Bullheaded

if anything needs fixing while you’re up there. Then you better get the bunkhouse ready for your pupils.”
    “Pupils.” Cody snickered, but the thought of passing on what he knew excited him.
    “I’ll hang out towels and sheets on the line to air them, but you’ll have to open the windows, sweep and dust, make up the beds, and make sure the place is livable,” Val continued.
    “Can we take a couple horses out for the morning before we get to our chores?”
    “Help yourself, but don’t take my Cajun Spice,” Val said. “And those dishes won’t wash themselves, so get to it before you sneak off.” This was directed at Cody, who was making a play of trying to slip out the door.
    “Yes, ma’am,” Cody said meekly, and came back to the table to stack plates.
    “Good boy.” Val smiled at him and left the room.
    “You weren’t really trying to skip out on the dishes, were you?” Johnny muttered in an undertone so Val wouldn’t overhear.
    “Nope, but she’d have been disappointed if I hadn’t tried,” Cody said, grinning. “She knows me.”
    After they’d cleaned up, they walked out to the barn corral to saddle up. Cody made a beeline for the showy black gelding he usually rode, but Johnny’s favorite was a mouse-colored grulla that nuzzled his hand when he offered a carrot.
    They led the horses outside and mounted up.
    “Good to be back,” Cody murmured, looking around at the place with a sigh. After running a thousand miles an hour, sometimes it was good to just take a breath.
    “You like it better here or in the ring?”
    He had to ponder a moment. “Both. I like both.”
    “I love how quiet it is. How alone you can feel out here.” Johnny took in a deep breath. Cody couldn’t see his eyes behind his sunglasses, but his lips were curved in a smile of contentment.
    “Yeah, nature boy. You’re one with the land.” Cody couldn’t help teasing him.
    “My people are one with the Great Spirit,” Johnny said solemnly. His snicker gave away that he was joking. “You white guys know nothing.”
    “How.” Cody held up his hand, knowing he was the only person who could get away with it.
    Ignoring him, Johnny asked, “Ever think about just staying on the ranch?”
    “I love it here, but I’d get bored if this was all there was. I also love it in the ring, the crowd, the challenge, the excitement. I like traveling and seeing new places.” Cody shrugged. “Couldn’t be anything but a cowboy. I like thinking about the men who rode around the country before there were roads and cell towers.”
    “You just like thinking about them riding around without women.”
    Cody leered. “Yeah, that too.”
    “So when you retire from riding—”
    “Ouch! I’m not that old yet.”
    “You’re thirty-two. You’re going to have to quit sometime. They’ll make you. Or your body’ll give out.”
    “If I could die on top of a bull I would,” Cody said fiercely. “I never want to quit!”
    Johnny made a movement Cody couldn’t read, as if he wanted to reach out to touch him but controlled it. “I hear you.”
    “I love it! I love getting up there and dominating the bull ’til I win. Can you imagine me working in an office? I need the rush!”
    “It sucks being an athlete. You have the desire but—”
    “Don’t say it!” Cody barked.
    “Bull riding is the most dangerous sport there is. The injuries pile up and you don’t heal the same anymore. Hell, I know it. I might be forced to retire tomorrow if a bull stomped me good,” Johnny said quietly.
    “I know, babe. We’re in the same boat.” Cody looked off into the distance, unable to talk about the pain deep inside him when he was forced to think about giving it up. “I know I’ll have to one day. I’ll break something so bad I can’t heal enough to ride again, or I’ll just get too old to stay aboard. But I love the danger. I love the risk, hanging right on the edge….”
    “You got hurt bad that one time. You almost got hurt really bad this time out.”
    He laughed. “That’s what makes it exciting. Knowing what can happen and daring it, you know?”
    “When you have to retire you can still be in the sport. Contract bulls, get a job as an expert announcer, get on the board of the NBR. They’d be happy to have you.”
    “Yeah, I’ll be around the sport, not in it. Thank God I don’t have to retire yet. I have a few good years left in me.” Cody leaned over to give Johnny’s thigh a hard squeeze. “And at least