Page 3 of Unyielding (Poplar Springs #3)

THREE

SHANNON

“ C an I have your attention?”

The buzz of the crowd continued where we were tightly packed inside the town hall.

After the community center burned down, there’d been some attempts at fundraisers to pay for the rebuild, but they’d all been pitifully small considering how much money was needed.

While I hadn’t attended the carnival, we’d all gone to movie night since Eli had used it as an opportunity to apologize to my sister and declare his love for her.

It’d been amazingly sweet. As happy as I was for my sister, I was also a bit jealous.

Who knew Eli Carter could be so damn romantic?

“Folks?” Sheriff Brian Thorne was standing at the podium.

Despite his polite attempts to bring the room to order, the attendees were slow to quiet down.

I kept turning this way and that, looking to see who was here.

A quiet whistle got my attention and I saw my brother and Zoe making their way down the row to take the seats I’d barely managed to save for them.

“Sorry we’re late. Anything happen yet?” Josh asked.

“No. Brian’s been trying to get everyone to shut up and— Oh, here comes Amy,” I said.

Amy Thorne was the mayor’s assistant. Given the number of sick days Bob Lumley had taken recently, it seemed like she was taking a larger role in the mayor’s office.

As far as I knew, no one had outright confronted him about what was wrong, but the older statesman had lost a lot of weight and he’d started turning a lot of his duties over to Amy.

Not that the mayor or our small city council had much in the way of official duties.

Those positions often felt more like a formality than anything else.

“Plug your ears,” Josh said. Before I could comply, an ear-splitting whistle sounded through the microphone. I looked up to see Brian grinning at Amy, who was taking her fingers out of her mouth. My brother rubbed his ears. “One of these days, she’s going to blow out someone’s eardrum.”

“Great. Now that we have your attention. If you folks would please find seats or stand along the walls so we can keep the center aisle clear, and we’ll get this meeting started,” Brian announced before adjusting the microphone height for Amy.

“Where’s the mayor?” someone called out.

“Yeah, where’s Bob Lumley?”

A few other questions were tossed out. Our sheriff held up his hand for quiet. Once everyone settled, Amy set her tablet down on the podium and tapped the mic.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming out here tonight. The meeting is being recorded and we’ll have a link up on the town website for anyone who couldn’t make it.

As to Mayor Lumley, unfortunately, he had an emergency that he needed to attend to,” she said by way of apology, then waited while the grumbles died down.

Bob Lumley and his family were a fixture in Poplar Springs since almost as far back as the Caffertys and Thornes went.

It was rare not to see him around town, but after that big storm when we’d had all those lightning strikes, his appearances had become infrequent.

He still made an attempt to attend the Cattlemen’s meetings, but he often left early.

“Do you think he’s okay?” Josh whispered to me and I shrugged.

“See if Brian knows. He’s more likely to tell you than me.” Even though our sheriff was in Fiona’s class at school, along with his twin, Jake, he was better friends with Josh. Maybe because they’d all been on the football team together.

“I wanted to thank all those who submitted ideas for fundraisers to rebuild the community center and the surrounding area. We sat down with our city council and looked over all the ideas and we wanted to let you know where things stand.” By city council, Amy was referring to the other two Bobs—McCall and Jackson.

All three men had been referred to as the “three Bobs” since I was a child. Not that any of them minded.

“In order to raise the largest amount of money in the shortest time, we’re thinking we’d like to hold a weekend rodeo and—” before Amy could continue, the buzz in the room turned into a low roar as everyone talked at once.

I’d been to a few rodeos growing up. Raising warmbloods and light horses, both of which were often featured, attending was almost a necessity.

Some of my mom’s horses had gone on to compete in barrel racing and roping.

“Huh,” Josh said. “This would be a good business opportunity for us and a lot of the other ranchers in the area.” I agreed. My mind was churning at the potential to bring in new clients both for our trail rides and my breeding program.

A whistle pierced the room again and everyone quieted down.

“I’m happy to see how excited you all are.

There will be plenty of time for discussion of the specifics later.

But thanks to everyone’s favorite history teacher, Rafael Alvarez—” Whistles and catcalls went around the room and Mr. Alvarez stood up and waved before sitting back down.

“—it looks like we might be able to bring in two international rodeo competitors: Tanner Greene and Cal Pierce.”

The buzzing and mumbles rose again and I looked over at Josh and Zoe. “Have you heard of either of them?” Zoe had her phone out and was scrolling away.

“Looks like Greene is a bronco rider, but he’s currently on the injured list, and Pierce is a roper,” Zoe told us, her forehead wrinkling. “Whatever that is.” Before Josh could answer, Amy started talking again.

“Right now, we’re still in the middle of discussions with both men, but the plan is to have the rodeo in the spring.

We’ll be adding more town meetings over the next few months while we work out all the details.

Everyone is invited to attend and participate.

This is a great opportunity for Poplar Springs, not only to build us a new community center, but also to increase tourism and potential new business for everyone in the area.

” Amy looked at her watch and grimaced. I knew she had a young son waiting for her at home, and I wondered if she was hoping to wrap this up quickly so she could get back to him.

Fat chance there. Looking around, I could see that some folks were practically vibrating in their eagerness to be heard.

“All right. Questions?”

The question-and-answer session went on for almost thirty minutes. During it, Fiona and Eli slid down the row to join us.

“A rodeo?” Eli said with one eyebrow higher than the other. Fiona was all smiles, so they, too, must be thinking about the potential for more trail rides with the influx of folks that would inevitably arrive.

Josh was sitting back with one leg over the other and his arm around Zoe.

“This will be great for the whole area. All the neighboring communities will be able to take part in it too. Plus, it’ll give us a chance to look at some of the new stock that’s sure to be around.

Rodeos can include livestock auctions as part of the different events tied to the actual competition. ”

I tried not to bristle at that. With the trail riding side of Lost Valley’s business doing so well, Josh had been talking about adding horses so they could increase the number of riders at a time, but I had other plans for any extra money we might have, and now was not the time to bring those up.

As the meeting drew to a close, I said goodbye to my siblings and ducked out before everyone left.

I could understand all the excitement over a rodeo coming to our small town but at the same time, I couldn’t help worrying a little for myself.

I had goals of my own that involved getting a sizable sum of money from my brother.

But looking at him during the meeting, it was clear he was already contemplating other ideas.

I needed to get his agreement sooner rather than later.

The survival of Lost Valley’s breeding program depended on it.