Switching direction, I guided the horse toward the indoor.
“Why?” Greer asked.
“I want us to be able to concentrate on the business at hand. Horses in the field or the hay truck arriving shouldn’t be a distraction.”
It made sense to me.
Inside the indoor arena, it was darker than the outside ring would have been, but there were fences and markers just the same. We rode on the flat for about twenty minutes but I couldn’t get comfortable on the horse. He had a very long stride and at the trot, I felt propelled out of the saddle. The canter was as bad although in a different way. He covered a lot of ground and it was so such a change from Butch that I didn’t think I’d ever get used to it or grow to like it.
The horse understood the cavelletti, rails placed on the ground to trot over, perfectly well and adjusted the length of his stride. Even still, I felt loose and out of sync with him. When Lockie set up a low fence at the end of the set, that’s when the problems started.
“Talia, try to hold him together, stabilize him between the bit and your legs.”
I didn’t bother to answer. That was what I had been trying to do.
Greer’s horse flew through the set and over the low jump with no trouble, although far too rapidly.
“Okay, this is something we can work on,” Lockie said almost in resignation. “Greer, would you take the fences on the outside?”
“Any course?”
“Just twice around will be fine,” he replied.
Greer made a small circle and took the four fences two times.
“Talia?”
The fences were higher than I expected, more like what we’d see at a show—2’9” or 3’. Why did we have to start there on a strange horse that I didn’t even like?
I was sitting still.
Lockie was in the middle of the arena creating an oxer out of two fences. “Please go next.”
I didn’t move.
He stopped what he was doing and looked up.
“I get blamed for everything. I have high standards that somehow people find difficult to accept but there’s the problem child,” Greer said loudly as she walked her horse in a large circle at the entrance.
“Have I missed something?” Lockie asked. “Someone talk to me.”
“I’m talking to you,” Greer called out.
“Thank you, I would like to hear from Talia.” He came over to me, standing by my knee. “I’ve seen this horse at shows. He’s well-schooled and very good over fences, just point him.”
“His stride,” I started.
“He does have big stride. Hold him together. Be firm.”
I shook my head as I turned the horse around, made a small circle and headed him to the first fence. He stood back so far I was nearly launched out of the saddle. Pulling the horse up, I didn’t even bother considering continuing.
“Excuse me?”
“She doesn’t like jumping,” Greer explained to him. “Major Chickensh...”
“Shut up for once,” I said to her and left the arena.
I slid off the horse outside the barn and brought him inside.
“Do you want me to take him, Miss Margolin?” Pavel asked.
“Yes, please,” I said handing him the reins and went to Butch’s stall where I opened the door, went inside and closed the door. He was eating hay and I sat down on the clean straw near him.
Nothing bothered Greer. Things that bothered most people anyway. She’d throw a fit if a store didn’t have her size in the shoes she wanted, but getting attached to horses or trainers or schools or friends wasn’t part of her character. She didn’t seem to miss her mother who was still very alive and could be visited.
I missed my mother every day. She would tell me I didn’t need to try out these new horses and didn’t have to go to horse shows or jump fences or try to win ribbons. She would have been very happy to have me at home with her.
She had been happy to have me home with her. We used to read in bed or listen to music, talking about all the places we both knew we would never visit.
This was like a nightmare. I know why she married him, it was for me, but I didn’t know what she saw in him in the first place.
My father was someone I barely knew. I wasn’t sure anyone knew him, although he seemed to have a great many friends. He ran his businesses mostly from the office in the city and was involved in politics that I not only couldn’t understand, I didn’t want to understand. There was inherited wealth but he was no slouch at making money.
If only I had cared, I would have been happier here. I could have been like Greer replacing relationships with the acquisition of things. My father indulged her, gave her everything she wanted because he couldn’t give her the one thing she didn’t have—a real father.
“Talia?” Lockie said quietly as he slid the stall door open.
I didn’t look up and he crouched down next to me.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to try the other horse?”
I turned to him and something made me pause. “How long have you been up?”
He looked at me curiously. “Since three. The driver got lost on the way and took the wrong bridge across the Hudson River.”
I started to stand, he held out his hand to help me and we stood together.
“If you don’t like any of these horses, I’ll find you something else.”
“There’s no time before the show.”
“I wish I still had my horse, you could ride him.”
“What happened to him?”
“I sold him last year.”
“You probably buy and sell a lot of horses.”
“Some but he was my horse.”
The chestnut mare was tacked and standing on crossties on the aisle.
“She’s too small for you. I thought she might suit Greer but just ride her around and pretend. I’ll have them sent back tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
“Actually, I think I know someone in Rhode Island,” Lockie said unclipped the tied and lead the horse outside.
“Do they even have names?” I asked as I took the steps up the mounting block.
“Sure. Chestnut horse. Bay horse. Brown horse.”
I settled myself in my saddle. “She’ll be a cute horse for a novice rider.”
“Yes, she will.”
I followed him into the arena where Greer was already warming up the bay horse and Lockie took his position in the center.
We worked on the flat for about fifteen minutes. The mare had a barrel that required much shorter legs than mine. An eleven year old would be perfect on her.
After a few passes over the cavaletti, we were ready to begin working over fences. Greer did an egg-roll course instead of just twice around the outside.
“Talia, please take the horse over some fences,” Lockie requested.
She was cute but I didn’t want to ride her anymore. I didn’t want to jump a horse I didn’t have any leg on. Her barrel fell away at my knee.
“Give up!” Greer called. “Didn’t you learn your lesson earlier? She will only jump Butch.”
“Thank you for the input, Greer,” he replied. “Maybe today will be different.”
I urged the mare forward and went to the center of the ring where I studied him for a long moment, sensing something but not quite able to define.
“Yes?”
“I want to apologize to you.”
Lockie took a step closer to the horse. “It’s unnecessary.”
“It’s very necessary,” I replied. “I’m sorry I called you an idiot. It was...”
“You were upset.”
“That’s not a good excuse.”
“Is it possible for you two stop yammering so we can get on with this lesson?” Greer shouted.
I sighed. This was important. “Could you take off your sunglasses so I can see who I’m talking to?”
Slowly he pulled the glasses away from his face. His ey
es were red and tearing. Immediately, he began squinting against the low light entering the arena from the upper windows.
“Okay?” Lockie pushed the sunglasses back in place.
That he was in discomfort was obvious, perhaps it was even pain. The last thing he needed was to be standing in a ring getting footing particles kicked up into his eyes.
“I don’t know what makes you think you can come here to my indoor, tell me what horse to ride and what jumps to take. I’ve had enough. Send these crappy horses back where they came from and don’t bother me again until you find something decent!”
I turned the horse around and trotted out of the ring.
“You are a spoiled brat!” He called after me.
“Way to go, Talia!” Greer cheered.
When I jumped off the horse outside the arena, I saw him leave by the side door.
As I put my saddle in the tack room, Lockie passed me on his way to his apartment.
“Thank you,” he said quietly and continued up the stairs.
Chapter Five
I took a shower, changed and went down to the kitchen for lunch.
“It’s just us,” Jules said.
“What do you mean?”
“Greer left to have lunch at the Cupboard with her friends and Lockie called to say he wasn’t hungry.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“He didn’t have breakfast.”
“Not with us, but maybe he had something over there.”
“Would you make him a basket and I’ll take it over.”
“Okay. What do you think he would like?” Jules pulled out a loaf of crusty bread she had made.
“Not that,” I said quickly.
“What’s wrong with this?”
“Do you have something softer? A croissant?”
“Yes. It’s a strange request; everyone likes a good, crusty bread.”
Unless each time you chew, it hurts like a hammer being slammed against your head.
“Will you explain it?”
“When I come back, I will. Do you have some soup?”
“I do. Knowing how much you like beets, I made you some borscht. It’s nice and cold. There’s sour cream to go with it.”
Jules was already pulling items out of the refrigerator, and in a few minutes had a three-course lunch nestled in a small basket complete with a thermos full of soup and a red plaid napkin.
“Thanks, Jules.”
“Good luck with whatever you’re trying to do. Greer said you had a blow-out with him.”
“It wasn’t.”
“A small disagreement?”
“Sorry to disappoint everyone,” I replied and started across the yard.
“It seemed like it, though,” Jules called after me.
I nodded.
Pavel and Tracy were bringing horses in from the fields as I entered the barn and went up the stairs to the apartment.
I tapped on the door. “Lockie? It’s Tali.”
“Door’s open.”
I entered and found him lying on the sofa, now wearing the photochromic glasses. “I brought you lunch.”
“Thank you. I’ll eat later.”
It sounded like a struggle to say each word.
I sat down on the small table next to the sofa. “So if I’m going to be covering for you, I think I should know what I’m covering.”
“It’s not necessary.”
“How much pain are you in?”
“How do you know if I am?”
“My mother was in pain every day for the last year of her life. I know what it looks like.”
“Between us?”
“I don’t know why it makes a difference.”
“I need this job.”
“Having a medical issue is not a fireable offense. Having sex with Greer is the only thing that will get you fired. And a couple others but they apply to every job.”
Lockie paused.
“Did you take something?”
“It’ll kick in soon.”
“Do you want to wait until then to tell me?”
“No. Here’s the short version. The longer version is just longer.
“After I got out of Juniors, I started doing Combined Training. I was still involved in open jumpers but was more interested in eventing. After about a year, I moved to Kentucky to work with the Ruhlmanns.”
“I’ve heard of them. They’re very good.”
“Very.” He closed his eyes and tried to find a more comfortable position on the sofa but that had to be impossible on that old thing. “I found a young horse. I called him Wingspread and everyone could see his potential. He’s big and bold, smart and kind. Just such a unique individual.
“We were doing the cross country course at an event in Virginia and it had poured overnight. The ground was a mess. Wing came up to a berm with water in front of it and he lost his footing. I’m told I was catapulted over his head and hit the bank. I don’t remember that day or any day for the next month. Then for weeks I could only remember the current day. Every day was like a fresh start.”
“But your family was with you.”
“No one was with me except the doctors and nurses.” It took a moment for him to continue. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter because I finally got better.”
“Where’s Wingspread?”
“I sold him to the Ruhlmanns to pay for the hospital bill. It didn’t nearly cover it. I’ll be paying that off for the rest of my life at the rate I’m going.”
“Didn’t you have...”
“Talia, it is what it is,” Lockie said over me.
“You have medical insurance now.”
“Yes, your father is very generous.” Lockie paused and sighed.
“The pill kicked in.” I saw the change in his face.
“You’re very observant.”
“Yeah. So you have fierce headaches and light sensitivity. Did you break anything in this accident?”
“A couple bones. Talia, it’s all manageable.”
“Is there anything else you’re not telling me? I bet if you went head first into a hard object, there’s more.”
“It’s all getting better, slowly, but improving.”
“When’s the last time you went to a doctor?”
“March. April. Something like that.”
“You need to find a doctor here.”
“I’ve been here three days. Is it three days?”
“Yes.”
“Everything will eventually be organized. Tell...”
He couldn’t think of the name.
“Greer?”
“Yes, Greer, that she has a lesson later this afternoon.”
“She booked.”
“Is she coming back?”
I shrugged. “I doubt it. Consider it an afternoon off.”
“You could have a lesson.”
“Mr. Malone, I have things to do. See you at dinner.”
***
Returning to the house, I went to my father’s office and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
I opened the door and stepped inside the wood-paneled library he used as his office when in the country.
“Talia. This is unusual.”
“Do you have a few minutes?”
“Of course.” He put down his pen and closed the lid to his laptop computer. “Stocks. Nothing important.”
“I have a favor to ask. A couple actually.”
He was more perplexed than before. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. I would like you to buy me a horse.”
“Isn’t Lockie in the process of getting horses for you and Greer to try?”
“Yes, he is. This is a horse named Wingspread and he’s owned by the Ruhlmanns in Orchardiana, Kentucky. I don’t know what he’s worth...”
“Just get him.” My father wrote the information down on a blank piece of paper.
I nodded.
“Okay.”
“Second favor. Here’
s something you’re really good at.”
“This is a day for surprises.”
Just thinking about it refreshed the emotions and tears came to my eyes. “You did everything you could for my mother. I never thanked you for that but I appreciated the extra time you gave us.”
“I wish I could have done more. It’s difficult to rewrite history, not always impossible, but you can’t change the facts. We would all like a second chance at one time or another in order to do things with the wisdom you got by making the mistakes in the first place. So many times in life you can fix what you did wrong. This I couldn’t. I’m not very good at the love thing, as I demonstrate every day, but in my clumsy way I loved her and ...you.”
I took a deep breath. “I believe that. Lockie had a riding accident a year ago and you, better than anyone, can find him the right doctors. Will you do that for me?”
“Of course. I’ll take care of both of those things this afternoon.”
“Don’t make him feel beholden to us.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Thank you.” I stood to leave so he could get back to his stocks and whatever he shifted around all day long.
“There wasn’t time for your mother to teach me how to be a husband; maybe you’ll teach me how to be a father.”
“Maybe,” I said at the doorway and left.
Chapter Six
“Is he really cute?”
Rogers was sitting on my bed as I dressed. Still not having seen Lockie, she had come over, inviting herself for dinner as she often did. No one blamed her because her parents were in absentia most of the time. Then we were going to another movie she had to see. It was something in French from fifty years ago and I couldn’t have cared less but getting away for a couple hours seemed like a good idea.
“Is he,” she repeated.
“Yes, he’s attractive.”
“Like a male model handsome?”
“He’s a normal person. Don’t start drooling and lay your head on his boot or something during dinner.”
“What’s the deal with Greer?”
“She’s not hanging over him. Since she skipped her lesson this afternoon, she can’t be that interested.”
“She’ll never qualify,” Rogers replied.
No, Greer wasn’t going to qualify and there was nothing Lockie could do about it. It was something she felt entitled to and that didn’t require effort.
Bittersweet Farm 1: Mounted Page 3
