CHAPTER FORTY
Jordan didn’t want to talk about what Taylor had said. He went into the house and up to his room. Dad didn’t want to talk about it either, dismissing the woman as crazy. I lay in my bed in the dark and looked at my ceiling, wondering what Jordan was doing up above me. Was he asleep like I should be? Or was he lying there awake, stewing over the words his mother had spewed at him.
I wanted to help him but I couldn’t really get involved. He didn’t want me to and I had to respect that. I wouldn’t want him suddenly interrogating my own mother and asking her why she didn’t love me anymore. The truth was that I didn’t really want to know.
The next day Molly came out to work Bourbon and Bailey and since she was our only boarder, other than Faith, I helped her move the jumps around until they were where she wanted them and then sat on the fence watching her jump and picking the poles up for her when she knocked them down.
“He’s feisty today,” Molly said as Bourbon threw in a little buck after one of the jumps.
I nodded but I wasn’t really listening.
“Is everything okay with you?” Molly said as she patted the black horse and let him walk. “You seem more distracted than usual.”
More than usual? Did she mean that I was sort of distracted the rest of the time? I tried not to look like she had almost just offended me.
“No, I’m fine,” I said. “I’m just a bit tired. I catch rode a horse for Walter Grey yesterday.”
I didn’t want to tell her that I was really thinking about Jordan and his mother. The man who had Wizard at the show said that he bought him from a woman with a unicorn tattoo. Taylor had a unicorn tattoo. Did she really want to keep her son away from me so badly that she stole his horse and then sold him to that horrible man?
“Walter Grey?” Molly said.
I nodded again.
“Be careful with that one,” she said.
Now she had my attention. I snapped out of my daydream where I was telling Jordan what his mother had done and as a result he refused to see her ever again.
“What?” I said. “Why? He’s amazing.”
I didn’t tell her that I had my doubts about him as well because I wanted to hear what she had to say. The horse world was full of gossip. Everyone thought they had dirt on someone because they heard something from a friend of a friend of a friend. Sometimes it wasn’t true but sometimes it was. The horse world could be a shady place.
“I had a friend that rode with him,” Molly said. “She wasn’t too kind about him when she finally left his barn.”
“What did he do to her?” I said.
“It wasn’t her,” Molly said. “It was her horses. She said she thought he was drugging them.”
“To win?” I said.
“That was the strange thing,” Molly told me. “She said she thought he was drugging them so that she’d lose.”
I spent the rest of the afternoon up in my bedroom on my laptop, looking up everything I could find online about Walter Grey. Articles, interviews, competition results. I read them all. I didn’t get it. Mostly he was a nice guy. There were no reports of suspensions or anything like that. People raved about his lessons and his training techniques. They said he got results. That his horses won. So why was he drugging horses so that they would lose?
I pulled up the classes from the day of the show and found our results. There we were, out of the running. I copied the name of the girl and horse that won and pasted them into the search engine. After a couple of minutes, I found out that she rode with Walter too. She’d ridden with him for years, since she was a little girl. So the warning I’d been given was right. Walter had wanted to give her a better advantage. He’d wanted Lucky to lose but why would he sabotage another horse from his own barn. It was like Dad said when I’d talked to him about catch riding in the first place, you had to ride each horse to win. If you were a trainer, weren’t you supposed to do the same? Why even bother and have me go up there in the first place? Walter could have had anyone ride Lucky. Someone who wasn’t as good as I was. It would have been a lot easier. Why involve me at all? I was a nobody. Well, almost a nobody anyway.
A few days went by and I got another call on the house phone from Walter Grey, even though I knew that I’d given him my cell number.
“Hello Emily,” he boomed down the phone, sounding far too happy for a guy who was drugging horses and manipulating people.
“Hello,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound as suspicious as I felt.
“Listen, I wondered if you’d be interested in riding another horse for me?”
To lose again? I thought to myself but instead I said, “Yes, of course.”
“Great. The class is tomorrow at two o’clock but if you come up before then I have a group lesson that you can join in on. Maybe you’ll pick up a few pointers for your team.”
“Maybe I will,” I said. “Thanks.”
What I was really thinking was that I’d go and ride whatever horse Walter wanted me to and make sure that I didn’t leave its side so that no one could drug it before the class. This time I’d win and I’d beat Walter at his own game.
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
“I can’t believe I’m driving you up here again,” Dad said in the truck the next day.
“I can’t believe you are either,” I said. “But you could start teaching me to drive any day now. I’m allowed a learners permit you know and I can get my license when I’m sixteen. That is only seven months away.”
“You on the road?” Dad said. “No thanks.”
“Hey,” I said.
“I’ve seen how you ride in a jump off,” Dad said. “You know cars aren’t made for speeding, right?”
“Sure they are,” I said.
I stared out the window, longing for the day I had my freedom and didn’t have to rely on my father to take me places. It was getting old. He had better things to do and if he was going to just sit in the truck again it was going to be embarrassing.
“You can always go and do something else while I’m riding,” I told him.
“I think this time I’ll watch,” he said.
“Why? You didn’t care last time.”
“Just something Molly said,” he told me, frowning.
Great. Molly must have told him that Walter was shady and now he’d probably get all up in his face and tell him what he really thought of him.
“You’re not going to do anything stupid, right?” I said.
“I’m your father,” Dad said. “Why would you think I’d do anything stupid?”
But he grinned and I knew that look. It was the same look I got on my face right before I did something stupid. That was the thing when you were related to someone. You knew what they were thinking because it was usually the same thing you were thinking. Except I never knew what my mother was thinking at all. Sometimes I used to wonder if I was adopted but I was clearly my father’s child.
CHAPTER FORTY TWO
Last time I’d shown up Walter’s farm had been quiet because everyone had been at the showgrounds. This time it was bustling. There were riders getting horses ready and grooms braiding and tacking up. It was actually comforting. The barn had seemed a little eerie when it was just me, Martin and the grumpy groom whose name I didn’t know. Now there were so many people, I hoped I could just blend in. I also hoped that no one would be able to give the horse I was riding a mystery shot because there would be a good chance that someone would see.
I hoped I’d be riding Lucky again because he was simple and I felt like I’d already reached an understanding with him. I knew that this time, if he wasn’t drugged, I’d be able to get him to win. But inside the barn on the board was a list of riders and horses and there was my name. Next to it was a horse called Elegant Grace.
“You’re back.” It was the girl who had warned me about Walter, pretending to look at the board so that people wouldn’t think she was talking to me. “I didn’t think you would be.”
“I have to thi
nk of my career,” I said under my breath.
“Yes, a career of failures, that sounds great.” She swatted at a fly that landed on her arm. “Martin,” she yelled down the barn aisle. “The automatic fly system isn’t working again.”
Martin came out of a stall and disappeared into the tack room.
“They keep saying they’ll fix it but they don’t,” she said. “It’s ridiculous, the amount of money we pay and we have to put up with flies landing on our horses. Can you imagine?”
“No,” I said, thinking of our leaking roof and the fact that the only fly spray we had was the kind that came in bottles and barely worked. “I can hardly imagine at all. The horror.”
“You can joke all you want,” she said. “But how would you like it if your horse acted up because he was covered in welts from fly bites when you were trying to win an important jump off.”
“I guess it would suck,” I said.
Even though the girl was obviously rich and kind of spoiled, I couldn’t help but like her. She wasn’t really mean, she just said what she thought and so far she’d helped me. I just hoped it wasn’t because she was trying to get something out of it.
“By the way, I’m Judy,” she said, sticking out her hand to shake mine like we were all adult or something. “My parents named me after Judy Garland so don’t make any jokes about the Wizard of Oz or anything like that, okay?”
“I don’t know any jokes about the Wizard of Oz,” I said.
“Good, then I’m sure we’ll be the best of friends.” She looped her arm through mine.
I noticed that her hair was pretty and soft and her skin was smooth. I had a zit that had erupted on my chin that morning and I’d forgotten to cover it with concealer. I had no idea why Judy would want to be friends with me. Maybe it was to make Walter mad. Maybe she didn’t really want to be friends at all and was planning to stab me in the back but at least I didn’t feel so awkward when the other riders looked at me, their eyes sweeping up and then back to whatever they were doing because I had Judy’s approval and I suspected that meant I’d passed some kind of invisible test.
“Now, who are you riding?” Judy asked me.
“Elegant Grace,” I said. “Is that a mare?”
“Not just a mare,” Judy said. “The alpha mare. You’d better watch your back with that one. She tossed her last rider into the grandstand.”
“You’re joking,” I said.
“Not one bit,” she replied. “The girl broke her leg in three places.”
So Walter was definitely trying to end my career one way or another. Perhaps I’d better let them give the horse the sedative after all.
CHAPTER FORTY THREE
Elegant Grace stood in the back of her stall regarding me coldly. She was a chestnut mare, the combination so many called wicked, one that I hadn’t really thought too much about until now. And I didn’t think that all chestnut mares were crazy or mean because that wouldn’t have been fair but Grace certainly wasn’t helping the stereotype. She lunged at the bars, her teeth smashing against them as I quickly removed my hand.
“She doesn't seem very friendly,” I said.
“Just be grateful that she can’t bite you when you’re up in the saddle,” Judy replied.
She had shown me around the barn, the tour that I didn’t get last time, pointing out the tack room, the grooms and the other riders, including their quirks just as Chloe had done.
“Lexi usually ends up crying and puking her guts out in the bathroom before we all ride over to the show.” Judy pointed to a tall thin girl with glasses and a long dark braid.
“Why?” I said.
The girl was tacking up a pretty gray mare who didn’t look like she would hurt a fly.
“Nerves I guess.” Judy shrugged. “I heard she has a therapist and they wanted to put her on anxiety medication but Walter won’t let us ride unless we are drug free.”
“How would he know?” I said. “Does he test you?”
“Good point.” Judy laughed. “I guess we’re on the honor system.”
Too bad Walter wasn’t keeping to the honor system with his horses. Another girl was taking Lucky out to the ring today. She was holding onto the reins as the bay horse danced about, his tail flagged like an Arabian. This was not the horse I knew from the other day. The one who was so unmotivated that I’d had sore legs for the rest of the day because I’d had to use them so much. This time Lucky hadn’t been medicated. I wondered if Walter had decided that it was his turn to win today. Maybe the owners hadn’t been too pleased that their horse hadn’t come away with a ribbon when I rode him. I wondered if the girl getting ready to ride him today was his owner or a catch rider like me.
“This is my horse,” Judy said, stopping outside the stall that Martin was in.
He was tacking the horse up, quickly and efficiently fastening buckles and making sure the saddle pad wasn’t wrinkled. I watched as he popped a fluffy ball in each of the horse’s ears.
“She doesn’t like the noise,” Judy said.
Her parents obviously paid for the whole package including tacking, braiding and whatever else her horse needed. The nameplate said Bethany Bay and the mare was bay, though not very striking. She had a roman nose and big ears. Not exactly the kind of horse that I’d expected Judy to own but maybe she was less superficial than I gave her credit for and if the horse could jump, that was all that really mattered.
“Hello Martin,” I said as the groom tightened the girth and the mare pinned her ears. He looked up like he was surprised to see me again. “Do you know where the tack is for Grace? I’d like to get her ready now.”
“I’ll get her ready next,” he said, wiping the saddle down with his towel even though there wasn’t a speck of dust on it.
“I’d like to,” I said. “If that is okay.”
“It’s my job,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Then I’ll help,” I replied.
There was no way I was letting the horse I was riding today out of my sight. I’d be there every step of the way. I wasn’t about to let Martin inject her with something when I wasn’t looking.
“It’s not necessary,” Martin said, coming out of the stall as Judy went in.
“I think it is,” I replied with a smile.
Judy looked at me and gave a small nod. She knew what I meant. After all, she was the one who had warned me about Walter. She had to know that this time I was going to be smarter about the whole situation. I was there to learn and to be part of something that was bigger and better than I could ever afford on my own but I was also there to win and I wasn’t about to have my ride sabotaged a second time.
CHAPTER FORTY FOUR
“So that is the horse you are riding?” Dad said.
I was sitting on Grace while she hopped and jumped about beneath me like a rabbit on steroids. She hadn’t stood still at the mounting block and in the end my father had come over and given me a leg up.
“But that’s not the horse you rode last time, right?” he added.
“Right,” I said as Grace spooked at a horse coming out of the barn, pinned her ears and then lunged towards the gray.
It was the girl who spent her time throwing up, Lexi. Her mare pinned her ears and spooked sideways to avoid Grace’s gnashing teeth.
“Watch it,” she mumbled.
“I’m sorry.” I shrugged.
Grace was like a loose cannon, bouncing off horses and riders like she was a pinball in an arcade game. I just hoped that maybe some of that restless energy could be translated into something that was useful, like winning. A horse with restless energy was better than one that had no energy at all. This I could work with, if she didn’t kill me first.
“Your daughter is a good little rider,” Walter said as he came over to shake my father’s hand.
“Thank you,” Dad said, looking Walter up and down like he was trying to decide if he could take him in a fight.
Both men straightened their backs and stuck out their che
sts. It was like watching two wild animals size each other up.
“If she does well today, perhaps I’ll be able to take over some more of her training. I always have room in my barn for girls like her,” Walter said.
“She is talented,” Dad said. “And hardworking.”
I felt like they were discussing someone who wasn’t me. It was weird and embarrassing.
“But she has a lot of team stuff going on,” Dad added.
“Yes, that Junior Olympic team.” Walter shook his head. “It’s not really going very well is it?” He leaned in closer. “In fact it’s a bit of an embarrassment. If Emily rode here with me, I’d get her on the fast track for the real Olympics.”
Dad squinted at Walter and then looked at me. At the mere mention of the word Olympics I’d wanted to abandon all my doubts about Walter’s ethics and throw myself at my father’s feet, begging to be allowed to ride with him.
“We’ll have to see about that,” Dad said.
“Of course.” Walter sighed like he was bored of talking about it now. “And she may not do well today anyway. Grace is a far different horse than Lucky.”
“Emily is used to riding all kinds of horses,” Dad said through gritted teeth.
“Yes well, let’s get on with it then.” Walter strode off in the direction of the ring.
“You’d better kick butt today,” Dad said. “And prove that idiot wrong.”
“I always do my best,” I said as Grace nearly ran my father over.
I pointed her in the direction of the ring and held on for dear life.
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE
The lesson was less of an actual lesson and more of a warm up. Judy told me that the warm up rings over at the show usually got really crowded on the weekends so it was easier just to warm up at the farm. I guess it made sense. What didn’t make sense was that Grace didn’t need a warm up. What she really needed was a cooling down. It was a nice, sunny day. One of those perfect Florida days where it was not too hot and not too cold but Grace was drenched with sweat as I tried to get her to settle.
Catch Rider (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 28) Page 9