Take It Back

by Scarlett Brooks

  "Well what just going have to hope that it’s an abscess. Because you're right I'm in no state to do some sort of field surgery. I wish I would've looked at this little bit closer before I left this morning, but I was distracted." She shook her head looking annoyed with herself.

  "Distracted how?” I asked playfully.

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Let's go start with these vaccinations and the calves. Then we can handle the surgery if it's necessary. I mean until we get eyes on the beast we’re not going to know what we’re dealing with."

  I finished the coffee I had in my hand and chucked it in a garbage bin before grabbing the two off of the stands. She laughed at me and I shrugged. "Sounds like it's going to be a long day, we're going to need these."

  She nodded to me and I followed her off to the patients.

  4

  Hunter

  I couldn't believe how lucky I got. There was a veterinarian on site at the Austin rodeo. And my horse Loki definitely was having some trouble. I had him seen by a vet a couple weeks ago. He’d taken a look at him but he couldn't really figure out what was wrong. He was some small town, mostly small animal vet. And he didn't have a lot of equine experience. So as much as I appreciated his opinion, I knew Loki needed another appointment. But the organizers of the rodeo said that there was going to be a large animal vet on-site to take a look at anybody we wanted. It wasn't like money was an issue for me. If she said that he needed surgery, he needed surgery. That was an advantage of being a pro, I had huge sponsorships. Large businesses who threw money my way for whatever I needed. And I lived far below my means. So really, anything I wanted, I could have. It was all part of the rodeo life.

  I tried to be patient as I waited for vet. But Loki had been stumbling more and more and I was concerned that she was going to tell me he was going to be lame forever. I wouldn’t put him through the pain, especially with all the travel that we did together, it just wouldn't be fair to him. It would kill me to do it but I had to do what was best for him. He was my buddy after all, we'd been together for nearly eight years. My other horse, Juniper, was a younger filly. She was still full of life, and luckily didn't have any of the issues that he was suffering from. She would be lonely without him, but living the rodeo life, she had a lot of horse friends. Still didn't make the decision any easier though.

  A couple of the other cowboys were going to get some lunch, a local barbecue joint but I continued to wait. It had gotten pretty quiet around the arena by the time the vet and what looked like her assistant made their way to me.

  The vet herself, Gwen something, was pretty enough. But she had nothing on the other girl that she had with her.

  Long brown hair with beautiful curls, piercing brown eyes and perfectly puckered sweetheart lips. She had legs for days and a tiny little waist that matched. She was exactly my type. Except for one problem, anytime I tried to smile at her, she just scowled at me.

  "So talk to us about what's going on with Loki here. The manager said he’d lame?"

  I nodded, trying to pull my eyes away from her assistant.

  “Well can you walk him out and back for us?"

  "Yes ma'am." I grabbed Loki’s rope from his halter and we walked up and down past some of the paddocks. Other horses stuck their heads out to see what was going on, they were a nosy bunch.

  The other girl took some video and then as I walked back close to them she set her phone down, putting in her back pocket before coming up to Loki and rubbing him on the forehead. She began to diagnose him, apparently she wasn’t an assistant after all. "He's definitely lame. How long has he been like this? And how much swelling do you notice after he's been out for the day?"

  She walked along his neck with her fingers dragging along his brown hair. She touched his mane a few times before she made her way to his hindlegs and ran her hands down the swollen parts near his hoof.

  "A few weeks I guess. It's hard to tell, he doesn't get ridden very much during the season. He's not a rodeo horse, just a trail horse that I keep for fun. He's my buddy." I said as I put my hand on his muzzle.

  The other vet, Gwen, spoke again, "We’re actually going to need to do some x-rays. Do you have a trailer? Can you get him over to my clinic?"

  I nodded. "Yeah whatever you need."

  "Perfect, Cara here will get the particulars done with you. I need to finish the rounds here before I meet you guys back there. It's not close to here forewarning, it's going to be a bit of a drive. Cara, maybe could ride with him? I know people who aren't locals sometimes have the tendency to miss the exit, the GPS isn't super reliable around here." She added looking at the other girl.

  The beauty, whose name I now assumed was Cara, smiled back at her. "Of course. We'll get him loaded up and we’ll meet you back there. I can even get the x-ray started if you need me to. There should be a couple techs at the office anyway."

  The veterinarian nodded and then she shook my hand. "We'll do whatever we can for him, but if he requires surgery, it's probably best to stay back at the clinic."

  "That's fine. I'll be here all week for the rodeo. And if he needs to stay longer than that, it's not a problem. Money is not an issue."

  "Sounds good. I guess I'll see the two of you later."

  Gwen picked up a backpack and wandered away, dust kicking up around her cowgirl boots. I was impressed. She was efficient and clearly knew her way around horses. But she wasn't the one who's attention I really wanted to get. Cara continued to examine Loki, running her hands over every inch of his body. I assumed she was looking for other swollen hotspots. But as she bent over, the view of her in jeans and boots was perfection. So I didn't interrupt her to tell her that he didn't have any other swollen areas. She could figure that out on her own. Besides the more I let her handle the horse, the longer that we would be spending time together. And I wanted to get to know more about this cowgirl.

  "So it's Cara?"

  I asked her as she stood up again.

  "Yeah," she smiled. "I'm a veterinary student at Gwen’s clinic. I do an independent study there. But I promise you I have a lot of experience with horses, and really I could do the x-rays on my own. But I think since you're part of a larger contract Gwen just wants to make sure you're well taken care of...I don't think I caught your name though." She said looking at me slightly confused.

  "Oh, it's Hunter. Hunter Lewis."

  "It's nice to meet you Hunter." She said it so politely and then focused her attention back on Loki. That wasn’t the usual response I got from people in the horse world.

  "You don't know who I am, do you?"

  She shook her head. "I assume the way that you said that, you're probably some rodeo star. But I don't follow rodeo at all. So to me you're just another horse owner."

  Ouch. She was cold as ice. She was not going to be some easy conquest like other buckle bunnies were. I was surprised though, clearly she knew big animals, and obviously we were in Texas, but she didn't like the rodeo?

  "So what's wrong with the rodeo?" I asked her probably in a more accusing tone that I should've.

  "I didn't say anything was wrong with the rodeo."

  "You didn't have to say it."

  "I don't have any issues with the rodeo. On the other hand I do have issues with people who expect me to know who they are just because they're famous in their industry."

  Another burn. This girl was no joke. I had expected her to be soft and sweet and instead she was fiery. This was only adding to my interest. She was exactly my type of girl.

  "I guess I shouldn't have expected you to know that. Just like I wouldn't know who some famous veterinarian was. Fair enough. But it seems like we're going to be stuck together for most of the day so tell me a little bit about yourself."

  She walked back up to Loki's halter and rubbed his face again and started to pull him towards her. "We can talk about it on the ride. It's nearly an hour from here. Which one is your trailer?"

  I took Loki's rope from her and led both the horse and Cara ove
r towards my truck. The trailer was already open and ready, since my other horse was already in a paddock. I didn't have a problem driving an hour to drop Loki off. But once I got there I would have to turn right back around in order to be back for the rodeo on time tonight. I felt bad that I was going to have to abandon him, but I didn't really have much of a choice. In order to keep my sponsors happy I had to keep roping and riding.

  I walked Loki over to the trailer nice and slow, he certainly wasn't the type of horse that was easy to load if I made him go too fast. But if I kept it nice and slow and easy, he would move. At a snail's pace, but he would move. She opened up the trailer door and laid down the ramp, I walked in first pulling on his rope but he wasn't having it today.

  "Go on Loki. Just a little further," she encouraged him.

  I wasn't sure if it was the fact that he knew that he was going to the vet, or that he didn't know her well, but he was not listening.

  I moved very close to his face and began to whisper to him. Trying to encourage him to get into the trailer and not put up much of a fuss. Slowly but surely he took one step at a time until finally she was able to pull up the ramp. I tied them up inside the trailer and walked up behind him closing the door and latching it.

  "He doesn't like the trailer much, does he?" She asked me.

  "It's not his favorite, no. Which is hard because we're always on the road."

  I walked around the side of the truck with her and opened the door offering her the passenger seat. She took my hand in order to climb in, and I felt a surge of electricity pass between us. She looked at me straight in the eye and I knew she felt it too. But just as quickly as I had felt it, she turned away. This girl had built up walls. I couldn't tell if she had been hurt before, or if she just wasn't interested. If it was the second, I would change her mind.

  I walked around the truck and on the other side. Driving off from the arena I could see the dust enveloping the trailer, until we got onto the main road. We had to drive nearly the entire way around Austin to get to the clinic, but it would give me an opportunity to get to know Cara a little bit better. And I was looking forward to that.

  5

  Cara

  I tried not to fidget in my seat as I sat next to Hunter Lewis, apparently some type of rodeo professional. But the only thing that I had noticed about him so far, was how good looking he was. I knew that I should be focusing on my career, and he definitely wasn't my type, but part of me didn't care. How sweet he had been loading the horse, it showed me that maybe I had judged him too harshly. Maybe he had more than one side to him. Sure a rodeo asshole was one of them, but maybe there were other facets to his personality. And if nothing else those blue eyes were drawing me in, in a way that I couldn't deny. It was magnetic.

  His flannel shirt and his tight jeans, a cowboy hat sitting on top of his head. He was really selling the whole Texas vibe.

  “So this is all you do? Rodeo?” I asked trying to fill the space between us.

  “All I do? This is my job. I participate in every season. This is how I make money, and the way I love to live. I get to see the entire country and get paid to do it, how many people get to say that? And spend time around incredible animals and brave people. It's not a bad gig. I'm sure you feel similarly about being a veterinarian. It's something that you really want.”

  “How do you know that?” I knew I was kind of grilling him but I didn't care. I wanted to know what he thought about me, how he was reading me so well.

  “Nobody spends that long in school for something they’re not passionate about.”

  That was a fair assessment. “But also you were good with my horse. That makes it easy. And I can tell that you are ready for more responsibility, because you told your boss back there you basically don't even need her to come to do the X-ray. So you're trying to make a name for yourself. You and I aren't that different, as much as you would not like to admit that.”

  “And how do you know that I wouldn't want the two of us to be similar?” I spat back at him. He didn't know me. He knew nothing about me besides the fact that I could take care of a horse. And yet he was making these assumptions!

  “Because you think I'm a bad boy. And you consider yourself a good girl. You think that we’re from opposite sides of the track, but I can smell the hard work on you. I know that your life has not been easy. And that impresses me. Anyone who can work hard and meet their goals impresses me. Is that so bad?”

  I didn't answer him. We continued to drive in silence for a while. I had just met him and yet he was right about everything. My parents had divorced when I was a kid, and my dad was never in the picture. It wasn't anyone's fault, and I didn't blame anyone for it. But it didn't make it any easier to grow up without a father. And my mom had trouble affording college for me, so I worked the whole time. It was why I wanted to do the independent study instead of being out of regular veterinarian school. I really lucked out on that one, I was getting paid to learn. But I did have to work hard, for everything. And maybe Hunter had to.

  Sometimes I needed to let go of my walls. Allow people in. Because the further that I pushed them away, the more I was worried that I would never come back to a social life as I got older. I looked out the window trying to pretend to give him directions but he knew that he had hit a nerve.

  “Hey maybe that was a bit harsh of me. Let me make it up to you. I have to head right back to the arena after I drop you and Loki off. But tonight I will be at a local bar, the 4Bs? Have you heard of it?”

  “Yeah, it's a cowboy bar. Southern side of town, but it has decent drinks. I mean don't drink anything from the well, but some of their more expensive stuff is okay. And they have really good potato skins.”

  “Will you meet me there? Let me buy you a drink? I promise that I'll show you we're more alike than you think.”

  I didn't answer him as we pulled off the exit towards the clinic. I gave him further instructions as to where to pull the trailer around to. But just as we were unloading his horse I changed the subject back to the bar.

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “You will? Good. How’s nine? I have to ride a bull before that.”

  “We’ll see. But good luck tonight. Don’t get killed or anything.”

  He tipped his hat to me as he got back into his truck, “I’ll try not to.”

  6

  Hunter

  "You came," I had to admit I was surprised. The cold shoulder that Cara had been giving me all day made me think that she wouldn't take me up on my offer of joining me at the bar. Especially this bar. It was full of cowboys and rodeo girls. This definitely wasn't her scene. Not that she didn't fit in now, in her tight jeans and her tied up flannel shirt. And those cowboy boots had certainly seen their fair share of time on a horse. Damn, she looked good. I tried to tear my eyes away from her body in order to look at her face, but those jeans were distracting.

  She smiled at me. Finally starting to warm up, "Well you said you owed me a drink. I figured I would take you up on the offer."

  I pulled out a barstool for her and sat down next to her. "What do you drink?"

  She got the bartender's attention. "Whiskey, neat."

  "Bourbon for me thanks." I dropped some money on the bar and watched as the bartender walked away, starting to make our drinks.

  "I do you owe a drink, more than one, can't believe you caught that abscess on the x-ray. That was incredible. And now Loki doesn't need as big of a surgery." Cara had called me right before my event at the rodeo. Loki was going to be okay. He’d still need stitches, but she was going to flush out the abscess tomorrow and he’d be back to normal. Poor guy walking around with all that pain. I felt like a bad owner.

  She folded her hands in front of her on the bar. The wood grain dark against her pale skin. "You're right, he won't need as big of a surgery, but we still need to drain it. He's probably going to have to stay at the clinic for a few days. If you had a barn somewhere where he could relax, I think Gwen and I would feel better
about giving them back to you sooner."

  I shook my head, "But I don't. Disadvantage of living on the road I guess. What about you? Do you have any animals?"

  She chewed on her lower lip for a moment. "No, I really don't have the time. Too busy taking care of everyone else's I guess. Besides I just live in a little apartment. Too tiny to keep anything big."

  "You would prefer bigger animals?

  "I can handle them. So maybe. I don't know. I really haven't thought about it much I guess."

  The bartender dropped off our drinks and the music changed. It was country, but it certainly got louder. I looked over my shoulder to see some of the guys I’d be competing against tomorrow giving each other high fives then cheersing with their beer bottles. They’d chosen a classic and I saw Cara's head bop to the music.

  "That seems odd for someone who takes care of animals for a living. I figured all veterinarians had a slew of pets."

  "I'm still in school. I'm sure when I'm done and settled then I will. But for right now I'm just focused on my career." She took her drink back like a shot and I was impressed. This girl was focused and driven and fiery. Everything I wasn't used to. The girls that threw themselves at the cowboys were sweet, but that was all they really had going for them. Nice to look at, but not much between the ears. Cara on the other hand, was everything they weren’t. And I was drawn to her like a moth to the flame.

  "So I never asked, what got you and rodeo?"

  She tapped on the bar and the bartender came back to refill her whiskey. I hadn't even touched my bourbon yet and she was on drink number two. I was going to have to catch up, quick.

  "Well my dad was a cowboy. And then became a rancher after he was done riding. Didn't really have the pros back then, money wasn't as good. So he came home to raise me."