Page 55 of Flowers To Give

Yana blinks, silently in shock. Then she shakes her a head a bit and asks, “What makes you say that?”

“He asked me to come live with him in LA,” Jeremy squirms, “And then we almost kissed, but Barry was watching so we stopped. That’s when I left.”

“Woah, woah, back up,” Yana turns her body so she’s completely facing him, “Rezai wants to have you as, what? His kept man in California?”

Jeremy leans his head back on the tree trunk, groaning, “I mean, that’s basically what he said, yeah.”

“And what did you say?” Yana urges.

“I told him I had to think about it, of course,” Jeremy huffs. He bites his bottom lip before continuing, “But I’m seriously considering it.”

“I mean, I totally would,” Yana says, “Rezai is, like, an artist. And famous. And hot. And rich-”

“Yeah, I get the idea,” Jeremy interrupts her from going on, thinking out loud, “But this is crazy, right? We spent, at most, two nights together. What if he’s wrong and I end up high and dry, alone, in Los Angeles?”

“Rezai wouldn’t do that,” Yana says assuredly.

“What makes you so sure? You know him personally?”

“No, not personally,” she clears her throat, “But I’ve listened to a lot of his interviews. He’s brutally honest and a total genius. No way he’d lie like that and then screw you over.”

Jeremy recalls Merle’s kind smile as he held his hand and led him into the ocean. He shrugs, “Maybe.”

“What’s stopping you? Huh? The county rodeo?” Yana laughs.

Jeremy smacks himself in the face, heart throttling as he remembers, “Oh, shit. That’s coming up, isn’t it?”

“Mhm, right around the corner,” she eyes him, “I’m surprised you haven’t been training for it yet. You always get so serious whenever it comes around.”

“I’ve been busy this year,” Jeremy grumbles.

“Okay, so that’s obviously not it,” she muses, “What about Barry? You have feelings for him, is he what’s holding you back?”

Admittedly, Jeremy does like Barry. He feels safe with him, but he’s not sure that’s enough to stop him from leaving.

“Or,” Yana gasps, “Clark Radison?”

A sharp pain stabs through Jeremy’s heart at her mentioning his full name. His feelings toward Clark are so complicated, there’s no way he can explain it all to Yana. His smile is pained as he turns to his friend and says, “I should get back to it.”

“Oh,” Yana watches him as he stands up, “Alright.”

Jeremy gets back on the saddle and trots Asher away. He exhales shakily once his back is to Yana, full wave of emotions overtaking him. He hates that he saw Clark in such a predicament. And disturbed that Clark would even partake in that activity. But moreover he is deeply, terribly, horribly jealous of the man that was underneath him.

The lasso loops around the roping dummy that’s shaped like a cow’s head. Jeremy rides Asher back to the dummy and unhooks the rope, riding back along the length of the arena and charging once more with lasso swinging overhead.

Merle hadn’t come yesterday and that had gotten Jeremy to thinking that maybe the whole thing had been a hallucinationbrought on by drunken stupor. That seems more plausible than a famous director sweeping Jeremy off his feet. And that was just the issue, he shouldn’t wait around for someone. Jeremy was going to win the prize money at the county rodeo, take the winnings with the cash he’d made on the movie and make his own way out of Limerick, Colorado.

The open gate and barn door bathes muted sunlight into the riding arena as Jeremy practices, the day continuously cloudy like the day before. A shadow races into the rectangle of light, the silhouette calling out, “Munday! You there?”

It’s Jackie, running into the arena on foot. He canters over to her, asking, “What’s up?”

“A runaway horse!” She’s out of breath as she points out the barn door and shouts, “One of ‘em got loose from Marie! Clay’s already out there trying to round her up, but-”

Jeremy is already racing out of the riding arena, galloping across the ranch to go and help Clay. The horse wrangler will need another skilled hand to herd the runaway back to the stable. Jeremy spies Clay pretty quickly near the center of the ranch, chasing the freed horse. A small crowd has formed, interested in the action but staying out of the way as Clay and Jeremy come from both ends to stop the bolting creature. This chestnut bronco is one of the new horses Yana has been training, neighing wildly and rearing on his hind legs as he’s cornered against a partition.

“Damn! He’s spooked for sure! We need to calm him, quick!” Clay calls out as Jeremy and him try to circle their horses around the crazed bronc. The circumstances leave Jeremy little option.

“Stand back!” He yells to Clay. Standing up in his saddle and getting one foot over, Jeremy kicks off Asher’s saddleback to launch himself at the bronco. His torso lands on the horse’s back, throwing his leg over and wrapping his arm around the thick neck to stabilize himself.