“Are you sure?”
“Yes, but I will take two of those other pain pills.”
“Two, or just one?” He looked at the bottle she handed him, and sighed. “Yeah, maybe only one.”
She handed him the bottle and went out to get him a glass of water. When she returned and handed it to him, then watched him as he took one of his pills. She remained beside his bed until he settled in, and when he nodded to her, she slowly backed away. “I’m going to leave both our doors open, in case you need me, call out.”
“I should be fine, but thank you,” he settled in and in seconds he was sound asleep. Faith stood there for a good five minutes watching him sleep, and ended up reaching out and moving the hair from his forehead. She liked how silky it felt. Unable to do anything else, she slowly backed out of his room and went to her own, leaving both doors open in case he called out in the night.
CHAPTER 10
Several hourinto their trip the next day, Shay looked over at Faith as she drove.
“What?” she asked as she glanced over at him. “Do I have something on my face?” She wiped it, and split her concentration from the road to him.
“No, I was just watching you.”
“Well, stop, you’re making me nervous.”
“Sorry, why don’t you tell me the story about Champ’s grandpa.”
She sighed and nodded, but before she began she picked up her fresh cup of coffee they had just got when they’d stopped for gas. She had roughly three hundred and fifty miles to go before they had to stop again.
“You sure you want to hear this story?”
“It passes the time.”
“There is that. Okay, I was eighteen when I started riding as a jockey, however, I was fifteen when I started training.”
“Is there a difference?”
“Yes, you can train at any age, however, along with the height and weight restraints, there is also an age one.” She shook her head and held up her hand. “Only for beginning. You have to belegally eighteen before you can ride in your first race. After that, there are no age restrictions. Look at me, I’m thirty-eight, and I’m still racing.”
“Why did you start training at the age of fifteen?”
“My neighbor, a trainer for several horses, needed someone of my size and weight. I raced the horses on his private track. Never on a public one. At least not until I was eighteen.”
“Okay, now what’s the difference between a trainer and a jockey?”
“It might be better to tell you the hierarchy from the top down. The top guy is the owner. I’ll use people you know to help you understand.”
“Okay. I’m listening.”
“Okay, I’m also going to use Champ as the horse in this scenario.”
“Got it, I’m following you so far.”
“Champ, the horse, is owned by Naomi. Next person down, is the trainer. Let’s call him Cole in this instance. He knows the horse, he knows what the horse can do, he talks to the owner, getting to know what they want, and relays that information to the jockey.”
“You.”
“Correct. While I ride the horse, I have to listen to the trainer to see what he wants me to do with the horse. He’s the one that gives me instructions from the owner. But…” She looked at him and took another sip of her coffee. “The trainer also has to listen to the jockey, but the owner doesn’t have to. I’ll get to it, but that’s what happened as to why Champ’s grandfather only won once in the three times he ran in the Triple Crown.”
“Interesting. What type of things do you tell the trainer?”
“I tell them if the horse is lagging, or is lame, or needs to cut back on his food. If he needs anything. I’m on that horse’s back and around that horse more than the trainer or owner. Most ofthe time, the owner only sees the horse at the track, on race day. The trainer is at the track every single time the jockey takes the horse out. He or she is there with the stopwatch to time the trip around the track. He watches to horse to see if he notices anything that I don’t.”
“Like?”
