“Great.” He couldn’t repress the comment and wouldn’t apologize. “If you didn’t think this was going to work, why did you agree to come?”
She stared straight ahead, lips pressed together, for a long time. Her whitened knuckles revealed a tense grip on the steering wheel. “Mark and Nicki wanted Mom to come. Anyway, how many times have you refused to do what your parents wanted?”
Good point. “You’ve got an advantage over the rest of us, though.”
“Oh?”
“You’re not part of the family.”
“No kidding?”
The sarcasm stung. “You don’t have to get mad. I just meant—”
She held up a hand to stop him. “Believe me, I know exactly how far outside the Cody constellation my family’s orbit lies.”
Jesse let the comment slide. “I only meant that my parents don’t have any power over you. You were free to refuse.”
“And miss maybe the only time I’ll ever get to see my brother at the National Finals? Maybe the only time I ever get to go to the Finals, period?” She shook her head. “I couldn’t say no.”
“I guess you couldn’t.” He would just have to hope things turned out better than he expected.
Several miles passed in a silence broken only by the sound of the wipers brushing back and forth. Finally, Jesse came up with a less confrontational topic. “So you’ve never been to the Finals?”
“Nope.”
“It’s the wildest rodeo you can imagine. Picture any show you’ve ever been to times a thousand, held in the craziest place on the planet.”
Janie chuckled. “That’s quite a description. But this is your first time competing, too. Right?”
“Yeah. We go every year since Dad usually has a bull competing, but I was tired of hearing him complain that I wasn’t there riding, so I put in the extra effort and got myself on the list.” He winced when he recognized the bitterness in his own voice. “Of course, I’m looking forward to competing. The best bulls and the best riders—it’s gonna be a blast.”
He felt Janie’s sideways appraisal. “Are you ready for all the attention that comes with the title? I’m pretty sure Mark hasn’t thought about it at all.”
“Endorsements, you mean? And publicity?” She nodded. “I don’t think any of the guys thinks about that ahead of time. We all just want to get out there and win. That’s the real point—being the best.”
“Till next year. Or maybe just the next ride.”
“Whoa. Don’t be so supportive.”
She shrugged, then made a careful turn onto the road leading between stone pillars into the Cottonwood Ranch. “I like winning as much as anybody. If Mark gets the championship, I know he’ll spend some of the money to help take care of Mom, which will be a blessing. But you don’t need the cash, or the fame. I get the feeling that even if you win, you won’t be satisfied.”
Jesse turned in his seat to look across the cab at her. “What else could I want? Besides being world champion?”
As he asked the question, Janie braked gently at the foot of the porch steps leading to his front door. “I think you want respect.” She didn’t look at him as she answered but watched as a layer of snow quickly obscured her view through the windshield.
The woman knew too damn much about what went on inside his head. “Who doesn’t?”
Then her eyes met his. “The man who already respects himself.”
Stunned by the implication, Jesse couldn’t have come up with a quick, casual answer if his life depended on it. At last he simply opened the door and jumped down into the snow, sinking halfway to his knees. “Maybe this worked out okay, after all,” he told Janie, grateful to have something practical to think about. “This way, you can just drive the truck back here tomorrow when you come with your mom.”
“Sure.” Janie looked past him at the dark windows of the old homestead the Cody siblings used to share. “I guess you’re living all by yourself these days, since Dex is with Josie and Elly’s with Will.”
He nodded. “Most of the time.”
“Do you get lonely?”
She’d already divined more secrets tonight than he was comfortable with. “After growing up with the pack of them following me around? I’m enjoying the peace and quiet.” He patted the roof of the truck. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon, about one-thirty. Drive carefully.”
“Right. And you be sure to get lots of sleep, so I won’t be nervous while we fly tomorrow.” Her smile was rueful. “More nervous than I already am, anyway.”
His tired brain picked up the hint. “Is this your first time flying?”
Janie nodded. “I’m an aeronautical virgin, so to speak.”
He laughed. “I’ll be gentle.” Stepping back, he shut the door and then called through the glass, “Thanks for the ride home.”
“You’re welcome.” She waved, shifted the truck into four-wheel drive and drove away, leaving Jesse standing outside in the false twilight of a snowy night.
He stood there for quite some time, watching the snow fall while he wondered what else Janie Hansen might know about him that he wished she didn’t.
THE FLIGHT TURNED OUT to be easier—and yet more difficult—than Janie could have imagined.
Her mother’s doctor had provided a sedative for the trip, and even half a dose kept Abby Hansen too sleepy to get upset about leaving the house in a truck she didn’t recognize for a place she didn’t know. Janie hated the dull, lifeless expression on her mother’s face as they drove the snowy roads toward the Codys’ property, but if the alternative was hysteria, she’d take dull.
Once she reached the Cottonwood Ranch, she saw that Jesse had seen to it that the ranch roads were cleared, as well as the runway. That would be the advantage of having a crew of cowboys ready to take whatever orders came into the boss’s head. She reached the runway without a problem, having ridden the land on horseback for years with Elly, Jesse’s sister. The storm had passed to the east, leaving a cloudless blue sky above the snow-blanketed prairie. Jesse’s plane sat there gleaming in the sunlight—ready, Janie gathered, to take off.
She wished she could say the same. Not knowing what to expect and anticipating looking down from this small craft to the earth thousands of feet below only made her feel sick to her stomach. Maybe she should have taken one of her mom’s pills.
Getting her mother onto the plane took her mind off her own anxiety. Abigail had fallen asleep on the ride from town and was startled to be woken up. She didn’t recognize Jesse, and his attempts at friendliness didn’t reassure her.
“Where is he taking us?” Abby whispered to Janie as they crossed the tarmac toward the plane.
