And We Danced

by Toni Mari

  “I’m on to you, so it’s not going to work.” I giggled and poked him in the ribs.

  “I didn’t know we were bringing dates to night barn check,” a sarcastic voice cut in.

  Crap. My eyes popped open, and I tried to push away from Cory. “Hi, Melinda. Congratulations. Good ride today.”

  Cory didn’t let go, so I was forced to twist and wiggle in his arms to see Melinda.

  She looked a little surprised and didn’t immediately respond. Instead, she walked over and looked in Windsong’s stall. He came up to the bars and pushed his nose out, checking for treats.

  “I stayed to watch you ride. You did a decent test,” Melinda said reluctantly. “I don’t know what you did over the winter, but I was shocked you could even get this horse around the arena.”

  The funny thing was she thought she was being really nice and complimenting me. I decided to consider it so. “Why, thank you, Melinda. This is my secret weapon right here, Cory Banks.” I poked him in the ribs again. He secretly dug his finger into the ticklish spot on my side, making me squirm.

  Melinda didn’t notice the byplay. “I thought you looked familiar. Reining team, right?”

  I rolled my eyes. Cory grinned, keeping his embarrassingly suggestive eyes on me. “Yep.”

  “He’ll sign an autograph for you, if you want him to.” His finger dug a little more firmly into my side.

  “Uh, no. That’s okay.” There was a puzzled look on her face. Then, focusing on Cory, “What are you doing here with Jane?” One side of Melinda’s lip went up and she drew her eyebrows together in distaste.

  “Trying to get her out of her pants,” Cory answered. My mouth dropped open. I punched him in the shoulder. When I glanced over at Melinda, her face hadn’t changed. She was still having trouble figuring out why Cory would hang with me.

  “Well, if you want to meet the other girls from last year’s Dressage Junior Rider team, come to my trailer, you know which one.” Melinda invited Cory as if I wasn’t even there. The sappy look on her face was supposed to be flirting, I guess. “Stop by, we have drinks and stuff. Like a party. See ya.” Melinda walked off as if she expected Cory to head right on over.

  I swatted Cory. “What is it about you? Girls just slobber over you. Your charm is disgusting.” I was kind of annoyed. It was supposed to be my romantic moment and he was propositioned right in front of me.

  Cory laughed. “So, jealousy isn’t working either. Not taking them off?”

  “No! I am immune to your charm,” I insisted.

  “She probably expects me to show up at their party and get her pants off. She pretty much thought I was slumming with you,” Cory teased.

  Maybe he wasn’t slumming with me, but maybe easy girls like Melinda were who he was used to being with. I pouted, “I know. I’m the lowly peon among rock star riders.”

  Cory pulled me close, dropped the smile, and said seriously, “We are not fit to kiss your boots.” He put his hands on my face and kissed me like no one else existed. Okay, so maybe his charm definitely worked on me. I wasn’t ever going to let him know, though.

  Chapter 30

  With my mom on this trip, Cory was banished to sleeping in the tent with my dad—girls and boys in separate quarters. We girls slept in the camper part of the horse trailer. The next morning, I woke up early and got dressed. When I lifted the blinds and looked out the window, I froze. Cory’s profile was unmistakable in the dim light of dawn. He was a short distance down the lane of horse trailers talking to some blonde girl. Then they kissed and hugged, and she held onto his hand as he turned to walk away. I plopped down onto the cushion of the couch, my eyes stinging. Could he have snuck out of the tent last night? He did seem kind of horny. How could I even think like this? Didn’t I trust him? I didn’t really. I kept waiting for him to dump me for not sleeping with him. My mind was like ice. Should I say something?

  I climbed out of the trailer. I couldn’t look him in the face. I sat in one of the captain’s chairs under the awning. The air was a little chilly, the sun just barely penetrating the early morning haze floating over the show grounds. Small sounds drifted past of people speaking softly, a horse neighing, doors opening and closing. I wished I hadn’t looked out the window. This was my favorite time at a show. Seeing people the second morning, straight out of bed, rumpled, relaxed, and still closer to being asleep than awake.

  “Do you want a breakfast sandwich?” Cory asked me. “I have bacon or sausage and egg,” He handed me a bottle of orange juice.

  He was acting so normal. I stared at him stonily. “Why are you so happy this morning?”

  Cory grinned, amused by my gruff mood. “’Cause I’m looking at you, darling. Didn’t you sleep well, grumpy?”

  I snatched one of the sandwiches out of his hands. His charm would go nowhere this morning. Does he just lay it on anyone within five feet of him? Does it always work? No, I was not being charmed out of this snit. I unwrapped the sandwich, not bothering to answer.

  Cory handed out the sandwiches. Kate was not out of the trailer yet, but my parents each took one.

  “We’re going to get coffee. Want some?” Dad announced. I shook my head. He kissed me on the forehead and grabbed my mom’s hand. I guess no one else was in a bad mood. Cory and I ate in silence.

  About ten minutes later, the blonde girl walked past the trailer with a bag of food in her hands. She waved to Cory and kept going. Cory looked at me and turned bright red.

  “Not introducing me to that girlfriend either, I guess?”

  “No! I can’t remember her name, even if I wanted to,” he mumbled.

  “From last night?” I sputtered. “You are such a pig!”

  Cory’s head snapped up. “Last night? I met her last summer and I don’t remember her name. She came up to me this morning and went on and on about some show we were at, and I couldn’t remember her name. I feel like a jerk.”

  This morning, not last night. I put my hand over my eyes. I knew I should have kept my mouth shut. I really wished I had never looked out that window. We were bound to run into people who knew Cory, and I couldn’t be jealous of every one of them. After all, he was practically famous.

  Understanding dawned on Cory’s face. Blue eyes turned to ice. His jaw tightened and he stood up, dropped his breakfast wrappings in the trash, and headed to the barn.

  I looked at the sandwich in my hand. I wrapped it back up in the paper and left it on the table. I followed Cory to the barn walking slowly.

  “All alone?” Melinda was heading back in the other direction. “I just had the nicest chat with your boyfriend. He helped me with my horse. What a sweetie.”

  I didn’t say anything, but I glared pretty hard.

  “What? Are you two fighting? Poor Jane. Maybe I’ll have to catch up with him later. Console him.” She smirked her famous smirk.

  I actually paused. Her comments, while irritating, weren’t having the effect on me that I think she wanted. She backed up a step at the look of satisfaction I gave her. “He’d be happy to talk to you, I’m sure.” I am over her.

  Cory had already fed Windsong and had started cleaning his stall when I came into the barn a few minutes later. Not knowing exactly what to say, I silently grabbed Windsong’s water bucket and took it to the hydrant to refill it. As I hung it up, Cory said tightly, “I went right to sleep in the tent with your dad, I swear.”

  I slumped. “I know. I was silly. I happened to look out the window earlier and saw her kissing you.” I turned to face him. He didn’t deserve my mistrust. He had been nothing but sweet and caring with me. “I worry that because I’m not sleeping with you, you will find someone else who will.”

  “I won’t. Not while we’re together,” Cory said sincerely.

  “I know. I’m sorry,” I whispered. I stepped up to him and put my forehead on his chest and my hands on his waist.

  Cory wrapped his arms around me. “You’re almost right not to trust me,” he whispered.

  We headed do
wn to the warm-up ring. Cory was beside me and Windsong, and Kate and my parents followed behind. A siren wailed in the distance. Suddenly, an ambulance turned into the show grounds and hurtled down the lane, lights flashing, siren blaring. People jumped out of its way and horses went ballistic. Windsong panicked. Before I had a chance to react, he dashed forward right into the crowd. He must have thought the ambulance was after him. There were too many people around, so I couldn’t try to spin him in a circle to slow him down and he ignored my other attempts. As long as that siren was blaring, he was not hanging around.

  We left Cory in the dust. I stood a little in the stirrups, keeping my balance and trying to come up with a plan, fast. I wasn’t scared. Windsong was doing a good job of dodging people and horses. I looked ahead. If I could turn Windsong toward the show rings, there would be more room and fewer people. Instead of trying to stop him, I rode his gallop, steering him through the people and around the turn and talking to him the whole time.

  “Easy, boy. I’m with you. We’re okay.” I used my most confident voice, not easy when I was dodging low-hanging tree branches. Still using the same tone, I kept repeating, “Please don’t let us crash. Please don’t let me get wiped off and dumped in the dirt.”

  I held Windsong’s mane as we turned toward the arenas. His panic began to recede the farther we got from the ambulance. He listened to my signals, and I reached forward and rubbed his neck. The moment his tension eased, I asked him to slow and stop. We stood still, both trembling. I took a few deep breaths. Finally, the ambulance silenced its siren and relief showed on the faces of the people around me. There was lots of head shaking and people hanging onto the bridles of jittery horses. I grinned. I survived! I started laughing helplessly. Windsong turned his head and nudged the toe of my boot with his nose.

  “That damn thing wasn’t after you at all, was it? You poor baby.”

  Cory was the first to reach me. “You okay?” He held up his hand. I grabbed it hard and squeezed. I was still trembling and Cory was huffing. He gave us a once over. “You look okay. I didn’t think you were going to make it.” He shook his head.

  “I’m fine. Poor Windsong! He thought that ambulance wanted him for lunch.” My voice was shaky.

  “Don’t do that again. At least, not when I’m around. I don’t think I could survive it again.” Cory started to grin. “But you were great!”

  “Shit, forget my freestyle. Let’s go home right now.” I grinned too. After this drama, my class would be cake. “What happened? Why the ambulance anyway?”

  Kate and my parents arrived at that moment. “You okay?” Kate’s eyes were wide with worry.

  “No biggie,” I lied, with a wink at Cory. “What happened? Is someone hurt?”

  “I heard people saying one of the little kids fell off, and they think she broke her leg. It’s not life threatening,” Kate explained. “Stupid ambulance driver. He is lucky no one else got hurt!”

  I didn’t get much of a warm-up. I was a mess and we all hurried back to the trailer to repair my hair and makeup. As I entered the ring, I was still buttoning my jacket. I tugged on my gloves and organized my reins. As I passed my posse, I held up my fist and said, “Rock and roll!”

  Standing along the side of the ring, I raised my arm to signal the start of our music. This was our musical freestyle, every rider made up their own routine with the required movements. As the familiar notes boomed out of the speakers, my heart swelled. I loved this music and I knew this routine. We were going to dance! Windsong fell right into rhythm with the song. I could feel the power and energy surge through his body. I let the music own me.

  I laughed out loud as we did one tempis down the centerline to the final halt. What a blast! The small crowd cheered and clapped loud and long for us. This was more than the normal polite response I was used to. I patted Windsong when he flinched at the racket, “Good boy. Best boy!” That felt good. That’s what it was all about, the feeling of partnership, of performing as a team.

  I left the ring grinning. My parents and Kate all rushed me. They patted my legs since that was the highest they could reach, laughing and congratulating me. Again, Cory stayed back and watched. I slanted him a look. Was he jealous that I was the big shot right now? He smiled intimately at me. No, he was giving me my turn in the spotlight. I returned the private little smile. I put my fingers on the brim of my top hat and tipped it toward him. Touché, cowboy.

  The next time I looked, Cory was gone.

  I stayed dressed in my snowy white show breeches, shirt, and stock tie while we waited for the final scores and the awards ceremony. I laid my shadbelly down neatly over one of the chairs like a man retiring his tuxedo jacket, smoothing the tails and aligning the seams so that my formal attire wouldn’t be wrinkled. Windsong was in his stall but still wore his tightly coiled braids. Kate had thrown a light sheet over him so that his sleek, shiny coat stayed spotless. She had to do it because I wasn’t allowed to touch anything while wearing my whites. Our biggest fear at this stage of the show was dirt. My parents and Kate moved around, packing anything they could so that we could leave right after the awards ceremony. When Cory reached the trailer, I sent him a questioning look. I refused to ask where he was. I wouldn’t wonder for the tenth time if he was meeting that blonde after all. His not-quite smile was not an answer to my questions, but I tamped down the sliver of jealousy that crawled up my spine. “You okay?” I mouthed.

  “Sure.” He looked up at the sky, pushed his hat back, and stuck his hands in his pockets. “You were amazing today. Elton looked like a million bucks. The way you’re dressed and the way you rode today, Jane, you impressed this stupid cowboy.”

  As she passed by with a hay net in her hands, Kate said, “Cory, could you hang this in the trailer please? Jane, let’s go get tacked up for the awards ceremony, and on the way we can pick up your score for your freestyle.”

  Before Cory moved, I stepped close. “Thank you. Hearing you say that means everything to me.” I sent him one last look and followed Kate.

  Kate came out of the secretary’s booth with my test results in her hand.

  “That’s her triumphant winner’s smile,” I said. “I hope that means my score is good.”

  “Well, Jane. This test is just ridiculous for your first time out with Windsong,” Kate said with mock severity but couldn’t stop herself from smiling.

  “What is it? You are so mean! Just get it over with and tell me how bad it is,” I whined.

  Kate kept smiling. “Jane, you won the class! They gave you a sixty-six percent!”

  My mouth dropped open. I searched her face to see if she was kidding. “Really?”

  “Really!” Kate said, laughing.

  I leapt off Windsong and flung myself into Cory’s arms. Cory’s eyebrows flew up and he wrapped his arms around me. I started to cry. Cory wiped my tears with his thumb. “Hey, you deserve it. Stop crying.”

  “Thank you. It’s because of you.” Then I pulled out of his arms, whirled around and hugged Kate. “Thank you. I am just so thrilled. Thank you!”

  Kate went on to say, “You didn’t win the whole thing. You placed fourth overall. But fourth place your first time out is amazing—beyond amazing. I won’t say I told you so.”

  Cory gave me a leg up onto Windsong. Tradition was that the top eight riders would participate in the awards ceremony and victory gallop, and then the first-place rider would continue on to do one victory lap solo.

  As we lined up at the gate before entering the ring, I watched as a volunteer placed the red second-place ribbon around Belvedere’s neck. Melinda turned around and spotted me. Her eyes dropped to the white ribbon around Windsong’s neck and her mouth fell open. I gave her a finger wave and smiled. Her jaw tightened and she whirled around forward.

  We proceeded in and lined up facing the stands. They announced each rider’s name and score over the loud speaker. Then the first-place rider led us around the arena for a victory lap. The other riders cantered their horses o
r did extended trot to show off a little. I just tried to stay in line and let Windsong pick the pace. I scanned the stands for Cory and my parents and waved to them on the rail. I didn’t notice that the horse in front of me had passed Melinda.

  Right in front of the stands, right in front of all the people, Melinda cut her horse sharply in front of us, almost smacking Windsong in the face with her horse’s shoulder. And she rode on as if she wasn’t aware of what she just did. Windsong, startled, reared straight up. I rolled my eyes, held onto the saddle, and rubbed Windsong’s neck. He landed softly and went forward.

  Everyone focused on me. Windsong’s neck hardened and he was surging against my grip on the reins. After all the shit that happened today, and still getting to hear my name echo over these show grounds, nothing was going to affect my buoyant mood. As long as he still had all this energy, we might as well have some fun with it. My fingers massaged the reins and Windsong responded by softening his jaw and body. I rubbed my calves gently on his sides, encouraging a rhythmic, prancing trot. It was called passage and not all horses could do it. Windsong's natural ability made it easy.

  As we danced past them, the crowd picked up our rhythm and began clapping along. I grinned, put the reins in one hand and pumped my fist in the air. Windsong marched along, lifting his knees high, holding them up for a slow-motion moment between each step. Take that, Melinda. I relaxed and Windsong began a normal quick trot as we headed out the gate. The applause followed me as I leaned down and wrapped both arms around his neck. “That may have been the best moment of my life. You are the king, handsome.” Windsong was used to me hugging him now and walked energetically in the direction of the barn, ears flicking back, acknowledging my affection. Even relaxed, Windsong surged past horses heading in the same direction. We passed Melinda. I tried not to grin, but I couldn’t help it. Her eyes met mine, sizzling, lips pressed tightly together. We stared a beat at each other, then her lips softened and she gave the tiniest nod. Double victory!