His old roping buddy, Adam Landry, had changed to bull riding at the same time Tyler had. Together, they had been either first or second in every competition this year. Tyler had been the best man at Adam’s wedding to Lorelei six months ago, and the three had been traveling together when everything changed.
Adam had been trailing Tyler by just a few points before his last ride, and had drawn Schizo to ride. The bull was enormous, with a nasty temper, and eyes that put fear into most men. Tyler and Lorelei had tried to convince him to refuse to ride the animal, but Adam was very competitive and wouldn’t be dissuaded.
Tyler had stayed by Lorelei’s side as Adam prepared for his ride, silently praying that God would be with him on this ride. A never before known fear had taken up residence in the pit of his stomach, and he could tell Lorelei was just as worried.
The bell sounded, the gates opened, and Adam and the bull flew out of the chute. Adam twisted and turned with the animal, managing to stay on its back until the eight-second clock sounded. The rodeo clowns entered the arena to try and distract the bull, but the animal was in a frenzy.
Adam’s hand had gotten stuck in the ropes, and as he tried to maintain his position on the back of the bull and free his glove, Schizo decided to take things into his own hands. He flung himself at the arena walls, twisting his body to smash Adam up against the boards, the animal’s massive weight crushing him in the process.
The action loosened the ropes enough to free Adam’s hand, but instead of getting up and to safety, he crumpled to the ground in an unmoving heap of humanity. The medics rushed into the arena, the clowns and other riders having managed to corral the bull back into his pen.
Tyler had rushed Lorelei to her husband’s side, staying with her as they had watched the medics call for the helicopter and place his friend in a neck brace and on a backboard. Adam had briefly opened his eyes and smiled up at his wife, but he had then passed out and remained that way.
The next three weeks were touch and go for Adam. He had a crushed spinal cord, no feeling or movement from his waist down, and the prognosis for keeping his upper extremity movement wasn’t good. Lorelei was a trouper, but at the end of the day, she now found herself married to a man who would probably never walk again.
The emotional toll on all of them had made Tyler finally sit up and consider some of the things Michelle had said to him. She’d been fearful for his safety, and now he knew why. He watched as Lorelei tried to keep it together in front of Adam, but he also saw how broken she was in the quiet of the night, or whenever she thought no one was looking.
Tyler couldn’t imagine Michelle having to go through that and suddenly he understood. He’d gone straight to Michelle, hoping to beg her forgiveness and start again, only to find out that she had quit her job suddenly and gone back home.
That information had spurred his decisions, and it had taken him only another three weeks to put the ball in motion. He helped liquidate their travel trailers and other rodeo equipment they wouldn’t need on the next leg of their journey.
He’d sold his small condo in Colorado Springs, and made plans to move back to Cathedral Hills. He’d convinced Adam and Lorelei to move with him, and as soon as Adam was out of the hospital, they would be coming to Cathedral Hills to start the next phase of their lives.
He’d been planning to look Michelle up this weekend, hoping to move forward himself, and was totally unprepared for this meeting. Here. In this place.
Swallowing, he offered, “I was planning on looking you up this weekend, once I got settled in Cathedral Hills. I was hoping you’d have dinner with me or something.”
Michelle started shaking her head as she backed away from him. “No. I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m glad you decided to retire. I’m sure your parents will be glad to have you back home.”
“Michelle, wait…we need to talk. I know the last time…”
Michelle kept backing up, not even caring that she was very close to the edge of the slope. “Tyler, really, I don’t have time to talk right now. I need to get these forms over to …”
“Michelle, watch out…” Tyler quickened his steps, hoping to catch her before…
“Don’t worry about me. I…,” her voice broke off on a cry as she took one too many steps backwards, losing her footing and starting a backwards fall down the slope of the mountain.
Michelle threw the papers up in the air, trying to twist her body to break her fall and keep from ending up at the bottom of the ravine, but her foot caught in a root. She felt and heard a loud wrenching sound from her ankle as she fell to her side, ending with her upside down and only saved from tumbling further by the agonizing pain in her ankle.
“Michelle! Hang on! Don’t move!” Tyler hurriedly scrambled down the slope until he was level with her hips. “Reach up and give me your hands and I’ll untangle your foot.”
“I don’t… think… I can….” Michelle tried to breathe through the pain and do as he requested, but as she started to pull herself up, the pain overwhelmed her and she blacked out.
Tyler noticed the exact moment she fainted, and made short work of untangling her foot and then pulling her back up to even ground. The camp nurse removed her boot and after a careful examination, didn’t think anything was broken, but also didn’t want Michelle trying to drive on it.
When Tyler stepped in and offered to drive her home, Michelle said nothing, but Tyler didn’t let it faze him. He knew he had hurt her, and he saw this as a chance to start making amends. He tried to engage her in conversation as they drove down the mountain, but Michelle refused to even look at him.
When they arrived at Trey’s house, he watched as she hobbled inside the house and shut him out. He didn’t press the issue, but if Michelle thought things were finished between them, she didn’t know him very well at all. He was as tenacious as they came, and he was determined to show Michelle that their futures belonged together. As he drove away from Trey’s home, he started planning his campaign. Michelle Cottrell belonged with him. Now he just needed to prove to her that he knew that as well!
Chapter 3
Michelle hobbled into the house she currently shared with her brother Trey. Her ankle was hurting badly, but it was secondary to her desire to get away from Tyler. Just sitting in the car next to him brought back old feelings she really didn’t want to analyze.
On the one hand, she was glad he had decided to retire. He would be safe from getting maimed by the next bull he rode. That was a good thing in her mind. But on the other hand, he was back in town and wanted back in her life. Her heart hadn’t finished healing from the last time he broke it. I don’t think I can do this again. What if he changes his mind and needs the excitement of the rodeo again? What if living in Cathedral Hills isn’t enough for him anymore? What then?
She’d only been home a short while, unable to deal with the strictures of working for the state’s department of social services. She’d known that her young client was grieving fiercely the loss of her son, her husband, and their marriage. When she’d tried to kill herself the second time, Michelle had broken protocol and brought the young mother into her own home for a few nights. A few nights which had turned into her last final few weeks!
The young woman, Celia Jansen, had touched Michelle on a very deep level. Her grief had consumed her for more than a year, and Michelle was anxious to help her find a way to cope and go on living. She thought they had finally reached a turning point in Celia’s grief, when Michelle had come home from a late night at the office to find Celia lying in a pool of her own blood inside the guest bathtub. She’d slit her wrists, correctly this time, and bled to death while Michelle was finishing bureaucratic paperwork!
Celia had left a note for Michelle, thanking her for being such a caring person, and doing so much to help her. She’d talked about her devastating loss and how it was just too much to bear, even a year later. She’d asked Michelle to say a prayer for her soul, that God would somehow be merciful and allow her to b
e reunited with her son in Heaven.
Michelle had railed at God while she waited for the paramedics and police to arrive. She’d cried for the loss of the young life and then she’d cried for herself. For over a year now she had let fear control her life. She’d pushed Tyler away because of it, afraid of losing herself in her love for him until there was nothing left. Afraid of becoming just like Celia when Tyler died! She wasn’t willing to take the risk, and figured it would be better to cut her losses while he was still breathing, than to end up a broken and shattered woman some night in the future, all alone in a strange hospital they had taken him to.
When her supervisor had found out that Celia had been living with Michelle, he had written her up and asked her to sign a disciplinary action to be placed in her personnel file. Becoming that involved in one of her client’s lives was strictly against protocol and her supervisor had seen it as a personal affront to his dictatorial leadership style. There had been no condolences for the loss of a life. No allowed time off to grieve. No counseling offered. In fact, she’d been told she was not to attend the funeral!
Michelle had left her supervisor’s office the morning after Celia’s death, picked up her purse and a few small personal items and walked out. She’d emailed him her resignation an hour later, just before she shut her laptop off and began packing her belongings up. The man had responded with all kinds of threats to her career, vowing to make sure she never worked in social work again. Michelle was beyond caring, grieving the loss of her career was the furthest thing from her mind.
She’d personally paid for Celia to be buried next to her young son and cried with her mother at the graveside. When the minister had offered the words that she’d heard her father say on many occasions, words meant to bring comfort and solace, she’d felt nothing but grief. Her confidence in her abilities to effectively help people had already been at an all-time low, and as she left the funeral, it was almost completely gone.
Michelle hadn’t called home for comforting words from her parents, knowing they would willingly pray for her and offer words of wisdom. She hadn’t wanted to burden them with her lack of faith or the questions running through her head. Instead, she’d called Trey and told him she was tired of living in the big city and was coming home.
He’d willingly offered her old bedroom, and she’d accepted. Two days later, she had followed a U-Haul over the passes and come home to nurse her wounded heart and spirit. She’d pretended everything was fine, but she wasn’t a good enough actress to hide the haunted look or sorrow she saw echoed in her eyes each time she passed a mirror.
She knew Trey and her parents were very worried about her, and she felt bad about hurting them with her silence, but her father was a small town pastor. How was she ever going to explain to him that somewhere between meeting Celia and her senseless death, Michelle had lost her faith in God! If she’d had anywhere else to go, she might have considered it, just to save her parents the embarrassment of having a faithless daughter.
Trey had been supportive, and when she had declined to share her problems with him, he had simply hugged her and told her he was there whenever she was ready to talk. Her girlfriends had been equally supportive, although not nearly as understanding about her silence. She’d overheard Missy and Stephanie talking and knew that her friends thought she was heartbroken over a boy. The truth was, she was just plain heartbroken over life! That included Tyler and Celia.
Now Tyler was back in person. And it sounded like he intended to stick around for a while. Tears filled her eyes as she limped down the hallway and into the kitchen. She stopped short when she saw Trey sitting at the kitchen table.
“Hey,” she offered casually, trying to make it to the freezer and the ice without letting on how badly her ankle hurt. When Trey narrowed his eyes at her and then scanned her from head to toe, she knew she was in for the third degree interrogation.
“What happened?” he asked, coming to his feet and pointing for her to take a seat.
Michelle shrugged, “I wasn’t watching where I was going and tripped. It’s just a little sprain.”
Trey retrieved a bag of frozen peas from the freezer and then pulled up an empty chair and lifted her ankle onto it. He unwrapped the ace bandage the camp nurse had secured around it and then whistled low, “I’d say it’s more than a little sprain. That looks bad enough to warrant a trip to the hospital in Montrose for an x-ray. Tell me you didn’t drive down the mountain like that.”
Michelle shook her head, “No. I didn’t drive.”
When she didn’t offer more of an explanation, Trey pushed, “How did you get home then?”
Michelle thought about not answering him, but in a town as small as Cathedral Hills, it would be all over town by morning how she had tripped, sprained her ankle, and Tyler had come to her rescue. Sighing, she muttered, “Tyler was up at the camp. He’s retiring and taking over the horses up there. He drove me home.”
“Tyler’s back? Great. Is he in the front room?”
“He didn’t come in.”
“What?! Tyler drove you home with an injured ankle and then just dropped you off at the curb?”
Michelle started to nod, but then she looked at the anger on her brother’s face. She couldn’t do that to Tyler. “Not exactly. I hopped out of the truck as soon as he pulled to a stop and didn’t invite him in.”
Trey looked at his sister in puzzlement. Rudeness was not something she was known for, but it sounded like she had been unbearably rude to a man she’d known for most of her life. “Michelle…”
“Look, can we save the rest of this interrogation for later. I’ve been at camp all week and I’m heading for the shower.” Michelle grabbed the bag of peas and then hobbled out of the kitchen and towards her room. It was located on the second floor, and she barely contained her gasps of pain as she navigated the stairs. She intentionally placed more weight than she should have on her ankle, not wanting to encourage Trey to follow her.
By the time she reached her bedroom and the connected bathroom, she had tears of pain and sorrow running down her cheeks. The pain in her ankle was constant and almost more than she could stand, but it was Tyler’s last words to her that were causing most of her tears. “This isn’t over yet, Michelle. Rest and ice that ankle and tomorrow we’re going to talk. We belong together and I aim to prove it to you.”
Chapter 4
Trey counted to fifty and then climbed the stairs after Michelle. He’d been trying to give her some space, sensing that she was hurting too much to talk about what had sent her running home. He knew his parents were very worried, but like him, they had been supportive and were hopeful that whatever was eating at her would eventually fester and come spilling out.
He paused outside her bedroom door and then he heard the water running in the bathroom. Opening the door slowly, he saw that she was inside the bathroom and he hesitantly walked over. What he was going to say, he didn’t know. The look on her face when she mentioned Tyler’s name had him more than a little curious. Michelle had always had a crush on him, not that either of them had ever acted on it. Had something happened between them on the ride down the mountain? Tyler’s only just came back; maybe he said something to upset her not realizing she was already hurting?
He raised a hand to rap on the door, but stopped short – Michelle was crying, doing her best to hide her sorrow from him by camouflaging it with the noise of the shower. Trey felt like hitting something. Turning on his heel, he headed down the stairs and straight to his truck.
Trey drove straight to the bridge and then parked the truck. He could see the small group of women laughing and giggling together and realized he hadn’t seen Michelle laugh, not once, since she’d come home. It’s time for that to change!
Missy say him first, “Hey Trey. I thought you were going to avoid our little gab fest.”
“Ladies, I would if I could. I thought maybe I’d come get Jenna and take her back to the house. Michelle’s home early.”
The s
omberness of his tone caught everyone’s attention and Taylor demanded an explanation, “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know that there’s anything wrong, per se. She’s got a sprained ankle from tumbling down the side of a slope, but there’s something else going on.”
“She drove down the mountain with a sprained ankle?” Missy demanded, angry at even the thought of Michelle putting herself in danger like that.
Trey shook his head, “No. She didn’t drive herself down. The camp had special guests this week from the rodeo. Tyler Jameson drove her down.”
“Tyler’s home?” Stephanie asked, as the other women echoed her question.
“Yeah, I guess he’s thinking about retiring and starting a rodeo training camp down in Ridgway. He’s also taking over the horseback riding up at the camp and stopped by to inspect everything. When Michelle hurt herself, I guess he volunteered to drive her down.
“I’m not sure what’s going on, but something seems to have really upset Michelle. I mentioned I had a surprise for her,” glancing at Jenna he added, “that would be you, and I’m hoping that seeing you will put a smile back on her face.”
Jenna gathered up her stuff and prepared to leave, “I can’t wait to see her. Maybe she’ll tell me what’s going on. Your parents seem pretty worried as well.”
“Call us if you need help,” Missy told her as the two women hugged. Other “Goodbyes” were said and Jenna let Trey escort her back to his truck.
“Did you talk to Tyler? Maybe he knows what’s upsetting her?”
Trey shook his head, “No. He didn’t even come in with her. I think Michelle was really rude to him.”
Jenna thought that over and then shook her head, “That doesn’t sound like Michelle. She’s always had a thing for him.”
Trey nodded and then looked over at her, “Thanks. I know you’ve been through a lot these last two days, but if you can get Michelle to open up to you, I for one would be grateful. I just can’t seem to reach her, and she arrived home looking as if she’d just lost everything! I think she was even crying in the shower before I headed this direction.”
Michelle and Tyler: Christian Romance (Cathedral Hills Book 2) Page 2
