to radio for their medic to join them. He carefully sat Amy on the bench seat inside, then stepped into the bedroom at the rear of the camper and came back out with one of his father’s clean undershirts. Using the knife from his belt, Carey cut a series of slits in the shirt while Bernard stared on, wondering what was happening to his laundry.
When Carey had finished, he held it out and came over to Amy. “Here, we’ll tie this around behind your neck, and tie this part here down around your waist.” He got to work on the makeshift straps he’d made, lifting her hair and tying it carefully so as not to pull any of her curls. When he finished, he stepped back and surveyed what looked a lot like an oversized bib, leaving Amy and Bernard speechless.
“Son, what’d you just do to my shirt?” Bernard demanded, making Amy laugh a little bit until she caught herself, holding her sides painfully.
“Um, well, it’s because she’s gonna have to take her shirt off, Dad,” Carey answered pointedly, not wanting to embarrass Amy. “I’m sure she doesn’t want to sit here half-dressed with Jerry coming in here to check on her.”
As she recognized what Carey had done, Amy relaxed a little and thanked him. “That was really thoughtful, thanks. And thank you for donating your shirt, sir, even if you didn’t know you were going to!”
Bernard laughed at her remark, patting Carey on the back. “It’s all right, ma’am,” Bernard replied, tipping his hat to her briefly. “I’m happy to give up a shirt if it keeps you comfortable. Now, let me go see what’s keeping Jerry from checking on you.”
After the door closed behind Bernard, Amy looked up at Carey and said, “No, really. I meant it. Thanks, that was incredibly thoughtful of you. Most guys wouldn’t have thought of that.”
“Well, it’s not like your shirt was going to survive anyway, not with all the tears in the back, but I know Jerry, and he’s probably gonna start hacking it apart at the seams the second he walks through that door. We’ve had enough cowboys thrown from horses for me to know that he doesn’t like to move anyone’s shoulders without having to. It comes with the job. We have someone snap a collarbone about once a week on the ranch, and Jerry just starts slicing so he doesn’t have to move ‘em too much.”
Just as he’d predicted, the trailer door opened and a new face walked in, a kindly looking man who looked like he’d seen plenty of sunshine and fresh air over the years. His whole face crinkled when he smiled at Amy, and Jerry crossed the small camper in two steps to kneel down in front of her.
“So, you thought you’d try trick riding for the circus, from what I hear. I think you’d be safer doing the trapeze act, personally!” he joked with her, lifting the collar of her shirt to peer down the back. He started pressing on various places to gauge Amy’s pain level before having her shrug her shoulders and rotate her joints.
“I’m going to guess that nothing’s broken at this point, but it’s entirely up to you whether or not we need to take a drive into the nearest town and have this x-rayed. I have to tell you that there could be some breaks and I can’t prescribe anything, so all I have to offer you is nothing stronger than over-the-counter stuff for the hurt. It’ll have to be your call,” he cautioned her.
“I really don’t think anything’s broken,” she answered. “It hurts a lot, but all of the bones feel okay.” She tried to prove her point by moving her arms and neck, wincing as she pulled the muscles across her shoulder blades.
“Well, let’s take a look at how torn up you got, and we’ll go from there.” Jerry produced a curved pair of sheers from the pocket of his cargo pants and got to work cutting away the fabric of her shirt. Carey turned around to give her some privacy, only facing her again when Jerry said he was done. He turned back just as Amy was tucking the fabric of Bernard’s shirt into place. “Well, honey, did you try to slide past every cactus in the state? You look like you were going for some kind of pin cushion record!”
Amy blanched at the thought of cactus needles sticking out of her back, knowing that what goes in had to come out eventually. Carey looked over her shoulder to peek down her back, coming back up to look at her with an awful expression. “Um, Amy, I’m not sure you still have skin back there,” he said, cringing.
“What?! Are you kidding me? It can’t be that bad, it only hurts when I move it,” she argued, alternating between the two cowboys with a shocked look.
“I’m only teasing, we both are,” Carey finally revealed. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s bad, I mean, really, really ugly bad but then again, it’s not that bad. You just have a few really red scrapes and a couple of places where the skin is broken up. Now don’t go getting heroic, it’s gonna really hurt down in the muscles, probably more tomorrow than today. You’re gonna have to take it easy.”
“Oh, goody, I’ve been looking for an excuse to kick back and do nothing on this trip,” Amy said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Carey to cover up the very pronounced stinging already spreading out across her back. “I didn’t come all this way to lay around like a pampered pet. I’ll be fine. Let’s just put some ointment on it so it won’t get infected, and I’ll be good to go.”
Carey came and knelt in front of her. “Amy, you don’t have to be brave. You were dragged by a horse, for crying out loud! Take it easy for the next day or so. I tell you what, I’ll take a turn driving the truck tomorrow, and you can help me navigate, okay? Just take one day away from the horse that tried to maim you? For me?”
There’s a long list of things I’d do for you, Amy thought before she could help herself, pulled into the trance of his deep eyes and adding before she could stop herself, and to you. Amy didn’t trust herself to respond, not with thoughts like that one running through her mind uncontrollably, so she simply sighed and gave Carey a look defeated resignation.
“Great!” he called as he stood and walked toward the low door. “I’m gonna see if one of the others in the group can’t help me find you another shirt. How about I find you again at dinnertime? You just relax in here and let Jerry fix you up, okay?” And just like that, he was gone, leaving Amy to stare longingly at the door to the trailer and wonder how in the world she’d just ended up with a date on a cattle drive.
Carey closed the door to the RV behind him and leaned against the metal exterior, shocked at how those words had come out of nowhere. What was he doing asking one of the guests to have dinner with him? This was possibly the dumbest thing he could have done on the drive. Did he expect her to write to him once the two weeks was over? He tried to envision just waving goodbye as the group got back on the bus to the airport then going about his business at the ranch like nothing had happened, but even he knew that wasn’t going to work out.
He’d felt an affection for Amy long before she nearly got herself killed but when he was riding alongside her and reaching for her hand, it wasn’t just obligation that made him react. Carey was certain that this went way beyond chivalry, more into the territory of…what, exactly?
He didn’t have to think about it for long. An angry shove to his shoulder jerked him from his thoughts. He whirled around to see who was asking for a fight and was shocked to see Karen standing there, her feet planted wide and her hands balled up on her hips.
“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, a snarl turning down the corners of her mouth. Her eyes blazed with whatever fury had her so worked up. For his part, Carey stared at her blankly.
“I don’t think I know what you mean, ma’am,” he began, falling back on his father’s requirement that staff members be polite to the guests at all times,
