Roping the Rancher

“She’s a selfish bitch who doesn’t care about anyone but the husband of the month.”

Out of the mouths of angry teenagers often came the harsh truth.

Part of her considered talking to him about how families should forgive and love each other no matter what, but she lacked the energy for a battle. Especially when he was right. She’d tried so hard to make up for Andrea’s shortcoming so Ryan wouldn’t grow up feeling unloved, but there was only so much she could do.

No matter how hard she tried, she wasn’t his mother.

Ryan glanced out the window. “Are you sure you know where we’re going? I think we went past this barn a little while ago.”

Stacy flashed him a bright smile. “I’ve got everything under control.”

No way would she admit she didn’t have a clue where they were. She’d never hear the end of it because Ryan had suggested they print a copy of the directions before they left the cabin. Since they were running late, she’d brushed him off saying they’d be fine with her GPS app on her phone. Unfortunately she’d forgotten how spotty Wi-Fi could be in the Rocky Mountains, forcing her to rely on her memory.

“That’s your too-big smile. It means you’re lying because you’re afraid if you tell me the truth, I’ll be upset.”

“I don’t do that.”

“You do it all the time. I’m not a kid. I don’t need you protecting me.”

They’d both grown up too fast. She’d hoped to save him from some of that, but life had a way of refusing to go along with a person’s plan.

“Okay, you win. I admit it. We’re lost.” She spotted a small ranch house in the distance to the left. “I’ll head for that house and ask for directions.” Then she pointedly stared at her younger brother.

He stared back. His right eyebrow rose and he smiled.

“Are you going to say it?”

His grin widened. “Say what?”

“I’m not going to have an ‘I told you’ so hanging over my head. Let’s just get it over with.”

“But it’s more fun to torture you this way.” His smile faded and he picked at a frayed spot in his jeans. “I know you don’t think this horse-therapy stuff is a good idea, but I researched it a lot. I think it could really help me.”

Right after the car accident, Ryan’s attitude amazed her. He’d been so full of hope. He swore he’d regain full use of his legs no matter what he had to endure. He’d remained positive during his first surgery and the countless hours of physical therapy. Then the doctors recommended another surgery. When he failed to see much improvement after the second operation, something inside Ryan withered.

He quit going out with friends. Though he hadn’t said so, she suspected being with them only reinforced what he couldn’t do. He argued with her about attending physical therapy.

“I’m tired of doctor and therapy appointments controlling my life. I want to be normal again. I want to hang out with friends, go out on a date or spend the whole day in school without getting pulled for an appointment. This sports riding program is my best bet to have that. I know you’re scared because of what happened to dad, but I’ll be okay. Everything I read about the program says falls are rare.”

But they do occur. She could handle anything but something happening to Ryan again. He was all she had. Her only family. The only one who cared about what happened to her.

No, that wasn’t true. Andrea cared about her, but only because if something happened to Stacy, who would pick up the pieces of her life when it inevitably fell apart?

“I’m praying you’re right.”

They came around a curve and a loud pop echoed around them. The car pulled hard to the left. Stacy clutched the steering wheel, pulled her foot off the gas and struggled to maintain control. Her sweaty palms slipped on the steering wheel.

“Slow down!” Ryan screamed.

“We’re fine.” She flashed him a quick smile, hoping to ease his fears and stave off a full-blown panic attack. His fingers dug into the armrest. His breathing grew rapid and shallow. “Breathe slow and deep.”

She’d veered into the other lane. She turned hard right. Too hard. The car spun. Ryan’s screams reverberated through the car as they headed for the ditch.

Images blurred around Stacy. Her hands grew numb, and then seconds later the car stopped.

“God, no! Not again!” Ryan screamed.

Thank you, Lord. He’s yelling. That means he can’t be hurt too badly.

Her heart thundering in her chest, her body shaking, Stacy grabbed her brother’s arm and squeezed. “Look at me, Ryan. Are you hurt anywhere?” His gaze locked on hers, and he shook his head. “Breathe with me.”

She inhaled deeply and held her breath for a second before slowly exhaling. She did that for a minute or two until his breathing matched hers and the panic receded from his eyes. “I’m sorry. I think we blew a tire.” She squeezed his hand again before letting go. “You handled that so well.”

“No, I didn’t. I screamed like a little girl.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Remember how bad the attack was the first time you got in a car after the accident? You’ve come so far since then, but that doesn’t mean that sometimes you won’t get thrown for a loop.”

A chorus of moos and clomping hooves on the pavement around them drew Stacy’s attention. Not only had they gone off the road into a ditch, but they’d run into a barbed wire fence, taking a good section of it out. Cows making the most of the damaged fence made a break for it and wandered all over the road.

Now what? She put the car into Reverse and tried to back out of the ditch, but the tires spun in the soft ground. They clearly weren’t going anywhere.

“I’ll go for help.”

“What about the cows? We can’t leave them all over the road. They’ll cause an accident.”

She drew the line at worrying about the cows. They’d have to fend for themselves. If they were smart enough to get on the road, they were smart enough to find their way off again. “I bet animals get on the road around here all the time. People are used to watching out for them.”

“This is a tourist town. What if someone from out of town comes along? They could get hurt because we...”

Ryan’s voice broke. Stacy reached out and laid her hand over her brother’s, but he pulled away. This scene was hitting a little too close to home for him. His breathing accelerated again. His pupils dilated.

“Okay. Don’t worry.” She patted his arm. “Maybe if I lay on the horn they’ll move.”

The horn’s harsh blare hurt her ears, but the cows were apparently hearing impaired because they didn’t even twitch. She laid on the horn for a good thirty seconds this time. Nothing.

“Got any suggestions on how to get them to move?”

“Sure. We studied roping cows and ranching in school just last week.” Ryan laughed and the tension left his features.

“Smart-ass.” Stacy chuckled. This was the brother she loved so much. The one she feared might soon become smothered by his physical limitations.

She glanced at her watch. They were already late for Ryan’s appointment. “I could call someone, but we don’t have time to wait. We’re already running late.” How hard could it be to get the cows off the road? “I should be able to take care of this. In one episode of The Kids Run the Place, we went for a vacation on a dude ranch. We had a cattle-drive scene.”

“That was when you were thirteen. Can you even remember anything from that far back?”

“Gee, I don’t know. They say the memory goes the closer you get to thirty. In a couple of years I probably won’t even be able to remember who you are.” She opened the car door. “Stay here while I get the cows moving. You’ve been through enough today.”

“I’ll help.”

No way would she risk him getting hurt. They’d pressed their luck enough for one day. “I’ve got it. There aren’t many of them.”

“Just because my legs don’t work like they used to doesn’t mean I can’t do something.”

So often since the accident she’d felt she lacked the skills to deal with Ryan. At times she had to be mother, cheerleader and therapist. Being a substitute parent to a teenager had been tough enough before his accident.

“I don’t know—”

“It doesn’t matter what you say. I’m coming.”

She thought about pulling rank. With a teenager? They’d only end up having a huge fight and he’d do what he wanted to anyway. “You can help me holler at them, but stay close to the car.”

Then she climbed out of the sedan, retrieved his walker from the backseat and handed it to him when he opened the passenger door.

Lost and now chasing cows off the road. Great start to the day. Could things get any worse?

Stacy moved toward the animals. Waiving her arms, she yelled, “Go! Get out of here!”

Joining in the effort, Ryan waved his left arm and shouted along with her.

Of the cows on the road, only one lifted her head and turned in Stacy’s direction. Then the animal returned to munching on grass, without moving an inch. She searched her memory for how the cowboy at the dude ranch kept the cows moving. He’d sauntered up to them full of confidence and authority, slapped a lasso against his thigh and hollered at them. Trying her best to imitate the cowboy’s swagger, she moved forward, yelling, “Ya,” and slapped her thigh.

“Watch out, Stacy.”

She glanced over her shoulder toward her brother and her right foot landed in something mushy. “Ugh!” Her foot slid. Her balance waivered and she felt herself falling. Her backside landed hard against the paved road, but that wasn’t the worst part. The unmistakable sour smell of manure wafted around her.

“Are you okay?” Ryan asked.

Really? He had to ask? She was sitting in the middle of cow pie. Of course she wasn’t okay. “I’ll live.”

Though her shoes were goners and probably her jeans, too. She glanced at her favorite pair of shoes, leopard print Louis V stilettos ruined with cow poop, and the dam holding her emotions in check sprang a gigantic leak. Tears stung her eyes. She was so damned tired of being strong, of taking care of everything and everyone around her. Of smiling for the world when all she wanted to say was to hell with it.

The whine of a motor sounded around her. Not a car, but some smaller recreational vehicle. She closed her eyes. A moment later when the noise stopped she opened her eyes to find a hand in front of her face.

“Looks like you could use some help.”

Stacy’s gaze traveled from the hand—not a well manicured hand like the actors she worked with, but one of a man who worked hard for his living, rough and tanned—to find a tall golden-haired man dressed in faded jeans and a Western plaid shirt standing beside a three-wheeler with a small cart. She grimaced. The only thing worse than falling in a cow pie was having a cowboy with an incredible body sculpted by hard work and piercing blue eyes witness her embarrassment.

“No, I’m good. Just thought I’d sit here and reconnect with nature.”

“At least you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”

Her heart fluttered at the twinkle in his sky-blue gaze. Oh, my. He wasn’t even close to her type, but this cowboy definitely had something, and every cell in her body knew it.

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