“Thanks.” Kyle opened an icy can of Bud Light and sat on the picnic table bench seat. He sighed. “I needed that.”
“I imagine so. What’s up with Hank? He okay?”
“Concussion. Bruised sternum. They’re keeping him overnight.”
“He’s damn lucky.” Breck leaned over and toasted Kyle. “Then again, so are you.”
“Don’t I know it. Crazy man saved my life.”
Breck shrugged. “I ain’t bein’ a dick when I say it’s his job and what he signed on for.”
Kyle chose not to respond concerning what he saw as the differences between what most bullfighters did and what Hank had done.
“What’s the diagnosis on your ridin’ arm?”
“Sore as f**kin’ hell.”
“So you’re ridin’ tomorrow night?”
“Yep. Wouldn’t you?”
“Yep.”
Kyle sipped his beer and glanced at the mostly dark campsite. “Quiet night for a two-day event.”
“Most people are grabbing shut-eye while they can. We’ll all be back on the road tomorrow night.”
“Where you headed?”
“Council Oaks, Idaho. Then Red City. There’s a good eight, nine days of action in Idaho and Oregon.” Breck pushed his hat up on his forehead a little higher. “What about you?”
“We were gonna swing down through Jackson Hole. Pick up a few events in the western side of Wyoming and then Utah before we hit Colorado.” Kyle fiddled with the metal tab on his beer can. “Now I ain’t sure what’ll happen, bein’s Hank has to return to Muddy Gap to recover.”
“No bullfightin’ at all?”
“Guess not.” Hank had no stake in finishing out Cowboy Christmas. The real payday for him would be getting selected to work in the EBS.
“Still don’t answer my question. What’re you gonna do?”
“Since it’s Hank’s rig and camper, I reckon I’ll go back to Wyoming. Figure out what to do from there.”
“Or if you wanna keep up the winning momentum, you can hit the road with me,” Breck offered.
Whoa. That’d come out of left field, as so many things had today. Not just getting hung up on the bull, or Hank’s going above and beyond to save his sorry ass. But seeing Lainie’s reaction to Hank’s injury. Mostly seeing Lainie’s reaction to Hank. And how Hank reacted to her. Like she was everything.
When an hour passed and he hadn’t heard from Lainie after she’d gone to the exam rooms, Kyle had sweet-talked the nurse into letting him sneak back there. Damned ironic, after all the threesomes they’d been in, that he’d felt like a f**king peeping Tom, watching them together from a crack in the curtains.
Kyle had left the hospital immediately afterward. At loose ends, he’d sat alone in the camper, contemplating his options before wandering over here.
“No big deal if you’d rather pass,” Breck said, breaking Kyle’s melancholy.
“It’s not that. What about Lee?”
Breck sighed. “He’s already gone home. He ain’t won money in the last fifteen stops, so he’s hanging it up for this year. Feels guilty bein’ away from his wife and baby girl.”
“I would too. I ain’t gonna spend my life on the road, but after spending last year sitting out, I missed it. Guess that means I’m not done with it neither.”
“Good to hear. So’s that a yes?”
“Yep.”
The pinched look vanished from Breck’s face. Smiling, he flipped open the cooler lid and fished out two cold beers. “Next case is on you, partner.”
Hank snarled when fingers prodded his head, waking him up for the millionth time. He bit out, “Jesus, I’m fine,” and squeezed his eyes shut against the intrusive light burning his eyeballs.
The nurse chuckled. “Open your eyes so I can check them and I’ll go away.”
Muttering, he complied.
“You’re due for more medication if you want it.”
His entire body throbbed. As he started to deny his need for it, Lainie spoke.
“Just give it to him. He’s been restless the last hour. And he won’t ask for it.”
Hank looked at Lainie, sitting in a chair beside his bed, her fingers threaded through his. The poor woman was exhausted. Dark circles beneath her eyes were the only color on her pale face. But she still looked beautiful to him.
She smiled wanly. “See? If I order it, you still get to be the macho tough guy.”
The nurse snorted. “Cowboy, she’s definitely got your number.”
“Goes with the territory,” Lainie said. She and the nurse chatted in medical jargon that made no sense to him. But Hank was just content to listen to Lainie’s soft voice. Content that she was here by his side.
After the nurse left, Lainie stood. “I need to stretch my legs and use the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
“Lainie, darlin’. That chair can’t be comfortable to sleep in. You don’t have to stay here all night.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Then why did you ask me to stay tonight if you didn’t want me here?”
He froze. “What? I asked you?”
“You don’t remember?”
Hank shook his head.
Her eyes searched his. “What do you remember?”
“You bein’ with me in the ER. Coming up here. Then the nurses waking me all the damn time.”