Everyone did it. That meant she needed to be able to get a grip on herself, too.

“Anything else?” she asked.

“Yes,” Gabe said. “Can I sit down?”

“Sure,” she said, gesturing toward the threadbare red chair with the heavy, craftsman-style frame.

He settled down on it, his hat in his hands. “I got to thinking about what you said. About what the ranch meant to you, about how your dad made you feel cared for by how he cared for it. By making sure that you loved it, too.”

“Okay,” she said, crossing her arms and taking a step back.

He might be able to sit down and relax right now, but she couldn’t.

Gabe hesitated, his blue eyes distant, his jaw tight. It took him a moment, but then he finally spoke.

“I don’t like what I’m doing. Well, that’s not really fair. I’m done with it. The rodeo... I’m done. I’ve taken home the big prize more than once. I have enough. At this point I’m just getting on the wrong side of the age bracket. Competing against a bunch of eighteen-year-old kids who don’t have to go sit on ice for the rest of the night after they finish their ride.”

“You don’t really do that,” she said. “According to Wyatt, it’s nothing but drinking and debauchery after the night ends.”

“That’s how it starts,” Gabe said. “Then you get old. And your big, sexy evening consists of a night alone on a lumpy motel room mattress with a tube of Bengay.”

“You’re exaggerating,” she said.

“Maybe. But the truth is definitely somewhere in between Bengay and debauchery.”

“Well,” Jamie said. “I guess that is disappointing for you.”

“It’s never what I wanted to do,” Gabe said. “But I fell into it. And... There was something about what you said that made me realize I wanted something that would last.”

“Your father’s reputation has sure lasted.”

“It has. But the glory doesn’t last. And no matter how many trophies you hang up in your house, no matter how many parades you grand marshal at, no matter how many women you take to bed, younger and younger as you get progressively older, you can’t go back to where you were. I’d rather make some new glory than hang on to something that’s fading.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well, that’s the thing. I’m not sure what I have in mind. I have a decent-size ranch, but the equestrian facility my father has built on his property is extensive. And I know that we could do more with it. Right now we’re focusing on rehabilitating horses. But I really believe that horses can change people,” he said. “I’ve seen it. I’ve...hell, I’ve felt it. Even with how it is riding saddle bronc, I feel it. I’ve seen people say the horse and the cowboy are fighting each other, but that’s never been how it was for me. I was always trying to find the rhythm. Trying to get permission to stay on the horse’s back, because it’s his show. There’s no sense fighting. If you can learn that, if you can learn to connect with an animal that powerful, learn to care for something other than yourself, you can’t help but change.”