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

  “I’m going to put Macaroni away,” Faith said in a sulky voice.

  “Hey,” I said, leaning over. “Maybe next time we’ll go into the woods, okay?”

  “Alright,” she said but she didn’t sound convinced.

  I walked Arion over to the ring feeling bad. I knew that I was supposed to be keeping our boarders happy but I was pretty sure that meant also keeping them safe. If Faith got hurt then that wasn’t exactly going to bode well for her boarding experience. Or her Christmas. No one wanted to spend Christmas in the hospital. I was just trying to be a good role model but I was sure she just thought I was a chicken.

  Still, I had a good mini jumping session on Arion. The jumps were set quite high and he was happy to pop over them like they were nothing. I almost wished that Socks hadn’t come back so that Arion could have been my team horse. After all, I’d trained him myself and that was a huge accomplishment, never mind the fact that he took to jumping like a duck to water and I didn’t really have to teach him much of anything. I still would have felt better showing up to beat Jess on a horse that she had basically scoffed at instead of one that came to me fully trained and push button.

  I worked on our striding, getting four strides between two verticals and then pushing Arion the next time to get three. It was important that a horse at his level be adjustable and usually Arion only had one speed but I was trying to get him to settle and see that sometimes you could go slow and careful and still keep the fences up. He did a good job so he got a big fat carrot and a nice rub down when we were done, which he probably would have got anyway because I was a pushover.

  I lay my head against his gray belly and listened to the gurgling noises digesting the carrot I’d given him. I patted under his belly and he pinned his ears because he was sensitive there.

  “I know,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

  I hugged his neck instead. Then, since my father wasn’t around to see and Faith had gone, I sprung up onto his back and rode him to the paddock in his halter. It felt good to feel his warm back beneath me and the movement of his walk flowing through my body. That sort of stuff was frowned upon at Fox Run. It was against the rules. Practically illegal. But here there was no one to see but my mother who I caught lurking behind the window and she didn’t know the difference anyway. She just thought all horses were bad and evil. I kept wondering what I could do to change her mind but so far I had come up with nothing.

  “Thanks for a great ride boy,” I told Arion as I slipped his halter off and let him loose.

  He trotted a few paces and then dropped to roll before jumping up and galloping off, throwing in a little buck for good measure.

  “And thanks for not doing that while I was riding you bareback,” I called out after him.

  Horses. I shook my head. It was a wonder that we survived riding them at all.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The next couple of days were a blur as the stalls were finally installed and Dad got to work hanging buckets and feed tubs. We didn’t have the plumbing for automatic waterers yet, even though we hoped that one day we would. So it was lug buckets of water from the faucet or try and drag the heavy hose that somehow wouldn’t quite reach. And we didn’t have fans either but luckily even though it was eighty degrees in December, it still wasn’t really hot enough to use them.

  “My guys don’t need stalls,” Molly said when she saw them. “I told you that.”

  “But you are paying for two of them,” Dad said. “So they will be there if you change your mind.”

  Which meant that two of the stalls sat empty and yet we couldn’t use them for our horses, which was incredibly frustrating. Faith came out with tinsel and bells and by the time she had finished decorating Macaroni’s stall, it looked like a Christmas elf had thrown up all over it.

  “Make sure there is nothing that he can reach and eat,” I told her. “The last thing we need on Christmas Eve is an emergency vet call because your pony ate his stocking.”

  “He wouldn’t do that,” Faith said.

  “Trust me,” I told her. “He would.”

  Socks got a stall because we were supposed to go to a pre-show training session in a few days. A chance for the coach to put us through our paces and make sure that we were actually a coherent team and were going to work together and that they hadn’t made a mistake in picking us. I wasn’t so sure. I didn’t know what the other teams were going to be like but I could already tell that we were going to have the worst team spirit of the bunch.

  “When is your show clinic thing?” Dad asked me that night in the kitchen.

  “The day after tomorrow,” I said. “You can take me, right?”

  “Of course,” he said. “And I’ll even come back and pick you up.”

  “Thanks a lot,” I said, using my best sarcastic voice.

  “What is this team thing then?” Mom said. “She was standing by the sink washing the dishes only it looked more like she was just swirling the dirty bubbles around.

  “It’s a Junior Olympic team,” I said. “We get to compete at special shows against other teams and whichever team wins at the end of the circuit gets a big cup.”

  “That’s it?” she said. “All that for a cup?”

  “No, it’s not all for a cup,” I said, feeling frustrated. “It shows the top trainers that you are good enough to win and work together. In the Olympics the team medal is just as important as the individual one. And it is an opportunity to get more training sessions with better trainers and maybe catch ride their horses and go to some of the really big shows.”

  “You are not still going on about the Olympics, are you?” Mom said, looking at me sadly like I was some kind of sick puppy. “Look around you Emily. Look at where you are living. You have no money, no sponsors and you live in a dump. How are you ever going to make it to the Olympics? It is time you gave up this silly, childish dream and faced reality. You are never going to make it to the Olympics.”

  I stood there unable to speak. Dad was looking at Mom like she was a horrible dream crusher, which she was. Parents were supposed to be supportive. They were supposed to believe in you. To tell you that you could be anything you wanted to be. You want to be an astronaut? Go for it. A doctor, a lawyer, an acrobat? It shouldn’t have mattered. But Mom was always negative, especially when it came to horses. I’d always known that. It was silly to think that she would ever change.

  “Your sister wanted to go to the Olympics,” she said, her voice flat and dead. “And look at where that got her.”

  “That is enough Lily,” Dad said sternly. “Emily, go to bed.”

  “No,” I said, my heart racing.

  This was the first time Mom had ever spoken about my dead sister and I wanted to know more. I wanted to hear everything.

  “Tell me more about Summer, please,” I begged. “Did she really want to go to the Olympics? Did she have the same dreams as I did? Was she a better rider than I was or am I better than her? I want to know.”

  My voice was high and squeaky as I rushed to get the words out because Mom had spoken about Summer and I knew that meant that some kind of special spell had fallen over the kitchen and I couldn’t let anything break it.

  “Tell me Mom,” I said softly. “Please.”

  But Mom just looked at me, her face as white as a sheet and then her eyes fluttered back in her head, her legs gave way and she crumpled to the floor in a heap.

  “Mom,” I screamed.

  “Go upstairs,” Dad yelled at me.

  “But I can help,” I said. “Should I call an ambulance?”

  “Just go upstairs now,” Dad shouted again.

  I left the kitchen but not before I saw my father go to my mother and lift her head into his lap. Her eyes fluttered back open so I knew she wasn’t dead. Had she passed out for real or had she just done it for attention? To avoid talking about Summer? I wouldn’t put anything past her. She was my mother and I kind of loved her because I had to, she was my blood, but she was also the trickiest
person I knew.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  I guess Mom ended up being okay because an ambulance never came and the next morning she was in the kitchen making oatmeal like nothing had ever happened.

  “Good morning Emily,” she said brightly.

  “Good morning Mom,” I replied. “Are you feeling better?”

  “Of course, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “No reason,” I said.

  Either she couldn’t remember the events of the night before or she was just trying to pretend that she didn’t.

  “Do you think maybe you should go to the doctor for a checkup?” I said.

  “Why would I do a thing like that?” she said. “I am perfectly healthy.”

  She twirled around in her pajamas with a big smile on her face, which was kind of creepy. I wasn’t sure what to do. I couldn’t make her go and get a checkup but maybe my dad could. I was out in the barn packing a tack trunk for the next day when he walked in.

  “Don’t you think Mom should go and get checked out?” I asked him. “You know, after last night.”

  “She was fine,” he said. “Her blood sugar was probably just low or something.”

  “But Dad,” I said. “She passed out. That is a big deal.”

  “She just fainted,” he said. “Women do that all the time.”

  I just looked at him like he was the biggest sexist pig on the planet.

  “No they don’t Dad,” I said.

  “Fine.” He sighed. “But don’t forget, your mother doesn’t have insurance and neither do we. It’s not like going to the doctors is cheap. That visit would mean a whole week of feed for our horses.”

  “But our health is important too,” I said. “Isn’t it?”

  “I know.” He put his arm around me. “Of course it is and if anything else happens, I’ll make her go but she seems fine. I think it was just one of those things.”

  He may have thought it was one of those things but I didn’t. I watched the medical dramas on television. I knew all the things that could be wrong and Mom had been acting really weird lately. What if she had a brain tumor and that was why she’d been acting all crazy. It would certainly explain a lot. But brain tumors weren’t exactly an easy fix so I really hoped that she didn’t have one. Maybe Dad was right. It was just a fluke. She was tired and her blood sugar was low and she’d be fine and it would never happen again.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “I really don’t want to go to this thing,” I said the next morning as we loaded up the trailer.

  “Why, because Jess will be there?” Dad said.

  “That and other things.” I sighed. “Everyone there will know that we got kicked out of Fox Run and if they don’t know, Jess will make sure that they do. I’ll be a laughing stock.”

  “You don’t really think that everybody has it easy, do you?” Dad said, leaning against the trailer.

  “Jess does,” I said with a huff.

  “You may think she does and I know that she has done some really horrible things but imagine living with her father.”

  “I know, her home life must suck but having all the money in the world probably makes up for it and besides, she could choose not to be mean to people and she doesn’t.”

  “So you just ignore her and concentrate on showing your coaches how good you are.”

  “I know,” I said. “I will. That is what I am going to do.”

  “And don’t get sucked into any of Jess’s dramas.” Dad patted me on the shoulder.

  “Easier said than done.” I sighed.

  As I loaded Socks into the trailer, Bluebird let out a forlorn whinny. I went over to the fence where he was standing there eagerly and fed him a carrot.

  “Not this time boy,” I told him, ruffling his forelock. “I wish I was taking you more than anything but Jess ruined that for us. Maybe next year you’ll make the team instead. That would be fun, wouldn’t it?”

  But when Bluebird realized that I wasn’t going to pull him out of the field, he wandered off with a sad sigh.

  “You’ll keep an eye on Bluebird today for me, won’t you?” I asked Dad as I got in the truck.

  “Why?” Dad said. “What is wrong with him?”

  “I think he is depressed,” I told him. “Because he doesn’t get to come.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Dad said. “I’m sure he is fine. He is a pony, not a person.”

  But as I looked out the window, I saw Bluebird staring after the trailer with the saddest look on his face in the whole world and I literally felt my heart break in two because I didn’t want to leave him behind. I never wanted to leave him behind again.

  “Forget about the pony,” Dad said. “You have a big day ahead of you and I need you to concentrate on that.”

  “I know,” I said. “I will.”

  “I know you always do your best but being on a team is a lot different than competing individually. You are going to learn a lot.”

  “I hope so,” I said.

  And as we sped away from Second Chance Farm, the image of my sad pony faded from my mind and I thought about the exciting day that lay before me. Lessons and instruction from really good coaches. I’d missed that. Dad had taught me here and there since we moved but it wasn’t the same. He wasn’t as tough on me as an outside trainer and I needed that. I felt rusty and out of shape but I was ready to get my butt kicked and show them that Socks and I were the best and that we deserved to be on the team.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Our training session was being held at a farm which wasn’t that far away. In fact we’d been there a few times for shows so I knew that they had a nice set up. Stalls would be available for our horses and they had two nice rings. But it wasn’t the facilities that I was worried about. It was the people. I knew that Jess would be there and I was pretty sure that Andy would be there too but the rest of the team was a mystery. And then there was this mysterious alternate person who was Jess’s friend and wanted to steal my place on the team. That didn’t sound very nice. I wondered if she’d be there riding with us as well, trying to prove that she was better than me.

  But I didn’t need to worry. As soon as our trailer pulled in and I was out of the truck, Andy came running over and engulfed me in a giant bear hug.

  “You have no idea how happy I am to see you,” he said.

  “Same,” I replied. “I know that this is all supposed to be about team spirit and stuff but we have got to stick together.”

  “Yes we do,” he replied. “And so much for teamwork. Jess is already trying to rip everyone apart.”

  “Good well maybe she’ll be the one who is kicked off the team then for her lack of team spirit.” I sighed.

  “Highly unlikely seeing that the head coach apparently plays at the same bridge club as her father,” Andy said.

  And I didn’t know what bridge was but I imagined it was basically where they all just sat around and smoked cigars and congratulated each other on how fabulous they were.

  “Perfect,” I said.

  “Hello Andy,” Dad said as he unloaded Socks and handed him off to me. “So glad to see you here.”

  “Hello Sir,” Andy replied, sticking out his hand to shake my father's.

  That was one of the things I liked about Andy. Unlike Jordan, he was always polite and well-mannered and the sort of kid that parents loved. Plus he had style. I looked at his breeches and the matching polo shirt with a sigh. I wasn't even sure if my breeches were clean.

  “So you are going to keep my girl here out of trouble, right?” Dad said, giving me a sideways glare.

  “I’ll do my best Sir,” Andy said.

  “Good,” Dad replied, looking relieved.

  He should have known that if I was going to get up to anything, Andy would never be able to stop me. In fact, he’d be the first person whose help I’d enlist.

  “Do you know where we are supposed to go?” I asked Andy.

  “Sure, I’ll show you.”

  Our horses
were being housed at the end of the barn. I put Socks in the empty stall next to Andy’s horse Mousse. They sniffed noses and then snorted. Valor was across the aisle. I didn’t want my horse anywhere near him. He stood there looking all regal and shiny but there was something in his eye that I hadn’t seen before. I wasn’t sure if it was just because he was in a new place or if Jess had finally got to him but something was off. It was never long before she broke a new horse and had to move on to another one. Then who would be the one getting kicked off the team because they had to ride a different horse. I got a little twinge of satisfaction from thinking about that.

  “I’ll be back to get you later,” Dad said as he dumped my tack trunk and the hay and feed for Socks outside his stall.

  “Thanks,” I said. “Don’t forget.”

  “How could I forget?” he said. “You are the only student I have left.”

  “Don’t forget Molly,” I said, “And Faith. You’d better keep an eye on her. She wasn’t too happy with me after our ride. I wouldn’t put it past her to try and sneak off and ride into those woods.”

  “She wouldn’t dare ride off the property without asking,” Dad said.

  “She lay down in front of your truck,” I said. “The kid has no fear. Just watch her, okay?”

  “I will,” Dad said, shaking his head. “Who is the boss around here anyway?”

  “I am.” I grinned.

  I gave him a quick hug and then he was gone.

  “It must be weird, just being the two of you now,” Andy said as we watched Socks finally settle down and eat the hay that I’d thrown in the stall for him.

  “Well it’s not really the two of us,” I said. “There is my mother and my half-sister and then Molly and Faith. It already feels like a full farm.”

  “It’s probably not the same as Fox Run though, is it?” he said.

  I could tell he felt sorry for me but I didn’t want him to. Having our own farm was a gift not the punishment that I thought it would be and we were making it work. We had stalls now and prospective clients were coming to look for boarding over the weekend. Dad was already talking about picking up a lesson horse. Things were looking up. And so what if we didn’t have the best of everything because none of that stuff mattered anyway. But I didn’t explain all that to Andy because I wasn’t sure he would understand.