Young Riders (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 16)

by Claire Svendsen

  “So?” he said. “You hungry?”

  “Not really.”

  “Of course you are,” he said. “Come on.”

  He pulled me towards the door.

  “Going to lunch, Mom,” he called out to the back room. “With Emily.”

  “Wait,” I heard Taylor call out but we were outside before she could stop us.

  “I think she wanted you to wait,” I said, trying not to smile.

  “She’ll still be there when I get back,” he said.

  We went to the burger joint where he ordered our usual only this time we ate it in a booth instead of in the kitchen.

  “Are you okay?” he said, stuffing the burger into his mouth. “You seem kind of down.”

  “I wanted to take Bluebird to the clinic,” I said. “And now I have to take Encore, which was what my father wanted all along so I guess he won.”

  “It wasn’t a competition though, was it?” He looked confused.

  “No,” I said. “But I wanted to show everyone that my pony was better than all the other horses that were going to be there. I wanted to remind people that sometimes ponies can do great things too.”

  “And you really wanted all that attention?” he said.

  “What attention?” I pushed a fry into the mayonnaise, feeling sulky.

  “You know what I mean,” he replied. “Everyone saying how great you are because you can make your pony do all these things the big horses can and congratulating you before the clinic even gets started.”

  “You sound like my father,” I said. “And no, that’s not it.”

  “Not even a little?”

  “Why are you being so mean to me?” I said.

  “I’m not being mean. I’m just telling you what I think.”

  “And what’s that then?”

  “That maybe you’ll be better off just going with a normal horse and blending into the group because attention isn’t always the best thing to have in a group of competitive riders. The others are likely to hate you for it before you even begin.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  We ate the rest of the meal in silence but the more I thought about what Jordan had said, the more I realized he was probably right. I didn’t need the extra attention that being different would bring. That was part of what had got me in trouble with Jess in the first place. I’d stolen her spotlight and she couldn’t get it back.

  The clinic would probably be filled with four other girls who were more like Jess than they were like me. They would come from money and have fancy horses, expensive tack and top trainers. They wouldn’t care that someone like me was doing things on a budget or that I’d trained my own pony to compete in the jumpers against their horses. They would just think it was quaint at best or stupid at worst. They would laugh about me behind my back or maybe even to my face.

  “I think maybe you are right,” I finally said.

  “There you go.” Jordan grinned. “I knew you’d figure it out in the end.”

  “But you see, I’ve got this whole back bone thing going on now,” I said. “I’m not supposed to care about what people think.”

  “That doesn’t mean you have to make life hard for yourself. Just this once, why not take the easy road?”

  “That’s the trouble,” I said. “Encore is too good. He’d go around and jump everything on autopilot even if I wasn’t on his back. What am I supposed to learn?”

  “Oh I’m sure you’ll learn something,” he said, looking at his watch. “I’d better get back before Mom pitches a fit.”

  “Yeah I should get back too,” I said. “I have to pack.”

  As we walked back to the tack store, side by side but not holding hands, I thought about how easy Jordan was to talk to. How he’d been able to talk me off the ledge of insanity that was my doubt about the clinic and show me that maybe all this had happened for a reason. That maybe it was for the best. I was glad I’d come to see him before I left, even though it had originally mostly been because I wanted new stuff for Bluebird.

  “Where have you been?” Taylor said.

  She was standing at the register looking annoyed when we got back. Her hair was still short, framing her face in spiky tufts and I noticed she had a nose ring that hadn’t been there before. It seemed as if Jordan had abandoned the edgy rock band life for horses and she had taken his place. I wondered what all the stuck up riders who shopped there thought of the twinkling stud that had been jammed through her nostril.

  “Lunch,” Jordan said. “I told you I was going with Emily.”

  She looked at me and frowned.

  “Emily. Right. Well there is lots of work to do here so you’d better say goodbye,” she said.

  Then she pushed the bag of stuff into my arms and practically shoved me out of the door before I had a chance to say goodbye. I stood there for a couple of seconds and I could hear them talking on the other side of the door, their voices raised. A few minutes later Jordan came out.

  “Sorry about that,” he said.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I replied. “I know how parents can be.”

  “I told her we were going to get something to eat when you got here. She didn’t need to freak out like that.”

  “She’s a mom, she doesn’t need a reason to freak out.”

  “I guess not,” he said. “Well, have fun at the clinic. Show them you’re the best even without that famous pony of yours.”

  “Ha ha,” I said.

  “Alright, well I’d better go back in before she has a stroke or something.”

  He pointed over his shoulder where I saw Taylor with her face pressed against the glass watching us. When she saw me looking she stepped further back into the store but I could still make out her face in the shadows, watching us.

  “Well, bye,” I said awkwardly.

  I caught the bus back to Fox Run where I sat behind a guy who was talking to himself. I clutched my bag tight, wondering if taking the bus had been a mistake after all. But eventually the man fell asleep and I got off the bus alone.

  I was putting my new stuff in the tack room when Mickey appeared.

  “So?” she said. “How was your date?”

  “It wasn’t a date,” I said.

  “You met a boy and you ate food together. Sounds like a date to me.”

  Mickey had been riding my case ever since she found out about Jordan and me at the Valentine ball. Not that there was much to find out. I was hungry and we went to get food. I didn’t see what the big deal was. But just like Missy, Mickey also thought it was a big deal, which was getting on my nerves. The more they wanted Jordan and me to become a couple, the less I wanted to be one. At least no one would be able to pressure me while I was away at the clinic.

  “Well it wasn’t a date,” I said. “It was two friends having lunch and he helped me sort out the whole clinic thing so that I feel better about it now. He was just being a good friend.”

  “I could have done that,” Mickey said, looking hurt.

  “I know,” I said. “But you were at school.”

  “And why wasn’t Jordan at school?” She raised an eyebrow.

  “Because he graduated early and now he’s going to the community college.”

  “You’re dating a college boy?” Mickey cried, throwing her hands up in the air. “Now that is not fair. You’re overtaking me at something I’m supposed to be better at than you are.”

  “Trust me,” I said, leaning against the tack locker and crossing my arms. “When it comes to boys, you are a lot better at it than I am. Now do you want to go for a ride with me or not?”

  CHAPTER NINE

  I was running out of horses to ride. Bluebird was out of action. Missy had already scheduled a ride on Socks for later in the day. I’d seen it on the white board in the office. And I didn’t think it was a very good idea to work Encore again before we left for the clinic. It was going to be a tough week. He’d need his strength. It was a good job I had Arion. I went to his stall and put his halter on. He s
eemed better today. He’d eaten all his hay and his eyes were bright and perky.

  We’d started him on the probiotic supplement so maybe it was helping after all and I wouldn’t have to pay for expensive scopes and ulcer medications. Just the thought of my dwindling bank account made my palms sweaty. I used to make my living winning at shows. The prize money was what kept me afloat from one horse show to the next but I hadn’t had a big win in ages. There was supposed to be a big Easter show. Jordan had told me about it. Perhaps I’d be able to win some prize money there. Maybe even snag a few catch rides if I was lucky. But I had the clinic to get through first.

  I tacked Arion up, feeling kind of sad. It would be the last time I rode him for a whole week and I’d left strict instructions that no one was to ride him while I was gone. Instead he’d get some time off, which would probably be good for the ulcers I’d almost convinced myself he had. He was too sensitive and highly strung to have other people ride him. Dad would force him to do things he wasn’t ready for and blow his mind. Missy would just take over and I’d lose another horse to her. No. It was better for everyone, including my horse, to just wait for me to come back. Maybe the time off would even help him feel better but I was still going to miss both him and Bluebird.

  “What’s the matter with you?” Mickey asked when I took Arion outside. “Why do you look all sappy?”

  “I’m not sappy,” I said.

  “I know that face.” She shook her head as she mounted. “That’s definitely your sappy face.”

  “I was just thinking about how much I am going to miss my horses,” I said. “I’m going to be gone for a whole week. They’ll think I’ve abandoned them.”

  “Of course they won’t,” Mickey said. “In fact, they’ll probably be glad that you have gone so they can get a rest.”

  “Hey,” I said. “That’s mean.”

  “No it’s not.” She winked at me and I knew she was probably right.

  “Fine. But you have to promise to give them treats when you come out and check on Bluebird’s legs and if anything looks like it is even remotely wrong with either of them then you have to call me right away.”

  “Why? So you come racing back here and miss your fancy clinic? I’m sure your dad and Henry can handle anything that pops up.”

  “I mean it,” I said seriously. “You have to promise.”

  “Alright.” She sighed. “I promise.”

  We walked around the fields, neither one of us feeling like doing any real work. Our feet out of the stirrups and hanging loose by our horses sides.

  “So did you kiss him yet?” Mickey finally asked.

  “No. It’s not like that. Did you kiss Ethan?”

  “No. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “See.” I laughed. “You’re just as bad as I am.”

  And I reached out and poked her with my crop.

  “You’re it,” I cried.

  “Hey!” she yelled as I cantered Arion away from her.

  We chased each other around the field playing an impromptu game of tag. It was totally unprofessional and childish but no one was around to yell at us for playing a kids game. Arion thought it was the best game ever. He kept prancing up to Hampton, who would just freeze. I’d easily reach out and tag her while her poor horse stood there frozen with his eyes bugging out of his head and then we’d gallop circles around them while Hampton and Mickey tried their best to catch us. In the end we were both in hysterics, giggling wildly at our silly horses who were complete opposites, one thinking that the game was the best thing ever and the other convinced it was some special form of torture.

  “I think I win,” I said breathlessly.

  “Yeah, Hampton doesn’t get this game at all.” Mickey laughed.

  “Don’t find a new best friend while I’m gone,” I said as we walked back to the barn.

  “Why would you say that?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling about going away to this clinic. Like things are going to happen while I’m gone and when I get back nothing will be the same.”

  “You’re just nervous,” she said. “That’s all.”

  “I suppose,” I said.

  But it didn’t feel like nerves. If anything else I’d regained some of my excitement for the clinic after talking to Jordan about it but it was something else. A feeling in the back of my mind like a tiny dark cloud that wouldn’t shift no matter how many happy thoughts I threw at it. I thought maybe it was the hearing. The suspension that my father was facing but that didn’t seem like the only bad thing that was lingering in the future.

  “Just go and try to have a good time,” Mickey said. “You deserve it.”

  “I’ll try,” I said.

  But I was on the fence about whether or not I wanted to go at all only it was too late to back out now. Encore and I were going to the clinic and that was that.

  CHAPTER TEN

  While Dad and Missy taught evening lessons, I packed. It wasn’t hard. I was going to be riding from dawn until dusk so that meant all I’d need were my riding clothes, which was pretty much all I wore anyway. I packed my show clothes just in case I might need them.

  I’d heard rumors that there would be a mock show on the last day and I didn’t want to be unprepared. I also threw in my best pair of jeans, in other words the only pair that didn’t have any rips in them, just in case we were going to be required to pitch in and help. Breeches were expensive and I wasn’t about to ruin them mucking stalls and hauling jump poles.

  And the clinic was an unknown. It was hard to pack for something that you didn’t have any kind of itinerary for. I was sort of treating it as a week-long show which it might as well have been. Sure they weren’t going to be giving us ribbons everyday but the trainers were there to teach and evaluate us. It was going to be like living under a microscope for a week, having every riding decision I made picked apart and then put back together.

  Of course it turned out that my favorite shirt had a mystery stain on the collar. I stood there looking at it in horror, willing the black mark to go away. Maybe it wasn’t that bad. No one would notice, would they? But of course they would because I’d be thinking about it the whole time, imagining them looking at it until they actually did. I went to run it through the wash, slathering an extra helping of laundry detergent on the stain in the hope that it wasn’t permanent. Then I wandered around the quiet house waiting for the wash cycle to finish so I could put it in the dryer.

  It was odd for the house to be so quiet. I’d moved in when Missy was hugely pregnant and had just about given up riding, sitting there in protest with her swollen feet propped up on the table in front of the television. And after that screaming, bawling baby Owen had joined our family, protesting life itself with his ear splitting wails. But he had sort of grown to accept that life wouldn’t always go his way and that he couldn’t go back to where he came from. The crying had dwindled to normal baby levels and now he sat quite happily by the ring, playing with his toys and napping while Missy taught lessons.

  His clothes and bottles were lying all around the house like a baby tornado had swept through. I picked some up and took them to the kitchen, thinking that Missy needed more than a nanny, she needed a housekeeper as well.

  Meatball was sitting on the countertop.

  “You’re not supposed to be up here,” I scolded him.

  I swept Esther’s fat orange cat into my arms. He wiggled a bit in protest but started to purr when I scratched the spot behind his ears. It was funny to think that he wasn’t really Esther’s cat anymore. He was ours instead.

  “Have you even been down to the barn at all to try and see if there are any mice that need catching?” I asked him as he jumped down and ran to the cupboard where Missy kept a bag of cat treats.

  He pawed at the door and cried until I opened it and gave him some.

  “You’re not earning your keep you know,” I said. “I told them that if you came here, you’d help to keep the rodent populati
on down.”

  Meatball rubbed against my legs and then jumped up at the bag I was still holding. He knocked it out of my hands and then picked it up in his mouth and ran off with it. He was too cute. I didn’t have the heart to take it away from him.

  While I waited for my shirt, I finished up my school work. I was already ahead, which had been the plan since I was taking a week off for the clinic. I’d have to check in on the phone with one of my tutors but I’d scheduled that for late in the evening when we hopefully wouldn’t have anything else going on. I wondered how the other riders were managing to get out of their school work and whether any of them were in virtual school like I was.

  Dad and Missy were just coming back to the house as I went to take my shirt out of the dryer.

  “Did you guys have a good evening?” I asked.

  “Not bad,” Missy said. “Owen slept through most of it, which was good. Although that probably means he won’t sleep a wink tonight. The kid is turning into a night owl.”

  “Well I bet I won’t sleep anyway so don’t worry about it,” I said.

  “You’re not nervous, are you?” Dad said.

  “Being taught by a bunch of super awesome Olympic level trainers who will be criticizing my every move? No, why should I be nervous?”

  “And what do you think we are?” He looked at Missy. “Back alley hack trainers who don’t know what they are doing?”

  “No,” I said. “But that’s different. You’re family. You’re nice.”

  “Well obviously I’m not being hard enough on you then,” he said but he smiled as he did. “Don’t sweat it kid. You’ll do great. You’ve got the genes. It’s in your blood and don’t let anyone tell you that you are not talented because you are.”

  “Thanks Dad,” I said, feeling like I’d just got more of a pep talk than I’d bargained for.

  “Now how about pizza on your last night?” He grinned. “I’ll even let you pick the toppings.”

  “Really?” I said. “Cool. No anchovies.”