Join the Dance (Dancing With Horses Book 2)

by Toni Mari

  “I hate to bring this up, but I wonder if Alison has left the grounds yet?” I really didn’t want to dampen our victory, but I was thinking of sleeping out with Windsong again.

  “Why?” Shawn slid off Donner and held Windsong’s bridle as I did the same. “Are you hoping she watched us win and is suffering bad?”

  “No, no. Just my paranoia coming back. I should sleep in the barn again.”

  “She wouldn’t be dumb enough to try something. Everyone would know it was her.”

  “It’s not worth the risk. What if she is that mad and that dumb?”

  As we were helping Michelle feed the horses, my phone chirped. I rifled through my tack box, trying to find it under the leg wraps I had tossed on top of everything. I snatched it up just as it went to voicemail. There were two text messages and one missed call. “Shawn, it’s Kate! Maybe she will be able to come for tomorrow.”

  He came and sat down, pulling me onto his lap as I returned the call. “Hi, Kate. Thank you so much for calling me back. Did you get my message?”

  Kate’s voice was low and solemn. “I did. That’s terrible about Erica. Is she going to be okay?”

  “We think so, but she won’t be coming here at all. That’s why I asked if you could come and help Robert with us. We won the team gold, by the way!” I reported excitedly.

  Her heavy sigh hissed in my ear and my shoulders slumped. That sounded like it would be a big fat “No way, Jane.” After all, I had basically dumped her for a fancy celebrity, and now that my famous trainer couldn’t be here, I was asking her as a last resort. Now that I stopped to think about it, that was awful.

  “Wait, before you answer. I realize this sounds really selfish after the way I treated you. I’m asking for the other kids too, because they would really like your help. You are one of the best trainers around and we need someone of your amazing expertise.”

  “Jane, I wasn’t going to say no. I was just thinking of how soon I could make it. I will always be there for you.”

  Aachh! I couldn’t respond around the lump in my throat. Shawn rubbed my back until my voice came back. “Thank you so much.”

  “I already had a ticket for Saturday morning. I was planning on making it in time for your individual freestyle since it was in the afternoon. Let me see if they will exchange the ticket and I’ll get there as soon as I can. I don’t think it will be in time for your classes tomorrow. I’ll text you when I know.”

  After we hung up, I was quiet, fiddling with my watch strap. Buckle, unbuckle. Buckle, unbuckle. How could the world be filled with Kates, loyal, kind, amazing people, and still have backstabbing, manipulating, mean Alisons?

  Shawn tipped my chin up. “She said she’d come. That’s fantastic, right?”

  “It is, and so is she.”

  “Shawn! Jane!” Robert called from in front of Belvedere’s stall. “Come here. Let’s discuss the schedule for tomorrow.” We stood around him as he pointed to the list for our class. “Jane and Alison—if she were still here—were scheduled in ring two, while Shawn and Melinda are in ring five. The times are pretty close, so we can all warm up together in schooling ring A. Then, Jane will head down to her ring on her own. I will go with Shawn and Melinda, and when their tests are through, we will all hustle down to Jane’s ring, probably just in time for her test. So, Jane you have to get yourself to the gate on time. Go on in, even if we haven’t arrived yet, okay?”

  We all nodded and promised to meet him the next day.

  Melinda gave us each a fist bump. “Congratulations, gold medal winners. Tomorrow, I’m going to get that gold medal for myself, so you better be on your toes. No more Mrs. Nice Guy.”

  Michelle volunteered to stay with the horses until midnight, giving us a few hours to nap in the living quarters of the trailer.

  Shawn let me take my shower first, and when he came out of the bathroom in just shorts and dripping hair, I was already dressed for another night in the barn. “You’re going to be a little chilly out there if that’s all you’re wearing,” I said.

  “It’s too hot in here. I’ll throw something on before we head out in a few hours.” He slid into the booth next to me. “I sent the photo to Mark, but he hasn’t answered, so I don’t know if Erica woke up or if she got to see it yet.”

  “Hmm. I’m still so worried about her. What if this accident affects her riding? What if she hurt her back or something?”

  Shawn frowned, but then with a determined effort to be cheerful, he said, “She’s really strong, so she’ll heal from whatever happened. She’ll be back to riding quick because she was meant to ride. And she was meant to ride Santos in the Olympics. Nothing’s going to stop her.” His chest lifted as he looked away.

  I hero-worshipped Erica, but Shawn loved her like a mother. He tried to keep up his carefree playboy front, but his hand was trembling when I took it in mine. “You’re right, of course. Our Erica wouldn’t let anything like a little old accident interfere with her plans.”

  He squeezed my fingers, and then leaned in and kissed my lips softly. “You are so good for me,” he whispered as he tugged me onto his lap and seriously began to kiss me.

  My phone sang “Candle in the Wind” from across the trailer. I stopped kissing Shawn, but I didn’t move to answer it. Wetness slowly pooled in my eyes, and I blinked it away.

  Shawn wiped at them with his thumb misunderstanding my tears. “Don’t worry, Jane. She’ll be okay.”

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Michelle was saddling Windsong. I stepped into the stall, and Windsong nuzzled my empty fingers. I leaned my forehead on his forehead, quietly stroking his cheeks. He gently pushed his head into my chest, wiggling his lips against my shirt. He let me hang onto him, staying motionless. I stepped back and looked into his shiny, soft brown eyes. He held my gaze, and then slowly nodded. Part of me knew he was just begging, but part of me felt like he was saying, “Let’s do this.” I smiled and kissed his velvety nose.

  “I’m pretty sure Erica is going to be buying us some massive ice cream sundaes after this weekend. Nothing can stop us today.” Shawn leaned on the door frame, smiling at me with all the confidence in the world. “Here are some of Mandy’s magic peppermints. I found them in my tack trunk. Give him some for good luck.”

  I thanked him with a tight smile as I took the treats. I just wanted Shawn to back off a little bit, but I didn’t know how to say that. Especially with everything going on right now. I hadn’t answered the two text messages or the phone call from Cory. I couldn’t. What would I say? I did exactly what I had accused him of: I cheated on him in the thrill of victory. Did I like Shawn? That was part of the problem. I didn’t have a clear-cut answer to that. He was so cute, and sometimes so nice and sweet. But sometimes he was too much, too playful, too pushy. I wasn’t always sure he was exactly listening to me and how I felt. Well no, he in fact didn’t ever listen to me about how I felt. With a deep, noisy sigh, I pushed past him. “I have to pull my boots on.”

  After the warm-up, we separated and I guided Windsong down the slight hill toward our show arena. Yesterday’s win gave me confidence and took the pressure off. This one only counted for me. If I did badly, no one else but me would lose out on a ribbon. Windsong was carefully picking his way down the stony dirt path when I thought I spotted a familiar pale blond ponytail sticking out the back of a baseball cap. My mom interrupted my scrutiny, patted my knee, and said they were going ahead to sit in the stands. I studied the girl but couldn’t say for sure whether it was Alison, and she never turned around. My paranoia was probably getting the better of me. Alison was most likely miles away from this show and me by now.

  I could still see the bright red cap as I turned toward my arena. I wasn’t prepared when Windsong balked, half rearing and plunging in the other direction. I fought him to a stop and turned him back. He wouldn’t go to the gate, dancing sideways and tossing his head. A black snake was coiled up on the ground next to the fence. Windsong whirled again. I managed to stop him
as I looked over my shoulder. Not a snake, a hose, a black garden hose, coincidently laying next to the arena I have to go in after I just spotted a girl who resembled and possibly was Alison.

  For a second I wished it was just paranoia instead of real. “Ma’am! Miss!” I called to the gate steward. Windsong was really trying to make a break for it, and I couldn’t hold him still long enough to speak to the woman. “The hose, he’s afraid of the hose.” I looked in the stands, but my parents were too far away to be of any help.

  I gritted my teeth. Somehow, I was going to have to get him past this thing. I took Windsong as far away from the hose as we could get on the path, and I galloped him past it. He reared as I stopped him and turned back to the arena. “Stand aside, here we come.” I aimed him at the gate, kicking and straightening his head with the reins. He jigged and dodged and hopped and reared once more, and then we were through the gate.

  I took a deep breath, and let Windsong trot halfway around the ring before making him walk. I nodded to the judge, whose disapproval was clear. With an intolerant glare and pursed lips, she lifted the brass bell on her table and rang it firmly.

  Really? Most judges give you half a minute to circle the ring before signaling for your entrance. I fixed my feet in the stirrups and shortened my reins. I pushed Windsong into an extended trot, I needed to get all the way around the ring before my minute was up or we’d be eliminated for a late start. As we turned the last corner, Windsong remembered the “snake” and skidded to a stop, rearing.

  I blew out a noisy sigh, grabbing the saddle front. When his feet hit the dirt, I jammed my legs into him and basically crashed into the ring. We made it to our halt in the center, but it wasn’t pretty. Windsong was a coiled ball of springy wire, his movements sharp, and his responses electrified. After the extended trot, with Windsong’s toes twelve inches above the ground, it took all of my concentration to bring him back to a calm, collected trot. I was jarred from my absorption by the loud clamor of the judge’s bell.

  “Off course! Begin after the extension.” She sat down again.

  Mental head slap. I had confused the pattern in this test with the one I was supposed to do in the next day’s test. My mom gave me a comforting smile and a nod from the stands. I circled around and began at the spot where I had forgotten the correct move. I did it right the next try and finished the test with no more wrong turns. It was clear to me that the quality of my work was not ribbon worthy. Shawn, Melinda, and Robert were waiting outside of the ring. Windsong drew back at the gate, his desire to leave the arena battling with his fear of the snake. Getting back to his safe stall won because he dashed through, nearly plowing into Belvedere.

  “What happened? He looked like a Paso Fino, all high-knee action and his tail straight up,” Melinda sympathized.

  “You won’t believe it.” I looked over my shoulder to see if the hose was still there. “See that hose, doesn’t it look like a snake? Windsong thought so.”

  Shawn slowly turned toward me, “Are you saying . . . ?”

  I nodded. “I think I saw her, too.”

  Robert’s brows were knitted together, and a wrinkly bump formed above his nose. “Let me be clear. You are saying that Alison placed that hose on the ground to try to spook your horse?”

  I sat up straight and looked him in the eye. “Yes, sir. I believe I saw her and she would know that Windsong would overreact because of the other incident.”

  “I’m sorry.” Robert couldn’t get his mind around it.

  “It’s okay if you don’t believe me. It’s not like I want to pick another fight with her. Let’s just go.”

  Robert put a hand on my knee. “It’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s that I can’t believe a person could be like that. You could have been hurt.”

  I nodded, lips pressed together. Windsong’s ribs lifted as he released a noisy breath. He walked with his shoulder pushed against Donner’s flank, finally relaxing half way to the barn.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  The awards ceremony was after dinner. The winning riders, without their mounts, would be given their medals on the podiums. Melinda, Shawn, and I had not looked at the scores, wanting to keep it a surprise. I would have absolutely been surprised if I even received a medal since I destroyed my test.

  Kate arrived by rental car just as we were walking to the arena. I hugged her hard, holding on tight. “I am so glad you came.”

  She smiled. “Me too.”

  I filled her in on everything that had happened, including my crash and burn earlier that day. Shawn and Melinda chimed in when they thought I was skipping any pertinent details.

  Shaking her head, she clasped her hands together. “I have no response. That girl is beyond belief.” Kate’s petite body grew at least two inches as she drew herself up into warrior princess mode. “Now that I’m here, that girl is toast. I won’t let her near you again. I promise.”

  As she finished that declaration, her eyes lit on Robert and she rushed over to hug him. We all sat together on the bleachers in the small awards arena. Fourth place to eighth place would be announced in reverse order and receive ribbons. Then, the top three would be called, given their medals and asked to stand on the podiums. I shrieked the loudest when Melinda was announced as the third-place individual medal winner.

  Kate stared at me. “Umm, isn’t she your rival?”

  I smiled. “Not anymore, she’s my teammate.”

  Shawn panicked a little when they announced a girl in second place. “I should have checked the score sheets. This is too much. Maybe I wasn’t so great.”

  “Shawn Delaney for the gold.” The announcer’s voice rose above the cheers and whistles.

  Shawn grinned and turned to give me a hug and a kiss, and then sauntered on up to be decorated with the shiny gold medal he deserved.

  Kate stared at me again. “And what was that?”

  “It’s not what you think. Well, it was sort of what you thought, but not really. Oh God, it’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.”

  Kate helped with the horse watch. Shawn insisted on staying with me even though I encouraged him to go to bed. Kate relieved us at three in the morning, and since there were no dressage events the next day, she said we could sleep in.

  I didn’t crack an eye until after eleven. Rolling over on the lumpy bunk, I heaved a sigh of relief that I was alone. The ball of anxiety that had been residing between my temples was gone, and that was because Kate was here. I just couldn’t imagine Alison, or her father for that matter, attempting anything on Kate’s watch.

  The screen door slammed and Kate’s cheery voice brought my head around. “Get up. I’m going to take you to lunch, just me and you.”

  “Is that okay? How’s Windsong? Where is everyone?” I sat up, rubbing my face.

  “The horses are fine. Michelle is going to stay with them. Shawn is not invited. I already told him that, and he is currently seeking coffee.”

  We were gone for more than three hours. We sat in an air-conditioned restaurant and just talked. It was funny how, when someone you see almost daily was abruptly removed from your days, you didn’t realize how much you needed them until you saw them again. I talked and talked to Kate. I told her what it was like at Erica’s. I explained how Shawn was a friend up until three days ago. I almost cried again when I told her about my fight with Cory.

  “Jane, you should call Cory. Maybe he was going to apologize. He did leave you messages.”

  “That would make it worse. Him apologizing to me, the worst girlfriend in the world. I would admit what an idiot I am, and then he’d realize I’m right and I’d never see him again. This week has been too much. I need to wait and talk to him when it’s all over, when I can think. In reality, it hasn’t even been a week.”

  “That makes sense, but I really think you need to talk to him.” Kate paid the bill, and we left the restaurant.

  There was a small crowd under the awning of Erica’s trailer as we pulled up. My mother stood and c
ame around to my side of the car. “I just want to warn you . . .”

  As she spoke, I saw the cowboy hat over her shoulder. The brim lifted and Cory’s intense blue eyes crashed into mine. I gulped and fell back onto the seat when my legs turned powerless. “I can’t do this.”

  My mother crouched down in front of me. “This week has been incredibly difficult. Both of those boys have to understand that. You have to speak to them.”

  “I know. Just give me a minute.” She held my hands, and as I looked into her sympathetic eyes, an uncontrollable grin grew on my face. “He came.”

  My wonderful, supportive mother squeezed my hands. “He sure did, and wait until you hear the rest.”

  “There’s more?” I leaped up and strode around the car, my gaze intent on Cory.

  Shawn intercepted me, putting his arm around my shoulders. “Cowboy America just showed up. I can talk to him for you, if you want.”

  Cory’s jaw flexed and his hands clenched into fists. He took a step toward Shawn.

  With a very unladylike snort, I pushed Shawn’s arm off of me. “No. I can talk to him myself. And then I will talk to you. This is not between you two.” I waved my arm, pointing my finger back and forth between them. “It is between me and him, and a whole other thing between me and you.”

  Shawn’s eyes went from warm to icy, and he crossed his arms, posture stiff. “Fine.” He turned and stalked up the path.

  Cory adjusted his hat, insolently raising his eyebrows. Was that hostility toward me or Shawn?

  “Umm, can we talk?”

  He tipped his head, indicating he would follow me. I turned away from the barns and the show rings and followed the path into the empty twilight. This wasn’t going to be easy, and I didn’t want any witnesses. We walked side by side but with at least three feet of frigid air between us.

  How to start? My brain was boiling. Was it only a week ago that we had an argument? Because it felt like a year. Last time we reunited, Cory did all the talking and melted my heart with his plea. Now it was my turn, but how could I match his eloquence, his charisma, his charm? Simple, plain, awkward me.