that astounded him. Simply put, she understood who he was and what he was about. Without her, he’d still be drowning in grief. What he didn’t know, however, was why he hadn’t seen that before. Jewel had been his savior the year before. He’d come home, ready to be here for his mother, to help out in place of his dad. And he’d almost sank to the bottom of the ocean with his own hurt.
He hadn’t returned to Missoula until after the first of the year, staying the extra time for his mom, who’d shared a special kind of love with his dad. Or heck, maybe the extra time had all been for him. After revamping the studio over the garage to include a small living space, as well, he’d holed himself up for months. He’d needed the outlet to create. To be himself. He’d needed a respite before going back to reality. And he’d needed Jewel. Only, he hadn’t known it.
She’d pulled him through the worst days of his life, made him feel good in the middle of often crushing pain. And he didn’t know if he’d even thanked her for it.
Plopping his hat on his head now, he looked away from what suddenly seemed like all-knowing eyes. “I’ll be sure to show up on time tomorrow, boss. What’s on the agenda for today?”
“Keep calling me boss, for one,” she mumbled under her breath, and the subtle undertones in her voice had him quickly glancing her way again. But she’d shifted her gaze.
She slipped on a pair of reflecting sunglasses, the wraparound Oakleys making him think far more thoughts than merely being jealous of her talking to another man, and she nodded toward the now-full pen of bulls. “Today we practice. You can be the gateman.”
A baseball cap appeared on her head in the next second, and like a well-oiled team, she and her staff got to work.
A couple of hours later, Bobby was exhausted but exhilarated. He’d pulled the gate open for each bull after Jewel had strapped them with a mechanical dummy and a flank strap, and he was impressed with the quality of those coming up through the ranks. The animals they were working with today were in training. Bulls were either born with a bucking instinct or not, and the majority of these seemed to have what it took. Some had higher intensity than others, their kicks and spins better. Yet, the most impressive sight of the morning had been Jewel.
The woman was in her element, and she knew it. Each move was made with confidence. Each decision based a little on intuition and a lot on knowledge of these four-legged athletes. And Bobby couldn’t get over the way she seemed to “speak” with each bull as they waited their turn.
The last one got loaded in, and due to earlier comments, he knew this was the bull she’d been waiting for.
“Death Comes to Your Door,” Jewel said, though she spoke to no one.
She didn’t immediately strap the fifteen-pound dummy on the bull nor loop the flank strap around the back side of him. Instead, she quietly eyed him through the rungs of the chute. The bull stared back. Then she reached a hand through and put her fingers to his nose. A light smile touched her lips.
“You’re going to be the best someday,” she said, this time clearly speaking to the bull. “You’re my favorite, aren’t you, Death?”
The bull peered back, quiet in the small confines, as if he knew this were a moment not to be interrupted.
“You’re going to make the Double B a lot of money. You’re going to announce loud and clear that I know what I’m doing.” She caressed her hand along the line of his nose. “And you’re going to make me fall in love with this sport all over again.”
Bobby found himself as mesmerized as the bull seemed to be. They all stood silent a few seconds longer, and he had the thought that he wanted to create a sculpture of her exactly like that.
Then in the next moment, everything changed. Determination filled Jewel’s hazel eyes as she stepped up onto the second rung of the chute, and with easy movements, she slid the flank strap over Death. Hooking the rope from beneath, she pulled it up but didn’t tighten it yet. It lay looped and just loose enough that it wouldn’t fall back to the ground. Death bucked. He was primed and already ready to go. Then Jewel