The Bull Rider's Homecoming

by Allie Pleiter

  He was quiet for the next exercise, and downright silent when his leg refused to comply for the following one.

  “So have there been any potential Mr. Whoevers?” he leaned in and asked.

  Ruby knew a diversion when she saw one. She shifted to a less taxing exercise and said, “As a matter of fact, there have. Not that I’d name names with the likes of you.”

  “Gran told me you dated an insurance salesman from Waco for a time. An insurance salesman.” He coated the last three words with generous disdain.

  Ruby slapped her file shut. “If you already knew the details of my social life, why’d you ask?” She pointed to his leg, an unspoken command to do the current exercise again.

  “I wanted to hear it from you.”

  “You wanted to gloat over my small-town choice of beaus, you mean.”

  He grinned. “Well, that, too.”

  “Okay then, let’s hear about your relationships. The serious ones. Lasting more than two nights or one town.”

  Luke stretched his leg toward her extended hand, his voice tightening with the effort. “Don’t do those.”

  “You mean don’t do those anymore.” The jab left her mouth before she could catch it back. He’d been “serious” with her and they both knew it.

  It stopped Luke in his tracks, his leg dropping to the floor. “I suppose I deserved that,” he said after a long pause. “So we’re gonna talk about it, then?”

  “No,” Ruby shot back.

  * * *

  Should they talk about it? Luke knew full well the danger of opening up that can of worms. He’d loved her—as much as a seventeen-year-old boy could love anyone. He’d bucked all the put-downs from the other guys on the football team about dating “the brainiac” instead of this year’s collection of cheerleaders.

  If he and Ruby started talking about it, he’d wind up needing to apologize, and he wasn’t ready for that. Of course, he knew he’d broken her heart. But he didn’t believe he’d made the wrong decision. She wasn’t rodeo material. Even if he had taken her with him, the circuit would have eaten her alive. The press liked him much better with a rotation of pretty things hanging on each arm. According to Nolan Riggs, his agent, Luke’s good looks were an asset, and “...and he’s single, ladies!” was as much a part of his marketing as how much the camera loved his Buckton-blue eyes.

  “Okay,” he said as he took the small plastic ball she’d told him to roll under his bad foot, “so we’re not gonna talk about it. Check.”

  “Can you do that?” she asked. “Can you be decent and professional about this? Because if you can’t, we’re done right now.”

  He searched for a safer topic. “What was college like?” He knew she’d gotten into some fancy-pants accelerated program for physical therapy that got her out in fewer years.

  “I liked it. It was fun living in Austin for a while.” She pulled out some brightly colored elastic bands, wiggling her fingers through them while she decided which to use. She always did that—wiggle her fingers while she was thinking. He’d forgotten how amusing he found it.

  “But you didn’t stay?”

  She looked up at him. “I couldn’t.” She paused for a moment before she explained. “Dad.”

  How could it have slipped his mind that her father had died when they were a few years out of high school? Gran had told him. He’d sent a card or something, hadn’t he? His schedule hadn’t allowed for anything like traveling home for a friend’s dad’s funeral. Especially when he’d been certain she wouldn’t want him anywhere near her. “I knew about that. Sorry. Really.”

  She and her dad had been close. He remembered that. He’d been envious of it, as a matter of fact, given how bad things were between himself and his own father. Ruby simply nodded, and he watched her tuck her grief down inside a professional demeanor. She took back the little ball and looped a blue band around his outstretched feet. “Pull your knees apart from each other, slowly, ten times.”

  He did as she requested. It wasn’t the time for some wisecrack; obviously her dad was still a tender topic. “How’s your mom? Your grandpa?”

  She relaxed somewhat. “Grandpa’s had a rough year. He lives with Mama now. I help out as much as I can. It’s why I’m so thankful to have the practice here, where I can be nearby.”

  He hadn’t ever figured her for the kind to strike out on her own. “How’d you open your own practice?”

  Ruby spoke as he went through the exercise. “My course instructor, Lana, used to work for a firm down in Austin. When it got bought out by one of the bigger firms—that happens a lot these days—she got tired of the atmosphere and offered to set up a partnership with me.”

  He hadn’t seen this Lana nor had anyone referred him to her. “Is she here in Martins Gap now?”

  “Of course not. She’s got her own clientele back in Austin. I’m the satellite office. But she comes out once a week.” Ruby looked up, a peculiar squint to her eyes. “We collaborate on our more difficult patients.”

  “So I’ll meet her, then.” It pleased the rascal side of him to be thought of as a “more difficult patient.”

  “Not if I can help it.” She slipped the band off his knees and motioned for him to go back to the silly toe touches. “I owe Lana a great deal. I’d like to spare her your particular brand of charm if possible.”

  Luke stared at her. This new Ruby had a spine he’d never seen before. Soft as a kitten? Not Ruby Sheldon. Not anymore. As a matter of fact, he couldn’t entirely say this cat didn’t have claws. Maybe it was better if they didn’t talk about their past.

  “You like what you do? I mean, you can make a living at it, even out here?”

  “I get a lot of hours at the medical center, and I do some home health care for seniors like Grandpa to fill in the gaps. I’m not rich like some rodeo stars,” she grasped his foot and pushed it toward him, stretching out the tendon. “But I do okay. Between the two of us—Lana in Austin and me out here—we’re able make it work. I had Dad’s life insurance policy to help me get set up. Mama figured Dad would have wanted it that way. ’Course, that was before Grandpa got really sick.”

  “I’m not rolling in dough, just in case you were wondering.” He didn’t know why he said that. “Not yet, that is.”

  Ruby stopped moving his foot. “I figured. You wouldn’t be here if you had any other options.”

  Ouch. “I have options. I just wanted some quiet.”

  That made her laugh. “I have never known you to crave quiet in your entire life.”

  “Well, maybe I’ve changed since we...” He’d started a sentence that wasn’t safe to finish.

  “I certainly hope you’ve changed since you left me behind.” She gave the last three words a bitter edge.

  Double ouch. “So I guess we are gonna talk about it.”

  “No.” She pushed against his foot, harder this time, and he waited—in vain—for it to hurt. “We’re not.”

  Chapter Five

  Luke sat in his pickup in the Red Boots BBQ parking lot and watched for Ruby’s dinky little car to come up the road. They’d been through two more therapy sessions—very boring, tedious therapy session where she always seemed to know if he overdid his exercises. He was glad she gave him the Fourth of July weekend off, but even now he was itching to do something other than “push, pull, stretch, bend and balance” with her.

  When he’d left the phone message, he wasn’t quite sure she’d agree to meet him for lunch. Red Boots was a bit out of town, but the food was good and he wasn’t really ready to be seen in Martins Gap with all its peering eyes. He stood a good chance of being recognized even here, but it was the best option he could think of when Nolan called Friday and said he was coming into town today.

  So now you’re too chicken to meet your agent by yourself? Luke shifted in hi
s seat, fidgety with the unfamiliar anxiety. The old Luke Buckton was fearless, and he hated this new, nervous side of him.

  You want her opinion, he corrected himself. You need her cooperation for your plan. If she hears it from Nolan, she’ll take to it easier.

  Luke checked his watch. 11:25 a.m. Ruby was never late for anything. Luke, on the other hand, was always late for everything. Her eyes would pop out of her head to see him here a full five minutes ahead of time. Yeah, well lots of things about me have changed, he laughed to himself. He’d told Nolan to show up at noon so he’d have a chance to give Ruby a heads-up on the whole deal.

  And to head Nolan off at the pass if Ruby threw a fit, which was a distinct possibility given what he was about to propose. Time for a bit of that fearlessness, cowboy.

  Luke got out of his truck just as the sign in the Red Boots window flickered on to Open and Ruby’s car swerved into the parking lot.

  She looked him up and down as he walked over to her. He’d dressed sharp today, wanting to look on top of his game. If he didn’t feel it, at least he could look it.

  “No cane?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.

  “Flying solo today. Long as you don’t ask to hit the dance floor, I’ll be fine.” Luke gestured toward the entrance.

  “But you’re staying out of the hometown spotlight?” she replied as she began walking toward the door, a giant red wooden slab below a neon sign of a kicking boot. The establishment was about twenty minutes outside of Martins Gap.

  “I like their food here.” He kept his voice casual as he picked his way across the gravel parking lot with care.

  “You like how far out of Martins Gap that food is.” That was Ruby. It was always impossible to get anything past her.

  “I wasn’t sure you’d come,” he admitted as he grabbed the big handle and heaved the heavy door open for her. The action required more effort than he remembered. If his old weight set was still in the ranch house basement, he ought to set it up in the guesthouse. The therapy was only focusing on his legs—he shouldn’t let the rest of his body lose its training. “This isn’t exactly standard treatment protocol.”

  “Getting you up and out of the house is a good thing. And I get not wanting to do it in front of an audience.” She paused for a moment before adding, “But I did think about it before I called you back, if you want to know the truth.”

  That was Ruby—thoughtful to his impulsiveness. Dependable in all the ways he wasn’t. Mostly invisible compared to his relentless “look at me.” He told himself Nolan had been right all those years ago—she never would have been happy on the tour. “I want us to be friends,” he ventured, meaning it but understanding the surprised look it drew from her. “Think we can do that?”

  She narrowed one eye at him, that analytical look that always used to bug him so. “I don’t know.”

  “But you’re here.” That had to count for something.

  “Am I here as your therapist, your friend or the girl you used to date in high school?”

  She wasn’t the girl he used to date in high school anymore. She was older, tougher, probably wiser, but also a bit of something else he couldn’t quite put a name to just yet. He’d be lying if he said that last part didn’t make him curious. “The first two.” Luke stuffed one hand in his pocket as he took off his hat, unsure if that was the right answer. “Table for three, please,” he said to the girl who greeted them.

  “Three?” Ruby didn’t look pleased at the surprise.

  “My agent’s coming later to talk over something. I want to hear what you think—as a therapist and a friend—before I say yes.”

  She stopped following the server to glare at him. “No games, Luke.”

  “No games. I want Nolan to hear what you have to say and I want you to hear what Nolan has to say.” He pulled the chair out for her at the table. “Straight up and simple.”

  She sat down, a wary look on her face. “You don’t do straight up and simple.”

  “Let’s just say I’m trying a new tactic these days.” He sat himself down, grateful he didn’t have to maneuver his leg into a booth. Getting in wasn’t so bad, but getting out could prove a gangly hassle he wasn’t ready to attempt. “I did my exercises over the holiday weekend anyway, you know.”

  She offered him the first smile he’d seen since arriving. “Well, this is a new Luke. I hadn’t pegged you for compliance.”

  He grimaced. “I don’t take much to that word. Willing to work at it, maybe.”

  “Cooperative, then.”

  “Easygoing,” he suggested as the server brought over tall glasses of water.

  “That might be pushing it. An easygoing person would have warned me I was having lunch with your agent instead of springing it on me after I’d arrived.”

  Luke felt himself grin. When was the last time he’d done that? There was always something about Ruby, a gift she had for putting him at ease when his ambition got the better of him.

  The tour might have eaten Ruby alive, but right now he couldn’t rightly say the tour hadn’t eaten him alive without her. Riding a bull was a binary science: either you were on the bull, or you were off it. Either you rode, or you didn’t. The clean-cut nature of that world appealed to him. It was one of the reasons all this “maybe” guesswork and “let’s see how things progress” prognosis drove him crazy.

  “How have things with this Nolan fellow been since the accident?”

  Well, there was a loaded question. Luke fiddled with a packet of crackers from the bread basket. “Fine.”

  “A ‘that’s what I tell the public’ fine or truly fine?”

  “If I’m not earning, Nolan’s not earning from me. Does that answer your question?” Though the agent had a whole lineup of athletes he represented, Luke used to be one of Nolan’s top clients, getting a hefty portion of the man’s focused attention. Nolan used to return his phone calls within the hour. Now his phone calls got returned by the end of the day if he was fortunate. Friday’s phone call had been the first one Nolan had initiated in a month. He wasn’t going to share that little detail with Ruby, however. Instead, he opted for, “There’s a lot riding on whether I ride.”

  “So Nolan wants you riding again as fast as possible, I take it?”

  “Whether or not it’s what Nolan wants, it’s what I want.” Luke looked around the restaurant, just starting to fill for the lunch rush. “I’m going crazy sitting around.”

  The server took their orders. Ruby had some safe salad thing while Luke opted for the Diablo Double super spicy BBQ sandwich. Home cooking was good, but Gran needed to learn how to use hot sauce the way it was meant to be used—generously.

  “I thought you were doing your exercises. I wouldn’t call that sitting around.” She accepted her iced tea, and a basket of biscuits found its way to the center of the table.

  “Okay, I’m standing at my kitchen counter, marching and balancing on one leg. I’m used to a bit more excitement than that.”

  Ruby was quiet for a moment, and then gave Luke a direct look. “I think I’d like to hear from you first what it is Nolan is going to try to convince me to do.”

  “Nolan’s not going to try to convince you to do anything.”

  “Please,” she replied, giving Luke a dubious look. “Give me a bit more credit than that. You think I’ll take whatever scheme is in the works more seriously if I hear it from Nolan instead of from you. Mostly because you know I’m familiar with your gift for schemes. How about you just tell me? ‘Straight up’ as you say.”

  * * *

  Ruby held Luke’s gaze. Clearly Luke was up to something. That man got a gleam in his eye anyone could see a mile off when he thought he was about to get away with something.

  He was trying to play it straight, she thought. Ruby just wasn’t sure he was capable of such a thing. Then again
, he’d admitted the accident had changed him. Maybe she should give him the benefit of the doubt. It was one of the reasons she’d asked him to tell her now—she wanted to hear his version of whatever was up.

  Ruby could see him decide. She was changing his game plan, and she could literally see his brain sort through the merit of her request. You’re so used to being in control, she thought as she watched his jaw work. How does it feel to have your future in God’s hands instead of your tightfisted grasp?

  “Okay,” he said slowly. She could hear his gears turning in the tone of his answer. “So you know my accident was big news.”

  There was an “of course” in his attitude that reminded her what a monster of an ego he had. But he also wasn’t all wrong about his visibility—the photos and videos of a limp and unconscious Luke Buckton being carried from the arena had been headline footage all over Texas.

  “Well, Nolan—and folks at Pro Bull Rider magazine, it turns out—think my recovery and comeback could be just as big news. It would also keep me in the public eye until I get back up and riding.”

  Ruby knew Luke saw that issue in terms of when and until and not if, but it struck her doubly hard right now. The fire in Luke’s eyes told her the man wasn’t entertaining even the slightest notion that he wouldn’t return to the arena. That was a double-edged sword; determination could take a patient places medicine couldn’t go, but a stubborn refusal to accept limitations could make someone overpush in a way that could be equally dangerous.

  “Meaning?” She had a pretty good idea where this was going, but wanted to hear it from Luke.

  “The magazine wants to do a piece on my recovery. A couple of pieces, actually. Documenting how I heal and train. If I give them exclusive access, it could be a pretty sweet deal.”

  Ruby pictured photographers nosing in on therapy sessions while some stunning blonde reporter hung on Luke’s every word. None of it sounded like conditions she’d want to work in, much less on a case as demanding as Luke’s.