oh! Uncle Grady, can we get one?Please!”
Stopping in front of the table that has dozens of cowboy hats in various colors and sizes, Suzy peers up at me, her big brown eyes pleading. She’s such a perfect mixture of my sisterand Boone. She’s got his dark eyes, but Jade’s pale blonde hair. Sass from her mom, but her dad’s determination. Suzy can be stubborn as hell when she wants to be, but she also knows how to butter you up when she wants something, which is all Jade. Like right now as she hits me with the puppy dog eyes and the pouty bottom lip, her tiny hands clasped in front of her chest.
I’ve got about an hour before I have to start working, and Jade just dropped Suzy off with me so she can run back home really quick. We’ve been wandering around the arena grounds for the last ten minutes, taking in everything there is to see here. It’s set up almost like a fair, but much smaller. There are rows and rows of booths littered with stuff for sale. Bracelets and earrings, hats, temporary tattoos, shirts. You name it, it’s probably here.
Mabel’s with us, too. For as young as she is, she’s very well behaved. They got her only a few months ago. She doesn’t overly tug on her leash, doesn’t bombard people who are near us, doesn’t bark or whine.
“Please, please, please, Uncle Grady!” Suzy goes on, really amping up the sweetness. “I won’t ask for anything else all night. I promise!”
I chuckle because that’s a lie.
