Page 18 of Just Say When

She tilted her head, considering. “No. She said you were an asshole. A prig. She says that a lot, actually. Sanctimonious?—”

“I get it,” I grumbled, holding up a hand to stop her from rambling through what I was sure was a very long list of faults, as told by Essie.

“But she’s never come to me with a specific complaint of harassment,” James finished.

I shrugged. “We’ve known each other since kindergarten. There’s a lot of history there. We like to rile each other up.”

“Like brother and sister?” she asked innocently.

I narrowed my eyes at her over the rim of my beer can. “Not quite.”

I expected her to give me shit about that, but she only nodded briskly, her mind clearly on more important matters.

“I’m glad we don’t have a problem, because Pirate is special,” she said, cracking open a can of lemon-flavored sparkling water. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, actually. Pirate is showing amazing aptitude for reining. His natural talent is truly incredible.”

I nodded. “He has the genes for it. It’s a miracle the last two years didn’t break his body or his spirit.”

“We should discuss taking his training to the next level and what that would entail,” James said. “The way I see it, we have two paths forward. The first is status quo. We would start showing him now, nothing too big. See how he does on the local circuit. Then we would push hard next year and aim for a national championship.”

“Sounds reasonable. What’s the second path?”

“We go aggressive.” James took a swig of water. “We do a couple shows here and maybe Texas. Use the next three months as a warm-up for the real thing. Then we take Pirate to the futurity championship in November in Oklahoma.”

I blinked. The National Reining Horse Association Futurity Championship was a three-day competition to showcase the best up-and-comers in the industry. It wasonly open to three-year-old horses, so for Pirate, it was now or never.

“That’s a purse of one hundred grand. Pirate would be competing against three-year-olds that have been training all year for this. He’s barely had two months under saddle. Seems risky to me. If we’re keeping him for stud, we need him to win as many blue ribbons as possible in the next two years. A poor showing at the futurity will make him less valuable as a stud.”

“Sure, butwinningthe futurity would make his value skyrocket,” James argued. “Essie reminded me that the non-pro division, while still competitive, could give us a better shot at a ribbon.”

I rubbed my jaw. The non-pro division required that riders be owners of the horse, rather than a professional rider or trainer. Professional riders were relegated to the open division.

The problem was that I was Pirate’s owner. Pirate might be ready for competition, but I sure as hell wasn’t. I rode horses for fun or to do a job. I didn’t know how to do anything fancy like spins or sliding stops.

“Gotta be honest, James, I think Pirate deserves better than me weighing him down. If I ride him in the non-pro division, we’d be stuck in level one or two with the baby riders. The purse is much smaller.”

James smirked. “That’s what I said. But Essie reminded me that you have a brother, and under therules, brothers count as immediate family and can ride as the owner.”

I scrunched my forehead. “Adam? He trains horses. Aren’t trainers considered professionals?”

“She was talking about Zack,” James clarified. “Under the rules, he’s a non-pro. In reining competitions, he’s only ever entered on Lodestar Ranch horses in the non-pro division. At rodeos, he does the bronc riding—which doesn’t count for reining competition.”

“Zack, huh?” I looked around and found him pouring Essie a watermelon margarita. Their heads were closer together than necessary and both were laughing. I couldn’t say it warmed my heart to see my brother and my ex-best friend so chummy together. More like it curdled my gut. “This was Essie’s idea?”

“Sure was. She has so much faith in Pirate and really wants him to have this opportunity. And I agree with her. He can do this. It’s a big risk, but so is the reward. We could retire him from competition after one year instead of two. Imagine breeding him with Belle. How gorgeous and talented would their babies be?” She clasped her hands under her chin, her eyes wide and sparkling.

I laughed. James loved Belle, a feisty palomino who was currently a rising star on the reining circuit. She planned to breed her in the next two years and restart Lodestar Ranch’s breeding program.

“Slow your roll, darlin’. Pirate hasn’t even competed in his first show yet. For all we know, he’ll hate crowds.”

“The only way to find out is to try.” She raised her eyebrows. “So what do you say?”

I looked at Essie again. She wanted this. I knew that much. I turned back to James and clinked my beer to her water. “Let’s do it.”

8

Essie

There wasn’t a single part of my body that didn’t ache. A good ache, the kind that came from a long day spent on horseback in the autumn sunshine. A satisfying ache, the kind that came from fully focusing my mind and body on learning something new.

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