“I was flyin’, Doc,” I grinned.

He shook his head in bemused worry. “Let’s see if that fall knocked any sense into that head of yours, shall we?”

Branch stormed off, but Beau stood beside me as the Doc checked me over. When the door opened and closed, Beau’s face went pale and I knew who stood there. Uh oh.

“Tessa May!” The roar rattled the windows, and I looked over my shoulder at my father, and I smiled softly.

“Did you see me ride? Did you see?” I whispered, and his face melted. He loved me. He loved me more than anything in the world. He wouldn’t stay mad at me, but he would ground me for life for this.

He shook his head. “I saw. Get in the damn car. We are going home.”

Thirty minutes later, I was sitting in the front seat of my Daddy’s truck with an icepack pressed to my shoulder. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face, despite the absolutely thunderous expression on my father’s face.

“Why Nugget? Why the hell do you test me like this? Have I not been a good father?”

I rolled my eyes at his theatrics. “You’re the best, and you know it. I want to ride. I don’t think it's fair that I can’t because I'm a girl.”

Daddy shook his head. This was an argument we’d had a million times. “That's not the only reason Nugget, and you know it.”

I made a rude noise. “If I was your son and not your daughter, you’d be proud as hell of me right now.”

Daddy grunted. “It’d make no difference. I am proud of you, Nugget. So damn proud. But it scares the shit out of me that one wrong kick and you’d be taken from me too.” His voice cracked, and I knew he was thinking of Mama. She died when I was a baby. Brain aneurysm. Daddy had come home from work one day, found me sound asleep in my bassinet and Mama dead on the couch, a smile on her face.

But it had devastated him, and a little guilt ate away at my happiness. “I’m sorry. But it's what I want to do. I’ll wear all the protective gear. I’ll bail early. But Daddy, on the back of that bull? I felt more alive than I’ve ever felt in my life.”

Daddy shook his head, but a small smile tilted his lips. “So damn headstrong. Alright, Nugge-”

Whatever he was going to say died in his throat. A car crossed into our lane, and Daddy yanked the car to the right. I screamed as the car plowed into our truck. As it flipped end over end, I thought how much this looked like coming off that bull only an hour earlier.

Eight seconds to fly or die.

THREE YEARS LATER