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“I know because I had something really shitty happen to me, too, and it took me a few years to get over it.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Reba had said, concerned.
“Same reason you’re not saying anything.”
“That’s different.”
“Is it?” Dolly had pinned her with a look. But then she’d relented. “I’m here if you need to talk. But you’ve got to stop this lone-wolf shit. That’s not you. You’re a pack animal.”
Reba loved when Dolly tried to use animal metaphors. “I get it. I’ll see what I can do.”
“What worked for me is that I had to replace the bad memories with good ones. Maybe that will help you, too.”
Dolly had left her alone after that. But her words sank in. Reba had a lot to think about. She had shoved all of her feelings under the surface while she dealt with a new job and new situations. But now things were leveling off and she was getting back to a new normal. It was time to stop letting Dr. Kilgore live rent-free in her head.
The problem was, Reba just wasn’t sure how to do it.
Right now, however, she needed to concentrate on helping Vidar. She swung a leg over the pen. She realized that Ronnie Sunderland was still waiting for an answer. “No, that’s all right, Ronnie. I got this.”
“The bulls are restless,” Keith Kilgore said, sourly. “I’m not going to be able to top my first ride if they don’t settle down. It isn’t fair.”
“Settle down, Sally,” Taylor Keating said derisively.
Reba recognized the other bull riders only because they had signed their names on the program this morning for her. Maybe as part of her coming out of her lone-wolf persona, she’d ask one of them out for a beer. Not Keith, though. She could tell he was just like his uncle. Unfortunately, there were a lot of assholes out on the rodeo circuit.
“I’m just saying, there’s a lot of money on the line,” Keith said. “This is bullshit.”
“Who hit the bull?” Reba asked, pausing to sit on the fence. “If you’re so upset, you should be looking to see who caused this.”
“No one caused it,” Keith blustered. “He got nicked on the fencing.”
“I didn’t see anything that would cut a bull,” another bull rider, Nash Weaver, said, folding his arms. He had been shocked when they asked him to sign the program.
“What do you know?” Keith said. “You’re the shittiest bull rider I’ve ever met.”
“Fuck you,” Nash said.
The conversation devolved from there as they compared dicks and insulted each other’s mothers. It made her a little nervous to be around it, but none of it was directed at her. She hoped that LeAnn drew the name of a bull that wasn’t agitated for the next round. But if she did, Reba knew her sister could handle it.
Putting that out of her mind, she turned her concentration back to Vidar, who seemed to have accepted her presence on top of the fence post. She spoke to him in a low, calming voice, hoping to soothe his nerves. “It’s all right, Vidar. I’m here to help.”
But he was in no mood to be comforted. He let out a guttural roar and charged at her. Reba managed to avoid its massive head as it slammed into the metal bars.
“He ain’t happy,” Nash said.
Reba hopped off the fence, her heart racing. She had dealt with aggressive animals before, but she hated having an audience.
“Got any of those tranquilizer darts?” Keith asked.
“Don’t you guys have anything better to do?” Reba asked. Being watched made her nervous, and she couldn’t afford to make a mistake around a pissed-off two-thousand-pound animal. She climbed back on the fence once Vidar moved away.
“Not at the moment,” Keith said. He reminded her of his uncle in the way that he stared at her, like a shark with his beady little eyes. And when he approached her where she was sitting, vulnerable on top of the fencing, her pulse quickened.
“Fuck off,” a deep voice snarled.
Reba recognized Shane’s gravelly voice and was surprised that the menace in it didn’t make her flinch. Maybe because it wasn’t directed at her. But after the cowboys slunk away, Shane turned that steely-eyed glare on her.
“What the hell is going on? I watched Vidar toss Jennings on his ass and then stomp around the bullfighters for a few seconds. Marty Kreeger roped him and then they guided him back through the chute. Just an average day.” Shane approached her, and she was surprised that she didn’t feel trapped or at risk. Maybe because he had scattered the bull riders like a pack of flustered geese.
