Page 7 of Shadow

“That’s great, just like that. Relax back into the saddle.” I walk alongside the horse and its rider.

Lord knows I need something to keep me busy and keep my mind off of the brooding cowboy who’s been avoiding me again. The extra income wouldn’t exactly hurt either. I had sponsors and won prize money at nearly every show and I’d invested well but that money wouldn’t last forever. And if there were no shows, there would be no more money coming in. We could keep lessons going as long as our clients were comfortable and we took appropriate precautions.

I had a list a mile long filled with riders eager to learn fromtheLindsey Addington.

Addington Ranch and its sister horse stables may take up a little over 62 acres and house several different income streams for my family, but maintaining that kind of land, the cattle, horses, and any of the other farm animals took a lot of investment. If I ever wanted to get back to my dreams of running my own equine therapy center and add to my family’s legacy, I was going to need the money to do it.

Dad and Kevin both had their places at the ranch with Dad a small dude ranch on the west end of the property. Kevin - when he wasn’t deployed - handled our accounting and loved to work with horses that were hard to break while his wife did all our marketing and filled in for Kevin with all the numbers when he was deployed.

Then there’s the incredible love story that is Gramps and Grams.

Gramps is a third-generation cattle rancher who also happens to love horses and my grandmother. Grams is a horse lover who grew up on what once Sullivan Stables, the 40-acre horse farm, and equestrian training center that backed up to the Addington Ranch. It was my great-grandfather Albert Sullivan who gifted the 40 acres to Gramps and Grams as a wedding present as long as Gramps vowed to keep the property as a horse stable but bearing the Addington name.

Grams trained trick riders and showjumpers for years before stepping back and overseeing the day to day operations instead. Addington Stables is where my late mother got her love of the sport from - until that sport tragically took her life.

I was three when my mother died and Kevin was eight. She was training another rider when the horse spooked, Mom tried to get the rider out of the way when she fell. The horse jumped and landed on her skull. It was all one of those completely freak things that no one could have ever predicted happening.

You’d think a tragedy like that would push us all away from such sports, but Dad always said - Mom would never want that. By the time I was old enough to jump, Grams was coaching me just like my mother would have. In a way, it was how we healed. My grandparents loved my mother like she was their own daughter. Welcomed her into the fold and never looked back. Her death shook all of us.

“You’re doing great, Jacob. Remember what we talked about when it’s time to jump,” I encourage as they come to the first hurdle. Hunter takes the hurdle with ease.

Jacob is a ten-year-old boy who really wants to get into show jumping one day and with options so narrow right now, I couldn’t possibly turn down the chance to provide this guy a place to practice at. His dad was a friend of Kevin’s and he told me how they were looking for a coach too, at least until the whole world wasn’t on lockdown.

I had a reputation as one of the fiercest and youngest on the team but none of that really mattered with the postponement and nothing to fall back on.

Showjumping was just supposed to be a way for me to get my Occupational Therapy degree so I could work with kids and adults alike. Build their confidence and body awareness both on and off the back of a horse. The minute I knew that equine-assisted therapy existed, I knew I’d found my life’s work.

I’ll be the first to admit that it was hard juggling all the demands required to get my degree and maintain a fierce training and show schedule but somehow I did it and at the cost of nearly exhausting myself.

Working with Jacob was slowly renewing my passion for my real dream - to run my own equine therapy center. With a little luck, I could open it right here on Addington Ranch, expanding my family’s legacy. Maybe this whole thing was divine intervention. But the question remained, could I really give up Olympic Gold and refocus on this, right here?

Only time would tell. I loved showjumping and I knew what an opportunity had been given to me when I was just twenty-six. Bringing home my first gold medal meant that I’d hopefully have even more of a name to back myself up when I launched my own business.

In my peripheral vision, I spot Garrett standing alongside the fence talking with Jacob’s dad and stealing glances my way. While he’s been busy avoiding me since the other night, I still feel the heat in his gaze anytime his eyes lock on me and it’s enough to drive me crazy.

Sooner or later, we’re going to have to talk about the elephant in the room. After all, he can only run from me for so long and it was far past time we explored whatever was going on between us.

“Do you want to ride Hunter back to the barn and give him a brush down?” I ask Jacob who nods enthusiastically. “Alright, let’s do it.”

In the barn, we work together to untack the horse and gently brush him down. When we’re finished, I lead Jacob over to the hand sink and help him wash up before he runs off with his father.

“You’re good at that too,” Garrett’s deep voice startles me.

“It felt good to be on the other side of things for once,” I confess.

“That was always your dream.”

“Yeah, it was”

“Do you regret delaying it?”

I’m not sure what he’s getting at but his question rubs me the wrong way. “You mean do I regret taking the opportunities that came my way? Or regret delaying coming home?” I snip back.

“I don’t know. Maybe both,” he answers, dropping his head down and refusing to meet my gaze.

There’s so much more I want to say to him but we’re interrupted when Gramps and Dad walk in.

“Hey Linds, I found some information and want you to take a look at it. Come back to the office?” Dad asks.

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