Loved By Levi

Twenty-Three

Mylee

I didn't even bother to try and scrub off all of the makeup my team had plastered to my face before heading over to meet with my coach. I knew for a fact that having physical evidence of the shit they'd tried to pull would help my case. I barely even bothered with my crispy hair, simply knotting it into a bun and throwing on a ball cap. I'd refused to get back in Camille's car until she let me change back into the clothes I'd put on to go for a ride, which was the lie she'd used to drag me out of the house to begin with. Little did I know, she had confiscated my nicest, sparkliest rodeo gear and already had it packed up. 

The gems sewn onto the stupid boots they'd made me buy glittered in the late spring sun as I stepped out of my car, which was parked in Coach Boone's circular driveway. I stepped slowly up the trio of concrete steps leading to his front porch. My heart sank and I honestly wondered if I was going to vomit right there on his doorstep while I waited for him to answer. 

"Don't worry, Marnie, I'll get it!" His usually loud voice was muffled but I could still hear it from outside. The sound of dog paws skittering across the hardwood floor followed his heavy footsteps to the door. I smiled a little just thinking about his two corgis and ridiculously hyper bird dog. They were my favorites. 

The heavy wooden door swung open to reveal my coach and his three pups. "Mylee Jo, what a surprise! C'mon in, Marnie's got biscuits and gravy on the table and there's plenty to go around." 

I allowed myself to be ushered into the Boone home even though I was absolutely not hungry. Dawn, his rangy German Shorthaired Pointer began jumped excitedly. Dee the corgi-aussie cross followed coach with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, and Kay, his tan corgi, waddled after us. 

Jack and Marnie Boone were never able to have kids, so they adopted a menagerie of animals and watched over the college rodeo team instead. As far as I knew they owned about a hundred mother cows--including a handful of fluffy Scottish Highlanders that could barely even see through their fur--, about fifteen horses, two alpacas, a yak, six miniature ponies, and too many barn cats to count. And that was the number after they'd downsized their herd to be more involved with the college! 

Coach pulled out a chair for me at their large barn wood table and I took off my hat to sit down. He let out a low whistle. 

"Boy, don't you look fancy. Did I forget there was an event today or something?"

My brittle hair tickled my neck as I shook my head. I wasn't the type to snitch but there was no way in hell I was letting Camille get away with this. "No, sir, you didn't forget. You just didn't know." 

The only time Boone didn't wear a cowboy hat was in the house, mostly because Marnie didn't let him. It was obvious he'd had one on earlier in the day by the ring of squished hair around his head. He raised his bushy eyebrows towards it to show a little more of his kind green eyes and lifted a hand up to try and smooth it out. "Well shit, if it was supposed to be a surprise for me you sure aren't very good at keeping secrets." 

Marnie appeared from their kitchen before I could even try and answer, wiping her hands on a fluffy dishtowel with a faded sunflower printed on it. "I thought I heard another voice! It's good to see you, Mylee." She hung the towel over the back of a chair and wrapped me in a hug. "You didn't go to church in that getup, did you?"

I laughed with her, both of us knowing how much I hated being made up like a barbie doll. 

"Do you want a ponytail to get that hair out of your face before we eat?" 

I nodded. "Yes, please." 

She floated out of the room, leaving me alone with Boone. His dark eyebrows were still raised as he studied my overdone face. "So, what's up?" 

I picked at a missing spot on the vinyl tablecloth and refused to meet his eyes. I didn't even have to look at him or say anything to know just how disappointed he would be. Honestly, I was far more afraid of the reactions of Boone and my dad than Camille's wrath. As far as I knew, she was officially out of my life, and I didn't mind one bit. She could sit on a cactus for all I cared. 

"Mylee, is there something you want to tell me?" 

After sucking in a deep breath, I finally looked him in the eyes. "Coach, I'm quitting the rodeo team. I'm sorry." 

Marnie rounded the corner with an elastic hair tie in one hand and a brush in the other right as the words left my mouth. They both looked shocked and hurt. I felt my heart shatter into pieces. 

Boone looked grim as he lifted one hand up to rub his scruffy chin. His wife's eyes widened to the size of saucers and glazed over with tears that may as well have rushed over my shattered heart with the force of the ocean during a storm. It nearly broke me. 

"Camille went behind my back and got the pictures re-done, didn't she." Boone wasn't asking a question, he was stating a fact. All three of us knew damn good and well that I wouldn't even let them doll me up this much for a rodeo or any other event. 

I nodded. 

"Is that why you're quitting?" 

My mouth opened and then closed again. I didn't quite know how to respond. It wasn't that I hated the sport of rodeo itself, or my coach... It was that I hated being forced into doing the things I didn't want to do. I loved watching rodeos with my dad, especially the NFR on TV, but I didn't like being in them. If I only did the things I liked to do I would participate in Western Pleasure shows, which had no place in the fast paced world of rodeo. 

My dad and Boone both had good intentions when they pushed me to continue my rodeo career. Obviously I was pretty good at it and they didn't want to see me throw it all away. While those reasons had been sufficient for a long time, they weren't enough to make me put up with Camille's shit for any longer. 

"Mylee..." He sighed, running both calloused hands down his face, "if its the girls you have to tell me or I can't do anything about it. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say they're the reason you're all dressed up with nowhere to go?" 

I just nodded. 

"What wild scheme do they have cooked up now? Because really, if they're your reason for quitting I'll take care of it, I promise. You know I can't just watch someone with your kind of talent drop it all for--"

In a wildly uncharacteristic show of courage, I stopped him. "Coach, it's not just the girls. I mean, yeah, they made me get all dressed up today to re-take the photos even though you told them not to, but that's not it. I'm just tired of it, y'know?" An image of Levi's blue eyes and sparkling grin flashed through my mind and it finally hit me that I was doing the right thing, both for the team and my own sanity. "I know you and my dad don't want me to quit, but honestly, this isn't who I am. I'm not all big hair and rhinestones and fast horses. That's just not the girl I want to spend my life trying to be even though I'm not."

Boone nodded slowly, looking defeated. 

"I'm sorry."

Marnie finally unfroze, slipping into the room to put her hands on his slumped shoulders. "Mylee, honey, it's okay. If you don't want to do it anymore, we won't make you. Right, Jack?"

He reached up to clasp her hands with his own and looked back at me. "She's right, Mylee, we can't make you do anything. On the other hand, we can put those girls in their places. Isn't that right, baby?" 

She picked up her dish towel and swatted him with it. "Jack Boone, I don't care how tough you are, you will not fight a bunch of teenage girls!" 

He shot her a sheepish grin and backed down, as usual. We had all found out who wore the pants in their house a long time ago, and it definitely wasn't him. 

"I can tell you one thing, though," she added, "and it's that those girls will get what's coming to 'em. Mylee, I'm sorry things had to go this far before you finally quit. I know you probably would have finished out the season otherwise." 

I nodded and absently ran a hand through my stiff hair. 

"Here, let me help you with that."