Hi Dear Reader!
Welcome back for chapter 2 of Second Chance with My Bull Rider. If you are just joining us, you can read Chapter 1 below.
Kade
Jose Garcia rode his bull for a 94-point ride. A perfect ride was 100 but no one ever had a hundred-point ride. Any score over 90 points was good. It pushed him into the first spot, and I fell to the number two spot. I had been the number one rider in the country but with my accident, the other riders accumulated more points while I was out. The rider with the most points would lead the rankings heading into the Bull Riding Finals. It would be only a matter of time before another rider passed me up while I sat in bed watching them on TV. That should have been me. I should be the number one bull rider. But, no, I was stuck in my home with the one person I had ever loved taking care of me. At least, she was taking care of me today.
After wheeling me into my room, she helped me to bed, making sure the pillows were fluffed, and the wheelchair was placed within reach. She set a glass of water and a package of fruit pastries next to the bed on the nightstand before leaving the room.
Night fell and the house grew even more silent than normal. It was normally a quiet house with only me and Kaleb living here. He went to bed early so he could be up before dawn to start work on the ranch. My clock read midnight and the restlessness overcame me. I strained and lifted myself into the chair. Slowly, I wheeled myself out of my room and down the hall. A light came from the living room. I rolled to the doorway and stopped. Delilah sat in the corner of the couch with a lamp shining over her shoulder. It cast a halo of light onto her hair. I smiled as I thought about how angelic she looked. She hunched over a laptop and typed furiously, like a madwoman.
I cleared my throat, causing her to jump. The laptop fell towards the floor before she caught it and shut it with a snap. She uncurled her legs. She slid the blanket covering her down the couch.
“Kade, you surprised me.” She placed a hand on her chest. “My heart is just racing.” She placed the laptop next to her on the couch. She slowly stood, eyeing me.
“What are you doing here?” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Don’t you have a fancy apartment in San Antonio to go to?”
She straightened her back and raised her chin a tab. “I’m working.”
“Obviously…Can’t you do that somewhere else?” I rolled my chair closer to her, backing her into a corner.
“No, I’m working here, in this house.” She sighed and sunk back into the couch. “Kaleb wants me to sleep here.”
“Why?” Of all of Kaleb’s ideas, this one was crazy.
“To care for you.” She cocked her head at me as her black hair fell over a shoulder. I wanted to reach out and stroke it. My hand raised of its own volition, before I realized what it was doing, I snatched it back to my lap.
“Wait, you are my nurse?” I narrowed my eyes at her as understanding dawned on me.
“Took you long enough.” She retorted. She drew up her long legs and tucked them under her, pulling the blanket back over her lap. “Kaleb hired me to take care of you and as part of the arrangement I have to stay here.” My brow furrowed as I looked at her. “I’m more than qualified to dote on your every whim. I can send you my resume` if you’re concerned.”
“No need.” I rolled back towards the kitchen. “Are you hungry?”
“Are you cooking?” She unfolded herself from her seat.
“Only if you do everything for me. What do you want to make?” I tried to chuckle to break the awkwardness of the moment.
“Frozen pizza, ok?” She asked.
Delilah followed me into the kitchen. Her bare feet padded on the floor. She moved with the ease of being comfortable in her environment, getting the oven on and finding the pizza stone. After some time, the smells of bubbling sauce and cheese filled the air. She sat on the chair across the table from me.
“Do you want to play a game of cards?” She tapped her nails on the tabletop in a nervous gesture that she had back in high school.
“Sure. How about letting me make up a new game?” I winked at her, causing a faint blush to color her cheeks.
“I am not stripping.” She rolled her eyes at me and snapped her gum before heading to the junk drawer. She reached into the drawer and pulled out a worn-out deck of cards. My siblings and I spent many hours playing with that deck, and it was missing a few cards.
“No, I was thinking war and whoever has the losing turn has to answer a question.” I rolled my wheelchair closer to the table and leaned my elbows on it to look into her beautiful eyes.
“Fine, but if you ask something I don’t want to answer, I am not going to.” She shuffled the cards, cut the deck, and shuffled it again. She slid it across the worn wooden table. I cut the deck and she dealt the deck in half. The top cards were discarded. The first hand was laid down. She had a five of diamonds to beat my three of clubs.
“In all of your travels, where’s your favorite place to travel to?” She snapped her gum.
“That’s easy. The Chicago bull ride in January.” A questioning look crossed her face. “I love the snow. I wish we got it down here more often.” Next hand, I laid down a King of spades to Delilah’s Jack of hearts. I grinned at her.
“Where did you go to college?”
“Western New York University.” She slapped the next card down it was an Ace. I put down an Ace. We laid a couple of cards each and flipped the last one.
“I win!” I fist-pumped the air before scooping the cards into my pile. The cracked ribs shot pain through my side at the sudden movement. I grabbed my side and wheezed for a second. “Do you have any pets?”
“I have a betta fish. He’s in Katie’s room. His purple clashes with the pink of the room.” She laughed a bit at that, her eyes brightening a bit.
On the next hand, Delilah won and asked, “are you really still driving that old truck parked outside?”
I nodded as I laid down the next round. Having won that hand, I asked. “How are you available to nurse me back to health?”
“I quit my job.” She straightened the cards in front of her.
“Before or after I got hurt?” I held my breath hoping she did it for me. Wow, where did that come from?
She raised her eyebrows at me and shook her head. “Only one question.” She laid down her next hand. I won again. I inhaled and steadied my hands. Time to go for broke.
“Do you ever think about me?”
She rocked back in the chair, balancing on two legs, and stared at me. I thought that she wasn’t going to answer that one. She reached over her shoulder to twirl her hair around her finger. I leaned towards her and grasped at her hand. Her gaze held mine and the corners of her eyes softened.
“Yes,” she whispered. “More than is healthy.”
The timer buzzed for the pizza. She jerked her hands from mine and ran to get the pizza out of the oven. My mind whirled with her response. Did I hear her right? ‘More than is healthy.’ Maybe I had a shot at her affections again. She brought the golden-brown cheese pizza over to the table. She set the pizza cutter down next to my hand.
“I’m starving,” she said.
Tension settled between us that wasn’t there a moment before.
Author’s Note: Wow!!! I forgot how much tension was in that scene. I wanted to have a take on the old game Truth or Dare, especially since Kade is not mobile. What did you think?
Hugs,
Allie
P.S. If you want to read ahead, Second Chance with my Bull Rider is available for purchase on all retailers and to check out from your local library.
Really enjoying this story….looking forward to reading more!