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Shane let out a slow breath and wanted to reach over and grip Reba’s hand, but he didn’t want to distract from what was going on at the table.
“Reba, do you think my sons are right and I should give the UPRC their exclusive?”
Reba looked uncomfortable and he was sorry that his father had put her in an awkward position, but she rallied and said, “Shane and Rick believe it is. And they have nothing but the best interests of the ranch in mind. They want it to succeed just as much as you do.”
“It’s their future,” Bill said. “That’s why it’s so important.”
Reba nodded.
Bill took a deep breath and crossed his arms over his chest. “All right, we’ll do it your way. We’ll see how it goes, and if I like what I see, maybe I’ll retire down to Florida before next season.”
“You don’t have to go to Florida, if you don’t want to,” Shane said. “You can just retire on the ranch.”
“What’s the point of retiring, if you don’t get to sit your butt on a boat and fish all day?”
“Amen,” Mary said. “There’s a marlin with my name on it.”
Bill beamed at her.
Shane whooped and he and Rick high-fived across the table.
“All right, settle down,” Mary said.
But then Rick went over and lifted their mom out of her chair and swung her around.
“Stop. I’m going to be dizzy,” she said.
Dessert was a peach cobbler that Lainey had baked, and Shane thought again that Rick was a fool for not marrying her. But that was none of his business.
If the UPRC worked out for them they could all start looking to the future. Shane glanced over at Reba. And see about who they could spend it with. He and his ex-wife had already gotten hitched in Vegas before Shane had taken her home to meet his family. It hadn’t started things off on the right foot. He and Reba were a long way away from marriage, but this could be the start of something great. Sure, he wasn’t ever going to be a bull-riding rodeo star again, but a successful bull breeder wasn’t bad boyfriend material.
Chapter Twelve
Shane
Fort Worth, TX
After a brutal red-eye flight, Shane and Reba went their separate ways once they reached the Fort Worth rodeo. He barely saw her for the rest of the morning, but they texted each other back and forth. They had tentative plans to go out for dinner tonight, although Shane didn’t think he was going to make it much further beyond that before face-planting into a pillow.
He was going to order a bottle of wine, however, to celebrate officially being in the UPRC. His father had signed the contract last night, and Shane had forwarded it over to Jackson Blevins before he and Reba boarded the plane. He would wait until it was announced before he revoked his bids with the other rodeos for next season. They would definitely be running at a loss this year, but Shane was hoping that they would pick up some breeding clients to ease the pinch.
It was business as usual as Shane and Pat got the bulls ready for the testing. When the testing was over, they brought them to the bullpen for the rider’s lottery. Shane was surprised when Ronnie Sunderland picked Sverre’s name in the ballot, and instead of casting it back, Ronnie decided that he was going to ride him.
Shane applauded and went over to talk to him after all the other bull riders had picked their bulls and did any substitutions and trades before the final roster went to the announcers.
Shane walked over to him. “Look at the balls on you,” he said, shaking his hand.
“Today’s the day I’m going to ride your bull for eight seconds.”
“I wish you all the luck in the world, Ronnie. Give him a hell of a ride.”
If today was the day Sverre was going to lose his winning streak, it couldn’t happen with a nicer cowboy than Ronnie Sunderland. Shane knew it was petty to think this, but Ronnie was worthy of the bull and a couple of the other guys weren’t. He certainly wouldn’t want Keith Kilgore to have the bragging rights for that. And Sverre would probably damn near kill Taylor or Nash. Vidar was deemed well enough to ride, Ingvar and Torkel had been chosen as well. Shane was looking forward to seeing how they would do statistic wise.
When he set up to watch the bull riders, he noticed that Taylor was bullfighting today with his father, Barney. Shane wondered if that meant that Taylor had made his decision about concentrating on being a bullfighter over being a bull rider.
The first bull rider up was Nash Weaver. He was riding Vidar. They had barely gotten out of the chute before the bull tossed him off. Maybe next time, Shane would record it on his phone so he could watch the ride in slow motion later. There was something about Nash’s performance that bothered him. He was certainly not seating himself correctly on the bull. Maybe there were few tips he could give Nash. Or maybe Shane should mind his own fucking business. No one asked him his opinion.
“Hey, sugar,” Abigail said, sitting down way too close to him. She was dressed in a leather bikini top with tight white shorts and cowboy boots. She had on enough turquoise and silver jewelry to set off metal detectors at fifty feet.
