Page 14 of The Wildest Ride

Gran shook her head. “Nonsense. You’ve beaten him tons of times.”

“That’s at home, with you as my judge, on baby bulls they were paying us to break. Completely different. Nobody beats Garza in competition. That’s the whole reason he’sAJ Garza.”

Gran tsked. “That’s not true—you regularly got higher scores in the Indian rodeos you rode in. Besides, you’ve got no choice. We’re going to lose Swallowtail otherwise.”

Lil frowned. “That’s exactly why we need to stop this and come up with a real plan.”

Gran gave her an arch look. “Myplan is plenty real, young lady. You don’t have to win the buckle. You just have to get enough money for a down payment and a cushion to make those monthly payments. Remember how I used to tell you that there was always going to be another rodeo?”

Lil mostly recalled that Gran had seen right through her adolescent attempts to use rodeo as an excuse to get out of doing homework, but she nodded.

“Well, that’s not true anymore. Not for you, and not for the ranch.”

“Gran. I’m not even going to make it in. Spending money on the entry fee and travel is wasteful when money’s as important as it is now.”

Gran crossed her arms in front of her chest and cocked her head to the side. “If you thought you could change my mind, then why have you been practicing all this time?”

Piper chimed in, “Up and at it pretty early, too.”

Gran smiled. “‘Run to beat the sun and the day is yours.’”

Lil’s answering smile was a small one, but enough to crack through the concrete of her face.

The phrase had been one of her granddad’s favorites.

Shaking the smile off, though, she said, “Change your mind? Never. Might’ve been hoping you’d come to your senses.” And because she couldn’t help herself, she added, “It was a better idea before AJ Garza.”

“I never knew you to be afraid of riding with the boys before...”

Lil’s eyes narrowed. “That’s low and obvious, Gran.”

“Sure is.”

They glared at one another until Tommy, entering the barn with a folded black bundle, coughed. “Hate to interrupt cousin Lilian making an ass of herself,” he said, “but I’ve got the thing, Gran.”

Gran’s entire demeanor changed. Her attention zeroed in on the bundle and her shoulders lifted, chest filling with air, eyes crinkling. She stretched her arms toward it. “Well, bring it over!”

Tommy and the bundle made their way to stand at Gran’s right hand, a smug smile plastered on his face.

Gran took the bundle and held it up.

Then Lil’s breath caught in her throat as the bundle was revealed. “Gran...” she whispered.

Gran raised an eyebrow. “Not bad if I do so say myself.”

Lil’s expression didn’t falter though tears sprang up in her eyes. She cleared her throat before she asked, “When?”

“Took it out the same day I showed you the flyer. You missed the commotion, holed up in the office as you were. Had Tommy get up in the attic and the damn fool fell while he was up there.”

Tears threatening to turn her into a soup sandwich, Lil brought a hand up to cover her mouth. “I love it.”

Gran went on, ignoring the sheen of tears as she knew her granddaughter would want, “I did the beading, replaced the ribbons, and took it in a bit for you.”

Lil swiped escaping tears from her cheeks with the back of a dusty hand. “It’s perfect.”

“You always cared about how you looked for competition.”

Lil grinned and pulled her grandmother into a hug, and whispered a quiet “thanks” into the top of her short gray hair.