Leap of Faith (23 page)

Aha! I'll start by cooking one of his favourite meals
. She half-smiled at the thought and began planning her shopping list.

Her excitement about the surprise she was planning for Steve made Jessica hurry through her walk, and she cut it short. A weight seemed to have lifted at the prospect of a trip into town. She hadn't been out in the car on her own since getting her leg out of plaster; had been content to shut herself away. Not anymore. It was utterly silly, but if anyone had asked, she would have said she felt like a bird leaving the nest for the first time; eager to see what the world had to offer. She shook her head at the absurdity of it all.

With her handbag over her shoulder and her keys in hand, she made a detour to the stables and yards behind the car shed. Surely the horse couldn't be as bad as Steve was saying. Tiffany had given her face a rub. Sure, she had been a little wary, but hadn't walked away, which she quite easily could have. Jessica shook her head. She really had to start using the horse's name and stop thinking of her as a nonentity.

‘Hello there, Faith. How are you this morning?' she said in her authoritative voice. The horse was standing with her head lowered and eyes closed. The sun shone on her face.
Well, at least she's looking relatively relaxed. That's a good sign.

The horse's eyes flew open and bugged. She snorted and took a leap to the right, away from where Jessica was standing at the fence. Jessica got such a fright she took a step back herself and brought her hands to her chest, trying to calm her wildly beating heart. God, was it deaf? She had spoken to her, for Christ's sake, given plenty of warning. Maybe she
was
deaf.
Knowing my luck
, she thought. Just what the hell has Steve taken on?

‘It's okay, I won't hurt you,' she said, soothingly. She should have brought some carrots as a peace offering. The horse eyed her sideways, nostrils flared. Jessica felt torn between getting started on her mission into town and sorting out the apparent misunderstanding with Faith, smoothing things over. It was usually best not to leave a problem unresolved, otherwise it tended to take longer to sort out later.

But if she was to lure Steve back, and hopefully conceive a child, she had to get into town and get dinner organised. The determined side of Jessica wrestled with staying, but her more practical side won. It might take a few minutes to have Faith eating out of her hand – literally – or it could take hours. Once she started, she didn't want to have to cut things short. One of the golden rules of dealing with horses – all livestock, for that matter – was to approach any task as if you had all the time in the world. Animals could always sense when you were in a hurry. That was when things went awry. So, damn it, as much as she didn't want the horse to feel she had won this particular battle, Jessica needed to leave, which she did, with a big sigh and a glare at the horse. Faith. What a silly name!

It seemed the same rule about time that applied to dealing with animals also applied to Woodside and its townsfolk. And it seemed everyone was in town that day. Parks were few and far between. Jessica finally managed to snare one in front of the newsagent.

Three people accosted her in the fifty or so metres to the supermarket and then down every aisle inside. She smiled, nodded and over and over answered, ‘No, I haven't been away, I've just been busy.' She was somewhat astounded that the grapevine wasn't all over the fact she'd broken her ankle. Or perhaps they'd forgotten. She wasn't about to update those who didn't know and be caught for hours talking about their previous injuries. Those who did know asked how the recovery was going and offered every old wives' tale under the sun for reducing the swelling, building up the muscles and dealing with other unrelated ailments.

By the time Jessica was back in her vehicle, it was one o'clock and she was exhausted, frazzled and feeling claustrophobic. Before the accident, she could spend hours on the footpath happily chatting to all she knew; now she couldn't wait to get back to the tranquillity of the farm. Not to mention being very keen to get on with sorting out the horse.

She'd better pick up some horse pellets and a big bag of carrots at the feed store on her way out of town. The idea that she was also keen to prove it wasn't her Faith was afraid of crossed her mind briefly, but she scolded herself. It was not a popularity contest with Steve – he'd asked for her help and she would give it. Ultimately the horse was his.

She wondered if Tiffany would be on shift today, and if she was still annoyed. Jessica felt shameful, hoping her friend wouldn't be around. She was on a mission, and becoming more and more keen to get it under way. But she was out of luck: Tiffany rushed over to Jessica's car as she was getting out.

‘I'm so sorry about yesterday,' she cried, enveloping Jessica in a tight hug.

‘It's okay. And I'm sorry too. I really don't think dressage is any less serious a sport.' Well, she kind of did – it was far less dangerous, for a start – but to each their own.

‘I know, it's just different. So we're good?'

‘I am if you are,' Jessica said, grinning broadly. Gosh, they'd got through that row easily. She wondered if it was resolved far too easily. Was there something going on with Tiffany? But Jessica knew if Tiff wanted to tell her she would have and she didn't have time for analysing her friend's mood today.

‘You could have rung, you know. And, hey, you're actually out, driving, on your own,' Tiffany said, suddenly realising the magnitude of the situation. ‘And here I was thinking we'd have to kidnap you to get you out sometime. So, how is it to be out in the daylight again?'

Jessica rolled her eyes at her friend. ‘Very funny. I'm not a mole who's just come out of its hole for the first time after winter.'

‘It seems like it.'

‘Yeah, you're probably right.' Jessica did feel a bit as if she was out in the sun for the first time in ages, which was strange, given she'd been out walking in it for days now.

‘So, what brings you into town anyway?'

‘Exciting stuff. Groceries.'

‘Oh, right,' Tiffany said, looking puzzled.

‘I'm cooking a special dinner.'

‘Ooh, what are we celebrating?'

‘Nothing, really, just me coming out of my cocoon, I guess,' Jessica said with a shrug. She didn't want to admit she had Steve offside as well. ‘But I do need a bag of carrots and some horse pellets.'

‘Hmm, that's some dinner you're cooking your man.'

‘Oh! Ha ha. No, they're for the horse. Steve's asked me to do some work with her – seems she doesn't like men – and I need some bribery treats.'

‘Aha!'

‘What's that meant to mean?'

‘It all makes sense now.'

‘What does, Sherlock?' Jessica frowned, genuinely puzzled.

‘Your bright and sunny disposition.'

‘Really?'

‘Yep. It's horses that does that to you – you've got horse face.'

‘Gee, thanks very much. Very flattering,' Jessica said, but she was grinning. Now she thought about it, the challenge of working with the horse had put a spring in her step – she couldn't deny it.

‘And, please, surely this horse has a name.'

‘Faith. And don't you dare say it's a sign!'

‘Wouldn't dream of it,' Tiffany said, smirking. ‘Come on then, we'd better get you your magic ingredients.' She led the way into the shop.

‘Don't get too excited,' Jessica muttered to her friend's back. ‘She's Steve's horse – nothing to do with me.'

‘Yeah, whatever.'

Jessica opened her mouth to protest, but as she did, the owner of Millers' Fodder cried, ‘Jessica Harrington, how the hell are you? Long time, no see. How's that ankle of yours?'

‘Doing fine thanks, Barry,' Jessica said.

‘A bag of horse carrots and one of pellets, thanks, James,' Tiffany said to the young lad lurking to the left of the counter as she went around behind to ring up the purchase. Jessica marvelled at how settled she seemed in her role, and she didn't miss the slightly smitten, flushed look of adoration that crossed James's face before he disappeared out the back into the warehouse. Jessica grinned to herself. Trust Tiffany to have the place running like clockwork and the staff falling for her.

‘Good news, good news,' Barry said, still at his office door. Jessica turned to see him rubbing his hands together. ‘We've missed your orders of late. Good to hear you're back in the game.'

‘Oh,' Jessica said, ‘I'm not, really. This is just …' She lifted and dropped her hands in a helpless gesture.

‘Don't worry, you'll have the bug again real soon,' he said, tapping the side of his nose.

‘Hmm,' was all she could come up with in reply. She thought of protesting, but the quote, ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks' ran through her head. And, anyway, if she'd learnt anything these last few months, she'd learnt that nothing was for certain. You didn't know what was around the corner or over the next jump. She realised she was actually really looking forward to working with Faith, to getting her eating out of her hand. And not to prove a point to anyone! Well, maybe, just a little.

She handed over her key card, put in her pin and then slid the receipt into her wallet as James appeared beside her with one of the steel trolleys.

‘Well, I'd better get cracking. I've got groceries in the car,' she said. ‘See ya.'

‘Thanks for shopping at Millers' Fodder,' Tiffany said in a very business-like tone, which nearly caused Jessica to laugh.

‘Hopefully we'll see you again soon,' Barry called from behind his desk, and gave a cheery wave.

‘Take care,' Tiffany called. ‘See you soon.'

*

Jessica unloaded the groceries and mentally calculated what time she had to be back in the house in order to have dinner ready for Steve when he got home. She was itching to get started with Faith, but was mindful that she now had less than three hours, which went against the all-the-time-in-the-world rule. But she'd promised Steve, so she had to go ahead. And, anyway, she was only going to get the horse to come up and eat from her hand. No horse could resist the lure of a carrot being held out or pellets being rattled in a bucket for that long. And Faith wasn't that bad if Tiffany had patted her. It probably was a fear of men.

‘Yep, it'll be fine. Piece of cake.'

Jessica stacked the carrots from the big bag into the fridge in the shed, turned it on, and then put the bag of horse pellets in the decommissioned chest freezer. She opened the bag and scooped a few handfuls into a bucket, just enough for a nice enticing rattle and worthwhile treat, and filled her pockets with juicy carrots.

She stood at the chest-height timber railing, bucket in one hand, carrot in the other.

‘Come on, Faith,' she called. ‘Do you want a carrot? Or perhaps some pellets? Come and get them.' She rattled the bucket.

Faith stood back and eyed her warily. She tossed her head and licked her lips, but stayed put.

By the time the horse took her first tentative, shuffling, steps in Jessica's direction, the muscles in her arms had turned to jelly from holding the bucket up, even though it wasn't heavy. She'd grown unused to this kind of activity and was seizing up. She hadn't wanted to change arms and risk startling the creature when there were signs of progress. She also wanted to scratch an itch on her nose but, again, didn't feel she could move a muscle. She snuck a glance at her watch, just visible on her outstretched arm. Ten minutes had already passed.

Never before had she had a horse hold out this long. Pellets were failsafe. At least, she'd thought they were. The creature looked half starved; surely any edible substance was too hard to resist? The horse had pluck, Jessica had to give her that. But she wasn't going to give up. If she had to stand here until midnight, she would. She would get this damned horse eating out of her hand if it was the last thing she did. She gritted her teeth in determination.
Two can play at this game.

She put the carrot back in her pocket, took a fistful of pellets, held her hand above the bucket and opened her fingers. The pellets dribbled into the vessel, a cacophony of thuds and rattles. Faith lifted her head with interest, but stayed where she was.

‘Come on. They're yours if you want them. Come on, I know you do,' Jessica urged.

The horse took another step towards her. Twenty-five minutes had passed. This was excruciating; something so simple, so easy, yet one of the most difficult things Jessica had ever done. This bloody horse was testing her! She was not used to untrained horses that didn't know basic commands. She wondered if this one did and was deliberately challenging her. No, horses didn't think like that; humans were the ones who were capable of cruelty in a psychological way. The animal kingdom wasn't. This one was scared. End of story.

Regardless, she was running out of patience. She thought about giving up, walking away. Then she thought about how the horse had taken two small steps towards her of its own accord – that should be rewarded. But she wasn't going to just give her the bucket – that would be as good as giving in. She pulled the carrot from her pocket again and held it out.

She wondered how the creature had been put on a float in the first place. Perhaps it was just her Faith didn't like, didn't trust.
It's not all about you
, she told herself. Tiffany and Steve had patted Faith over the fence. No, Tiffany had, but Steve had led her from the float to the yard without incident – she'd seen it with her own eyes. Don't take it personally, she'd told Steve.
Don't
you
take it personally, either
.

‘Oh, God, this is excruciating. Just take the bloody carrot,' she groaned through gritted teeth, ‘and put us both out of our misery. I've got stuff to do.'