“Should I go to the hospital?”
Tommy glanced from her down to Beck, who was chewing his hand. “And do what?” he asked, tone kind. “You’re going to sit around all day, in a germ-filled waiting room. It will be hours before Billy’s out of surgery. Then he’d be in recovery, and they’ll be monitoring him as he wakes up. Might as well stay here, in the sunshine, soaking up vitamin D, and then when I’m done, I’ll drive you over. We’ll go together. I promise that that’s what Billy would want, too.”
It made sense, in a horrible sort of way. “Does this happen often?” she asked, heartsick, because to be honest, it hadn’t crossed her mind that they’d get hurt very often. They were both so successful that it seemed as if they had a pretty good handle on how competition worked.
“Often enough we have the drill down. Going to the hospital is never cheap, either. No one likes to get hurt. That’s not why we ride and rope. We’re trying to earn money, not spend it.”
“Are you sure I shouldn’t—”
He nodded. “I’m sure. And I promise we will go straight away when I’m done. I’ll be finished long before Billy is out of recovery.”
Erika returned to the stands but her heart wasn’t in it anymore. The afternoon passed slowly, and what had been so exciting earlier, now filled her with dread. It didn’t help that all she could think about was Billy, and wondering about his surgery and how he was doing.
It was late when Tommy found her in the stands. “Ready?” he asked.
She nodded, more than ready. Tommy took Beck from her and they walked out of the rodeo grounds together. “Should we take your car since it has the car seat already in it?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll drive, though,” he said. “I know Boise probably better than you.”
“I know the motel, and the fairgrounds, and that’s it.”
He flashed her a smile. “Sounds like you need to get out more.”
“Tell that to your brother.”
“I will.”
She unlocked the car as they approached it, and then handed him the keys. “Have you heard from the hospital?”
He nodded as he opened the door for her, so that she could buckle Beck in. “He’s awake, grouchy as a bear.”
“Surgery went well?” she asked, stepping back.
He closed the door and then opened her door. “Seems so.”
Erika slid into the passenger seat and pulled the seat belt across her. “Are you sure this doesn’t happen often?”
Tommy didn’t answer until he was behind the steering wheel and typing the hospital’s address into his phone. “We’ve been lucky.” He paused. “For the most part.”
“It was terrible to watch.”
“The majority of injuries occur during rough stock events.”
“Rough stock?”
“Bull riding, bareback riding, and saddle bronc riding.” Tommy shifted into gear, and followed the GPS directions which indicated that it would take them about fifteen minutes to get across town. Neither of them said much on the way, and it wasn’t until Tommy had found a spot in the parking lot that she asked him if he was worried about Billy. “You have to be a little bit concerned?”
Tommy shrugged as he stepped out of the car. “Every injury makes it a little harder to stay in the game, so there’s that.”
She shouldered Beck and fell into step with Tommy’s long strides. “And?”
“Billy’s going to be bummed. He was having a good year.”
“He’s done for the year?”
“I didn’t say that. But no one wants to miss a week, much less a month or two, and he’s going to miss a fair amount of time. Just how long is yet to be seen.”
*
The doctors spoke to Tommy, not her, which made sense as she wasn’t family, but she stood off by the tan vinyl chairs, gently bouncing Beck to keep him asleep as she strained to hear what the surgeon was telling Billy’s brother. Tommy looked grave, but not horrified or distraught—not that the Wyatt brothers would ever look distraught—so the update couldn’t have been a complete shock to Tommy.
Tommy joined her a few minutes later and filled her in quickly, so quickly that she struggled to process it all. Clavicle fracture, scapula fracture, broken ribs, punctured lungs. Surgery repaired the broken bones, displacement, and lungs. Billy was out of recovery in a room now, but still heavily sedated since he’d done some thrashing about when he first woke up and so he was sleeping now, which the doctor thought was a good thing.
Erika’s brow creased as Tommy spoke, her frown deepening as he continued through the litany of injuries. “He’ll recover, right?”
“Oh, yeah. He’ll be back in the saddle late summer.”
Her jaw dropped. “You’re kidding.”
“Knowing my brother, he’ll want to be competing sooner. It just depends on his rehab.”
“Where will he go for rehab?”
“Oh, he won’t. He’ll just do it at home. Billy’s been through this before. We all have. Even though a physical therapist is recommended, we’d rather do the exercises on our own.”
“So, he’s going back to your ranch.”
“No, he’ll want to go to his place in Utah. Pulling the trailer, it’s about eight and a half hours from here.”
Erika stared at him, perplexed. “He must be close to Las Vegas?”
“His place is closer to Bryce. I’m assuming that’s where he’d want to go, but I guess we’ll need to see what he’s thinking when he wakes up.” Tommy glanced at his watch. “Why don’t I drive you to your hotel so you and Beck can have dinner and relax? I’ll worry about Billy.”
She hesitated. “I feel bad that I’m not doing anything.”
“But what can you do?”
She had no answer for that.
Chapter Six
Billy had been bucked, kicked, rolled on, and stomped on before.
He’d been gored.
He’d been thrown.
He’d been dragged around in the arena, foot caught in ropes.
He’d been afraid before. It was only natural when an animal weighing more than a thousand pounds was doing the stomping, rolling, dragging, and kicking, but this time, this injury was different. This time, as the horse rolled on him, pinning him beneath, he thought of only one thing—his son. Not true, he thought of Beck in Erika’s arms, her lovely golden head tipped as she gave the top of his bald head a kiss. And in that moment of stunning pain, Billy knew he had to be okay. His son needed him to be okay. It wouldn’t be fair to Erika to disappear on them now.
It was while being transported in the ambulance, and then rushed into surgery, brain cloudy with drugs and pain, he realized something about himself. He was full of bull. He acted like he didn’t have a care in the world, when he had many. He loved his mom profoundly, and his grandfather meant everything to him. His brothers were his best friends and he knew that if anything happened to him, the whole family would suffer. They would hurt, and he would never want them to grieve, not for him, or over him. He liked making his mom laugh. He enjoyed being one of her ‘bad boys,’ not because he was truly bad, but because it made her lips quirk, and her head shake, and yet even then, her eyes would light up with a secret, silent amusement.