Full Rigged (Lost Creek Rodeo #4) - Rebecca Connolly Page 0,6
pizza instead of Chinese.”
Brynn scowled at her as they moved into the kitchen. “I’m never cranky with you.”
“Uh, okay.” Mandi widened her eyes, snorting to herself as she set the pizza on the counter and pulled plates from the cabinets.
“I’m not!” Brynn insisted while Kennedy played with the still-curled ends of her hair.
Mandi pressed her hands onto the counter and gave her a hard look. “Honey. Last week, you bit my head off for doing your dishes, and you ripped into Aaron for not taking the jump seat back from L.A. a day earlier. Which, I might add, does not directly affect you. You told me not to be your mother when I asked how you were doing on Sunday, and you stormed to your room like an angry teenager when I asked if that was a hole in your sweats. I love you, Brynn. You’re the sister I never had. And because of that, I gotta tell you that you’re this close to having another name entirely, and it starts with the same letter.” She nodded firmly and went back to getting the pizza out.
Brynn sank slowly onto her couch, letting Kennedy wriggle out of her hold to the floor. “Am I really?”
“Do you want me to be truthful or supportive?” Mandi asked her, glancing up. “Because the answer is yes, but it’s not going to ruin our friendship. Toolbox did you rotten, and I hope he gets a disease, so you get some kind of a pass there.”
“Minimus,” Brynn murmured with a swallow. “I named him Minimus. It was the most insignificant medical term I could think of.”
Mandi paused with two plates in hand, considering that. “I like it. I’d probably have chosen a cancer of some kind, but I like insignificance, too.” She came over and handed Brynn a plate. “You look like you haven’t slept in three days. Is that just from today?”
Brynn nodded, picking up her pizza and taking a bite. “I’ve been told I look like something’s wrong.”
“You do,” her friend said bluntly. “And you act like it, too, which fits, because something is wrong, and his name is—”
“Don’t say it,” Brynn snapped with a warning look. “This is a him-free zone in every respect.”
Mandi held up her hands. “Sorry, okay.” She frowned a little, and turned more toward Brynn. “This can’t go on, sweetie. Can you take some time off? Get away for a while? The divorce is done, so you really are free. Go rejuvenate somewhere. Or do a staycation. Maybe see someone . . .”
“Therapy?” Brynn shook her head firmly. “I’m fine, Mandi. Really. Just exhausted.”
“You’re always fine, and it’s never the truth.” Mandi pursed her lips in thought. “Tell you what. I’m going to start researching and plotting. I was a travel agent once upon a time, so let me build you a few options. When you’re ready, or you’re about to lose your marbles, I’ll send them to you. Because if that other Brynn sticks around much longer, this is not going to be optional, okay?”
“I’m fine,” Brynn insisted.
Mandi shook her head, taking a bite of pizza. “Say it one more time—you might get an echo. This is happening. You just tell me when it is.”
Brynn rolled her eyes and sank back against her couch. There was no arguing with Mandi when she got like this. Besides, a vacation could be nice. “Okay. I’ll tell you when. Bossy.”
“Another ‘b’ word,” Mandi announced, settling in comfortably. “We’re on a roll.”
Ford rolled down the windows of his truck as he crossed the state line into Texas, breathing in the air deeply. It was like sticking his head under a hand dryer in a public restroom, but there was something salty and earthy about this air, and it ruffled his hair with the wild, dirty fingers that reminded him of rodeo.
How could the Texas air take him back to the arena?
His mind began to spin on the rodeos he was missing on the circuit right now. He and the other guys in the Original Six had committed to competing at the annual rodeo set at the Lost Creek Days festival, along with some other decent names on the circuit right now, but doing so meant he was going to miss some good competition. It was probably worth it, all in all, giving back to the town that had given him so much over the years.
But there was something about competing that was just satisfying for him. He wasn’t one of the hotshots,