Out of nowhere I had decided to start packing up some of my stuff that had started to make it look cluttered. Things were already tough from the weekend, and I had the fat lip to prove it. Things had gone wrong at rodeo, and she had made a fool of herself. Not only was the e-mail from her ex boyfriend a complete shock, but she had taken his invite up and had gone. My boyfriend was great about the situation and let me go with no questions asked besides “How’d he do today?”, “Did you have fun?”, and “Did Laney behave?”

Laney was my best friend who had her rough times with guys. She had the moments of throwing her whole heart into them, and then getting hurt in the end. She was from California and wanted a cowboy. I still had no idea why, but after growing up with them I knew exactly why she shouldn’t have one. After the adventure at the ranch I gave my whole heart away to one, and got a lot in return including hurt. He was the reason we went to the rodeo.

Saturday was the first day, and we were naturally late and missed his first event. The only event we saw that day was bareback riding. Brayden was the first one out of the bucking chutes, which made me a nervous wreck. This was why I didn’t watch any of my boy’s rodeo, because it was higher than a 50/50 chance that they’d get hurt. Sure enough his form was looking good as he came out of the chute.

I caught myself biting my nails till they hurt. Then the bad happened. He came off the wrong side and got hung up. The rescue rider about stomped him trying to get him off, and the bronc still bucking with Brayden hanging off the side. He had finally got loose, and I felt a wave of relief when he made it back to the chutes safe.

Once done he came back to the stands where Laney and I were waiting. I couldn’t help myself but run to him, and give him a hug that was extremely needed. When I had first seen him that day I squeezed to tight because I was so excited. That was the other time I had forgotten about his broken ribs. Course I know it couldn’t have felt too good with 112 pounds slamming against them when I jumped on him. At that point I didn’t care if his girlfriend had seen or not.