Cowgirls Don't Cry

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - KATIE

Right there, surrounded by the familiar sights, sounds and feelings of a major rodeo, I could feel the chasm between me and the rest of the world beginning to decrease, inch by inch. Rodeo had always unlocked something inside me that nothing else could ever touch, and lately it seemed it also held the key to my own identity. It was either that, or it was so much a part of my identity that just being in and around the sport seemed to bring me back to life.

Sitting beside Momma and Georgie in the massive stadium of the Georgia State Rodeo, my only focus was down in the arena, where Jesse had just earned the best score he'd ever ridden, bucking out a junior American bucking bull, a tough ride that he'd seemed to handle just fine, despite being younger than every other competitor there.

The three of us leapt to our feet and cheered so loud I thought my lungs would burst, as the buzzer rang out and Jesse leapt down off the bull. The elated half-grin on his face, as he jogged out of the arena, tore at the fresh cuts from our argument, and I ached with guilt.

Jesse was right; all he'd done these past few weeks was comfort and protect me, and yet I'd kept pushing him away, getting mad and keeping everything to myself as he'd tried so hard to help. He had every right to snap at me on the bus, and the look of immediate remorse in his eyes, even as he was saying it, had nearly broken my already-sore heart. Marina, Zamirah and Tristan had all taken their own slashes at it, but seeing Jesse so upset and mad at himself had cut deeper than they'd ever managed.

The roar of the crowd broke into my thoughts of emotional turmoil, and I glanced up at the scoreboard, shocked and elated by the sight that met my eyes. Jesse was in third place, beaten only by his brother and, of course, the young rodeo legend Lane Delta. Third! All his training and practise over the last few weeks had certainly paid off, taking out the better half of a hundred junior bull-riders with one incredible ride.

My heart swelled with pride, pressing hard on the guilt left over from our argument. I needed to talk to him, to apologise and tell him I'd been wrong to drag him in and push him away, but even as I thought it, my momma spoke.

"Honey, we'd better go warm up Marlow before the barrel-racing starts," she warned me, standing up to guide Georgie and I down through the audience and out to the fields. "He'll need some time to settle into this kind of environment, and you'll want him completely focused for the ride,"

"Sure, Momma, coming," I replied, taking a final glance down to the arena, where Jesse stood at the rails with his dad. Whatever I had to say to him would just have to wait.

***

Half-an-hour later and I still hadn't had a chance to speak to Jesse, though even that had to take priority under my nerves for the impending run.

Marlow was fully warmed-up and settled in, his treacle-coloured hide already warm under the afternoon sunshine, and his ears pricked, taking in the scene with interest as we waited behind the gateway with some of the other earlier competitors.

Sierra and Hallie held their horses beside me, riding around the same time as Marlow and I, along with Lilly Delta, whose older brother had just taken out the junior bull-riding championship. She was a friend of ours from school, and really nice and down-to-earth for someone whose family was renowned in the rodeo industry.

The rest of the Hudson County competitors weren't riding until later, so it was just the four of us holding our horses steady behind the gateway, as the competitors before us rode in and out with a stream of mixed, but mostly good, scores.

Marlow startled as a frowning girl with long dark hair and a palomino gelding trotted past, before galloping into the ring and over the line. I quietened him, then watched as she overshot the first barrel and knocked it over, her horse spooking as it fell. Hardening her expression, the girl urged him forwards towards the next barrel and managed to put in a solid performance for the rest of the ride. However, her chances of a place were gone with that knocked barrel. The crowd cheered for her regardless as she rode out, a grim look on her face.