Girls and Their Horses by Eliza Jane Brazier

Author:Eliza Jane Brazier [Brazier, Eliza Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

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Vida brought Effie with her. She knew her mom wouldn’t like it, but she had to. They went everywhere together. It wasn’t like Vida could just instruct Effie to stand thirty feet away while she asked Kieran. Plus, Vida kind of needed her. She was nervous, and Vida was rarely nervous.

This was not the way she had planned to achieve her dream, but it would guarantee her dream’s success. If she could ride Commotion in the Little Palm Cup, she would win.

She had always imagined her life would change when she made it inside the Winner’s Enclosure. She and her mother and Kieran would all gather there, like they had a dozen times when Pamela used to ride and win. He would look up at her and say, “You’re riding for me now,” or something equally confident, as if he had always wanted her, as if that had always been the plan.

She approached Kieran, who was sitting on the rail. He was training Douglas, so she hoped that he wouldn’t mind the interruption as much as he would have if he were with a paying client.

Kieran saw them coming. “Hey, you two! Go set some jumps.”

Vida and Effie scurried into the arena and set jumps to Kieran’s specifications. Vida thought maybe their helping him would put him in a better mood, but it didn’t seem to.

After they had finished setting the jumps, Vida approached again. Effie followed. They hopped out of the arena and stood beside Kieran, who was still on the rail.

He looked over his shoulder, then glared down at them. “What are you two hanging around for?”

Out in the arena, Douglas started his course.

“I wanted to ask if I could ride Commotion,” Vida said too fast.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I thought maybe if . . . um . . .” Vida felt very small.

“Maple fell off,” Effie said helpfully. “And Piper will probably be too scared.”

“I just thought maybe if you needed someone . . .” Vida lifted her chin.

“You thought I might need you?” Kieran said.

“Yes . . . I don’t know.” Vida huffed. She got a little indignant when she was nervous.

“Did your mother put you up to this?”

“Yes.”

Vida had no problem throwing Pamela under the bus. She wasn’t even there to help.

“Right, well, you tell your mother that she needs to buy you a better horse, not try to poach horses from my other clients.”

Vida’s eyes darted toward Effie. She was embarrassed, but she still admitted, “I don’t think she can afford a better horse.”

Kieran raised his eyebrows. “Well . . . them’s the breaks, kid.”

It was just as Vida had feared, the pin that could pop her swollen dreams. Kieran didn’t intend to let her ride Commotion. He didn’t want her. And she couldn’t afford a new horse. Another trainer might not understand her the way Kieran did.

She would be forced out, banished from the horse world, and what would be left for her? That world was the only place she fit, the only place her weird, mean, unlovable personality made sense.

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