Hunter Derby: (Show Circuit Series -- Book 3) (16 page)

She went to put her hand on the screen door and he put his hand over hers. “Are you okay to go home? I mean maybe you should just stay awhile longer?”

He set his gaze on her and they stood there, his hand on hers. There had to be something between them. It couldn’t just be her imagination.

“I’m okay,” she said. “I’ll see you at the barn.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Zoe didn’t want to interrupt so she went into the barn and started grooming Gidget. A few minutes later, the three of them walked up to the barn.

“Thanks,” the trainer said. “We’ll be in touch.”

Zoe had never seen the trainer before—she must have been a real local. She had full seat breeches on and really poorly-fitting dress boots, which meant she probably didn’t do many big shows. The girl with her had one of those helmet covers in hot pink.

After they’d left, Zoe said, “How’d that go?”

“Let’s see, a young, green hunter for a girl who started riding a year ago? Probably not the best match.”

“Yikes,” Zoe said.

“I should have just told them no the minute they got here. I can’t tell you how many tire-kickers I get. It’s like people have nothing better to do than go around trying horses that are completely wrong for them. Some are so bad I just say no over the phone but you want to sell the horse . . . speaking of, I’m in for Lake Placid.”

Zoe brightened. “Are you sure?”

“It’s not like I’m going across the world. They’ll call me if they need me and I’ll go home.”

“Okay,” Zoe said. “Lake Placid here we come! Who do you want to take, besides Gidget?”

“I was thinking Gidget, Cruz, and Dibs. I already asked a girl I know from a local barn to ride the others. She isn’t amazing but she can get them out and hack them around. And my stall guy’s looking for extra work so he’s more than happy to do the rest of the barn work. I can do Cruz in the jumpers and would you ride Dibs in the pre-greens?”

“I’d love to,” Zoe said.

Some of the movies Molly had seen before but she wanted Zoe to see them, if she hadn’t already, or to watch them with her. Zoe didn’t mind seeing movies more than once. Even though she knew when the girl was going to be dumped by her fiancé, or when the boyfriend was going to die a tragic and untimely death, she still got weepy. John would roll his eyes and poke fun at how sappy Molly and Zoe were but secretly it seemed like he kind of enjoyed the movies too.

Zoe loved those nights sitting on the couch with John and Molly and Sutter on the floor at their feet and Harry snoring/wheezing over in the corner.

Sometimes one of John’s parents would watch with them, or his dad would bring them bowls of popcorn. Zoe usually sat in the middle of the couch and she was aware of how close she was to John. Sometimes she thought she could feel him looking at her when he should be looking at the TV.

She and John decided on a bit of whim to take Gidget to do the Genesee Country Derby in Cooperstown. It wasn’t a typical derby—it was one of only a select number of stand-alone USHJA derbies, meaning the rest of the horse show wasn’t rated. The setting was beautiful and bucolic, the course set in a huge, rolling meadow and the jumps were all old-hunt style—real stone walls, lots of brush, logs resting on hay bales. Bright pink flowers sprouted from a trough carved into one of the log jumps and an antique car stood in the middle of the field.

It was a $35,000 class and some of the best derby riders had shown up with their best derby horses. That included Kendall Adams, who, like Zoe, had once been a top junior rider. Her father was a big-time professional and her brother rode too. Kendall concentrated on the hunters—her brother had gone on to focus on the jumpers, riding for the team.

The family didn’t have tons of money but they had all the connections in the horse industry and Kendall’s father had an amazing eye for a horse, which meant he picked them up wherever he could find them, and then put her on them.

Kendall was married now and had a six year-old son. Her husband wasn’t a horse guy but it worked for them somehow. He tolerated the world he’d married into and in trade she didn’t show every week, picking and choosing. Having her father as a full-time horseman helped her be able to take time off to spend with her husband and son.

Zoe saw Kendall hacking her best horse, Veracity, around the outside of the meadow the day before the derby. She was walking on a loose rein, sitting back casually in the saddle. Zoe caught up to her and they rode side-by-side for a while, of course not too close because of Gidget’s tendency to get snarky.

Kendall was one of the nice ones—a kind, sweet girl. She was one of the few people on the circuit who seemed to have it all figured out—how to manage a successful career while having a semblance of a normal life at the same time. But you couldn’t hate her for it—she was so damn nice. Even the fact that she was friendly to Zoe, and always had been, said a lot about her.

Kendall had never spent her time going out and partying, not even during her single days. Somehow she had always known not to get involved in that scene. She could have been terribly judgmental about the life Zoe had led but she wasn’t.

They talked about their horses. Veracity was fifteen now. Kendall had won nearly every derby there was to win with him, including the Derby Finals two times. He was a bit of a big, plain horse, nothing flashy, but he jumped the crap out of the jumps. He probably could walk right into a CSI-3 and jump around clean—he had that much scope. These days Kendall saved him for only the biggest derbies.

They talked about their plans for the rest of the summer. Kendall wouldn’t jump Veracity again after Genessee till Kentucky Summer. She’d show him in the derby classes there and then do the Derby Finals. “He knows his job,” Kendall said. “All we try to do is keep him fit and happy.”

Zoe told Kendall about how she really liked Gidget and thought she could be one of the good ones, maybe even one of the great ones. “I mean not as good as Veracity,” she said. “But you know, she’s pretty cool.”

They turned back toward the stabling. The day was hot but it was the late afternoon and the air had cooled off just enough. Zoe spotted John outside the barn. Her heart lurched a little when she saw him.

Right then her life felt good. Almost too good to be true. She had a competitive horse, she was back doing big classes, she had a friend in Linda and even in Kirsten too, and a nice guy to spend time with and work with.

She said good-bye to Kendall and then closed her eyes for a few moments as she walked the rest of the way to the barn. She opened them again, glad that it was all still there—that it wasn’t a dream. For the first time in a while, she felt truly hopeful. Hopeful that her life was changing. That good things were coming.

After untacking Gidget, she fed her her daily banana and stayed with her in her stall for a few minutes. The mare tolerated her now, maybe even liked her. “Aren’t you going to give me one of your evil looks?” Zoe said to her.

Gidget finished her banana, making adorable smacking sounds with her lips from the banana mush.

“You got nothing for me today, huh?” Zoe said.

The next day only made Zoe’s hopeful feelings grow. Gidget loved the meadow. She ate up the lines, her stride feeling expansive and powerful. Zoe was able to really ride forward, getting a true hunt course gallop. All the distances came up perfectly. It was one of those days where it felt like nothing could go wrong. Where every clover had four leafs. Where there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Veracity went well too. He basically always went well. Zoe and Kendall had scores in the 90s in the first round, plus their high option points added in.

The handy had a trot jump. In a way, Zoe was glad. Gidget was going well over them at home and needed to prove that she could do it at a show. At home, Zoe had been alternating working her with and without the draw reins over the trot jumps. She thought she had figured out the exact measurement of leg and hand that she needed to keep Gidget together but that measurement worked at home and at Linda’s. The different jumps and new surroundings would require a new calculation, and one that Zoe would have to determine in real time.

The handy started out with a few roll back turns and then a long approach to an in-and-out. Gidget jumped the in-and-out amazingly—Zoe could feel it over the jumps. She could also sense the crowd watching and admiring Gidget’s scope and style.

She brought her back to the trot a little bit earlier than she might have with another horse but she wanted enough time to establish her pace and frame. She lowered her post just a little, keeping her body quiet. Gidget was nicely on the bit for a hunter—nose tucked in just enough, and neck rounded. Zoe had a steady but light feel on her mouth.

She was a few feet out now. Zoe saw the distance, choosing a waiting distance so as not to have to push Gidget and risk her breaking into the canter. She kept her leg on at take-off and this time Gidget didn’t stick off the ground. Zoe only hoped she kept her form over the jump.

She rode the last few fences and finished to lots of applause. She could pick John’s whoop out of the host of other cheers.

Her scores came in a little lower overall than Zoe had expected and she couldn’t help but feel a surge of disappointment. She asked John as she came out of the ring if Gidget had lost her form over the trot jump or if anything else had looked different than it felt to Zoe. He said he thought she jumped super.

She did get all the handy points, which still put the pressure squarely on Kendall as the last to go in the class. As Kendall entered the ring, Zoe thought how she really wanted to win. She started to imagine herself accepting the blue ribbon and Kendall congratulating her.

Yet as she and John watched Kendall, Zoe could honestly say she wasn’t rooting for Kendall to mess up. She liked her too much for that.

Gidget had gone amazingly—Zoe told herself that was all that she could ask for. And she’d rocked the trot jump.

The four judges were some of the best judges on the circuit—they all knew Zoe’s story and she had to be proud that they’d seen how well she had ridden and what a nice horse she was riding.

Whether she was first or second, the circuit would be buzzing and for the first time in a long while the buzz surrounding her would be positive.

When the scores came in, Kendall had beaten her, but only by a few points. Zoe shared a fleeting look of disappointment with John but then there was nothing but pride in what they’d accomplished with an unknown horse in a short amount of time.

“You rode super,” he told her.

“It was all her today,” Zoe said, meaning Gidget.

After the award ceremony, Zoe hugged Kendall.

“What a nice horse you’ve got yourself, girl,” Kendall said.

They were interviewed by a writer for the
Chronicle
and when the issue came out, Linda showed it to Zoe the second she got to Morada Bay.

Zoe had been written up in the
Chronicle
plenty of times before and she’d already seen the coverage of the show online but somehow it was always a little different seeing it in print. She sat down on a tack trunk and read the article word for word. Kendall might have won the class and taken home the biggest check, but Zoe got most of the coverage in the article.

She had decided to be honest about everything in the interview, and not try to hide how she’d struggled mightily the past year. Everyone on the horse show circuit knew it already and most importantly, John knew it too.

The reporter had been amenable to whitewashing what Zoe had done or leaving it out of the article completely. In fact, when Zoe had told her it was okay to put in that she’d been involved with the saddle stealing, the young woman had said, “Really? Are you sure you want that in there?”

“It’s fine,” Zoe had said. “It’s the truth.”