Free And Then You Dare (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 5) by Heather A Buchman Page B

there Bullet?”
    “What’s that sir?”
    “Bull ridin’. You’re
lookin’ for trainer, aren’t you?”
    “Yes, sir. I am.” Bullet
took his hat off and rubbed his forehead. This conversation was giving him a
headache.
    “Let’s go back to the
house. We’ll have a sit down with Dottie and Billy and see what we can figure
out.”
    “Yes, sir,” Bullet said
again.
    “My name’s Bill son, I told
you that before. We’re gonna be spendin’ a hell of a lot of time together, and
if you keep callin’ me sir, it’s gonna make me uncomfortable.”
    “Yes, sir. I mean, Bill.”
    ***
    There were three hundred photos waiting for Tristan to sort through.
Her father had another pile of those he’d chosen. The one on top was of a bull
rider Lost Cowboy sponsored. The photographer had captured him flying through
the air, just as the bull bucked him off. The words, “It’s not how good you
are…it’s how good you want to be,” were written on a sticky note on the back of
the photo along with the digital image reference number.
    Tristan opened the file, and adjusted the highlights and
shadows of the photo in an image enhancement software program. Next she added a
blend near the bottom of the image, and then superimposed the words her father
wrote on top of the darkened area.
    She repeated the same process with the rest of the photos her
father had chosen. She dated each one and sent them to a local high school student
who interned for Lost Cowboy. The images would be uploaded to social media on
the dates Tristan indicated in the file name.
    The only time the prearranged schedule varied was if something
significant happened either with one of their riders, or in the world. In that
case, no matter where Tristan was, her daddy would email her a photo along with
his caption, and she’d prepare the image and upload it herself.
    “Got some good ones the last couple weeks,” her dad said, and
sat down in the chair by her desk.
    “Really good ones Daddy. I especially like this one.” The
image was a silhouette of a cowboy sitting on a fence, watching the sun set.
The caption her father wrote was, “Most people don’t listen with the intent to
understand. They listen with the intent to reply.”
    It was one of life’s lessons she learned from her daddy. “A
conversation is like a game of catch,” he’d say. “If you’re not payin’
attention, you’re gonna get hit with the ball.”
    ***
    Bullet sat in the rocking chair, Grey was sound asleep on his
lap and he didn’t have the heart to move him. Dottie and Bill were in the
kitchen, cleaning up from dinner. Billy and Renie had gone back to their place,
which was just up the road.
    “What do you think?” he heard Dottie ask Bill.
    “About what?”
    Dottie must’ve swatted Bill with something, and the two of
them laughed.
    “He reminds me of someone.”
    “He reminds me of someone too. And so do you.”
    “Me? I thought we were talkin’ about Bullet.”
    “Clancy. The way you talk to him Bill. It reminds me of the
way Clancy used to talk to you.”
    “That’s a right fine compliment sweetheart.”
    Bullet could hear the emotion in Bill’s voice, even from the
other room. Who was Clancy, and what did he have to do with Bill and him?
    ***
    1965
    The weather was better for their drive back to the ranch. Not
that Bill was thinking much about weather. Clancy had been right. His mama told
him that she and Mr. Snyder were getting married. She didn’t say a word about
him coming to live with them, and he didn’t ask.
    “She gave me hell about your schoolin’,” grimaced Clancy when
they stopped for lunch.
    She’d asked Bill if he was keeping up with his school work,
and he muttered that he was. Nothing could be further from the truth. There
wasn’t a school close to Double-P-Bar Ranch, and even if there was, as an
employee of the ranch, he wouldn’t have time to go to school during the day.
    He and Clancy talked about it. There were other workers at