Second Chances (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 25) Read online

  SECOND CHANCES

  BY

  CLAIRE SVENDSEN

  Copyright © 2016 Claire Svendsen

  All rights reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the Author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Your support of author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, places or events is purely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

  CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

  CHAPTER FORTY

  CHAPTER FORTY ONE

  CHAPTER FORTY TWO

  CHAPTER FORTY THREE

  CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

  CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

  CHAPTER FORTY SIX

  CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

  CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT

  CHAPTER FORTY NINE

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  CHAPTER FIFTY ONE

  CHAPTER FIFTY TWO

  CHAPTER FIFTY THREE

  CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR

  CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE

  CHAPTER FIFTY SIX

  CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN

  COMING SOON

  BARN SOUR: CHAPTER ONE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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  CHAPTER ONE

  The Fox Run trailer rumbled down the drive and pulled to a stop. Jordan and I stood there holding hands, ready to protect our herd. I knew that there was only one reason they would come here and that was to take one of our horses away. Missy wouldn’t send the trailer for anything else. And for a moment I almost thought that she had come herself to gloat at the fact that our barn didn’t have stalls and that our horses lived outside but then I saw Henry get out of the truck.

  “Henry,” I cried. “What are you doing here?”

  I forgot about the fact that he’d probably come on a mission to destroy us and rushed forward to hug the old groom.

  “I’ve missed you,” I told him.

  “Well now,” he said, patting me on the back and then pushing me away. “That’s enough of that.”

  “I don’t know what came over me,” I said, stepping back.

  “The moment has passed now?” Henry said.

  “Yes, it’s passed,” I replied, nodding.

  “Good,” he said with a smile. “I’ve missed you too.”

  “We’ve missed you but we’re not about to let you take any of these horses away with you,” Jordan said as he came to stand next to me.

  His voice was gruff like he was trying to sound older and tougher than he was. Jordan was tall and muscled but I was still pretty sure that Henry would beat him in a fight.

  “Keep your pants on,” Henry said, looking at Jordan like he was a five year old who had just put up his fists. “I’m not picking up. I’m dropping off.”

  “Dropping off?” I said, wondering if Faith had talked her brother into bringing his horse Wendell here as well. “Dropping off what?”

  But as we went around to the back of the trailer and Henry let down the ramp, I saw the familiar bright bay rump and white markings of my team horse, Socks.

  “Hey boy,” I cried.

  He nickered and Bluebird answered him and then all the horses looked in the direction of the trailer with pricked ears and eager faces.

  “What is he doing here?” I said.

  “Like I said, dropping off,” Henry told me as he unloaded Missy’s horse. “I ain’t supposed to say but between you and me she couldn’t do nothing with the animal.”

  “Oh,” I replied, feeling kind of bad for Missy but glad all at the same time.

  Jordan helped Henry unload a couple of tack trunks with all Socks’ stuff in them and then Henry was gone with a brisk wave, mumbling about how he couldn't stay to chat because he had too much work to do back at the farm.

  “See?” Jordan said. “You didn’t need me at all.”

  But Socks stiffened beside me as we heard the clatter of hooves out on the road and I looked up just in time to see Jess ride into view on her big horse Valor. I knew that it wasn’t a coincidence that she just happened to be riding by. Jess didn’t go out on trail rides or do fun things with her horses. She’d ridden here on purpose, whether to gloat or scold me I wasn’t sure but whatever she had to say, I didn’t really want to hear it.

  “Maybe you’d better stick around,” I told Jordan.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I stood there holding Socks because I didn’t have anywhere to put him. We’d have to use Molly’s panels to keep him in while we fenced off another piece of the property with her giant reel of electric tape.

  I’d mentioned to my father that we should start using the land that was further up the hill but it wasn’t fenced at all and we didn’t have enough boards or posts. Would electric tape be enough to hold Socks in? The last thing I needed was him getting loose and hurting himself or running away. I wasn’t sure why Missy had sent him over for me to ride. A moment of weakness perhaps? Feeling sorry for me? Or was she just mad at Socks because she couldn’t ride him? Either way I knew that his being here was a fragile thing that could be taken away at a moment's notice.

  “Who is that?” Jordan said as Jess got closer.

  She was wearing expensive breeches and a fitted polo shirt. I could see her watch glinting in the sunlight, probably a Rolex that cost more than our house. Valor’s coat was dark and shiny, the result of hours of grooming that Jess probably hadn’t even done herself. She looked like a million bucks and so did her horse because they had a million bucks and so they could buy the best of everything. My heart sank as I thought about the fact that we couldn’t even afford to fence in a new paddock for Socks.

  “She is the girl who lives next door,” I whispered. “She has tons of money and thinks she is better than everyone else. And she poisoned Bluebird.”

  “She was the one who did that?” he whispered back. “I’ll kill her.”

  “No,” I said. “Don’t say anything. Just be nice. I don’t need her sneaking over here in the middle of the night and doing something worse.”

  “What could be worse than poisoning your pony?” Jordan said.

  I just gave him a nudge to shut up as Jess walked her horse down our uneven drive
, avoiding the potholes with a look of disdain on her face.

  “Hello Jess,” I said brightly.

  “Hello Emily,” she replied. “And friend.”

  She looked Jordan up and down like he was a piece of meat but she must have liked what she saw because she gave him this flirty smile. He just glared at her, obviously ignoring the fact that I’d told him to play nice.

  “It’s Jordan,” he said.

  “Yes,” Jess said, nodding. “From the tack store, right?”

  “That’s right,” he said through gritted teeth.

  But now that Jess had remembered that Jordan was just a tack store brat and not some rich kid on a motorbike, she quickly lost interest in him.

  “I see you got your team horse back,” she said, staring at Socks.

  “I never lost him,” I lied. “Missy was just keeping him for me until we were ready over here.”

  “Yes, you look totally ready,” she said, her gaze sweeping over our wonky boards and sad electric fencing. “But it is just as well. Someone lodged a complaint with the Junior Olympic committee that you were going to be riding a horse that wasn’t the one you were selected on. That’s against the rules you know.”

  “No, I didn’t know,” I said, feeling relief wash over me like a wave.

  If Missy hadn’t sent me Socks, I guess I would have been off the team for good.

  “I wonder who would do a thing like that,” Jordan said, glaring at Jess.

  “No idea,” she said lazily, looking at her reins. “It’s too bad though. The alternate is a good friend of mine. Still, I guess another horse could get sick or something.”

  Jordan stiffened and then stepped forward. He grabbed Valor’s reins so that Jess couldn’t escape and looked right into her eyes.

  “You listen here,” he told her. “I don’t care if you do have more money than you know what to do with or that you think you own the world. You stay away from Emily and her horses or you’ll have me and my friends to deal with and let me tell you, they are not the friendliest bunch.”

  Jordan was right. I’d met his friends. They had tattoos and piercings and hair that was dyed funny colors. They intimidated me so I knew that they would scare the heck out of Jess. In fact she actually looked scared now, even though I could tell she was trying to hide it. Her face went all pale and she kicked Valor, trying to get him to back away from Jordan but he kept hold of the reins and wouldn’t let go.

  “Let go of my horse,” she shrieked, her voice all high and panicked.

  “Do we have a deal?” Jordan said.

  “Let go or I’ll tell my father,” Jess said.

  “I’ll let go when you agree to leave Emily alone,” Jordan snapped.

  “Fine. I agree. Whatever,” Jess said.

  Jordan let go of the reins and Jess spun Valor around and kicked him into a ragged canter. They fled down the drive and then disappeared down the road.

  “I told you to be nice,” I told Jordan.

  “I was nice,” he said. “I asked her nicely, didn’t I?”

  “I don’t think she’ll see it that way,” I said with a sigh. “And she won’t honor anything that you made her promise. In fact, she’ll probably be more intent on getting me kicked off the team than ever.”

  “She was always going to do that,” he said. “What I said didn’t change anything.”

  The sad thing was that I knew he was right.

  CHAPTER THREE

  After Jess left, we put Socks in the panel pen and Jordan helped me string a line of electric fence to separate off more of my horse’s field. It was the easiest way to do it and the least amount of work.

  “I don’t suppose you’ve seen any more boards just lying by the side of the road, have you?” I asked Jordan.

  He’d appeared with fencing for a ring like a miracle. I was hoping he would have some more tricks like that up his sleeve but he shook his head.

  “Not until I get my next paycheck,” he said and then I just felt bad for asking. I didn’t want him spending all his money on our broken down farm.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said. “At least we’ve got Molly’s electric tape.”

  But the truth was that I was starting to feel guilty about that as well. Molly was a boarder and so far she had paid for footing for our ring, had provided us with enough hay for our horses and now we were using all her fencing as well. I knew that she was rich and that she had more money than she knew what to do with but I also knew that even rich people didn’t just give that money away for free and not expect something in return.

  When Dad returned later from the store, Jordan had gone. He got out of the truck and immediately spotted Socks. I was kind of hoping the bay horse would just blend in with the rest of the herd and I wouldn’t have to explain what he was doing here but no such luck. I just wasn’t sure what Dad was going to make of the whole thing. In fact part of me was worried that my father was going to make me send him back.

  “What is he doing here?” he said just like I knew he would.

  “Henry came and dropped him off,” I said, trying to sound all casual and cool about it.

  “I don’t know,” Dad said, shaking his head. “I don’t like it.”

  “What is not to like?” I said. “Missy obviously felt bad about taking my team horse away and so she has given him back to me to ride. Besides, Jess came snooping around and she basically told me that someone had lodged a complaint that I wasn’t going to be riding the horse I was chosen on and apparently that would have meant getting kicked off the team. You don’t want me to get kicked off the Junior Olympic team, do you?”

  “Of course not,” Dad said. “But that horse belongs to Missy. What if he gets hurt? We’ll never hear the end of it. She’ll probably sue us.”

  “Missy wouldn’t do that,” I said.

  “You don’t know what people are like when their backs are against the wall,” Dad said. “And the guy at the feed store said that things are going badly wrong over at Fox Run.”

  “Well that’s not our fault,” I said.

  “No, but it makes Missy look bad. And if she sends her horse over here and we damage him in some way then that will make us look bad too.”

  “Nothing bad is going to happen to him,” I said, looking at Socks who was grazing contentedly in the field already. “I’ll take really good care of him. I promise.”

  “I know that you will,” Dad said with a sigh. “But horses can hurt themselves all on their own and with that lunatic next door running around, who knows what tricks she’s got up her sleeve next. We have got to get these horses into stalls.”

  “That would be great,” I said. “Any news on the stall fronts that you were going to get for free?”

  But as Dad told me, all I could think about was that keeping our horses in the barn wouldn’t stop Jess from messing with them and neither would Jordan’s threats. In fact I didn’t know what would keep her away but I was going to have to think of something.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “How do you feel about dogs?” I asked Cat as we scooped the poop out of the foal’s paddock later that day.

  “Dogs?” she said.

  She had given up trying to look cool now that we lived out in the sticks and there was no one around to see her. She had no makeup on and a tattered pair of jeans and every now and then she would sneak a sugar cube out of her pocket and feed it to Phoenix. The foal already loved her and I had to admit I was a bit jealous but also glad. Cat deserved to be happy too. After all, she was the one who was stuck here with me and my dysfunctional family.

  “You know, big dogs with lots of teeth that will rip the legs off anyone who comes near us,” I said.

  “I was bitten by a dog when I was four,” she said, lifting her shirt. “I still have the scar.”

  I looked at her flat stomach and saw the faint lines of four or five scars.

  “Wow,” I said. “A dog did all that?”

  “Not just a dog,” she said, pulling her shirt down, h
er face turning red.

  “Your dad?” I asked gently, not sure if she wanted to talk about it or not.

  “Yes,” she said. “But I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Okay,” I said, as she confirmed my suspicions. “But can we talk about the dog? Don’t you think it would be a good idea? We need something to protect us out here. People are afraid of dogs.”

  “Maybe,” she said. “But you’d have to convince your mom. I don’t think she likes dogs either.”

  “She doesn’t like anything.” I sighed.

  After our family Thanksgiving, Mom had slunk back into her old ways. She wasn’t helping around the house and she’d been drinking more again. I didn’t know what to do with her and apparently neither did my father. I did catch him pouring the last of the liquor down the drain though so I knew he felt as strongly about her drinking as I did. But how were you supposed to stop a parent from drinking? I had no idea.

  “It’s just I don’t trust people not to come and mess with our horses,” I said.

  “And by people, you mean that girl next door?” Cat said, leaning on her pitchfork. “I could totally take her.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” I said. “But I’d rather just think of something that would keep her away in the first place instead of planning to fight her if she does show up.”

  “You worry too much,” Cat said. “I’m sure the stupid girl has better things to do with her time.”

  “You don’t know her,” I grumbled under my breath.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The next day I decided that I had better start working Socks. The first show was only a couple of weeks away and I had no idea what Missy had been doing with him. Or attempting to do with him. Faith said that Missy fell off him. Or was thrown off. That didn’t sound like the Socks I knew. If she’d wrecked him before sending him over here then that was going to make my job a lot harder. Fixing any bad habits he had picked up would take away from schooling him for the show.

  “So what has been going on with you?” I asked the bay horse as I ran the brush over his coat.