“Ha-ha, very funny,” I said. “I meant you.”
“I know you did honey and we talked about this. You’re going to need help from other trainers now if you want to get better.”
“Maybe I don’t,” I said. “Maybe I just want things to stay the same.”
“If things stay the same, how do you expect to get picked for the Olympic team one day?”
“I don’t know.”
Esther sat back in her chair and tucked her hair behind her ears. “I know all this talk about you going to the Olympics one day sounds like the stupid dream of a kid.”
“Hey,” I said.
“Hang on, I haven’t finished.” She smiled. “But you have to know that I’ve always believed in you. From the first time I saw you ride, I knew that you were special. Not good or great but blessed with a gift. I don’t think the Olympics are just a stupid dream for you. I think they are in your future and I want that future to come true. No one is going to give you an Olympic mount and a spot on the team without you working for it. You can’t get a gold medal sitting on the couch, can you?”
“Synchronized cat stroking?” I asked as Meatball pushed his head into my hand and then rolled over, proudly showing his fat, fluffy belly.
“I don’t think that is an approved Olympic sport.” She laughed as the cat rolled over too far and fell on the floor with a plop. “Look, I want you to go and do well. It’s not a betrayal in any way. I want you to go.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, tears pricking in the back of my eyes.
“You really need to stop doubting yourself,” she said. “It’s getting annoying.”
Then she got up and shoved me out of the office.
“What was that about?” Mickey asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “Did your mom say it was okay if I came over?”
“She’s ordering the pizza now.” Mickey grinned.
“Great,” I said. “Now I just have to tell mine that I’m not coming home so she doesn’t freak out on me.”
“Good luck with that,” Mickey said.
“I know, right?” I replied as the phone started to ring.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Mom didn’t pick up the phone. I left her a message explaining that I was going to sleep over at Mickey’s house and that her mom was going to take me to the barn in the morning so she didn’t have to get up early. I tried to make it sound like I would be helping her out. It was easier than feeling guilty because I was abandoning her with Derek.
“What did she say?” Mickey asked.
“She didn’t pick up.”
“Maybe Cat came home and they are so busy yelling at her that they couldn’t hear the phone?” Mickey said.
“Maybe.”
I left Mickey finishing up in the tack room and slipped into Bluebird’s stall. He was standing there all clean and handsome. His ears pricked up when he saw me and he snuffled in my pocket for a carrot. I gave him one and he grabbed it greedily.
“Do you think we can do this?” I asked him. “You think we are ready to face off against some really great horses and riders?”
I smoothed his mane down where he had a cowlick that made it stick up and then hugged him tight, inhaling the heavenly scent of clean horse.
“You’re the best pony in the whole world. You know that, don’t you?” I told him. “And as long as we do our best, it doesn’t matter what happens tomorrow. But if we could win, that would really be something, wouldn’t it?”
“You ready?” Mickey called out. “My mom is here.”
“Coming,” I called back.
“Please try and stay clean,” I begged him as I slid the stall door shut. “I don’t want you to embarrass me in front of Frank.”
But Bluebird just sighed and went back to his hay.
“I love you,” I whispered as I walked away, knowing that the next time I saw him, it would be the biggest show day of my life.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
Mickey’s mom ordered the biggest pizza I’d ever seen. She seemed to think that since I hadn’t been over in a while, she had a lot to make up for but I assured her that I really couldn’t eat more than three slices, even though she kept trying to shove more in my direction.
“She said she’s full, Mom,” Mickey said.
“All right,” Mickey’s mom said. “But she has to keep her strength up for the big show tomorrow. That’s what I always used to tell you.”
“And that’s probably why I always threw up right before I went in the ring.” Mickey rolled her eyes. “Come on, let’s go upstairs.”
She dragged me up to her room. It had been a while since she ripped all her horse posters down and the last time I was there the walls were bare, with faded parts where the posters once hung. Part of me held onto a sliver of hope that I would see them back up there, all wrinkled and taped back together. But the horse posters hadn’t been rescued and the barn theme was gone for good. The walls were now a dusty pink that matched the bedspread and though there were a few posters, they were of boy bands, not horses.
“What do you think?” she asked, her eyes shining brightly. “Do you like it? My mom just finished it.”
“Yes,” I lied. “It’s great.”
My bedroom was half the size of Mickey’s and it didn’t have a view of the ocean but I wouldn’t have traded all my horse posters for the world and my closet door was almost completely covered with photos of Bluebird. I couldn’t see a picture of Hampton in Mickey’s newly decorated room anywhere and the ribbons that used to be so proudly displayed were nowhere to be seen.
“I know I said we could watch horse movies.” Mickey flopped down on her bed. “But I just got this DVD of a crazy good movie about two kids with cancer who fall in love. Do you mind if we watch that instead?”
“I guess not,” I said, even though I did.
The evening wasn’t turning out quite like I expected. Mickey suddenly seemed so much older and cooler than I was, even though we were the same age. She had a pink room and pink lip gloss and she wore dresses and skirts more than breeches now. I lay on the bed next to her, watching the movie about the two teenagers who fell in love even though they knew they might die. I couldn’t help thinking that if I was dying, I’d spend every last minute of my life at the barn. I also had the sick feeling that no matter how hard I tried to get Mickey to like horses as much as I did, she never would again.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
Mickey was still sleeping when her mom took me to the barn. I hadn’t wanted to wake her and there didn’t seem much point. She cried her way through the movie and spent half the night talking about how amazing it would be to fall in love like that. I just agreed with her. It seemed easier than saying that I’d rather love a horse any day.
“Good luck dear,” Mickey’s mom said as she pulled up to the barn.
“Thanks,” I said.
She left me standing there in the dark but I wasn’t alone. Light flooded out of the barn, yellow spilling into the black and casting shadows across the ground. Melanie was bustling about and I could see Bluebird sticking his head out of his stall. When he saw me, he nickered and my heart melted. Who needed boys or best friends anyway? All I needed was my pony.
“Morning, Emily,” Melanie called out. “You ready to kick some butt today?”
“Yes I am.” I grinned.
From that moment on it was a mad dash to get ready but at least it was an organized sort of dash. Melanie had checklists and a schedule. She was far more professional than we had ever been. Just standing there watching her, I was starting to get dizzy. Or maybe it was because I hadn’t eaten any breakfast but food hadn’t exactly been the first thing on my mind at four in the morning.
Bluebird looked clean. In fact he didn’t have a speck of dust on him. I suspected that Melanie had something to do with that. She’d probably been in his stall and spruced him up before I even got there.
“What can I do to help?” I asked.
“Nothing. It’s easier if I do it all mysel
f. Then I know that things haven’t been forgotten.” She waved me away with her clipboard. “Why don’t you sit down and eat something. You look really pale. Are you feeling alright?”
“Fine,” I said.
But I went and sat down in the office anyway and ate a granola bar. The last thing I needed was to pass out before we even got to the show. I sat there looking at the photos of Esther’s girls back in her heyday of teaching, when they won blue ribbons at rated shows like the one I was going to. She said she believed in me. I hoped I wasn’t going to let her down.
Chloe and Mackenzie arrived looking all sleepy. In fact, Mackenzie still had her pajamas on. She crawled up on the couch next to me and yawned. Chloe sat in Esther’s chair and rubbed her eyes, then laid her head down on the desk.
“Aren’t you guys nervous or excited or something?” I said, unable to believe they could really be so relaxed. They had to be faking it.
“No,” Chloe groaned. “It’s just another show.”
“Yeah and I hate getting up early,” Mackenzie whined.
“But it’s a big show. It’s a big deal,” I said.
“Not really,” Chloe said, her voice all muffled as she buried her face again. “We go to one every weekend back home.”
I sat there feeling like a million bees were buzzing in my stomach while they both fell asleep. I wondered if there would come a day when I felt like that. When an A rated show was just another show and I went to one every weekend. When I’d rather spend five more minutes in bed than get up and go to the barn? But I knew that would never happen.
“Girls,” Melanie snapped when she stuck her head in and caught everyone except me napping. “Frank is incoming. Five minutes so get your stuff together. And Mackenzie, get dressed, this isn’t a slumber party.”
“If I have to,” Mackenzie grumbled. She grabbed her bag and disappeared into the bathroom.
I doubled checked mine to make sure I had everything. I’d worn my regular breeches and a polo shirt so I looked professional, yet casual. My show clothes were packed away ready. I only wished I had a pair of white breeches like the real show jumpers wore. Maybe one day.
Frank arrived at the same time as the commercial shipping van that was taking our horses to the show. Frank’s trailer was back up north at his farm and with six horses it was just easier to put them all in the big rig.
“You’re going to be riding in style,” I told Bluebird as I put on his shipping boots. “But there is no need to be scared. I’m going to be right behind you and I’ll meet you at the show. You’re not being abandoned or anything like that. Okay?”
“You know he can’t actually understand what you’re saying, right?” Chloe laughed at me.
“Of course he can,” I said. “Besides, I rescued him so I don’t want him to think he is being shipped off to an auction again.”
“That’s so sad,” she said. “Why didn’t anyone want him?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “But I think he was always really meant for me.”
I led Bluebird out into the dark morning and handed him off to the shipper, a tall skinny guy with a goatee.
“Please take care of him,” I said.
“Don’t you worry about a thing,” he said. “He’s in good hands.”
I walked behind them and stood watching as Bluebird walked quietly up into the giant van.
Frank walked over to the trailer. “You all set?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Ready to win?”
“I’m ready to do my best,” I replied.
Because really, it was all I could do.
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
We all rode in Frank’s truck and the whole way my stomach was in knots. I was starting to think that I wasn’t cut out for the big leagues after all. Chloe and Mackenzie both slept for a bit while I watched the milky light break over the horizon. When they woke up, they launched into a rowdy game of Slug-a-Bug, punching each other in the arm every time they saw a Volkswagen beetle. They begged me to join in but I wasn’t in the mood and in the end Melanie made them stop anyway.
“How exactly do you two think you’ll be able to ride with giant bruises on your arms?” she scolded them.
“We weren’t really hitting that hard,” Chloe said but I’d seen her rubbing herself a couple of times when Mackenzie got in an extra hard one. The little kid was a firecracker, just like Faith and thinking of Faith suddenly made me homesick and we hadn’t even been gone that long.
I was starting to wish that I hadn’t agreed to come at all when we pulled into the show grounds. There were horses and trailers everywhere and suddenly my anxiety just faded away.
“Oh no,” Chloe groaned, pointing to a girl and a chestnut horse. “Hattie Newton is here.”
“Hattie Newton is always everywhere,” Mackenzie said.
I was staring at the flashy chestnut with the white socks when I suddenly realized that she was the girl from Devon.
“We saw her,” I cried. “On the Devon live streaming. She didn’t even bother and pat her horse and then she just threw her at the groom like she didn’t even care.”
“That’s because she doesn’t care,” Chloe said. “Poor Clementine. She tries so hard and yet Hattie hates her.”
“But why?” I said.
“Because she mostly comes in second, not first.”
I couldn’t imagine hating a horse just because it came in second but Hattie Newton did and there were probably lots of other girls at the show who felt the same way too. I guessed winning seemed so much more important when your career was on the line but it still wasn’t fair.
The rig pulled up to the stabling area and Melanie jumped out of the truck, our paperwork in a purple folder and her baseball cap slammed down on her head.
“She’s so organized,” I said. “I wish she could come to all my shows.”
“Frank says she’s worth her weight in horse manure.” Mackenzie fell into a fit of giggles.
“She’s amazing, and worth a lot more than horse manure.” I shook my head.
“I think he said gold, Kenzi,” Chloe said.
“I know.” She laughed.
The horses were unloaded and tucked away in their stalls quickly and efficiently. The shipping guy left with promises to pick us up at the end of the day. I pulled Bluebird’s shipping boots off and made sure that he had his favorite bucket for water and some hay to nibble on. He didn’t seem fazed at all by the fact that the show was about ten times bigger than any one we had ever been to. The show stalls seemed to stretch on forever and housed hundreds of horses and ponies, all shuffling in their shavings and calling out to their friends who had left them behind and gone to the ring.
“Come on.” Chloe looped her arm through mine. “Let’s go and explore.”
“Okay,” I said.
Although Chloe had never been to this exact show grounds before, she said that she’d been to enough to know that they were all laid out pretty much the same. There were the stalls, the schooling rings and then four show rings where classes were already taking place. At the schooling shows we usually went to, we were lucky if there were two show rings and the warm up was more often than not two jumps set up on a flat piece of grass. Here the jumpers actually had two show rings to call their own. All my remaining anxiety just melted away as I watched a guy on a gray soar over a five foot oxer.
“I could live here.” I sighed.
“You probably could,” Chloe said. “Look at all the food trucks.”
They were lined up in a row, any kind of food you could possibly want from Chinese to chicken wings, all served up with a smile. Chloe was trying to decide whether it was too early to eat again when I caught sight of gleaming bridles and polished bits.
“Oh look!” I dragged her over to the tack store.
Taylors Tack Emporium, our local store, was nice. But considering the fact that our area wasn’t exactly affluent, Taylor kept a variety of products stocked that mostly happened to be on the che
aper end of the scale. A fact for which Jess was endlessly saying made the store suck. Jess should have come to the show. She would have been in her element. There was only the best. German bridles and Italian boots, all lined up next to soft shell show jackets that were guaranteed to never wrinkle, if you could afford the hefty price tag.
“One day I’m going to have enough money to shop at a place like this,” I told Chloe, running my fingers over a crocheted ear bonnet that had sparkling crystals sewn into it.
“When you have enough money to shop here,” Chloe said. “You won’t care.”
“I will,” I said. “I’ll never take anything for granted.”
“Shopping for something to help you win?” The girl we’d seen from the truck appeared with an armful of clothes.
“Can’t,” said Chloe. “You already bought them all.”
Hattie stuck her nose up in the air. “I heard Frank was hiding some students down here so that Frosty wouldn’t poach them but now I know that it’s only you, I’m sure why he even bothered.”
“Is that who you’re riding with then?” Chloe said sweetly.
Hattie ignored Chloe’s question and pushed past us. “Just make sure you stay out of my way today.”
“I will if you stay out of mine,” Chloe snapped back.
When Hattie left Chloe turned and said, “Sorry about that. She’s just mad because Frosty didn’t want her. I heard she actually showed up at his barn and he completely ignored her.”
“Don’t sweat it,” I said. “I have my own Hattie back home. Her name is Jess and she’s just as entitled and annoying. In fact, I’m surprised she’s not here.”
“Maybe she is,” Chloe said.
“Don’t even say that,” I groaned. “That’s the last thing I need.”
But I kept my eyes peeled on the way back to the stalls anyway because the last thing I needed was for Jess to show up, throwing me off my game and ruining my day.
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
When we got back to the barn there was a girl in Bluebird’s stall, braiding his mane.
Turf Wars (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 8) Page 10
