you okay?” David asked.
“It’s tender but I think it’s all right,” she told him, shaking and flexing her ankle.
“It’s a good thing you wore boots.” David was relieved.
“I borrowed them from Laura,” Emily admitted. “She insisted I wear boots here.”
“Laura’s a very smart woman,” David muttered with a strange look on his face.
“The next event is called Flying Figure Eight,” David said as they got back to the job of opening the gate. “It’s a run down to the end of the arena, with a figure eight loop around those three poles and a run back. It’s fairly easy and the times should be quite fast, around 10 seconds each. The whole event should go fairly quickly. Then we’ll run quadrangle. After that we’ll have a lunch break.” David smiled almost shyly then asked, “Will you have lunch with me?”
“Are you sure?” Emily said with surprise. “That’s going above and beyond helping out the novice.”
“I’d really enjoy it,” David said gently, realizing that Emily was shy.
During the event there was an incident when one of the horses, another one of what turned out to be a relatively low percentage of arena-shy horses, backed hard into a sleeping horse tied to a rail by the arena entrance. The second horse, surprised and resentful at being awakened out of a nap, bit the first horse and pulled back from the rail he was tied to, fighting the rope. The rope broke and the already upset horse fell over backwards.
In spite of her fear of horses, Emily was scared sick that the beautiful animal might be hurt. She hurried over to the animal who was just rising to his feet, getting there even before David. Gingerly, she reached out and caught the end of the lead rope, talking quietly to the nervous horse. She looked down and saw blood running down the horse’s foreleg just as David got to her.
“David, he’s hurt!” Emily said in a shaky voice, pointing at the trail of blood.
“Let me look at him,” David said, looking Emily in the eye. “Are you okay holding him?”
“Sure.” Still, she surrendered the end of the rope gratefully when another rider came over and offered to help.
“He’s okay.” David straightened up. “It’s a fairly minor cut.”
Addressing the gathered riders, he asked, “Where’s Mike?”
A young man jogged over. “I’m here. What happened? Someone said Max was hurt.”
“He got spooked and broke his rope when one of the horses backed into him. I thought I told you not to leave him unattended so close to the arena,” David said with a trace of anger. “His leg is cut but it’s not too bad. If I were you, I’d bandage it up and take him home. Your saddle is pretty scraped up too.”
“You’d like me to take him home, wouldn’t you? Especially since I’m your closest competitor for the annual high point trophy,” the younger man snapped angrily.
One of the other riders spoke up, “Don’t be a jerk, Mike. Your horse is hurt and it’s your own darn fault. Do what’s right for your horse and worry about the trophy later.”
“You’re right, Cap.” Mike turned to David looking abashed and said, “Sorry about that. I was just upset. I really am more concerned about Max than any trophy.”
“I have some bandages and ointment in my trailer if you need it,” David said with no trace of resentment.
“No thanks, I’ve got some.” He reached out and took Max’s rope, scratching the big horse’s head affectionately. “I guess you get the afternoon off, buddy. You probably did it on purpose, you lazy jughead.”
“For someone who’s afraid of horses that was really brave, the way you got hold of old Max and held him for me,” David told Emily.
“It was nothing. I was just so worried that he might be hurt, I forgot about being afraid of horses,” she admitted.
At that moment David decided there was something very real about Emily, something that made him want to protect and comfort her. He grinned to himself; she sure wasn’t his usual type, but then maybe it was time for a change. Maybe it was time to look past a woman’s appearance and into her character. In spite of her shy demeanor and underlying sadness there was an air of humor and kindness about her, and a gentle side to her nature.
After five or six more riders had gone, the very pretty blond woman rode up to David and handed him the reins to a large black horse she was leading around. She was covered with dust, her face devoid of make-up, and under her hat her hair was hanging in a long straight ponytail. She had on a western shirt, jeans and a pair of sunglasses that hid her eyes. Emily felt like there was something familiar about her but she couldn’t place it. She also couldn’t help feeling a little resentful that this woman could look so good even under dusty, dirty conditions when she herself didn’t look that good on any given day in her life. Some girls have all the luck, she thought ruefully.
“Dave, you’d better get going, I’m after the next rider and you’re after me,” the blond said, then she turned to Emily and smiled. “I’m sorry, was I interrupting?”
“Emily meet Nicole, Nicole this is Emily.” He made the introductions.
“Hi,” Emily said softly, slightly intimidated by Nicole’s looks.
“Hi Emily, nice meeting you.” Nicole looked Emily over and then looked from Emily to David, openly curious.
David turned to Emily and asked, “Are you all right now?”
“Sure, I’m fine. Good luck.” Regretfully she watched David swing up onto the massive black horse and ride away.
The rider in the arena came out and Nicole rode in. Her horse was like David’s, very calm and well-trained. Nicole had a good ride. David was next and his horse was also well mannered. In fact, watching David ride his horse in, it was still hard to believe the horse could or would run at all. It was even hard to believe the massive animal was awake. David sat there, relaxed, barely holding the reins loosely in one hand, waiting for the arena judge to signal him that he could begin his ride. Just like the last event, when he received the signal, he took up the reins with both hands. As soon as he gathered the reins his horse visibly tensed, his powerful muscles bunched up, bursting with pent up energy. At David’s signal he exploded through the course, running down to the end and winding a figure eight around the poles before running back to the timing poles and coming to a stop at the gate. David waited for Emily to open the gate and rode out, exiting quietly with his reins loosely held and his seat on the horse relaxed. Target was prancing a bit but he was very well-behaved. David gave his reins to Nicole who walked her horse and Target around, and he stayed near Emily while the next few riders rode and then went into the arena as the awards were announced.
They set up for quadrangle. The poles were set in a large square, with the timing poles in the center.
That event was much more fun for Emily. She had David’s comments to help her understand the action taking place in the arena, and even better, she had David’s attention. She soaked up his attention like a dried up plant soaks up water. She realized that she hadn’t even talked to a man in a long, long time except for her father’s doctor, and he was in his sixties.
