“This is where the others get their materials. You’ll test at the school here too.” They stopped by the office and registered Bill for independent study. With as many ranches as there were in this part of Colorado, home-schooling was common.
Each day, Bill was expected to get up at dawn and do his chores, which had been greatly reduced. When he finished, he was expected to work on his lessons. Clancy would come back to the house they shared, have lunch, and review Bill’s work. If there was anything Bill didn’t understand, he had an hour of Clancy’s time to go over it. There was more schoolwork to do in the early afternoon, and then Bill was expected to do his afternoon chores.
Around six in the evening, he’d meet Clancy and the rest of the cowboys at the dining hall for dinner. After dinner, Bill had free time. He’d stopped writing a letter to his mama every night. Instead, he used the time for reading or getting ahead on his lessons.
It wasn’t long before he’d made up the two years he’d missed and was close to a full year ahead of his age level.
It had been embarrassing every time he showed up at the school and they’d asked what level he was there to test for. Now, when they asked, he’d be able to hold his head high.
His grades were good too. He and Clancy had even started talking about colleges, although Bill didn’t see how it would be possible for him to go. It wasn’t just a question of how he’d be able to be away from the ranch, there was also the cost of it.
“You could get on a rodeo team,” one of the cowboys told him at dinner.
“What are you talkin’ about?”
“You aren’t good enough now, but if you’re willin’ to put the time in, Western State has a good team.”
“For what?”
“Junior Rodeo,” he answered, as though Bill was a complete dumbass.
Bill had been getting on some of the smaller bulls and broncs for a few months. At first it had been on a dare, but he took to it like a fish to water. He didn’t have the money to enter any rodeos, but he still practiced whenever they had free time on the ranch.
To him, there wasn’t anything like the thrill he felt when he heard the bell ring, indicating he’d stayed on a bull for the full eight seconds.
He was getting pretty good at bareback bronc riding, and he wasn’t half bad at tie-down roping. Usually, to compete in the all-around competitions, a cowboy had to focus on roping, either tie-down or team roping, and steer wrestling, but the requirement was to compete in at least two events.
Bareback bronc riding and bull riding worked, and if he added the tie-down roping, he’d be well-qualified. Was it really something he could do in college? It didn’t seem possible.
“That’s right,” Sadie, the cook, said, overhearing their conversation. “My niece goes to Western State. You remember Misty, don’t ya?”
Bill nodded that he did, although it wasn’t Misty he thought about from time to time; it was her sister, Dottie. And he thought about her more than from time to time.
Dottie and Misty came back to the ranch one more year. After that he’d heard Sadie say that the girls had gotten involved in so many activities at home, they didn’t have time to visit. Instead, she’d visit them in Gunnison, where her sister lived. Whenever she came back, she’d tell Bill that Dottie had asked after him.
“You should write her a letter,” Sadie told him.
He would, but he wouldn’t know the first thing he’d say to her if he did.
“I think she’s considerin’ Western State, too.”
She was? That changed everything.
“What’s so interestin’ to you about college all of a sudden?” Clancy asked.
“Just wanna better myself is all.”
The phone rang and Clancy stood to answer it. There was only one phone in the ranch house, and it was in the kitchen. Bill was in earshot, and he didn’t like the tone in Clancy’s voice.
8
“I can’t wait either; it seems as though it’s been months since I’ve been to Crested Butte. Does that sound crazy? It’s only been three weeks,” Tristan said to Liv.
“I know. I’ve been pestering Ben incessantly about getting you back out here.”
The two spoke a couple of times a week since Tristan left Colorado, although in the last few days, it had become daily. The two talked a lot about barrel racing, so much so that Tristan was beginning to miss it.
For the longest time barrel racing had reminded her of things, and people, she’d as soon forget. She talked about the sport with Liv, not the life