Page 66 of The Wildest Ride

AJ twisted around in his saddle, calling out, “Alright back there?”

Lil hollered back, “Yeah, just got a breakaway. Keep ’em going.”

She cut through the cow’s path with a straight line, lasso shooting out to catch it around the neck.

Pulling back, body angling against her horse, Lil slowed them all into an easy curve back toward the rest of the herd, grateful it had been as simple as all of that.

The rest of the herd had mostly straightened out and nicely bunched, so there was no rush to get back to them. All the better to let the one who had spooked settle. It was obvious that something had gotten to her. Her large brown eyes were wild and wide, even still.

Lil and the calf followed the footsteps of the rest of the herd, coming back to the spot where the cow had bolted in the first place. Keeping an eye out for signs of something that might spook a cow, Lil observed a small cluster of rocks hidden amongst the tall grass, but not much else. Not that it necessarily required a lot to startle a cow.

They passed the rocks without issue and Lil let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She rolled her shoulders and neck and settled back into the ride.

More rocks stuck out from the ground here and there, but for the most part, the way was smooth and clear.

Lil held her reins lightly, trusting her horse to navigate the terrain, while keeping a firm grip on the cow’s lead. She wouldn’t put it past the startled youth to bolt again. Rocky ground wasn’t known for calming anxious cows.

By now, the sky had taken on a dusty film—like daytime had given up fighting the mess and instead settled in for a nice glass of rosé. Twilight and sunset were a ways away yet, but their arrival was inevitable.

Lil, Becky the horse, and the calf were about thirty feet behind the herd, nearly free of the rocky patch when the cow yanked away for the second time with a wild-eyed moo of panic. With her grip on the lead tight and her reins loose, Lil went flying off the horse.

After a full rotation in the air, she hit the ground on her stomach hard, but held fast to the rope. The cow dragged her over the jagged stones, once again racing in an arc away from the path and the herd, mooing in a frenzy and stirring up the rest of the cattle at the same time. With considerable effort, Lil finally wrestled her body around to roll up and onto her butt, grounding her boot heels into the ground to bring them to a stop.

For a moment she didn’t do anything except breathe hard and hold tight to the rope. The cow continued to moo in alarm, drawing other cows to break off from the herd and head her direction.

Up ahead, AJ had turned and was making slow progress toward her, as was her Becky. She was proud of them both—Becky for keeping her cool and AJ for maintaining his slow and steady pace as he went. It would do no good for him to come harrying off after her and go scattering the herd further.

The camera van was a speck on the horizon, lacking maneuverability on the terrain and contractually obligated to film at a distance unless given the preapproved warning signal. Lil almost laughed. Reality TV was a trip.

As its brethren neared, the wayward calf lunged again, but Lil was ready. Her boots dug in and her arms strained, but the cow made it only a few more feet. Then, as suddenly as it had yanked, it gave up, the sudden lack of tension at the end of her rope sending Lil backward, her butt narrowly missing a particularly wicked rock that jutted out.

Laughing at herself because it beat crying, she noted that the prairie ground here was remarkably hard and rocky and that her derrière had come out the worse for their meeting. Gingerly, she came to her feet, calf still secure.

Cattle milled about around her, and Becky nosed at her shoulder, having beaten AJ’s sedate pace with her trot.

After giving Becky’s nose a quick pat, Lil untied the calf, which promptly ambled off to join its mother, and remounted.

She’d be feeling it tomorrow, and for the next few days after that, but she didn’t think she was any worse for the wear after her fall—other than pride maybe. She’d have made quite the sight, flying through the air after the calf like some kind of human kite at the end of a rope. It made for good television, at least. The Closed Circuit wouldn’t be disappointed with their footage.

Twisting around in her saddle, she checked behind her, and sure enough, the camera van still trailed behind them, closer now, capturing their follies for the delight of viewers around the world. She saw too that AJ had nearly reached her, his expression relieved, she assumed, to see her whole and hearty after her tumble.

Relative to the kinds of falls she’d seen cowboys take on the range, she felt lucky. Nothing was broken or even permanently damaged.

Her smile said as much, airy and full of the cowboy grace that came from walking away from a near miss with the skin still on your knees.

AJ frowned at her, surprising her by not sharing in the moment.

Her grin paused.

Both of AJ’s eyebrows rose to his eyebrows, his eyes widening in panic.

Lil realized in an instant that he hadn’t been looking at her at all, and that with whatever it was he had been looking at, something wasn’t right.

Whipping back around in her saddle she saw exactly what had snagged his attention right as he whispered, voice dead serious, “Stampede.”

19

AJ had been concerned when Lil had broken away after the calf, and more so when she’d flown off her horse, but she’d seemed to have the problem well in hand.

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