by Toni Mari
“I was worried that you would change your mind. I’m very happy to see you this morning.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek.
Mist slithered over the truck as we rolled along the road. It was chilly, but the sky was just starting to show some color.
“We usually stop on the way for coffee and breakfast. Will you be okay ’til then, or should I stop now for something?”
“I’m fine with waiting. Cory, I’ve done horseshows all my life. Stop worrying about me. I know what to expect, I’m used to it.”
“Guess I’m just nervous.” He reached over and held my hand.
Loading Jet on the trailer was a breeze. He practically went on himself and stood facing forward. The front half of the trailer was a living area, complete with a little kitchen and a bathroom. It was amazing how much fit into such a small area. Cory had loaded all the tack, equipment, and feed the day before, so we were quickly ready to go.
The soft glow of the sun in the sky backlit the farm. As we rolled out the driveway, I looked back at the barns. They reflected gold in the dim light, and mist still floated over the pastures. Not many people are awake to enjoy the beauty and stillness of the breaking of the day. The privilege did not escape me, and I turned around, settling happily into the cushy seat between Mr. McMann and Cory.
When we arrived at the show, I was impressed by the size of the event. More than fifty horse trailers were parked in neat rows. Once we found a spot and lined up the trailer just right, we all jumped out and stretched. Because Jet was facing forward, there was no window for him to put his head out. Cory and his trainer worked together like a well-oiled machine. Between the two of them, they found Jet’s assigned stall, set it up, unloaded him from the trailer, and settled him in for a few minutes of rest. I found myself carrying empty buckets or holding a bridle. I think Cory was trying to be nice because I kept asking to help. But the truth was, they didn’t need help, they had their routine down.
I reached through the bars of the stall and stroked Jet’s velvety nose. He was so calm, munching hay, sipping water. He watched the scene outside his stall with keen interest, but there was no nervous fidgeting like Windsong would be doing. Cory put his arms around me and kissed the back of my neck.
“I have about an hour before I have to start tacking up. Want to go take a look around?”
“Yep.” I gave Jet one last pat.
“I have two youth classes today, and a couple open ones tomorrow. Today is more important because this counts toward the year-end youth championship. Tomorrow is more of a warm-up for the World show. I’ll be competing there against pros.”
“Do you get nervous?”
“Usually not.”
“But? This time you are?” He seemed so capable to me, and Jet didn’t act like anything much bothered him.
“Before, nobody expected anything from me. Now it seems, since I did it before, I better not mess up this time.”
We strolled through the barns, stepping around people, horses, and lots of horse stuff. The place was busy, but most people had time for a nod and a “How ya doing?” I was a few steps behind Cory in a crowded aisle when I heard a silky voice.
“Cory! I’m so happy to see you, honey.”
Here we go again, I thought as I watched two arms twine around his neck. Fingers adorned with more than a few sparkling rings and tipped with blood red nails laced together under his hair. I stopped and rolled my eyes. Ha! Crimson was creeping up the back of Cory’s neck. He unhooked the girl’s arms from around his neck and looked over his shoulder at me. I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Nice to see you too,” he muttered. “We have to keep moving, we’re meeting someone.” He grabbed my arm and marched me along.
“You could have introduced me to your girlfriend,” I mocked with a syrupy southern drawl. “I would have loved to make her acquaintance.”
“Not likely.”
“Why not? Am I cramping your style?”
“No, that’s not it. I just don’t remember her name.”
I stopped walking. “A girl walks up, throws her arms around you, and kisses you like she’s done it before and you don’t remember her name?”
He gave me a quick look. “Can we just not talk about it?”
“Well, how often is this going to happen? How many girls were there?”
“Jane, stop.” He turned and looked anywhere but at me. “Before we met, I mean, that doesn’t matter. Girls and horseshows just seem to go together. Can we just keep going?” He waved his arm towards the door.
“Fine.” We started walking again but I couldn’t help wondering how many girls there had been. I tried to stop thinking about it, but three-digit numbers rolled around my head. I grabbed his hand and walked closer to him, staking my territory. I wasn’t going to let go of it either until Cory was safely on Jet or in the truck on our way home. These girls were like predators.
We stopped at the warm-up ring and leaned against the rail. Cory pointed out riders saying their names like I should know them. I nodded and pretended to be impressed, even though I didn’t have a clue who they were. I’d barely ever heard of reining until I met him.
At one point, he squeezed my hand so hard it hurt. I opened my mouth to tell him when I noticed a tall, imposing man walking purposefully toward Cory.
“It’s Butch Teller,” Cory whispered out of the side of his mouth.
Well that didn’t help me at all. Who was Butch Teller? Whoever he was, he made Cory really nervous. My hand was probably broken.
“Afternoon, Cory,” the man said in a booming voice.
“Hello, sir.” Cory shook his hand politely.
“Looking forward to seeing you ride, son.”
“Thank you, sir. I hope I don’t disappoint you.”
“Just remember, I’m not looking for flash. I want to see consistency.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll remember.”
“Well, good luck to you. And I’ll talk to you afterwards.” Mr. Teller patted Cory on the shoulder and walked on.
I poked Cory in the ribs and pointed to our hands. The tips of my fingers were purple. He dropped my hand like a hot potato.
“I’m sorry.”
I nodded, rubbing my hand. “Who was that guy?”
“Only Butch Teller, the coach for the reining team. He’s won like seven World Championships, more than anyone. He is one of the biggest names in reining. Holy shit! He knows who I am! He’s watching me for the team.” Cory’s mouth hung open.
I felt like telling him, well duh! You were on the cover of a magazine.
Cory suddenly straightened up. “He said he was going to watch me ride. Crap! Come on let’s go.” He whirled around and started hot footing it back to the barn. I jogged to catch up.
We grabbed some drinks before we rushed back to Jet’s stall to get Cory tacked up and mounted.
“I just ran into Butch Teller. He told me to be consistent not flashy. He said he was going to watch me ride. This ratchets up the pressure,” Cory told Chase.
“Welcome to the big leagues.” Chase patted Cory on the back. “Don’t worry about it.”
Chase handed Cory Jet’s halter and once again they worked practically without speaking. I didn’t do much but comb Jet’s full tail. It looked darned good too.
I stood back as Mr. McMann gave Cory some final advice before he entered the arena. I knew what that moment felt like: You were so nervous that you had to remind yourself to breathe. Those last words from your trainer were the key to being able to make it through your ride.
I was surprised when Cory waved me over. I thought he would enter the ring with Mr. McMann’s words echoing in his ears.
“Well, here goes. I’m usually not nervous, but it seems like there’s a lot riding on this one.” Cory’s face was tense.
I put my hand on his thigh. “You and Jet know what you’re doing. Just go in there and do your thing.”
He looked down at me and there was a twinkle in his eyes. “You don’t even kn
ow what my thing is, do you?”
It was true. I had never watched reining, I wasn’t even sure what was supposed to happen. I grinned.
“I’ll take a kiss for luck.” He leaned down and I kissed him. A thrill went down my spine that he did that here, in front of everyone. As he rode into the ring, I noticed all eyes were on him.
The crowd was quiet for a moment while they focused on Cory and Jet’s start. He loosed Jet right into a gallop, and they were a beautiful sight to see. He moved as one with Jet. Turns and flying lead changes were smooth. They did sliding stops that sent dirt clumps flying and whirled in a tight pirouette with Cory holding his hat on his head with one hand. They sped backward almost as fast as they went forward. The crowd whooped and whistled at each spectacular effort, yet none of the noise seemed to affect Cory’s or Jet’s focus. As they came to a final halt, Cory took off his hat and held it in the air, grinning.
I screamed and clapped right along with everyone else. This was so different from a dressage show, where people clapped politely, quietly. Cory’s score came up on the electronic score board and I didn’t know if it was bad or good. The crowd did and hollered even more loudly.
“That puts him in the lead.” Chase’s voice came from beside me.
Cory and Jet came and stood beside us outside the arena as we waited until the end of the class.
It seemed to me that no one looked half as good as Cory did, although I may have been slightly prejudiced, but I could tell when someone rode a circle that wasn’t round or when a flying lead change wasn’t clean. I had to stop myself from cheering when I saw a pair make a mistake. To me Cory’s ride didn’t have any obvious flaws, so each flub by the following riders meant they couldn’t score higher than him. As the last rider’s horse barely slid for his sliding halts, I squeezed Cory’s knee. He was leaning on the horn of his saddle, hat brim low, watching like he couldn’t care less. The rigid muscle pulsing in his jaw told another story.
“That’s it. You won! Congratulations!” Chase gave Cory a high five.
Cory rode back into the ring with five other riders to accept the first-place ribbon for the class.
As Cory and Jet came back through the gate, people crowded around them. I hung back watching Cory have his moment. Then that hat tipped up and blue eyes sought mine. I bit my lip and gave a slight nod. Cory’s eyes narrowed, and he held out his hand. People turned their heads to see who he was looking at. They stepped back and made room for me to move in closer. Cory grabbed my hand and pulled me in the rest of the way. He turned his attention back to the others around him, but held my hand tightly. I stroked Jet’s neck. What a great horse. I noticed people stepping aside again as Butch Teller approached.
“Nice ride. Congratulations.” He held his hand up for Cory to shake. “I’ll be talking to you. We’ve got things to plan.” He was smiling. A camera flashed and he turned toward it to pose for another shot. Multiple flashes went off.
“Yes, sir.” Cory looked down at me after Mr. Teller walked away. “I’m in!” he said, punching a fist in the air. He leaned down and gave me a smacking kiss. Another flash.
During the awards ceremony, Cory sauntered up to the platform and climbed onto the highest, middle podium. He took off his hat and leaned down so that they could place the medal around his neck. He straightened up and waved his hat in the air as they announced his name, and the crowd cheered. My heart swelled for him. I wanted that. I wanted a medal. I wanted the crowd to cheer for me. I really wanted to be home, riding my horse and getting ready for my moment on the platform.
Chapter 2 4
I helped Cory feed Jet and settle him down for the night. We walked hand in hand back to the trailer.
“I’m exhausted. You interested in an early night?” Cory asked.
“Yeah, I’m tired too. What a day! I can’t believe you didn’t want to stay for the competitors’ party, but I’m glad you didn’t. Cory, you’re going to France. Doesn’t that kill you?”
“It’s not real yet. Up until this year, Jet and I weren’t winning anything. Our performances were hit or miss. This winning still surprises me.”
“Now you’re up there with the famous people. Maybe I should get your autograph,” I giggled. At least eight times, we had to stop so that Cory could sign something for someone.
“I’m happy to do it, but signing my name on stuff seems kind of silly to me. I mean, I just write my name down. What’s the point?”
“The point is you are famous. People look up to you. They want to say they met you.”
“It’s not me they should look up to. It’s Jet. He’s the athlete, there’s not another horse like him. I’m lucky I got the ride on him.”
“He is pretty amazing. But so are you. You’re a champion.”
“No, you are,” Cory teased. “I call the kitchen table bed, so you’ll have to climb up into the bunk in the gooseneck.” And if that wasn’t a blatant change of subject, I don’t know what was.
We bathed Jet in the indoor wash stall with warm water. We worked as quickly as possible since it was still a little chilly that morning. Cory put a warm, wool sheet over Jet’s damp coat and I gathered the bathing supplies. We were walking down the long aisle of the barn toward Jet’s stall when we saw a small crowd gathered about halfway down.
“What’s going on?” I asked Cory.
“See the blonde? That’s Janet Beeker. She’s a reporter for Western Horse and she does interviews for cable TV. She’s at all the big events.”
A perky blonde woman dressed in western fashion broke away from the crowd and came straight for Cory. I saw his eyebrows go up.
“Hi, Cory. Can I have an interview?” Janet asked breathlessly, like she thought he might say no.
“Um, yeah, I guess.”
“Where are your parents? I want to talk to them, too. And your trainer, Chase McMann, I would really like to include him.”
“My mom isn’t here.” Cory kept walking Jet toward his stall and Janet followed them. Chase was waiting in a captain’s chair in the aisle.
“All done?” Chase tossed the newspaper he had been reading to the side and jumped out of the chair when he saw who was following Cory. “Miss Beeker. Hello.”
“Chase McMann. I am thrilled to meet you.” Janet held out her hand for Chase to take. “I used to watch you ride and was one of your biggest fans. You were the best.”
“Well, it is nice to meet you. I am a fan of yours, too. We watch your interviews all the time.” Chase was flirting. Cory sent me an amused look.
“I would like to interview you and Cory.”
“Cory only has a couple open classes today. We can meet with you later, after lunch.”
“That’s fine. I would like his parents to come too.”
“Cory’s parents aren’t here. Just his girlfriend.”
Janet glanced toward me like she had just noticed I was there. “Oh. Well, that’s fine. Just be sure to bring Jet so we can get some good shots.” She gave Chase’s hand a final squeeze and then headed down the aisle. She shot one last look over her shoulder and smiled because Chase was still watching her.
When she was out of sight, Cory swatted Chase in the arm. “Someone has the hots for you,” he said in a sing-song voice.
“You think?” Chase looked down the aisle again.
“Definitely,” I chimed in. “She’s your biggest fan.”
“It’ll be the best interview of her career. Two of the hottest reining riders ever,” Cory teased.
“She didn’t even notice you when you were standing next to me, kid,” Chase joked. “Now get that horse ready. You got some riding to do if you’re going to try to compete with my record.”
As they finished getting Jet ready, I picked up the newspaper Chase had tossed aside. My mouth fell open.
It was an equine paper and on the front cover was a huge photo of Cory leaning down from Jet kissing me. The headline read “New National Youth Reining Champion Receives Kiss of Triumph.” The caption unde
r the picture said, “Cory Banks receives congratulatory kiss from girlfriend Jane Mitchell after winning the National Youth Reining Championship.”
I grinned. “Cory, did you see this?”
Cory took the paper from my hand. He smirked. “Not a great shot of Jet.”
“My name is in here. They mention me in the article too!” I shivered. I looked around to see if anyone else was holding a newspaper. Maybe I would be recognized from the picture. I patted my hair. Eww! “I’ll be right back.” I raced to the lady’s room to fix my ponytail. I looked in the mirror and touched my chin. Maybe I should put on some make-up. I ran back to the trailer and slapped some on.
I jogged back to the stall, but Cory and Jet weren’t there. Whoops! I ran to the warm-up ring and elbowed my way next to Chase. When Cory came past us, he looked at me funny. I gave him an apologetic wave.
Cory kept Jet slow, making large circles and changing direction to get the horse’s muscles warmed up and save the good moves for the show ring. In the open classes, Cory would be competing against professional riders. He would need his best to beat these guys.
I opened the gate for Cory to come out.
“Are you nervous?”
“Not this time. I probably won’t place in these classes. There are over twenty entries, and the horses are better, and the riders are pros. Chase and I just want to see how we do with stiffer competition. We’re not expecting much.”
Seemed an odd thing to me, to enter a competition knowing you weren’t going to win. You might as well not ride.
Despite Cory’s attitude, we were all happily surprised when they called his name for sixth place. He had competed with some of the best riders in the country. I was jumping up and down for him. Keeping his cool, he accepted his ribbon and loped quietly behind the higher placed riders for the victory lap.
We took Jet back to the barn and used some hair products to freshen him up. Poor guy was tired and hungry. But with great fame came great responsibility. We had an interview to do.
Janet was accompanied by a photographer. He posed Cory and Jet for a few still shots, and then he asked Chase to pose in a few shots. Would he ask me? I would have loved to see myself in a magazine.