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Reba called Dolly to let her know what was going on. She was glad when Dolly shouted, “That’s a load of horseshit.” It felt good that her sister had her back.

“What are you going to do?” Dolly said, immediately meeting her at the beer tent.

“I’ve half a mind to just up and quit,” Reba said. “But aside from this recent nonsense, I really did like this job.”

“Do you want me to ask around to other rodeos?” Dolly asked.

“I can do that myself,” Reba said. “I’m pissed off, but I’m not at that level of pissed off just yet. If worst comes to worst, I can always ask Lou if he wants to hire me on. Maybe even Shane’s family would be interested in having me on staff.”

Her heart fluttered a little at the thought of going back to Montana.

“Honey, I don’t think either one of them can afford a full-time vet. You’d be back to traveling around the states going to various rodeos, filling in when needed.”

Just what she didn’t want to do. Go backwards. She was not going back to an office. That was for damned sure.

“Keep your head down. Do the job they want you to do. They’re not going to cut your salary, are they?”

“Diane didn’t mention it.”

“Then suck it up for a few weeks and do the grunt work. They’ll put you back in the lab when the other doc gets sick of covering for you.”

“I guess you’re right,” Reba grumbled. It still pissed her off, though. This had been her dream job and one little stumble had turned it into a nightmare. She had to wonder, though, if there was something bigger going on that she wasn’t aware of. She walked back to the veterinary trailer to grab her purse that she had left inside before going home to her kitten-less RV. She missed the little fuzz balls already.

She opened the trailer door and Dr. Victor turned in surprise. “What are you doing back here?”

“Just getting my purse. I’m on call tonight anyway while everyone’s packing up to leave. Did you get roped into checking the results?”

“Yeah, they’re still working.” The in-house testing that they did took a few hours.

“Can you let me know when they’re done?”

Victor shook his head. “Diane asked me not to share them with anyone, but I’m sure you can call her tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah,” Reba said, stuffing down the frustration. “Have a nice night.” She didn’t want to take out her bad mood on him. It wasn’t his fault she had been taken off the testing.

She was surprised to see Dolly still waiting outside for her.

“I’ve got to go and get some action shots of Sverre,” she said. “Jackson Blevins wants to put some videos out on YouTube. I guess he’s trying to mitigate the bad press. At least, I hope so,” Dolly muttered.

“Let’s take the golf cart,” Reba said, snatching the keys. Since she was on call, she wanted to have her kit with her in case something exciting happened. Although, they all could probably do with a little less excitement around here.

“It’s a shit show tonight,” Dolly said sadly.

In the after hours of the rodeo, there was usually a party atmosphere. But tonight, there was a solemn pall over everything.

“A few of the cowboys started a small bonfire and a bunch of people are toasting Ronnie Sunderland and sharing stories.”

“That’s nice,” Reba said.

“And then there’s the dumbasses who are picking fights with each other and grieving that way.”

“It’s understandable,” Reba said.

“It’s dangerous, that’s what it is.” Dolly wrapped her sweater around herself and shuddered. “Poor Vanessa. Poor Ronnie.”

“Poor Shane.”

“Him, too.” Dolly sighed. “This really sucks. Especially, when I think about LeAnn riding a bull.”