Whirlwind - Janet Dailey Page 0,10
a good score.”
“Is there anything I can do while you’re laid up?” Shane asked.
“Yeah . . .” Cory was beginning to drift again. “Could you make sure Rianne gets the check? Should be a nice one, and she’ll need it for . . . the baby . . .”
“You bet. I’ll see that she gets it tonight,” Shane said, but he needn’t have spoken. Cory’s eyes had closed. His breathing deepened as he sank into an opioid-induced slumber. Shane rose from the chair and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. He would go back to the rodeo grounds, pick up the check, and drop it off here, with Cory’s wife. That done, he would head back to Tucson and the small guest house he occupied on the Tolman Ranch.
As he walked down the hall toward the elevator, he couldn’t help wondering how Cory and his wife were going to manage. Unless they had a ranch or some other job, rodeo riders tended to live from check to check. Some basic insurance was included with PRCA membership, but it wouldn’t cover everything. And with a new baby and an injured husband needing her, Rianne would have a difficult time working.
It wasn’t his problem, Shane reminded himself. But he couldn’t help worrying. No way did this young family deserve what had happened tonight. But that was the nature of rodeo. People got hurt. One bad wreck, and it could be him, lying broken and useless in a hospital bed somewhere. And he wouldn’t expect any damned sympathy.
* * *
Rianne was close to the breaking point. Lexie sat on the couch with a supporting arm around her friend’s shoulders, letting her talk out her fears.
“I’ve never had to be strong, Lexie. I’ve always assumed that Cory would take care of me and our kids. Now . . .” Her voice shook. “I love him, but what if I can’t deal with this? What if I don’t have what it takes?”
Lexie’s arm tightened around the quivering shoulders. “You don’t have to be strong all at once. All you have to do is get through one day at a time. You’ll find that you’re a lot tougher than you think.”
Did her words carry any meaning, Lexie wondered, or were they just platitudes from books she’d read and movies she’d seen? Having lost her mother in childhood and her father and brother recently, she knew about coping with tragedy—but unlike Rianne, she hadn’t been needed by anyone. It had been Tess, her sober, responsible sister, who’d taken the reins of the ranch and the stewardship of everything on it. And even that would be nothing like taking care of a helpless baby and a crippled husband.
Crippled. The ugly word sent a chill up her spine.
“What if he never recovers? What if he never walks again?” Sobs broke in Rianne’s throat. “Rodeo is all he knows. It’s his life!”
“You and Rowdy are his life,” Lexie said. “And you don’t know that he won’t walk. You told me yourself that the doctors will be doing an MRI as soon as he’s stable. Maybe they’ll find something that—”
“No.” Rianne set her jaw in a determined thrust. “I’m not getting my hopes up. This is what it is, and the sooner I accept it—”
She broke off, suddenly seizing Lexie’s arm. “Listen to me, Lexie. Men like Cory and your brother, Jack, they’re addicted to the rush of this crazy sport. It’s like a drug. They couldn’t stop if they wanted to. There’s always one more rodeo, one more bull, one more eight-second ride. It’s too late for me, but not for you. Whatever you do, don’t lose your head and marry one of them, or you could find yourself right where I am now.”
Before Lexie could reply, a man walked out of the hallway, the overhead light casting his shadow across the floor. Lexie’s gaze traveled upward from a pair of dusty boots and jeans-clad legs to a shiny, silver PBR buckle. Her heart dropped as she raised her head. Shane Tully was standing in front of her.
A startled look flashed across his face, but he swiftly masked it and turned his attention toward Rianne. “Cory went to sleep,” he said. “He should be fine for a while if you need a break.”
“No.” Rianne stood. “If he wakes up, I don’t want him to be alone. I’ll go back.”
Lexie stood as well. “I won’t disturb him,” she said. “Tell him I came by. You have my