Pony Jumpers 6- Six to Ride Read online

  Dad had booked us into a motel in Cambridge for the evening, so we left the farm in Mystery Creek and drove into town. The motel wasn’t very fancy, but it was at least clean, and I had my own room. I had sent AJ a series of excited text messages since leaving Little River, but so far she hadn’t responded to any of them.

  “Are you ready yet?” Dad called to me from the cramped living area, where he was watching the news on TV and waiting for me to get dressed for dinner.

  “Coming!” I shoved my phone into my bag and applied a last coat of mascara, then headed for the door. “Okay, let’s go.”

  I smiled at him as he shut off the TV and he smiled back, looking happier than I’d seen him in a while. I supposed, as I followed him back to the car, that buying an incredible show jumper would put anyone in a good mood, whether they liked horses or not.

  Not that Tori was ours yet – not quite. Dad, being a sensible type of person with a very tight wallet, had insisted that we have the night to think about it, and had told Marlene he’d call her with a decision in the morning. I’d assumed that was just a stalling tactic designed to give Dad the upper hand, but as we settled into our small table at the Thai restaurant down the road from our motel, it turned out that Dad really did want to discuss his impending purchase.

  “So.” He steepled his fingers on the pristine white tablecloth. “You think that black mare was the one?”

  “Definitely,” I assured him. “Hands down, no exceptions, one hundred percent.”

  Dad sighed. “You know she’s very expensive. Almost twice as much as those other ones you tried.”

  “There’s a reason for that,” I told him. “She’s ten times the horse they were. I mean, they were nice enough horses, and I’m sure they’ll all be useful jumpers, but Tori’s just…more, somehow. I can’t describe it in words, but she’s just…there’s just something about her that I love.”

  “She has a certain je ne sais quoi,” Dad said with a smile.

  “Huh?”

  “It’s French,” he clarified. “Je ne sais quoi.”

  “What’s it mean?”

  Dad looked a little concerned by my ignorance. “I don’t know what.”

  “You don’t know what it means?”

  “No, it means I don’t know what.” A crease appeared between his eyebrows. “You’re not really selling me on this whole horses are more important than education idea if you can’t recognise a simple French phrase when you hear it.”

  “I’ll learn French when I’m riding in France,” I told him dismissively, turning my attention to the waitress who’d just arrived at our table.

  Once she’d taken our order, I picked up the conversation before Dad could start up again about school. “So are you going to buy her? Please say yes.”

  “Well. There are a few things to discuss.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as you, your goals and ambitions. Where a horse of this calibre could take you, and what your plans would be with her. How you’re going to keep up your schoolwork while you’re competing, and don’t look at me like that, because if your schoolwork isn’t up to scratch then there won’t be any shows either.”

  “What?!”

  “You heard me. I spoke with your mother, and she said you’ve only ever scraped through school on the barest minimum of pass marks. That’s not good enough, Katy. You’re a bright girl and you can do a lot better than just getting Achieved on every assessment.”

  I forced myself not to roll my eyes. I was doing this for Tori, after all. I’d do anything to have that horse. “Okay, so I do better in school. I can manage that.”

  “Good. I’m also prepared to pay for regular lessons with a top level coach, to help you get up to scratch with this horse. I think, and your mother reluctantly agrees, that you’ve learned all you can from her – or in her words, all you’re willing to.” His voice was serious, but his eyes twinkled slightly. “But I have to warn you, Katy. You’re my daughter and I want you to succeed, but I’m also a businessman, and I don’t make weak investments. I’m not expecting this horse to make me any money – quite the opposite. I’m well aware that horses eat money for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and that the running costs for Tori will be quite high. However, I do have expectations of my own.”

  My stomach was clenching in on itself. Our waitress reappeared and placed a huge mound of noodles in front of me, which I glanced at queasily.

  “Such as?”

  “That you’ll work hard and achieve your goals. We’ll work out a performance plan, starting with the Six Year Old classes and Junior Riders this season.” He’d clearly been listening in the car on the way back as I’d prattled off my plans, thinking I was talking into thin air. I was a little alarmed to realise that he’d been paying very close attention. “Then Young Rider classes next season, and we’ll see where we go after that,” he continued. “Does that seem realistic to you?”

  It seemed like a lot of pressure to me, but then I thought again about Tori and how effortless jumping her had been. With plenty of time to produce her through the grades, Young Riders by next season seemed entirely feasible.

  “Yeah, definitely.”

  “Good.” Dad picked up his fork and scooped up his rice. “I’ll give Marlene a ring when we get home and have her organise a vet check. I’m not spending that much money on any animal until I know it’s completely sound.”

  “Okay.” I knew I wouldn’t be able to convince him otherwise, and crossed my fingers that there was nothing about Tori that would cause any issues with the vetting.

  He nodded, looking pleased. “Well then. Eat up, before your food goes cold.”

  Best news everrrr Dad just rang Marlene back to say we will buy Tori vet check pending! She was out so left her a message, just waiting for her to call back now omg so excited I cant breathe

  I tapped the words onto the screen of my phone, added a string of excited emojis and hit Send. AJ still hadn’t texted me back, and I was starting to get mad at her. What was she doing that was so important that she couldn’t at least send back a simple Yay? Maybe her phone’s battery had gone dead. I sent the same message through to her on Facebook, wondering if she’d check that one first, then decided to tell Susannah too. She’d be thrilled for me, I knew, and I grinned to myself as I speculated how long it would take for her father to buy her a top notch young horse as well. He was obsessed with Susannah having the best of everything, and had been trying to buy her another horse for ages, even though she said she wanted to stay on ponies for a bit longer. I bet that was about to change though, once they got a glimpse of Tori…

  Dad’s phone rang, and my heart leapt. That must be Marlene, calling him back. Tossing my cell with its half-composed message aside, I hurried into the other room as he answered the call. He had his back to me, so I couldn’t see his face as he spoke.

  “Hi.” He sounded casual, as though he bought horses every day of the week and this was just another transaction. “Did you want…”

  He broke off, and I watched him sit up a little straighter, his body tensing up, and then he turned and faced me. A sense of foreboding slid over me, and my feet were suddenly rooted to the spot. He looked upset, his brow furrowed deeply as he listened to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

  “No, I understand that, Deb. Of course. Katy’s right here, I’ll hand you over to her now.”

  Dad moved the phone away from his ear and held it out to me, still looking anguished. Not Marlene after all then, but my mother. And from the look on Dad’s face, it was bad news. I had to take five strides to cross the small room, but it felt as though I was walking through syrup. The sense that something terrible had happened wouldn’t let up, and I frantically ran through scenarios in my head. One of the ponies was hurt. One of the ponies was dead. Critter had been hit by a car. Something was wrong with Mum…

  “Hello?”

  “Hi honey.” Mum’s voice sounded as though she’d been crying, and she cleared her throat.
>
  “What’s wrong? Are the ponies okay?”

  “They’re fine.” I felt relief, but only for a second. “It’s AJ. She’s been in an accident.”

  I swear that my heart stopped beating for several seconds, even though it was biologically impossible. “What? Is she…”

  “She’s okay,” Mum said quickly, allowing me to breathe again. “Well, she’s in hospital and she’ll be there for a few days but they say she’ll make a full recovery.”

  My breath was coming back to me in gasps as I let the relief of that wash over me. AJ was okay. “What happened?”

  “She was in the car with her brother, and it went off the road and flipped upside down. I don’t know any more than that, how it happened or anything…” Mum took a breath. “I just got off the phone with her mother, she didn’t give many details.”

  There was one part of what Mum had said that I had to go back to. The part about AJ’s brother. “Was she…was she with Anders?”

  Mum’s voice sounded tearful again. “Yes.”

  I had to ask. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s…” She took another shaky breath. “I don’t know. He’s stable, but he’s in a serious condition. They don’t know yet what the prognosis is for him. They’ve got him in an induced coma, he’s broken a few bones...”

  Oh my God. Oh my God oh my God ohmyGod. No. Not Anders. Please, please not Anders. The words spun around in my head until I couldn’t think straight. All I could see was Anders with his tousled blonde hair and his bright blue eyes, grinning at me and making fun of me, sitting on his bed playing the guitar, picking AJ up every day from our place after she’d ridden Squib… And AJ, what if she wasn’t okay, what if they thought she was but they missed something, and she…

  “Katy, are you there?”

  “Yeah.” I took a breath and with an effort, collected my thoughts. “We’ll come home tonight.”

  “You don’t need to do that,” Mum told me. “You won’t be able to see them yet anyway, they’re not ready to have visitors, and it’s safer to drive in the daylight…”

  But I ignored her protestations. I wouldn’t sleep in this motel room anyway, not knowing what I knew now. I wouldn’t sleep properly until I’d seen them both, until I knew they’d be okay, until I was back in my bed with Critter in my arms and had seen all of my ponies and hugged them and knew they were fine.

  “I’m coming home,” I told Mum more firmly. “Tonight.”

  And I hung up the phone.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Dad tried to talk me out of it, saying the same things as Mum had about not being able to see AJ until tomorrow anyway, and then muttering about how he’d already paid for the motel room and surely I could wait a few more hours and get some sleep, but I was already packing my bag as he spoke, resolutely ignoring his objections. I knew that I couldn’t stay here, hours away from home and from my best friend – not while she needed me. He gave up in the end, and we drove home through the silent night, Dad blinking into the oncoming headlights and yawning constantly, while I stared out of the window at the blackness and wondered at how quickly everything could change.

  It was well past midnight when we finally pulled up at home. The lights were all off, and the curtains pulled shut. Mum had clearly gone to bed without waiting for me to get home, perhaps not believing that I would’ve been able to talk Dad into bringing me back. I flung the SUV’s door open as soon as it stopped in front of the house and scrambled out, ignoring the cramping in my tired legs.

  “Thanks for bringing me home,” I told my father as I grabbed my bag out of the back seat and started lugging it towards the house. I heard a car door shut behind me, and crunching footsteps as Dad followed me to the front door.

  The moon was full, casting long silvery shadows across our little house, which looked so shabby in comparison to Marlene’s immaculate property that we’d visited only hours earlier. It seemed like a lifetime ago, the whole experience like some kind of strange dream.

  “Well, thanks,” I told Dad as I dropped my luggage onto the porch. “I know you wanted to stay, but I really appreciate you driving me back. I just know I’ll sleep better here, that’s all. I just…”

  But I had run out of words, so I just stood awkwardly, wondering what to say next. I could hear Critter inside the house, scrabbling at the front door and whining at the sound of my voice, and I desperately wanted to scoop him into my arms and hold him tight.

  Dad rubbed his jaw wearily, nodding. “Not a problem. I understand.”

  I looked at him, wondering if he meant it, if I was imagining the trace of impatience in his tone. It had happened over and over again this weekend. Every time I said or did something that he didn’t like, a ripple of disapproval would emanate from him. It wasn’t much – a slight narrowing of his eyes, a tightness in his shoulders – but it was enough to make me feel bad, and at the same time, defiant.

  Sorry I’m not perfect, I’d wanted to snap at him on more than one occasion. Sorry I’m not your dream daughter, whoever she is, but you didn’t stick around to raise me, so if you don’t like the way I’ve turned out, you’ve got nobody to blame but yourself. There were so many things I’d been dying to say, but I’d held my tongue. He had gone but he was back now, and he wanted to be involved in my life. So much so that he’d chosen to spend a vast amount of money on a new horse for me, and I stared over his shoulder at the paddocks in front of the house, imagining Tori grazing there, the moonlight shining off her tall white stockings. He must really love me, to buy me a horse like that. Feeling a sudden wave of gratitude, I searched for a way to thank him that wouldn’t sound rehearsed, or insincere. I’ve never been effusive when it comes to expressions of love, but I wanted him to know how much it all meant. He took a step back, as though preparing to leave, so I quickly wrapped my arms around his waist and gave him a quick hug. It felt a bit strange – I don’t like hugs, and usually go out of my way to avoid them, let alone give them out – but I knew that the contact would mean a lot to my Dad. It must’ve been years since I’d hugged him, because even as a child I didn’t like being held. And he seemed startled at first, but then his arms settled around me and he pulled me in tight, trapping me against his chest. A wave of panic hit me, making it hard to breathe, but I forced myself not to struggle. He bought you a horse. The horse of your dreams. Let him have his hug. I counted to three then released my own arms to let him know that the hug was over. A moment later, he let me go, and I stepped backwards reflexively, putting space between us once more.

  “Goodnight, Katy.”

  “Night Dad.”

  I picked my bag up again and let myself into the house. Critter skittered around my feet, his little toenails noisy on the scuffed floorboards. I dropped my luggage, leaned down and scooped him into my arms, cuddling him as he licked my chin enthusiastically.

  “I missed you, Crit,” I told him.

  “That you honey?” Mum’s voice, coming from the other side of her half-open bedroom door.

  I kicked off my shoes and padded down the hall in my socks, my little dog squirming in my arms as he tried to bathe my entire face with his tongue. I nudged Mum’s bedroom door open with my foot and poked my head inside.

  “No, it’s a burglar. What’ve you got worth stealing?”

  Mum sat up in bed, looking pale in the moonlight that was shining through her threadbare curtains. “You didn’t have to come home tonight.”

  “Yes I did.” I set Critter down on the floor and stood there awkwardly for a moment. “Have you heard anything else?”

  Mum shook her head. “Sorry sweetheart. I’ll ring Owen and Christina first thing in the morning,” she assured me, naming AJ’s parents. “I’m not sure when visiting hours are, but we’ll do our best to get in to see AJ as soon as we can.”

  “She’ll want to see me.”

  “I know.”

  I crossed the small room and sat down on the edge of the bed. Critter climbed onto my lap and snuggled against my stomach, and
my arms cradled him reflexively. Mum’s words had been spinning around in my head the entire drive home, still seeming like some kind of bad dream. But now, seeing her anxious face in front of me, it all started to feel horribly real.

  “But you said she’s going to be okay, right?”

  “Her mother seemed to think so,” Mum replied. “She’s lacerated her spleen and fractured her collarbone, but she’s expected to be discharged in a few days. She won’t be able to ride for a few months, but she’ll be okay.”

  I gave Mum a horrified look. I was glad that AJ would be all right, of course, but it was so unfair that this had happened just as everything was starting to come together for her. Ever since she’d come to us for help with her lively grey pony Squib, we’d been making plans to get him competing in Pony Grand Prix classes before the end of the season. Squib had made enormous progress, and we’d planned for him to make his first Grand Prix start at Horowhenua in a few weeks’ time, but now it would be months before AJ was able to fulfil her dream. I knew she’d be gutted, and I wondered if she would want me to ride Squib instead, or if we’d just turn him out. I shook my head sadly. Just as he was starting to go so well, I thought sadly, and expressed those regrets to my mother. But she wasn’t sympathetic to my train of thought.

  “That hardly matters now,” Mum said sharply, her eyebrows pinching together disapprovingly. “AJ will be all right, she’ll just have to delay her plans a bit longer. Anders is the one they’re worried about.”

  That brought me shuddering back down to earth. “How is he?” A huge wave of nausea rose up inside me as I spoke. How was it possible to be desperate for information, yet not want to hear it?

  “Not good, but I don’t know any details.” Mum shook her head, pushing Critter away from her as he darted across the bedspreads between us. “Christina’s spending the night with him in hospital, and she gave me a pretty garbled account of his condition. I got the impression that it was touch and go for a while, but they think he’ll make it. They just don’t know what kind of lasting damage may have been done.”