Free Rodeo Nights by Patricia McLinn Page A

it was a start.
    And he knew that sometimes you only got a start. Sometimes you got thrown as soon as the chute opened and the bull had room to make its feelings clear about being ridden.
    The way Kalli had made it clear she wanted to put the passion firmly in their past.
    He’d just have to see if he could hold on long enough to win this go-round.
    * * *
    KALLI HAD NEARLY finished the entries for two young cowboys she hadn’t seen before, when Walker walked in the office, shadowed by Coat.
    One cowboy nudged the other and she heard a muttered, “That him? Walker Riley?”
    “Yeah, that’s him.”
    Walker nodded to them in a general way as he came in. He cut a look at her that cut away just as quickly, sparing only a neutral “Kalli” in greeting, then exchanged good mornings with Roberta before making a beeline for the coffee.
    He must have stopped at an outside spigot for a wash; the hair around his face and at the back of his neck shone darkly with captured water and his wrists and hands below the rolled-back cuffs of his shirt were devoid of the coating of dust he picked up from his usual morning work.
    As had become habit, Coat came directly to Kalli, waiting for her to rub his ears. She always obliged, refusing to allow herself more than a pang that while the dog stayed by her whenever she and Walker were in the same vicinity, Coat was at Walker’s heels the second he made a move to leave.
    Today she was in too good a mood to even have the pang.
    Kalli was inclined to be indulgent over the awe in the young cowboys’ whispered exchange and their shuffle-footed shifting so they could keep Walker in sight without being obvious. The pair of them couldn’t be out of high school.
    They represented the fourth and fifth entries by newcomers they’d had in two days. She’d take that as a good sign. The entries hadn’t returned to the level of before Jeff’s stroke, but they’d improved. Word was spreading that the Park Rodeo was still a good place to compete.
    “All set,” she announced. “See you tonight, then, okay?”
    “Huh? Oh, okay.” The first cowboy flushed and started backing out of the office when Walker glanced up. “I mean, uh, yes, ma’am. See you tonight, ma’am.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” agreed the second, wasting no time in following his friend. “Thank you, ma’am.”
    Mouthing the oft-repeated “ma’am” in utter disgust—you’d think she was ninety-two and frail! —Kalli stared at the closed door. The dual splutter of laughter from behind her spun her around to face Roberta and Walker.
    “Oh, yeah, you think it’s funny, those two kids treating me like my own grandmother?”
    “Sure do,” Walker answered easily, one long leg extended from where he’d propped his hip comfortably on Roberta’s desk.
    Trying to maintain the semblance of anger, she asked “How’d you like it if they did it to you?” hoping for a more sympathetic audience. No such luck.
    “Do it to me all the time. Even Matt Halderman. And ain’t anybody can say he looks at you like you’re anybody’s grandmother.”
    Awkwardness flooded into Kalli. Some of the casualness seemed to go out of Walker’s posture. Roberta looked bright-eyed from him to her. She’d done it on purpose, Kalli realized. Roberta had brought up Matt just to watch their reactions.
    Deliberately, Kalli leaned against the counter, sliding her elbows back to rest on either side of her. “Matt’s a great guy.”
    “Guess all these kids’re making you feel older, too, huh, Walker?” Roberta turned her piercing look on him.
    Kalli might have been tempted to ask what made Roberta say that, but Walker apparently knew better than to give the rodeo secretary that kind of opening.
    “Nah. What makes me feel old is cars I once owned being called classics. Or songs I used to listen to on the radio being ‘discovered’ by some new hotshot. Or realizing I’ve been out of school longer than I spent in it.”
    Kalli winced in amused sympathy