by Kate Lattey
Katy shook her head at me as she took Tori’s saddle from my arms. “My best friend is as crazy as my horse is.”
“Two of a kind,” I said, looking over at Tori as I bolted the stable door. She was standing in the corner with her ears back, pulling faces at Lucas, who was two boxes over and trying to blend unobtrusively into the wall.
“Not quite,” Katy muttered, watching Tori. “Luckily for me, you’re a whole lot nicer than she is.”
15
SHOWTIME
When we arrived in Masterton on Thursday evening, the show grounds were already buzzing with people ready to enjoy the final show of the season. No sooner had we unloaded our ponies and settled them in their stables than Susannah arrived, so Katy and I helped her get her two geldings bedded down next to ours. We were just about to take all of them out for a leg stretch and a pick of grass before dinner when we heard a high-pitched whinny, and turned to see a light grey pony dragging a curly-haired brunette girl down the aisle towards us.
“Misty, would you please slow down!” She tugged plaintively at the lead rope, but the pony ignored her, carrying on his merry way.
“Hi, Tess.”
Misty came to an abrupt halt in front of Squib’s stable, evidently recognising his friend, and they began sniffing noses as Tess brushed her curly brown hair back off her face and smiled at us.
“Hey, everyone.”
Lucas stretched his neck around the side of his stable, wanting to greet Misty too, but the grey was engaged in a neck-arching competition with Squib – one which he was winning easily. Misty was solid muscle, fit and strong and bold, and far more pony than Tess probably would’ve chosen to ride, if she’d had any choice in the matter. But he’d been handed down to her when her sister Hayley had aged out of ponies, and selling him was out of the question, as far as Hayley was concerned, so Tess had had to learn to cope with him.
“Misty’s being his usual chilled-out self, I see,” I commented, and Tess rolled her eyes.
“He hasn’t been out since HOY. He’s very excited.” Her pony squealed and lashed out with a foreleg, banging his hoof hard against the front of Squib’s box.
“Don’t let him do that! What if he hurts himself?” snapped a voice, and we turned to see Tess’s mother and her older sister walking down the aisle towards us. Her mum was carrying an armload of rugs, buckets and bandages, but Hayley strolled along unburdened.
“I told you to put the chain over his nose,” she said bluntly as she reached Misty’s side. “Here, I’ll take him. He goes further down.”
For a moment, Tess hesitated to hand the pony over, and I understood why. Hayley had recently had surgery to remove a brain tumour, and while her thick mane of curly blonde hair obscured any scars or shaved areas, her health was still precarious. There were dark shadows under her blue eyes and she’d lost a lot of weight in the past few months since her diagnosis. Misty was difficult at the best of times, and if Tess, who was fighting fit and a lot stronger than she looked, was having trouble with him…but Hayley had never been one to give up easily, and she snatched the rope from her sister’s hand.
“For god’s sake. I’m fine.” Hayley turned to Misty and looped the lead rope across his nose, then threaded it back through the bottom of the halter and gave it a firm tug. “Now, behave,” she told the ebullient pony, and strode off without sparing any of us a second glance.
I met Tess’s hazel eyes, and she shrugged in defeat. “So. How are you?” she asked.
“Happy to see you,” I replied, giving her a welcoming hug. “It feels like it’s been forever since we were all together. You even look different,” I added as I stepped back, relinquishing her form my arms and looking at her more closely. It wasn’t my imagination, either. There was something changed about her, but I couldn’t quite work out what it was…at least until Susannah spoke up. Not much got past her eagle eye.
“You’ve got your braces off.”
Tess grinned, and I realised that Susannah was right. “Oh yeah! That’s what it is. You look great!”
“Thanks.” Tess ran her tongue over her top row of teeth. “It feels so weird. In a good way, but still weird.”
“Speaking of weird, where’s your other half?” Katy asked, leaning over Lucas’s stable door and looking down the aisle for Tess’s boyfriend Jonty, who regularly accompanied her to shows.
But Tess’s smile dimmed in response to the question. “He’s not here.”
Katy’s eyebrows shot up. “How come?”
She shrugged awkwardly, and a horrible thought occurred.
“Is everything okay between you guys?” I asked, concerned.
Since I’d known Tess, I’d rarely seen her without Jonty more than a few metres from her side, which would’ve been annoying if he wasn’t so likeable. It was weird seeing her without him – even at fifteen, they were like an old married couple, completely devoted to each other.
“We’re fine. He’s good,” Tess assured us. “But apparently four’s a crowd, so…he stayed home.”
“Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense,” Katy said.
It did make sense, logistically, but I felt for Tess. Not only because Jonty was super helpful to have around and really good at managing Misty, but he also kept Tess on an even keel in the face of extreme pressure from her mum and sister, who never seemed to understand that she was a nervous rider who didn’t really want to jump huge fences, and were particularly unforgiving of her mistakes.
“We were just about to take the ponies for a walk,” Susannah said, sliding back the bolt on her chestnut pony Skip’s stable door. “You want to come with?”
Tess glanced up the aisle to where Hayley and her mother were fussing over Misty, and bit her lower lip. “I should stay, see if they need help.”
I slung an arm across her shoulders. “They’ll be fine. Come on, we’ve got so much catching up to do.”
A slow smile grew over Tess’s face, and she nodded. “Okay. I’m in.”
Since Katy had brought three ponies along, and Squib was more than enough for one person to have to deal with, Tess ended up leading Molly, while Katy took Puppet and Lucas, and Susannah led her two geldings, Forbes and Skip. We led them out past the stables and along to the back of the show jumping rings, where they tucked into the green grass.
“Someone’s been using an irrigator,” Susannah said, looking around. “I can’t remember the last time I saw so much green. It’s been such a dry summer.”
“Don’t even get me started,” Tess said with a sigh. Her family had a big sheep station, and the drought would be affecting their income more than any of ours.
“How are you guys coping?” I asked, and she shrugged.
“We’re scraping by.”
“Hayley seems back to normal,” Katy commented, leaning over Lucas’s withers as he grazed. “How’s she doing?”
Tess shrugged. “Yeah, seems to be. She’s still not allowed to ride – although she does, when she thinks she’ll get away with it. Mum’s given up arguing with her and just turns a blind eye, but Dad’s given her an earful a few times. Not that Hayley cares.”
“Is Jonty still riding Copper for her?”
Tess nodded. “He’s keeping him in work.” She smiled as she stroked Molly’s glossy neck. “She’s even letting Jonty jump him now, and he’s going super.”
“He should’ve brought him down to compete,” Katy said, her arms draped across Lucas’s back.
But Tess shook her head. “Hayley’d never allow it. Jonty makes Copper look so easy, it’d show her up.”
I rolled my eyes. “What is with people and their egos?” I’d only seen Jonty ride a handful of times, but he was one of those people who looked like he’d been born on a horse, and got the best out of every horse he rode. He’d jumped Squib for me once, when I was still recovering from my accident, and had won the biggest class Squib had ever jumped at the time. It was a crying shame that he didn’t have a horse of his own to compete. He could easily go all the
way in the competition world.
“It’s a shame he doesn’t have his own horse,” Susannah said, echoing my thoughts.
“Why doesn’t he pick something up off the track and produce it?” Katy asked. “Even if it wasn’t great, he’d get it going well enough to make a bit of money.”
Tess shrugged, stepping politely sideways as Molly decided the patch of grass under Tess’s boot was the one she wanted most.
“Or how about a super talented but slightly crazy young warmblood?” I asked, casting Katy a sideways glance. “Because I know one of those that needs a new home.”
“If you’re talking about Tori, you mispronounced ‘dangerously insane’,” Katy corrected me. “And that suggestion depends entirely on whether Tess likes her boyfriend alive or not.”
“I definitely prefer alive,” Tess said. “Are you selling Tori, then?”
“Selling, giving away,” Katy said with a shrug. “Paying someone to take her off my hands…”
“What’s wrong with her?” Susannah asked.
“What isn’t?” Katy replied. “She’s a nutcase. She just about snapped AJ in half the other day, when she tried to jump her.”
“She’s good to hack,” I said feebly.
“Unless there’s a ditch, or a creek, or another horse, or she’s just not in the mood to do what you want,” Katy replied. “Which is ninety-nine percent of the time.” She turned back to Tess, who was following our conversation curiously. “But if Jonty has a death wish, then he’s more than welcome to her.”
“Pass,” she said. “Sorry to hear she’s not working out though.”
“Join the club.” Katy turned to look at Susannah. “Can’t tempt you to take on a project, can I?”
She shook her head immediately. “Sorry. I try to steer clear of the dangerous ones.”
“Don’t we all.”
“Dad would never go for it anyway,” Susannah continued. “I’ve already been told in no uncertain terms that I’m not wasting my time on a fixer-upper. If it’s not already doing Young Riders, it’s not worth having, that’s his motto.”
“Mine too,” I joked, and Tess smiled at me.
“Are you looking at horses already?” Katy asked Susannah.
“Dad is ‘pursuing leads’,” Susannah said, using air quotes. “Whatever that means. I think he’s got a few on the boil, including one of Steph Marshall’s, up in Gisborne. And one of Abby Brooks’s as well.”
Katy went white, and I knew what she was thinking. She was still trying to convince her father to buy Abby’s mare Zodiac for her, but if it came to a bidding war between the two of them, Katy wouldn’t have a chance. Susannah’s family was loaded, and her father would stop at nothing to give his daughter whatever he’d decided she should have.
I asked the question on Katy’s behalf. “The grey mare?”
“No. She’s too old,” Susannah said, and I saw Katy sag with relief. “The chestnut, Final Chance.”
Tess straightened up, looking surprised. “Wow. That’s a lot of horse.”
Susannah rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to tell me that. I have no idea how Dad thinks I’d be able to ride him.” She glanced at me, knowing that I wasn’t as familiar with the horses on the circuit as the rest of them. “He’s well over seventeen hands, not to mention super hot and super strong. Even Abby has trouble, and she’s a pro. But Dad’s always liked the look of him, and he heard that he was for sale, so…”
“Your dad is not a realist,” I commented, and Susannah smiled.
“You got that one right.”
“I didn’t even know Abby was selling him,” Katy said, looking thoughtful.
“He’s not advertised,” Tess said, and we all looked at her. “Hayley wants him for next season, but Mum’s opposed. They had a big fight about it, until Mum agreed to take her on a trip to Aussie next month to see what’s over there.”
I stood in the middle of this conversation and tried not to fall on my knees and beg my friends’ families to adopt me. I was never going to get a fancy imported warmblood or a top show jumper bought for me. My parents thought competing was an indulgence as it was, and didn’t see show jumping as a real sport. Not one that I could have any kind of actual future in. They were probably right, but the reality of the situation still stung. When I’d met Katy, she’d been on as much of a shoestring budget as I had, but her father’s reappearance was opening up opportunities that she’d never had before. And I was the one left standing on the sidelines, watching jealously as my friends got given constant legs up towards the top of the sport we all loved.
I looked at Susannah, and remembered the Antares with a guilty jolt. It was sitting in Katy’s truck right now, newly repaired and almost as good as new. I’d managed to scrape together two thousand dollars as a down payment, thanks to my brothers’ generosity. All I could do now was pray that Susannah’s dad would let me pay the saddle off in installments. I didn’t know what I was going to do if he demanded all of the money upfront.
I didn’t get a chance to talk to him until later that evening, after we’d had dinner and played a few hands of cards in Katy’s truck. When Susannah stood up and stretched and said she had to be getting back, I stood too, and said I needed to go and check on Squib.
It was dark outside, and there was a definite chill in the air. I shivered, wishing I’d remembered to grab my puffer jacket on the way out of the truck, but it was too late now.
“You looking forward to tomorrow?” Susannah asked conversationally as we walked.
Despite my nerves about the impending conversation with her father, I smiled. “I can’t wait. It feels like it’s been forever since I last competed!”
“What is it, like four months?”
“Almost five. Not since Taupo Christmas Classic.”
“I hope Squib’s on his game tomorrow then.”
“He will be,” I assured her as we ducked between two trucks, both of us stumbling over a half-hidden hay bale. “Man, I wish people would put their stuff away properly. It’d be just my luck to fall on my face and break my collarbone again.”
“That would be pretty unlucky,” Susannah said, sounding amused. She came to a stop, and I realised we were standing in front of her truck. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow. Try not to hurt yourself on the way back.”
“Actually, can I come in?”
Susannah had just pulled the door open, and the light from inside illuminated her face. She looked surprised, and a little wary. “Uh…” She lowered her voice. “It’s just that Dad’s working, and he won’t want us in there talking –”
“It’s him I need to talk to,” I explained, and she looked even more surprised. “About the saddle.”
“What saddle?”
“Your saddle. The Antares.”
She nodded slowly. “I thought you’d got it fixed.”
“I did.”
“Susie, come inside. You’re letting the bugs in.”
“Sorry.” Susannah took a step up into the truck, then looked at me, still clearly confused. I took a step towards her, and she shrugged. “Come on in, then.”
I followed her up the steps and shut the door behind me. Her father looked up from the laptop in front of him, and nodded at me.
“Hello AJ.”
“Hi.” I stood in front of him anxiously as Susannah went to the sink and filled the kettle. “I came to talk to you about the saddle.”
Derrick removed his glasses and laid them on the table next to him. “I figured as much. Did you bring it with you?”
“It’s not here,” I told him. “I mean, it’s here, like it’s on the grounds. It’s in Katy’s truck. But I didn’t bring it here, now,” I clarified, fumbling my words.
“I didn’t expect you to,” Derrick said calmly as Susannah shut the water off and set the kettle down on the gas hob.
I crossed my fingers tightly before I spoke again. “It’s just…I can’t afford to pay for it all at once. But I can pay it off in installments, if y
ou’ll let me. I have two thousand now, and I’ll get the rest, uh…”
Susannah spoke up before her father could reply. “What are you talking about? Are you buying it off us?” I nodded slowly, and she turned to her father. “Why?”
“Because I suggested that she should, since she’s the one who damaged it,” Derrick said.
“But she had it repaired.”
“Repaired or not, it’s no longer in its original condition,” he pointed out as I stood there dumbly. “So it’s only fair that she pays for it in full, so that we don’t suffer the loss due to her negligence.”
I felt my skin redden at his words, but Susannah kept arguing. “It got damaged by someone else’s horse. It could’ve happened to anyone. And really, it’s our fault for not having it insured.”
Derrick raised an eyebrow. “I’d assumed that anyone who took such a valuable item on loan would have insured it themselves.”
“You didn’t make that a condition of the loan though, did you?” Susannah pointed out. “Dad, you can’t make AJ pay for the saddle. You know she can’t afford it.” I gritted my teeth at the jab, but Susannah was oblivious to my discomfort. To her, it was simply factual information.
“I don’t know anything of the sort,” Derrick replied defensively. “I barely know AJ at all.” He turned his grey-blue eyes on me, and I swallowed. I knew that he was a lawyer, and I could tell that he would be good at his job. Everything about him was intimidating me. “Which is another reason why we shouldn’t just go loaning out our property to people we hardly know.”
“She’s my friend, and she was in need,” Susannah said. “Shouldn’t that be reason enough?”
Derrick was still looking directly at me. “Can you afford it?”
“Um…”
“You said you have two thousand dollars. But I told you that we paid more than five for it.”
“Dad!”
He held up a hand to quiet his daughter as I nodded.
“I know. I just don’t have that money right now.”
“What about your parents?”