Dream On (Dare to Dream Book 2), page 2
“He’s super cute,” Stacey told her as Marley slid off Gothic and gave him a pat, then tied him up to the side of their truck, where he immediately started pulling at his haynet as though he hadn’t eaten in a week.
“Thanks. I like your pony,” Marley lied. Personally she thought it was nutty as a fruitcake, but it seemed like the polite thing to say.
“Thanks!” Stacey’s face lit up with excitement as she looked at the dark bay. “I’m so lucky that my parents bought Majestic for me. She’s super talented, and once I work out how to get her going as well for me as she did for my cousin, she’ll be unstoppable. Did I tell you that she won gold at the Pony Europeans last year? She’s just taking a while to settle in here, that’s all, but she’s getting better every day. I’m doing the Grand Prix on her tomorrow.”
Why on earth? Marley wanted to ask. When you can’t even get her over a metre-fifteen? But she just smiled politely as Stacey went to the pony’s head to pat her. The mare sidled away nervously, refusing to let her owner touch her, and Marley couldn’t help wondering how Stacey could be so enthusiastic about a pony that seemed totally unwilling to bond with her. But not everyone had experienced what she’d had with Cruise. Marley pushed those thoughts away and knelt down to remove Gothic’s jumping boots, trying to ignore the heaviness in her heart that wouldn’t go away.
For a brief moment, she let all of her sorrows wash over her. Her mother had gone before she’d even held Marley in her arms. Dad had disappeared from her life one night without any warning – one minute he was tucking her into bed, the next she was being shaken awake by a tear-wracked Kris, sobbing something about a car accident. Mihi, her best friend since childhood, had disappeared into the world of competitive softball, with new friends and no time to spare for Marley. Not that she could begrudge her friend any of her success – how many years had Mihi spent trailing Marley and her sisters to horse shows? – but she missed her. Even Lachie, who she’d fallen for so quickly and suddenly last summer, had gone back to his ex-girlfriend. And then there were the ponies, so many ponies that had come in and out of her life. Pluto and Daisy and Cupid and Kenny and all the others she’d had to sell over the years. It still stung to remember Nimble, cut down in his prime by a stupid accident. And then there was Cruise…
Marley shook her head and stood up, clapping Gothic’s firm black neck. Don’t think about that, she told herself. Focus on what you have now. Breeze was jumping better than ever, and Laura’s ponies had come with all the gorgeous, expensive tack that Marley had coveted for years but never been able to afford. Money wasn’t an object for Laura, and she liked to see her ponies well-turned out when they were competing, so Marley no longer looked like the poor cousin to everyone else on the circuit. And although their truck leaked in the rain, and didn’t always start, and although they were still struggling financially, and Kris’s back was still injured and Van was still as stubborn as a mule and twice as obstinate, Marley wouldn’t trade her life with anyone else’s. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t bad.
Van lay back on the narrow bunk and closed her eyes, exhausted. It had been a long day, as most show days were, and she was worn out. Her thoughts drifted lazily outward as she started to fall asleep, only to be woken by an insistent buzzing noise coming from under her pillow. It took her a moment to work out what it was, until Kris started yelling at her from the top bunk that she was sharing with Marley.
“Van, answer your phone!”
Van rolled over and fished her phone out, pushing herself into a sitting position as she answered it.
“Hi. Ouch!” she yelped as she sat up too fast and hit her head on the overhang. Marley laughed, and Van stood up and thumped her sister on the leg in retaliation.
“Ow!” Kris yelped painfully as Marley laughed even harder at Van’s mistake.
“Shut up, both of you,” Van grumbled as she pressed the phone to her ear while shrugging into her jacket. “Ignore them. Hi.”
She could hear Mike laughing down the phone. “Is this a bad time?”
“Not at all.” Van shut the truck’s side door behind her and sat on the wonky step. “How was your day?”
“Same old story for the most part, but I rang to tell you that I scanned the grey colt’s leg this afternoon and it’s only a hairline fracture, so he should make a full recovery.”
Van broke into an involuntary smile. The colt was one of the racehorses she exercised regularly, and his injury had been a serious concern to his owners. “That’s great!”
“I thought you’d be pleased. Jeff was thrilled, couldn’t stop shaking my hand and thanking me, as though I had anything to do with it. Just dumb luck, really. But it’s about time he had some of that. He’s had a hell of a year.”
“Haven’t we all.”
“True enough. Sorry to call so late,” he said. “But I just had an after-hours callout to go and put an elderly woman’s cat to sleep.”
“Oh no.”
“Yeah, it was no fun. And she was really broken up about it. Couldn’t stop crying, and she’s living on her own, so I sat with her for a couple of hours until her neighbour got home. Luckily her neighbour is a nurse, so she brought over some sleeping pills that put the old girl out like a light.” He sighed. “Not my favourite part of this job, but someone’s got to do it. It was the right thing for the cat anyway, she was ready to go. Barely got the needle in before she dropped.”
Van’s fingers picked at the lint in her pocket as she tried not to think about Dottie, her family’s ancient spaniel who had been getting increasingly less mobile over the past few weeks. In her heart, she knew that it was her time, but Dottie was one of the few remaining links that the girls had to their father. He’d bought her as a puppy, and she’d been part of Van’s life for as long as she could remember. She cried for days after Dad died, she recalled. Almost as much as we did.
“How about you, how’s your day gone?”
“Uh…” Van tried to collect her thoughts. “Some good, some bad. I was third in the metre-thirty on Starscraper, and I think I’ve convinced Lynda to let me take him around the Grand Prix tomorrow, so that’ll be fun. But Covergirl seems to have completely forgotten how to jump properly. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but she’s been taking rails left, right and centre, which is not like her at all.”
“Hmm.” Mike’s voice was deep with concern. “I’ll have a look at her next time I’m down.”
“Soon?”
She could hear the smile in Mike’s voice. “Next couple of days, promise.”
“Good. It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages.”
“Must be close on three weeks,” he replied, and she could hear regret in his voice. “Sometimes I think I’m in the wrong line of work.”
“It’s my schedule as much as yours,” Van pointed out. “We’re just both insanely busy.”
“And there’s no sign of it letting up at my end,” Mike sighed. “I’ve got work coming out of my ears, a conference coming up in Australia that my boss wants me to get to, and now Dad’s trying to dump Jacob on me for six weeks while he goes overseas. As if I don’t already have enough on my plate without looking after a sixteen-year-old delinquent.”
Van frowned, racking her brains for a moment. “Jacob…your stepbrother?”
“That’s the one. He’s been kicked out of yet another school, and Dad’s at the end of his rope. Why he wants to fob him off onto me is beyond me though. Seems to think I can take him on rounds with me all day – yeah right. The kid’s a bloody menace.”
“Sounds like the apple fell pretty far from the tree,” Van commented, well aware that Mike didn’t have a rebellious bone in his body.
“He comes from a completely different orchard,” Mike muttered. “Oh well, if the worst comes to the worst I’ll just dump him at your place and he can live in your treehouse.”
“Works for me,” Van shrugged. “I’ve got a lot of fencing to do over the summer, and could definitely use a spare set of hands.”
Mike snorted. “I don’t think he’d be much use to you, trust me. He’s a townie, born and bred. Anyway, hopefully it won’t come to that. I’ll just keep dodging Dad’s calls and hopefully he’ll give up.”
“That’s the spirit,” Van teased, and she heard Mike laugh in response.
“Well, I’d better let you get back to bed. I didn’t realise it was this late when I called.”
“It’s okay,” Van told him. “If I’d minded I would’ve just hung up.”
“Good to know,” Mike laughed. “Good night then. Love you.”
“Love you too,” Van replied, listening to the words as she said them and hoping they sounded convincing. Not that she didn’t love him, but she wasn’t the type of girl to go around saying things like that to just anyone, and the words always felt awkward coming off her tongue. But Mike didn’t seem to notice, and as she hung up, she smiled to herself, still not quite able to believe that he was her boyfriend. She’d carried a torch for him for so long, believing her crush to be totally unrequited, that when he’d turned around eight months ago and told her he’d loved her, she’d been completely taken aback. Their relationship had progressed quietly since then, both of them so busy with their own lives that it was almost a struggle to find time to do anything together, but it was working so far, and as far as Van was concerned, she would be happy to stay like this forever.
She yawned, sending a puff of warm air out into the cool night, and went back inside, turning her thoughts to the welcome anticipation of her warm sleeping bag.
Breeze skittered sideways on the end of the leadrope, her hooves dancing across the cold dewy grass early the next morning.
“Take it easy, wild child,” Marley muttered to her as she led the bay pony across the show grounds to stretch her legs after spending the night standing in a yard. “We’re going for a walk, not warming up for the Melbourne Cup.”
Breeze paid no attention to her, stepping out briskly at Marley’s side with her head high and ears pricked. Despite being on the competition circuit for a season and a half now, Breeze still found the overnight yarding to be a challenge, and always performed better if she was walked out for at least a half hour first thing in the morning. They had the Pony Grand Prix to jump that day, so Marley was willing to do whatever it took to give herself a good chance at success.
It was early, and many people were still in bed, the show grounds quiet except for a few other early risers. The grass was soaked in dew, and Marley soon discovered a new hole in her gumboots as she felt the cold water seep into her sock, turning her toes numb. They approached a block of covered yards, and Breeze whinnied loudly, making Marley’s ears ring. She gave Breeze a gentle slap on the neck and told her to cut it out.
“You’ll wake everyone up,” she warned her, aware that they were next to the most coveted yards on the grounds, which meant the wealthiest riders in the biggest, fanciest trucks were here and wouldn’t appreciate a pony screaming its head off at six a.m. Breeze didn’t care, whinnying again before throwing her head up as an answering call greeted them from the end of the yard block. Marley froze, knowing that whinny better than the sound of her own voice. Starting high and ending in a low rumble… It had to be Cruise. Before Marley could react, Breeze had ripped the leadrope out of her hand and trotted, high-stepping with her tail in the air towards her long-lost friend.
Marley rushed after her, her stomach in knots. She’d seen Cruise around the shows but she’d done her best to avoid spending any time with him, or talking to Bubbles. It was too painful to see her beloved pony being looked after and loved by someone else. But now she had no choice. She caught up with Breeze, who was sniffing the pinto pony’s nose with her neck arched, and he was making whiffling sounds of greeting in response. Marley scooped up her mare’s trailing leadrope, then looked at Cruise.
“Hi buddy.”
Cruise nickered to her, leaning over the railing towards Marley and ignoring Breeze, much to the bay pony’s disgust. He stretched his nose out to Marley, and slowly she lifted her hand and rubbed the lightning-shaped star between his eyes. Cruise leaned into her touch, then turned his head to the side so she could get his favourite spot behind his left ear. Marley felt tears prickle at the corner of her eyes even as she smiled at him. Every line of him was perfect - his dark liquid eyes, his long eyelashes, the splash of white on his muzzle, his fluffy black forelock. The feel of his coat against her hand, the way he half-closed his eyes and made happy grunting noises as she itched his sweet spot. The way his upper lip curled up in pleasure at her touch.
“You’re looking good,” Marley told him softly. “All fancy and wrapped up in expensive rugs. Very flash. Very posh these days, aren’t you?”
Cruise blinked at her, then reached over the railings to nuzzle at her hip, his upper lip giving a reciprocal scratch against her hoodie. Marley blinked back tears as her heart swelled with love for her pony.
“Have you missed me as much as I’ve missed you?”
“It sure looks like it.”
The voice came from behind her, and Marley dropped her hand and spun around guiltily. Bubbles was walking towards her, looking polished as always in her designer polo shirt and breeches, her dark hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail, free of knots and tangles. Marley was suddenly very aware of her ripped jeans and muddy gumboots, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d run a comb through her hair. Breeze tugged the end of the frayed leadrope, straining against the halter that had once been bright blue but was now a faded grey colour, held together with baling twine, and Marley felt beyond shabby.
“Hi.”
“How are you?” Bubbles asked, as friendly as ever. “I haven’t seen much of you this season.”
Marley fumbled the end of the leadrope between her fingers. “Yeah. I’ve been busy, with all Laura’s ponies to ride as well as this one.”
Bubbles nodded understandingly. “I hear you. I’ve got three going this season and Dad keeps offering to buy me a hack to start the Junior Riders on, but I’ve told him that three is enough for now!”
There was no gloating in Bubbles’s voice, and Marley knew she wasn’t trying to rub her family’s wealth in her face, but it made her uncomfortable nonetheless. She nodded mutely, wondering how to make her getaway. Then Cruise lifted his head and rested his chin on her shoulder. He let out a contented sigh, blowing sweet breath across her neck, and Marley felt tears prickle her eyelids again. Struggling not to let her emotions show in front of his new owner, Marley turned her head and dropped a quick kiss on Cruise’s nose.
“You and me both, buddy,” she whispered before stepping away from Cruise, re-opening the gulf of distance between them as she tugged Breeze’s leadrope gently to get her to quit grazing and move along. “Well, I’d better go. See you round.”
Bubs nodded, looking disappointed. “Okay. Are you doing the Grand Prix this afternoon?”
Marley nodded, and Bubs smiled. “I’ll see you then. Good luck.”
“Same to you,” Marley muttered, then walked away as quickly as she could without appearing rude. Cruise whinnied again as she left, and Marley wondered if he was watching her go, but couldn’t bring herself to look back and find out.
“I don’t know, Van. It’s a big track.” Lynda looked up from buckling on her spurs, her expression uncertain.
“Stark’s got all the jump in the world,” Van replied. “Way more than he needs to get over those fences. And it’d be good for him to have a crack at a really challenging course. He might not go clean, but he’ll benefit from the mileage.”
Lynda looked thoughtful as she stood up, and Van crossed her fingers.
“It’s only a two-star,” she added. “Even Covergirl has jumped clear at that height.”
“Aren’t you riding her in it?” Lynda asked as she picked up her helmet.
Van shook her head. “Nah, she’s a bit off at the moment. I’m scratching her from the rest of the show, so if you don’t let me ride Stark I’ll be grounded all day.”
Lynda looked surprised. “Did you only bring one horse? Last time I saw you, you said you had more to ride than you could keep up with.”
“I did,” Van agreed. “But they were mostly breakers and schoolers and they’ve all gone home now – we just dropped the last one off on the way here. Plus Marley’s riding four, and the truck can only take six, so…”
“Oh, right.” Lynda snapped up her chinstrap as her mother led Normandy up to her, and Van swallowed a lump in her throat as she looked at her.
“She’s looking good.” Normandy had been Kris’s top horse, who had been passed down to Van to ride after her sister’s accident. She’d become one of the many sacrifices that had been made to try and allow Marley to keep Cruise. Her sale had kept the wolves from the door for a short time, but it was Cruise’s eventual sale that had settled their debts, and Van often wondered whether Normandy’s sale had been worth it.
Lynda’s mother Ada legged her daughter into the saddle and clapped Normandy’s broad chest.
“She’s so wonderful,” she gushed to Van. “We just adore her.”
“She’s very happy with you,” Van admitted. She missed Normandy’s scope and athleticism, but she had also had a personality clash with the headstrong mare from day one, and only Kris’s patient coaching and Van’s sheer determination not to fail had seen them through. But it was hard to watch Normandy now jumping like a quiet old campaigner with her new rider. For whatever reason, Normandy had taken a shine to Lynda, and they were on track for a successful season.
“Come then Norma,” Lynda told the horse as she picked up her reins. “Let’s get you warmed up.”
Van spoke quickly. “Before you go, did you decide about Stark?”
“Oh yeah.” Lynda looked at her mother. “Van wants to jump him in the Grand Prix this afternoon. That’s okay, right?”
But Ada shook her head. “Can’t. Sorry Van, but we’ve got to hit the road after Normandy’s class, to get home in time for Sylvia’s engagement party.”
