about never. If she blew this opportunity to get to know a man who might be right for her if only she gave him a chance, God only knew when the next one would come along.
Russell was stable, which Luke wasn’t. He had an established profession, which Luke didn’t. He was sincerely trying to become part of this town, which Luke had no desire to do.
And long after Luke had left Rainbow Valley, Russell would still be there.
Chapter 16
As Luke drove back to the shelter, he thought about how he hadn’t been quite up front with that kid at the rodeo. He’d acted as if that ride in Amarillo had been just one more. The truth was that he remembered every single second of that ride, because it had started the greatest year of his life.
But after going to the rodeo tonight, Luke realized how far his mind had wandered from where it should have been. He’d become so caught up in life at the shelter that sometimes a few days went by without him focusing on his goal. As he was working out, his mind should have been centered on performance-boosting mental replays of his best rides. Instead he found himself thinking about a cat that was having a hard time finding an adoptive family, or a repair that needed to be done, or the progress he was making with Manny.
But most of all, his mind drifted to Shannon.
But she could no more be his now than she could back then, because nothing had changed. She’d made it quite clear tonight that she intended to stay there forever, in the one place he’d never want to live again even if he gave up rodeo forever.
Bridget nudged the door open, came into his room, and jumped on his bed. He petted her for a moment, and she lay down beside him, purring loudly. He started to turn off the light, only to think about the text message he’d received when he was in his truck with Shannon. He pulled out his phone and read it again, hating Carter Hanson more with every word.
Guess who’s leading the pack now? Hint: It’s not Luke Dawson!
Luke’s stomach sank. When he saw that message, he realized he hadn’t checked the rankings in a long time, and when he pulled them up, he saw Hanson was right. He’d passed Luke up. Not by much, but Hanson still had the opportunity to hit a few more rodeos before the championship and amass even more prize money, while Luke was stuck here earning nothing.
He gritted his teeth, hating that feeling that his dream might be slipping away. For a minute, he had the crazy idea that he should leave town now, get back on the circuit, and make sure when he hit Denver he was leading in the standings again.
But what if he screwed his knee up again and knocked himself out of the championship altogether?
There was a limit to how much Hanson could earn between now and then with only a few more rodeos on the schedule. Luke was still firmly in the top ten, and the prize money was so great in the finals that a couple of good rounds could put him right back on top again.
He decided it was better to keep getting stronger so he was a hundred percent the minute he arrived in Denver. If he was in top-notch shape, there was no way that Carter Hanson, or anyone else, would be able to touch him.
On Saturday night at five o’clock, Shannon rounded the corner onto Calico Court and headed for her apartment, running so late she’d never be ready before Russell got there. She’d gotten hung up at the shelter with a family who was adopting a cat, and now she had less than an hour before he was supposed to be at her place. She still had to put dinner together, shove it in the oven, and hop into the shower before Russell arrived. Then, as she drew closer to her apartment building, she saw something that filled her with exasperation.
Her mother’s Mercedes sat in the parking lot.
Shannon steered her truck into a parking space. She grabbed Goliath’s leash, and together they trotted into the building. Shannon swept open her apartment door, expecting the worst. And that was exactly what she got.
The very worst.
Her living room was sparkling clean. The sofa pillows were fluffed. The dining room table was set with expensive linens that weren’t hers. In the air