Double Standards (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 20)

by Claire Svendsen

  “I’ve brought you something,” he said with a sly smile.

  “In there?” I pointed dubiously to the trailer.

  The last thing I needed was another horse to deal with when my plate was already over flowing as it was but I had to admit that I was curious. Why would Jordan be bringing me a horse in the first place especially when I hadn’t really talked to him after our failed date? Perhaps this was his way of saying sorry. If it was then he was right on the money because I couldn’t have cared less about chocolates or roses like other girls but bring me a horse and I’d be one happy camper, except for now when I didn’t have the time.

  “This isn’t some kind of joke, is it?” I asked as Jordan went around to the back of the trailer.

  “Why would it be a joke?” he said.

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged.

  But I did know and I wouldn’t have put it past his friends to dare him to pull some kind of prank on me. For all I knew there could be a baby elephant in there and all his friends would burst out and laugh at me because that was about how bad my week was going so far.

  “Are you sure you have a real horse in there?” I said. And then I heard a high pitched whinny.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Jordan started to undo the back of the trailer and let down the ramp. I sat on Arion’s back knowing that I should get down because he was all excited, his ears pricked and head high, waiting to see the new horse but I couldn’t. It was like he was my security blanket, protecting me from the world and while I was on his back I could decide to gallop away if I chose to. Escape my life in a blur of gray and the thunder of galloping hooves. Arion would save me from the world that was crashing down around me. But I had to admit I was curious about the horse inside the dark trailer.

  Jordan disappeared and I heard the clatter of hooves and then out of the dark came a tiny horse with a big yellow ribbon tied around his neck. Arion snorted and scuttled backwards. I wasn’t sure that he’d ever seen a horse that small or ridiculous looking. He spun around and tried to run off and I had to circle him and try to calm him down by talking to him and patting his neck.

  “Sorry,” Jordan said, laughing.

  “I bet you are,” I mumbled, slithering to the ground and pulling the reins over Arion’s head.

  I led him forward so that he could investigate the monster that had come out of the trailer, reaching out a trembling nose to sniff the miniature horse. The horse stuck out his tiny nose and let out a shrill whinny. It sounded like a horse that had inhaled helium, all high pitched and shrill. Or one of those plush toy horses where you press its stomach and it makes a noise that sounds nothing like a horse. Only that was exactly what this one sounded like.

  “You didn’t,” I said, shaking my head because I knew exactly what he’d done.

  “I did.” Jordan winked at me. “This is Bandit the wonder pony,” he told Arion who was still softly snorting under his breath.

  “Only he’s not really a pony is he,” I said.

  “No but Bandit the wonder miniature horse just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?”

  “I guess not,” I said.

  Bandit had been the highlight of our failed date at the fair. Or rather the low light since I hadn’t been able to save the poor little mini from the horrible man who was giving a million kids pony rides on him without any breaks and chugging back beer instead of filling his horse a water bucket or giving him some hay. He also didn’t seem to have any height or weight restrictions and as a result, kids who were far too big where climbing up in the oversized saddle that had been on poor Bandit’s back. I’d seen the resolution in his eyes that day. The look that said he’d given up and I’d wanted to give him a second chance. No one should have to give up and accept their lot in life if they didn’t like it, not even horses.

  “You didn’t steal him, did you?” I asked Jordan.

  “Would I do something like that?” he said, crossing his arms.

  “Yes, I think that you would,” I replied.

  Before I met Jordan’s friends I’d put him up on some sort of bad boy pedestal, imagining that he had the image but none of the other things that went with it. I was wrong. His friends were rude and mean and I didn’t like them. And when Jordan was with them, I didn’t like him very much either. But when we were alone, he was like a different person. It was so confusing. I wished that Mickey was here so that I could talk to her about it because when it came to boys, she was an expert but she was still in Paris, vacationing with her family and probably kissing her French crush Jean-Paul.

  “I didn’t steal him,” Jordan said, ruffling Bandit’s forelock. “I just made the man an offer he couldn’t refuse.”

  “I don’t think he would have sold you that horse if you were the last person on earth and had a million dollars in your hand,” I said.

  “Do you want to see a receipt?” Jordan asked.

  “Yes I do,” I said. “And a current coggins before he goes anywhere near our barn.”

  “I guess you are your father’s daughter after all,” Jordan said with a sigh. “Is he going to come out here next? Measure poor Bandit and check that he is the right height for a miniature? Give him the once over and make sure he is worthy of residing at your precious Fox Run?”

  “I doubt it,” I said. “Considering he’s in the hospital.”

  Things had suddenly taken a rather frosty turn for the worse. I was glad that Jordan had rescued Bandit because that was what I had wanted to do all along, I just wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with him. He was a horse in a tiny body that wasn’t much use for anything except teaching toddlers how to lead line. And I thought he was cute and adorable and I wanted to love him but all I could think about was the look on my father’s face when he found out that we had another horse here taking up a stall that wouldn’t be pulling his weight.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Jordan said. “Your dad I mean?”

  “No,” I said. “But thanks.”

  “Look, I’m sorry to spring this on you. I can take him back to our barn if you want.”

  “No, it’s fine. Let’s find him a stall, if I can tear these two apart.”

  Once Arion had figured out that the tiny horse was not going to eat him, he’d become fascinated with him, sniffing Bandit all over and rubbing the mini’s neck with his big fat lips. Bandit seemed happy to have his own personal massage therapist and stood there with his eyes closed and neck stretched out, loving every minute of it.

  “Horses,” I said, shaking my head.

  “What would we do without them?” Jordan asked as he followed me into the barn.

  “Fall apart,” I said and I meant it. The horses kept me sane, whether they liked it or not.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Bandit looked ridiculous in the giant stall and he couldn’t reach anything. Not the waterer or the feed tub and he couldn’t see out either.

  “This isn’t going to work,” I said.

  I rummaged around in the feed room until I found a tub and water bucket that weren’t too large and took them back to the stall where I hung them low enough so that Bandit could use them. Henry walked past and didn’t say anything but sort of huffed. He probably thought that only one day without my father at the helm and the place had already gone to the dogs.

  “He’s too fat,” I said as we stood there watching Bandit shuffle around in the deep shavings. “I’m going to have to find him a muzzle.”

  “That’s not very nice,” Jordan said.

  “A grazing muzzle,” I replied. “You don’t want him to founder, do you?”

  “So you do like him then?” Jordan said, leaning against the stall.

  “Of course I like him,” I said. “I just don’t have time for him right now.”

  I’d taken the yellow ribbon off the horse and was holding it, twisting it around and around. I knew that Bandit was a peace offering. A band aid meant to cover up the gash that Jordan’s betrayal had made in our relationship but at this
point I didn’t even know what I wanted anymore, except for my father to come home and for everything to go back to normal.

  “And what am I supposed to do with him?” I asked. “I can’t ride him.”

  “You could teach him tricks,” Jordan said. “I bet he’d pull a cart. How cute would that be?”

  “Pretty cute,” I said and despite my best interests I was already imagining Bandit pulling a tiny cart at Halloween decorated with orange and black flowers, handing out candy to kids as we rode around the farm. Or at Christmas, with a little elf hat on his head or reindeer antlers, dragging a tiny sleigh behind him. The possibilities were endless.

  “Oh Jordan.” I shook my head. “What have you done?”

  “I nailed it, didn’t I?” he said with a grin.

  And he pretty much had.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Jordan offered to take me to the hospital to see my dad. At first I said no, that I had too much to do around the barn but the truth was that Henry and the grooms had everything under control and since I’d cancelled lessons, there wasn’t really much going on. A few people had come out to ride their horses anyway and Miss. Fontain had some clients out in the dressage ring for a group lesson but that was it. The barn wouldn’t fall apart if I left it for a few hours, at least I hoped that it wouldn’t.

  I asked Henry to keep an eye on Bandit but he just sort of mumbled. I don’t think he thought very much of the little miniature with the brown patch over one eye. Henry saw horses as athletes and commodities and Bandit was neither. He was basically a big pet. An overgrown dog. I wondered if I’d be allowed to bring him in the house because that would be pretty cool. Perhaps I’d get a chance to try it out before Missy and my dad came home but for now Jordan had unhooked the trailer and we were speeding along the highway on the way to the local hospital.

  “So what happened then?” Jordan said.

  “I don’t know.” I stared out the window at the green fields and a herd of cows that were standing under one lonely tree. “Canterbury was acting out. It was his first show since my dad’s been back. The timing was just wrong. He was tired. I don’t think he was ready. He put in a dirty stop and Dad kept going over his head. He landed pretty hard on a jump pole. I thought he was dead.”

  “That must have been pretty scary,” Jordan said gently.

  “Not really,” I said. “I mean yes but I had to take care of the horses and Missy was taking care of Dad so there wasn’t really anything that I could do.”

  “No,” Jordan said. “I mean because of what happened to your sister.”

  My blood ran cold. “What do you know about my sister?”

  “I was there,” he said curiously. “At the show. Don’t you remember?”

  “No,” I said.

  The day of my sister’s accident was a blur. I could remember bits and pieces. Snippets of time. The faded purple t-shirt with the sparkly unicorn on it that I was wearing. How Summer had braided her hair to the side. But there were big chunks of the day missing. Gone from my memory probably forever and I certainly didn’t remember that Jordan was there even though my father had told me that we competed in the same classes.

  “You were five. I was eight,” he said. “You used to kick my butt in the walk, trot classes.”

  “I guess,” I said vaguely. “If you say so.”

  “You really don’t remember?” he said.

  “No.” I paused to look at him, trying to see if he was being honest with me or not. “Did you see it?”

  “What?”

  “The accident?”

  I thought I saw his fingers grip the steering wheel a little tighter. The skin on his knuckles shone white.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  And I don’t know why but part of me didn’t believe him.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Dad was sharing a room with a guy who looked to be about a hundred. He had wispy white hair and shriveled skin and kept calling out for someone called Amelia. Apparently he’d fallen and broken his hip at the retirement home while he was trying to sneak into his neighbor’s bedroom, the mysterious Amelia he kept calling for.

  “If he calls for that woman one more time, I’m going to take his false teeth away,” Dad said.

  “Good luck with that,” I replied.

  Dad’s surgery had gone well but his leg was in a cast and was strung up in what looked like some kind of torture device with wires and straps. It was supposed to help keep the swelling down or something but it looked like the most uncomfortable thing I’d ever seen and essentially meant that my father couldn’t leave the bed even if he wanted to. But he was awake and talking and definitely cranky. He had a spectacular purple bruise spreading across his cheekbone and they couldn’t do anything for his broken ribs except bandage up his midsection with this elastic looking wrap but it didn’t seem to help much. He kept wincing and clutching his side and then he’d call the nurse for more pain medication.

  “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” Missy said. “You just got some an hour ago.”

  “Well I need some more then don’t I?” he snapped.

  I’d never seen my father like this before, so full of rage and pain and I had to admit that he scared me a little. I was starting to wish that I hadn’t come.

  “So the horses are okay?” he said, motioning for me to sit on the bed.

  I perched on the edge, not wanting to hurt him anymore than he already was.

  “Everything is fine Dad,” I said.

  “You cancelled lessons and squared away the grooms?” he said, glaring at me.

  He looked kind of cross eyed and crazy.

  “I told you honey, Emily took care of it all,” Missy said.

  “I know what you told me but I have a right to ask for myself, don’t I?” he snapped at her. “I may be stuck in this bed but that doesn’t mean that I’m a child or stupid or suffering from dementia like he is.” He pointed to the hundred year old man who had fallen asleep with his mouth open, drool trickling down his chin. “Because if I ever get like that you can just kill me. Pull the plug. Got it?”

  “Rob,” Missy said, looking like she was about to burst into tears. “Everyone here is trying to be nice to you but you are making it very hard.”

  “Am I?” he shouted. “Am I? Well I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was my job to make you all feel better.”

  I didn’t know what to do. I’d never seen my father act this way. Never heard him raise his voice. This new father was a stranger to me and I wasn’t very keen to get to know him but I didn’t know how to make my escape without angering him further. I just wanted the floor to open up and swallow me and I hadn’t felt like that since I’d lived with Derek.

  “Well, we should probably get going,” I said standing up.

  “But you only just got here,” Missy said desperately.

  Suddenly Dad noticed Jordan who was standing in the doorway, looking like he wasn’t sure whether he should come in and stick up for me or run away.

  “You,” Dad said. “Come here.”

  Jordan stepped into the room and I willed him not to say anything about Bandit. Now wasn’t the time. In fact I wasn’t sure that there would be a good time any time soon.

  “Sorry to hear about your accident, Sir,” he said.

  “Are you?” Dad said. “Yes well I’d think that you would be. And don’t call me Sir, I know you are only here because you are trying to steal my daughter away from me.”

  “No, I’m not,” Jordan said. “I just gave her a ride.”

  “That’s what they all say,” Dad said. “First it’s a ride and then it’s a date and next you’ll be eloping together. I know how it goes and I won’t stand for it.”

  “Dad,” I cried. “Stop it.”

  “Stop what,” he said, pressing the button for the nurse again. “They never come when you press this thing. Is it even attached to anything?” He threw it down in disgust.

  I blinked back tears as a nurse in pink scrubs came into the room. S
he had short hair and fierce eyes and looked like she was perfectly capable of taking on my father.

  “What is all the noise in here?” she said, looking around. “Visiting hours are over.”

  “We were just leaving,” I said.

  “I need more drugs,” Dad said with a huff.

  “No, you don’t,” the nurse said, checking his vitals. “I think you’ve had more than enough.”

  “I’m in pain,” he said.

  “Well maybe you shouldn’t be getting yourself all worked up then,” the nurse said. “I’ll let your doctor know but your chart says your next dose is in two hours not now.”

  “That chart must be wrong then,” Dad said.

  But as the nurse straightened his blanket and fluffed his pillows I saw his puffy eyes grow heavy and I knew that he was about to nod off despite his protests.

  “Bye Dad,” I said. “I hope you feel better soon.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  I stood out in the hallway shaking.

  “What was that about?” Jordan said.

  “I don’t know,” I replied, then burst into tears.

  Jordan stood there next to me while I sobbed into my hands, looking like he didn’t know what to do. It was embarrassing. I wasn’t a crier. I held it all in like my emotionally repressed mother and absentee father had taught me to do but I was tired after the Talent Scout show and the stress of everything that had happened and I just couldn’t take it anymore.

  Suddenly Jordan enveloped me in a big bear hug, wrapping his arms around me and I pressed my face into his shirt to muffle my sobs, wondering why he smelled so good, until I realized that the smell of horse was all mixed in with his cologne.