The announcer continued trading stories and jokes through the loudspeaker with the clown. Soon, they’d be introducing the first act, bareback broncs, and my attention went again to the chutes. I leaned forward, trying to catch sight of him.
I couldn’t stop fidgeting. Jake needed to do this. He needed the spark of life rodeo always gave him. But it had been five years since his last ride, and I couldn’t help but want this event to be over. I planned to cheer and scream for him as loud as I could and then just be grateful when he landed on his two feet and walked out of the arena.
“So, you’re still planning to move to Boise next week? Is that right?” Easton’s voice found my ears. He had turned his head to watch me, awaiting my response.
But I felt nothing but deflation.
I felt nervous and twitchy and sick and deflated. And I didn’t want to go out with Easton.
I thought of the way Jake held my arm tonight to guide me to our chairs at dinner. Like I was something precious to him. I could still feel the brush of his fingers on my back when I sat down. The way his gaze kept lingering over my dress. Or maybe it was the way he called me Tuck. It was definitely the way he pulled me in close last night, before his dad interrupted whatever it was Jake was about to do.
I should have known that a summer with Jake wouldn’t leave me unscathed.
But I would leave.
My feelings could be whatever they were. That didn’t mean Jake’s would ever change.
“I was just thinking that maybe we could get together sometime and…”
Easton trailed off as murmurs in the crowd drew our attention to the arena. Below us, Logan and Tessa began pointing toward something. Confused, I scanned the arena to see a dusty cowboy wearing a black hat, jeans, and a gray button-down shirt underneath his riding vest, jogging from the chutes, across the dirt in the arena, toward us. The clown took notice and made a couple of jokes about the cowboy running. Jake had a grin on his face by then and ran over to shake the clown’s hand before coming our way once more. My brow furrowed as he drew closer to the fence. Did he forget something?
The climb from the outer fence to the grandstands barely slowed him, but it was the way he jumped over the stair railinglike it was a tiny rock in his way that made my heart begin to pound erratically. Sophie squealed with delight somewhere behind me as he started up the stairs. He was coming for Sophie. That made complete sense. Maybe this was a good luck thing they did before…things like this.
Except, when I met his gaze, halfway up the stairs in our section of the grandstand, his dark eyes were on me.
My breath caught as he drew closer. And then finally, he was there. Standing in front of me. I’d never been more grateful for an aisle seat. Without a word, he clutched my arm and pulled me up until I was standing before him. He kept his hand on my arm, sending sparks shooting wildly down my skin.
“Don’t you have a horse to ride?” I asked, willing my lungs to work.
His eyes were crinkled and warm, and they dropped to my lips. We were so close.
“It’s come to my attention that I’ve been an idiot lately,” he said finally.
I smiled. “You said it, not me.”
“Daddy!” came the excited squeal behind us. Kelsey and Cade were doing their best to distract the little minx for as long as possible.
“I’ll be right there, Soph,” he said, smiling at his daughter behind me for a moment.
All of a sudden, he pulled his cowboy hat off his head and set it gently onto mine.
“Hang on to this for me?” Jake’s low rumble met my ears while chills raced down my spine.
He held my gaze for a few seconds, a smile playing on his lips as though he liked what he saw, before he reached behind me to pick up a squealing Sophie and bring her in for a quick hug. And then he was leaving. The hat on my head was playfullypushed down low on my face before he made his descent down the stairs.
“That’s my lucky hat,” he called over his shoulder. “Don’t lose it!”
We all watched him go. Eventually, I sat back down in a numbed kind of silence, wondering if that had really just happened. But Jake’s warm hat was sitting on my head, and I had a grin the size of Texas that would not, for the life of me, go down in size. The hat that had sat on Jake’s head through every rodeo of his life was now sitting on mine.
“Well, it looks like this was a wasted trip.” Easton’s voice pulled me out of my fog. Thankfully, his eyes were teasing, and his smile was gentle as he looked at me.
“I’m sorry, I—” I began before he held up a hand, cutting me off.
“I don’t know what you’re smoking,” Easton began. “If you’re not dating him…” He pointed at Jake’s retreating back as he descended the stairs and hopped over the railing. “I think you’re about to be.”
31
SHELBY