Lex walked slowly through the staging area behind the grandstands at the fairgrounds. The insistent neighing of the horses in their stalls and deep lowing of the cattle from their pens demanding their breakfasts made his head throb. The loud talk and laughter of the cowboys and stockmen getting ready for the day of competition caused it to pound even harder. When they tested the PA system with a cheery, “Good Mornin’—this is a test,” followed by a loud screech of feedback, he thought his skull would explode.
His stomach was queasy. When he walked by the pens and stalls, the sharp reek of cow s**t and urine hit his nostrils. It felt like snakes were coiling into a ball in his intestines.
But what was making him the most miserable was thinking of Trent and how things had ended between th
