“That’s something my daddy would say.”
“I haven’t met your father yet, but my guess is he’s a smart man.”
“The smartest.”
“I’m sure the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. I bet he’s compassionate too.”
Tristan’s cheeks heated with the dressing down Liv gave her, but she didn’t argue. She was quicker to judge than she should be. She knew that.
“Neither of you is wrong,” said Lyric, walking up the porch steps. “He’s gonna have to work damn hard if he wants to catch his dreams. He knows it, and he’s prepared to do it. No matter how high the odds are stacked against him.”
“I should’ve kept my mouth shut. I hardly know him. I had no right—”
“You always have a right to express your opinion. In fact, overhearing what you said is only gonna make him try harder.”
“I doubt my opinion matters to him.”
Even as dark as it was on the porch, Tristan caught the smile that passed between Liv and Lyric.
“Someone’s lookin’ for her mama.” Ben came out on the porch, carrying Caden. Liv reached out for her, and the little girl snuggled in on her lap.
“Hello, my darling child. Do you want mama to read you a bedtime story?”
Caden shook her head from side to side. “No book. Tell a story, Mama.”
Tristan stood and went inside. Lyric followed her.
“It might make a good story,” Lyric said.
“Caden’s bedtime story?”
“No, my brother’s.”
“Oh. Well—”
“Maybe he’s the ‘Lost Cowboy’ who finds his way back. Maybe his story is exactly what your brand needs.”
“And what if he doesn’t find his way back?”
“Don’t let him know. Don’t let anyone know. Follow him yourself. See how he does.”
Tristan shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe.”
“Worth considerin’ is all I’m sayin’.”
She found the idea as intriguing as she found the man. Lyric might be on to something. The Lost Cowboy brand really was about bringing back the ideals her father and grandfather believed in. But was Bullet up for the challenge? Especially given he’d know nothing
about it. If the story was going to be authentic, he couldn’t know. No one could. Not even Lyric. Bullet needed to turn his life around for himself, not so Lost Cowboy would sponsor him. That’s the only way it would work.
1963
The cowboys who worked as ranch hands were headed to Glenwood Springs for a bull-bucking. Bill wanted to go along, but he wasn’t sure they’d let him, and he couldn’t bring himself to ask.
When he finished his afternoon chores, he thought about taking one of the horses out for a trail ride. Nobody minded if he did, but they didn’t like him to go alone. He’d have to see if there was anyone staying behind who’d go along.
He was walking past the dining hall when Sadie, the ranch cook, called out to him. “Where you off to, Billy boy?”
It drove him crazy that she called him Billy. He’d politely asked her to call him Bill, but she didn’t pay any attention to him.