“Can you handle giving up all that control?”
Ben threw his head back, in that way he did, and laughed. “For an hour or two, probably my limit.”
“I’ll be riding and working with Micah most of the day. Jolene has a horse whisperer approach she wants me to try. But it’s gotta be me doing it. He only responds to me.”
“Kinda like me.”
Liv was lost in thought about Micah, and what they needed to work on. He went left, every time. Right he hesitated, yet all her instincts told her to push him that way. Even that split-second hesitation carried tension into her shoulders. That’s what they needed to focus on today.
She realized Ben watched her, smiling. “Where’d you go?”
She felt the warmth in her cheeks. “Turn two.”
“I like you this way. All sweet and cowgirly.”
&
nbsp; “Never underestimate a cowgirl, Ben. We’re rarely sweet.”
Liv jumped out of the Ben’s truck, waving her hand as she walked away. She never looked back. It was a little thing, but he started to realize she did it every time. Most people looked back. She never did.
He drove to the outskirts of town and found a shady place to sit for a while. He wanted to finish the song he started this morning.
When he went to check the time, Ben remembered he broke his phone last night. Shit. He better get to town and get a replacement, but he doubted there’d be anything in Woodward. He’d have to go farther, maybe back to Hope. He needed to check in with the band, his kids, and his parents. When he left yesterday morning, he hadn’t told anyone where he was going, considering he hadn’t known that part himself.
The first call he made was to Jimmy. They wouldn’t head back out on the road until Tuesday morning, but he needed to be home sometime tomorrow to pack things up and get ready.
“Where are you again?” Jimmy asked.
“Woodward, Oklahoma.”
“I don’t even wanna ask.”
“Yeah, there’s not much here, except a rodeo. And pheasant hunters.”
“Huh?”
When Ben was brushing his teeth that morning he’d noticed the sign over the sink that said, “No cleaning pheasants in sink.” It stuck with him, might be a song in there somewhere.
“Whatever, nevermind that. When are you coming back?”
“I was wondering if you guys could handle packing up for next week?” Ben wanted to stay through the end of the rodeo on Sunday night to watch Liv wrap up her first showing. He’d drive back Monday, and meet up with them.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Ben heard the hesitation in Jimmy’s voice. “What?”
“Nothin’. Can’t say no, since you never ask. What’s so important in middle-a-nowhere Oklahoma?”
Ben hesitated.
“Oh. No.”
“What?”
“It’s her, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, whatever. See you Monday night.” Ben ended the call.