To Hope by Carolyn Brown

Author:Carolyn Brown [Brown, Carolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781477813096
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Published: 2012-11-20T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Jodie looked down at her castless arm. The skin looked like it needed a major scrubbing to get rid of the scales and her wrist was stiff. She’d almost panicked until the doctor assured her that three or four weeks of therapy would put the movement range back into play.

“I know these exercises look silly but they’ll work. That and your everyday life. Brushing your hair. Buttoning a coat. Tying your shoes. It’s all therapy. You’ll be surprised by how much the muscle will return in a few weeks. Are you planning on riding this season?” the doctor asked.

She held up the hand and stared at it glumly. “No. Are you sure that this is going to work again?”

“I’m very sure.”

An hour later she was dressed and in the judges’ box at the Yuma Jaycee’s Silver Spur Rodeo. February in Yuma was a pleasant change after Denver and Lincoln where they’d frozen in the snow drifts. The temperature was a nice seventy-five degrees and Jodie had worn a pink Western shirt with fitted sleeves, slim-fitting jeans, and her highly polished eel cowboy boots. She’d tried to sweep her hair up into a twist but the left hand refused to cooperate so it hung loose, framing her face.

Jimmy had a camera slung around his neck and a clipboard in his hands, taking notes and snapping pictures alternately. He’d left his boots at the hotel, along with the warm socks. He loved the weather. Maybe someday he’d relocate to Yuma. According to the Internet it was one of the fastest growing towns in the United States. Most likely that was due to the weather which was a wonderful change from all that snow and ice in the north. He aimed the camera at the judges’ box and took another picture of Jodie. She’d been so disappointed in her wrist that afternoon. If he could’ve brought down a miracle from heaven he would have done so and made it perfect in an instant.

The gate opened and the first rider and bull exploded from the chute. Almost a ton of black rage tried to get rid of the man on his back. The rider slipped after three seconds and touched the bull with his free hand. In the next second the bull changed directions and the rider landed in a puff of dust. The bull fighters kept the animal occupied while the rider dusted himself off and stood to the applause of the crowd.

At the end of the evening he expected Jodie to want to go to breakfast with her friends, but she surprised him when she wanted to go back to the hotel. At midnight they were sitting in her room eating fried chicken from Wal-Mart.

“You’re moody tonight,” he said.

“I am not!”

“Then why aren’t we in a pancake house with a bunch of people?”

“Because I didn’t want pancakes. I wanted fried chicken and potato salad.” She wasn’t about to tell him her true feelings. The past few days have been wonderful but she had spent very little of it with him.

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